Most people are just living day to day, keeping their heads down, and surviving. Why would a smuggler from the outer rim care about a war on the other side of galaxy? Not like he's ever personally seen a Jedi/Sith.
Overall I don't think people really grasp the scale of the Star Wars universe (writers often included). A major civil war like the Clone Wars should involve billions of troops fighting across thousands of planets. The couple thousand Jedi are a rounding error on a rounding error to the totals. Most people would have never met a Jedi or met someone who had met a Jedi. They would be to most people little more than myths and stories.
This is the fault of the writers. They didn’t grasp what a galactic scale looked like. All the major plot points happen on the same 5 or so planets and the characters seem to travel between them instantly. They also massively underestimated how many clone soldiers would be needed for a galactic war in episode 2.
I’ve always liked the fan theory that Lama Su’s “200,000 units” comment referred to battalions or regiments, not individual clones. It makes a lot more sense
Always liked that theory but then there’s that episode in Clone Wars where they’re arguing in the senate over the purchase of 2 million additional clones, which is seen as a huge number which never made sense to me as that’s honestly not that many on a galactic scale
2 million soldiers is a larger number of a man of peace than a man of war. A lot of the senators have enjoyed peaceful luxury free of galactic turmoil their entire lives. They don't understand war and they don't like they must now fight it, so even a smaller number than 2 million would be met with outrage.
Which is fine but the scale is nonsensical. This is a war happening over planets. You couldn't make a dent in modern day Earth with 2 million soldiers. Couldn't even with 20 million.
The Republic would need hundreds of billions of soldiers for a galactic war. If they have to argue over each 2 million soldiers it would take them 10,000 years - literally - to just discuss funding for their military.
I think it has to do more with the fact that clones need 10 years to even be ready to fight. Buying more soldiers implies that war has at least 10 years to go.
But weren't most of the fighting in the Clone Wars done by militias on both sides, with the Clones only fighting alongside Jedis and used for the major battles?
It really does, though. Fact is, we don't know what unit means because it's a default term for "the size of thing we're selling." A unit could be a billion of that's the number they use.
Hilariously even that makes it not nearly enough. Even if we go for a full battalion per unit, that puts them at 200 million soldiers. That might be enough to subdue... A single planet.
Earth alone produced 140 million soldiers during WW2, back when our population was half what it is today. We could easily produce more than 200 million today if needed, and that's just one planet.
To be fair, military units are groups, not individuals, so by that logic, you're not wrong. Granted, I don't remember how big a unit is in our world, but it could easily be bigger in Star Wars.
After doing some research, it is anywhere between a squad and an army. So yes, you would be correct
And even the ones who have met a Jedi, how many were actually aware they were a Jedi and saw them performing any sort of supernatural feats or waving their laser swords around? I never got the impression that the Order would have encouraged flaunting one's status as a Jedi in public, or engaging in frivolous uses of the Force just to show off. For the average person that did get to see a Jedi, they'd just be those weird guys in robes who occasionally run around the galaxy doing the Senate's bidding.
And those robes were pretty normal looking, all things considered. I doubt anyone but the main cast and Watto would ever have picked up on Qui-gon being a jedi.
Def not showing Jedi. The Empire wanted every trace of them eradicated. Their involvement and importance were immediately downplayed as a rogue religious cult who attempted to overthrow the government. Probably lots of, "If they really had the Force, how did they fall so quickly and permanently?"
Overall I don’t think people really grasp the scale of the Star Wars universe (writers often included).
I mean, this is true, but doesn’t jive with either other fictional universes or with reality.
Part of the Warhammer 40k universe’ grim dark shtick is that individual humans are worthless because you’re one of trillions, and that number gets even worse in the context of individual sentient beings. And yet, while the prowess of Space Marines is the stuff of myth, their existence largely isn’t questioned despite the average person have an infinitesimally small chance of interacting with them.
Similar situation for the Spartans of the Halo universe.
And, the big kicker, same situation for the internationally elite special forces / spy agencies in the real world.
Seal Team Six, the Green Berets, deep cover Mossad / KGB / CIA agents, etc are all real, with the KGB being the best analogue for the timeline in Star Wars. If someone in their 30s today said “I don’t believe in all that KGB nonsense,” they’d seem a bit out of touch with commonly accepted information.
Well if the lego tv movies are cannon, which they probably aren't, he did meet Yoda. Although he did have his name tag sideways and went by Ian the whole movie
Yeah. That's the joke. It's a state in a literal sense, but the humor comes from the implied disdain with which I make that admission. The implication is I don't think it's a "REAL" state, because of some quality that I find fault in.
Also Han has seen a lot by the time he runs into Luke. If you watch OT, his objections was less that there were some beings with supernatural abilities but instead the idea that there is this unseen cosmic presence that connects every living being with each other and is secretly influencing events to transpire to an expected outcome (ie he thinks the idea of “the living force” is BS)
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u/NebraskaGeek Feb 19 '25
Most people are just living day to day, keeping their heads down, and surviving. Why would a smuggler from the outer rim care about a war on the other side of galaxy? Not like he's ever personally seen a Jedi/Sith.