Warning: spoilers follow for Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View.
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, available from Del Rey, celebrates the 40th anniversary of A New Hope by going off screen to see events from other perspectives. Forty stories by different authors go into the Star Wars weeds in the best, and sometimes weirdest ways, possible. Droids, aliens, stormtroopers, rebels—we see the galaxy and events of Episode IV through their eyes.
[/nerdist_section]As you can imagine, an anthology like this is chock-full of information, connections to the rest of the universe, and fun tidbits. These are 40 notes I made while devouring From a Certain Point of View.
1. Jawas are given insulated, moisture-regulating robes at birth, and they wear the same robes their whole life. The hem is lowered as Jawas mature.
2. Jawas are at least partially furry. Who knew?
3. R5-D4 sabotaged himself with a bad motivator in order to help R2-D2’s mission. Aww.
4. Tusken Raiders avoid the place where Anakin slaughtered their kind in Attack of the Clones. They think the area has ill omens.
5. Hey, A’Yark is now canon. The Tusken Raider first appeared in the Legends title Kenobi. (Maybe this could play into an Obi-Wan spinoff?!)
6. The Tusken Raiders think Obi-Wan is a powerful shaman and try to avoid him.
7. Qui-Gon visited Obi-Wan just before Luke found the Jedi. He apologized for forcing him to train Anakin when he was so young.
8. Aunt Beru had culinary ambitions. Her blue-milk cheese was highly complimented and she thought about opening her own cafe in Anchorhead.
9. Part of the reason Greedo wanted to kill Han Solo was because of a woman Han stole from him. Her name was Uncelta.
10. Chalmun, the owner of the Mos Eisley Cantina/Chalmun’s Cantina is a Wookiee. News to me.
11. Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes were on Tatooine because D’an owed Jabba the Hutt money. They first played at the slug’s palace.
12. The Modal Nodes kept playing during all the ruckus in the cantina because Wuher ordered them to play no matter what.
13. I will never tire of the fact that Ackmena’s canon; she was played by Bea Arthur in The Star Wars Holiday Special. She works nights at the cantina.
14. Wuher, the bartender at the cantina, dislikes droids because his parents were killed by Separatist clankers in the Clone Wars. Two Jedi saved his life.
15. Darth Vader told Boba Fett “no disintegrations” in The Empire Strikes Back because Fett disintegrated two rebel spies on Coruscant. Vader wouldn’t pay for the kills without bodies.
16. Senni and Brea Tonnika were introduced on Tatooine; they know Han, Lando, and the Millennium Falcon and have worked jobs at Canto Bight and with the Ohnaka gang. I wonder if they’ll show up in the Han Solo movie.
17. Garindan, the character that gave up Luke and Han to Imperial stormtroopers, was trying to earn credits to free his homeworld, Kubindi, from the Empire’s grasp.
18. When Obi-Wan watched over Luke on Tatooine, he would leave the newest model spaceships for Luke beside Shmi’s tombstone for Beru to find.
19. Admiral Motti was so angry about Vader threatening his life that he filed an angry incident report highlighting how Vader’s religion shouldn’t be mixed with Imperial business.
20. Leia‘s continued defiance of Darth Vader and bravery in the aftermath of Alderaan’s destruction inspired a stormtrooper observing the incident to defect.
21. Leia’s speaks Huttese fluently and speaks Shyriiwook proficiently.
22. Vader told Tarkin that Leia’s resistance to the mind probe was considerable. It’s not necessarily a hint that Rey and Leia are related—but maybe it is?
23. Even in his final moments in Rogue One, Director Krennic was thinking about how much better he was than Tarkin and imaging his nemesis’ downfall.
24. Aphra was on Dantooine when the Empire showed up to investigate Leia’s claims.
25. TK-421 owned the mouse droid that ran into Chewbacca on the Death Star.
26. That same TK-421 was involved in a love affair with a ranking officer, and they used the mouse droid to relay their secret messages.
27. The stormtrooper that banged his head on the threshold was distracted by thinking about Obi-Wan using the Jedi mind trick on him on Tatooine.
28. The dianoga in the trash compactor, Omi, was kidnapped from her homeworld. After spending some time in a tank and then escaping and killing two stormtroopers, she was put in the trash compactor.
29. Omi wrapped her tentacle around Luke because she could sense he was Force-sensitive, just like her.
30. Dianogas are physically hermaphroditic and could choose the gender they want to be—male, female, or diangous.
31. Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to use Darth Vader’s real name when he encountered the Sith on the Death Star. He said it would undo him.
32. When Obi-Wan watched over Luke on Tatooine, he would leave the newest model spaceships for Luke beside Shmi’s tombstone for Beru to find.
33. In Obi-Wan’s final moments before becoming a Force ghost he could see the past, present, and future—including “Leia slumped beside a console, her heart breaking, Captain Solo falling so very far.” He even sees Luke as an old man, cut off from the people who love him, “consumed by regret and sorrow.”
34. Yoda’s blanket in his hut is made from Qui-Gon Jinn’s old Jedi cloak. It was his only belonging aside from a small pot that belonged to Obi-Wan.
35. Using the cane was a joke at first for Yoda. He did so to make Padawans think he was an old and feeble Jedi.
36. Yoda wanted to train Leia Organa in the ways of the Force, not Luke Skywalker.
37. Knowing Luke, Obi-Wan, and Yoda are in the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine was concerned about who else he and the Empire missed.
38. Pilots on Yavin 4 were surprised that Luke got to fly in the Death Star attack. One called him “the womp rat kid.”
39. General Jan Dodonna encouraged Mon Mothma to leave Yavin 4 just in case the Death Star was successful. If Yavin 4 was destroyed, Mon Mothma planned to go to Coruscant and surrender—which she viewed as paying for her failures with the rebellion.
40. Lando saw a holovid of Han using the Millennium Falcon in the Battle of Yavin and couldn’t understand what Han was doing working with the rebellion.
Pick up Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View to get more context on these factoids and to get details about Episode IV you didn’t know you needed. And more importantly, check out the book for its inventive, wacky, and often moving storytelling.
Have you been reading the anthology? What are your favorite stories? I’m all about “Eclipse” and “Master and Apprentice.” Share them in the comments.
Images: Del Rey, Lucasfilm, Disney, Giphy
Amy Ratcliffe is an associate editor for Nerdist. Follow her on Twitter and keep up with her Disney food adventures on Instagram.
