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A friend of mine who isn't familiar with SD.net is toying with the idea of writing a "what-if" piece of Star Wars fan-fiction. He's looking for a dramatic moment of choice/crisis/chance from which to diverge from the established canon. A great example is "Scars of Mustafar" which is on this very forum if I'm not mistaken. Any ideas? So far we've come up with...

The obvious
-"Join me and we can rule the galaxy": Luke is turned on Bespin. Already been done a few times
-

The not-so-obvious
-"There's not life-signatures, must have been a short-circuit": Escape-pod over Tantooine is shot down. R2 never reaches Luke.

Thoughts? Preferably something new.

Is he limiting himself to just Luke's life? Having Anakin not turn and let Mace kill Palpatine would be interesting as that would have allowed Luke (and Leia) to be raised and trained by his father and become a true Jedi. Interesting Padawan/Master dynamic.

It would also allow him to keep R2 and 3PO in the story in a reasonable way. Of course you lose Han and Chewie with that much of a change in history.

Any time a character makes a desicion can be a chance to diverge quite greatly from the original plotline, not just the most dramatic decisions. I quite liked the "star Wars Infinities" stories for this reason-- seemingly inconsequential things like Luke deciding not to use the force to destroy the fist Death Star, Han's tantaun dying on Hoth before he can get to Luke leading to Luke's death... you get the idea. That last one wasn't even a choice, it just... happened. And that, I think, is what makes for a really cool divergence fanfic.

Its surprising, but a shit lot of what if has been done in both canon and non canon.

Some areas that haven't been explored though is what if Luke died on the Death Star when it was destroyed.
Along the same trend, what if the Death Star was merely severely crippled and Luke got captured..... I did mean to run a crossover based on this idea but never got around to it. But then again, stories that look good in my head turn to shit on execution.

What if Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't sacrifice himself on the Death Star, and just escaped along with Luke?

What if Luke did replace Vader at the end of RotJ?

What if Anakin was never discovered by Qui-Gon in Episode 1?

i know of one example of number 2 sort of being done.

Star Destroyer Captain- "We've traced the transmission of the plans to that ship, Lord Vader."

Vader- "Very well, er... isn't that a Senatorial ship? No matter, all weapons prepare to fire. Wipe that ship from the galaxy."

Or

Emperor- "The son of Skywalker cannot become a Jedi."

Vader- "Keep firing assholes."

Basically, what if the Skywalker family doesn't reassert itself into the Galactic politic and the Empire keeps going strong with a pitiful rebellion (Jedi-less) struggling against it.

What if Star Wars is the heroic tale of the Sith trying to free the galaxy from an ancient and corrupt regime guarded by sinister Jedi?

That's more of a perspective swing rather than a 'what if'. Also Knife, your first suggestion is basically the same as the OP's R2 doesn't reach Luke.

dworkin wrote:What if Star Wars is the heroic tale of the Sith trying to free the galaxy from an ancient and corrupt regime guarded by sinister Jedi?

Star Wars mirror universe.

What if Greedo does shoot first?

Han Solo dodges it with crappy special effects and Greedo is still as dead as Boba Fett?

EDIT:

What if instead of crappy (mecha) AT-ATs on Hoth, the Empire actually used competent conventional ground armor that employed tracks and thus the Imperial ground forces reached Echo base before the Rebels could finish their escape preparations (compared to the slow-ass AT-ATs that took their sweet ass time and just let the Rebels escape willy nilly)? What if these tanks also had anti-aircraft weapons like missiles, so those crappy snowspeeders couldn't do the harpoon trick at them at all?

As a skeptical reader of fanfiction (I think I've only read Mike's, Darth Fanboy, Addams Family Values, and the one where Vader finds Leia on Aldreaan), of all the scenarios mentioned in this thread, Hav's is the one that would intrigue me enough to at least give it a shot.

How much would it be different from the original Star Wars, anyway? The bad guys, the Evil Jedi, would be totally tyrannical world-destroying assholes who don't give a shit about blowing up planets because death and loss are complete non-issues for them with the deceased merely "joining/becoming one with the Force". Whereas the plucky heroic Sith rebellion would be all passionate and defending their loved ones and girlfriends and mothers from the depravities of the Evil Jedi and the hero Sith might even blow a fuse and in a fury attack and defeat the Sith Lord who dared mention his sister!

dworkin wrote:What if Star Wars is the heroic tale of the Sith trying to free the galaxy from an ancient and corrupt regime guarded by sinister Jedi?

That would be the prequel trilogy

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How much would it be different from the original Star Wars, anyway? The bad guys, the Evil Jedi, would be totally tyrannical world-destroying assholes who don't give a shit about blowing up planets because death and loss are complete non-issues for them with the deceased merely "joining/becoming one with the Force". Whereas the plucky heroic Sith rebellion would be all passionate and defending their loved ones and girlfriends and mothers from the depravities of the Evil Jedi and the hero Sith might even blow a fuse and in a fury attack and defeat the Sith Lord who dared mention his sister!

Throw in Mandalorians that have no legitimate reason to be in the movie and Karen Traviss could write the screenplay in her sleep.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How much would it be different from the original Star Wars, anyway? The bad guys, the Evil Jedi, would be totally tyrannical world-destroying assholes who don't give a shit about blowing up planets because death and loss are complete non-issues for them with the deceased merely "joining/becoming one with the Force". Whereas the plucky heroic Sith rebellion would be all passionate and defending their loved ones and girlfriends and mothers from the depravities of the Evil Jedi and the hero Sith might even blow a fuse and in a fury attack and defeat the Sith Lord who dared mention his sister!

That isn't my suggestion Shroom.

Anyone read Elseworlds star wars? Off the top of my head, the ones that exist are;

1. ANH Infinity- Luke's torpedo has a mechanical malfunction and doesn't destroy Death Star 1.

2. ESB Infinity- Luke dies of his injuries from the wampa on Hoth.

3. ROTJ Infinity- Rescuing Han takes longer, resulting in a very different battle for Endor. Luke and Leia together turn Vader from the dark side, but the emperor escapes.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How much would it be different from the original Star Wars, anyway? The bad guys, the Evil Jedi, would be totally tyrannical world-destroying assholes who don't give a shit about blowing up planets because death and loss are complete non-issues for them with the deceased merely "joining/becoming one with the Force". Whereas the plucky heroic Sith rebellion would be all passionate and defending their loved ones and girlfriends and mothers from the depravities of the Evil Jedi and the hero Sith might even blow a fuse and in a fury attack and defeat the Sith Lord who dared mention his sister!

The whole good/evil sith/jedi switch sounds like it would be a good suggestion to put in the fanfic section or to place it as a challenge on FF.net.
I would enjoy this story concept very much if someone chose to write about it.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Han Solo dodges it with crappy special effects and Greedo is still as dead as Boba Fett?

*blows whistle* Foul! Off to the corner with you, sir!

At first I was going to suggest removing Anakin altogether from the story, but then I thought that the simple removal of Han might have interesting implications.

The point is moot, unfortunately, as he has decided to write a story of the worst kind:

A crossover with a 2010 Earth that includes the Star Wars movies.
Pardon me while I weep for mankind.

What if's....

Episode #1 -
- The Gungan's don't help the Jedi, and they have to make there way to the naboo on foot. Slowing down the rescue of the Queen. Possibly preventing escape
- Padme's ship is shot down while running the Blockade. All onboard are killed.
- Anakin doesn't win the race due to sabatague.
- Qui Jon managed to free Shimi as well as Anakin
- Qui Jon kills Darth Maul (possibly due to Obiwan actually being able to help)
- Anakin ends up being raised by Palapatine (Started to write that, but my Star Wars fiction attempts need work)

Episode #2 -
- Anakin isn't such a tool, and has good dialogue.
- Padme is not interested in Anakin at all beyond 'friend'.
- Obi-wan is shot down on the way to Kamino by Jango Fett (he had a side erand to run) (No Clone Army warning)
- Jango or Boba Fett kills Obi-wan during the platform fight. (Either via the Rocket Pack or the Slave I blasters)
- (Basically the same) - Obiwan is unable to warn the Republic about the Droid Armies on Geonosis
- Padme, Anakin, or Kenobi is killed during the Arena fighting
- Mace Windu kills Dooku instead of talking to him
- Anakin and Kenobi work together against Dooku, matchin him until Yoda arrives
- Dooku doesn't take Anakin's arm during their duel, but manages to open him up across the torso (non-fatal, just needs time in a bacta tank)
- Dooku manages to kill Yoda before fleeing (say Force lightning while he's holding up the pillar Dooku tossed at Skywalker + Kenobi)

Episode #3 -
- Palpatine dies during the Battle of Coruscant. Possible: Anakin wasn't able to help him.
- Kenobi is killed during the Battle of Coruscant.
- Variant of above: And Palaptine decides to go with the 'Sith Army' route as a result (from Revenge of the Sith novel)
- Kenobi confronts Padme + Anakin about their relationship + the pregenancy (possibly after Anakin talks to Yoda)
- Grevious manages to kill Kenobi during the Battle of Utapu, extending the Clone Wars. (Post Palpatine's Sith offer to Anakin)
- Anakin, upon learning Palpatine is Darth Sidious, decides he's a threat to Padme, and kills him before Sidious can react.
- Mace kills Sidious before Anakin arrives. Or Anakin kills Sidious when Mace tells him to.
- Kenobi / Yoda is killed during Order 66.
- Any variation of wins for the Sidious/Yoda + Kenobi/Vader fights.

Episode #4 -
- R2 + 3P0 are shot down in the life-pod
- Luke is killed (at any point during the movie)
- Han doesn't come to help Luke
- Obi-wan escapes the Death Star with Luke + Co.
- Han blows up Vader during the Trench Run.

Episode #5
- Boba Fett doesn't guess Solo's stratergy for avoiding the Imperial fleet.
- Luke stays on Dagobah and completes his training.
- (EU Variant) - Darth Vader continued the Dark Trooper project, and those are supporting the Imperial assault as well. (The Dark troopers from Dark Forces)

Shadows of the Empire (EU Variant) -
Guri goes with the Rebels when Luke offers, and she informs them that Endor is a trap.

Episode #6
- EU variant: Mara sneaks onto the Sail Barge, and decides to help Luke (hey, he's the Hero...)
- Jabba decides to sell Solo back to the Rebellion (he's made his point after all)
- The Empire leveled the area around the Bunker before building it (no Ewoks, no Forest cover)
- The Imperial fleet is under orders to engage the rebellion. This includes a FULL fighter launch. (That's alot of Tie Fighters/Interceptors/Avengers)
- The Ewoks show the Rebels that backdoor and, leave. They just want the Empire gone.
- Leia is killed during the Speeder Bike chase. (No leverage for Vader to piss luke off)
- Luke gives into his anger and kills Vader
- Vader lets Luke kill the Emperor (loved the fan fic of that on here by the way.)
- Vader let's the Emperor kill Luke. They then sense the coming destruction of the Death Star and leave it.
- Turns out, the Death Star main reactor has it's own Capital Ship grade independent shield, anti-fighter defenses inside the super-structure, and a squadron of Tie Advanced guarding it.

EU Variants for the Battle of Endor
- Grand Admiral Thrawn is in command of the Imperial fleet. He brought Tie Defenders + Missile Boats with him.
- The Endor bunker is guarded by a Legion of Darktroopers.
- Vader continued the Tie Phantom project. Guess what the Imperial fleet is carrying?
- Combo of the above (also known as a complete slaughter)

Shroomy, I'm going to play with your idea a little:

Shroom Man 777 wrote:What if instead of crappy (mecha) AT-ATs on Hoth, the Empire actually used competent conventional ground armor that employed tracks and thus the Imperial ground forces reached Echo base before the Rebels could finish their escape preparations (compared to the slow-ass AT-ATs that took their sweet ass time and just let the Rebels escape willy nilly)? What if these tanks also had anti-aircraft weapons like missiles, so those crappy snowspeeders couldn't do the harpoon trick at them at all?

The tanks sink into a snowdrift en route to the battlefield and never make it to the objective, because their legs aren't long enough to punch down through three meters of snow to the bedrock underneath.

...Nevermind. Assuming the tanks make it, they have to drive into effective range of the Rebel defense line because they need to get closer to have line of sight on the defenses, which exposes them to close-range fire from those antitank blaster turrets. At the very least, getting into firing position is likely to take longer for them.

Thus, due to disruption of the Imperials' heavy armor support, the Rebels are able to hold out longer before the shield generator is destroyed, the rebels manage to evacuate more equipment. The ion cannon does more damage to the Imperial blockade fleet.

Luke's snowspeeder is shot down from extreme range by a surface to air missile, but he manages to evade capture long enough to get inside the rebels' defensive perimeter as they slowly fall back towards the shield generator. He gets into his X-Wing and joins Rogue Squadron for the transport escort mission, then goes to Dagobah as Obi-Wan's ghost instructed.

Leia and C-3PO get out on one of the transports as planned.

Han and Chewie have more time to put the Falcon back together before escaping, but it doesn't do them much good. They still have to play tag with the Imperial blockade fleet in an attempt to escape, with the slight advantage that more of the ships have been ionized and may still be out of action. However, the Imperials do not launch a coordinated hunt for the Falcon, because Darth Vader does not sense Luke or Leia aboard and assumes they escaped on the transports. The hyperdrive still fails, and they still have to limp to Bespin, but without Boba Fett trailing them because Vader had no reason to hire bounty hunters to pursue the Falcon in the first place.

General Veers gets neck-crushed by Darth Vader for "bungling" the ground assault, because it took too long to get his units into firing range of the shield generator, allowing the Rebels time to escape. Captain Needa does NOT get neck-crushed, because he did his part of the operation right.

Major timeline changes:
-Han and Chewie make it to Bespin without being followed, repair their ship, and rejoin the Rebellion.
-Luke's training on Dagobah is not interrupted by the need to bail Leia, Han, and Chewie out of the jam on Bespin.
-Luke gets to keep all his limbs, at least for now, and does not learn that Vader is his father until (much?) later.
-Han and Leia don't spend a long period full of unresolved sexual tension on the Falcon, so they don't get together until later, if ever.
-Lando Calrissian does not join the Rebellion and remains in charge on Bespin.
-Jabba the Hutt does not get his favorite party favor, but on the bright side doesn't piss off a Jedi Knight and probably gets to live longer.

Simon_Jester wrote:...Nevermind. Assuming the tanks make it, they have to drive into effective range of the Rebel defense line because they need to get closer to have line of sight on the defenses, which exposes them to close-range fire from those antitank blaster turrets. At the very least, getting into firing position is likely to take longer for them.

Um, how can the AT-ATs engage the Rebel defenses from beyond the "close-range" fire of those antitank blaster turrets, anyway? Unless the AT-ATs have indirect fire weapons, they STILL have to show themselves to their enemy in order to fire. Worse yet, the AT-ATs main guns are located on their chins - so the enemy weapons can SEE the AT-AT-s fucking hunchback before the AT-AT-s chin-mounted guns can see the enemy weapons. Sure, the AT-AT can see (and shoot) at the enemy weapons faster because it's tall - but the enemy weapons can also see (and shoot) the AT-AT faster too because the AT-AT is tall.

Why would the tanks be more vulnerable to enemy fire than the AT-AT? If anything, the smaller size of the tank and the lack of unnecessary legs means that the tank can have superior armor protection.

Also, they can get close enough to deploy troops FASTER than the AT-AT with its ridiculously slow plodding pace.

Thus, due to disruption of the Imperials' heavy armor support, the Rebels are able to hold out longer before the shield generator is destroyed, the rebels manage to evacuate more equipment. The ion cannon does more damage to the Imperial blockade fleet.

Mrm... I guess one of the advantages of the AT-AT was that it could use its LOS weapons from further ranges, because it was friggin' tall.

But does Star Wars not have any artillery weapons that aren't line-of-sight weapons? I remember seeing some indirect artillery in the Clone Wars cartoons.

Luke's snowspeeder is shot down from extreme range by a surface to air missile, but he manages to evade capture long enough to get inside the rebels' defensive perimeter as they slowly fall back towards the shield generator. He gets into his X-Wing and joins Rogue Squadron for the transport escort mission, then goes to Dagobah as Obi-Wan's ghost instructed.

I'm not sure. How did Luke return to the base? Did he just run there? Because if he just ran there, and outran the fucking slow AT-ATs that walk one step at a time with their stupid mecha legs, then a tank with tracks or wheels is going to reach the base way BEFORE Luke can walk there.

Leia and C-3PO get out on one of the transports as planned.

Han and Chewie have more time to put the Falcon back together before escaping, but it doesn't do them much good. They still have to play tag with the Imperial blockade fleet in an attempt to escape, with the slight advantage that more of the ships have been ionized and may still be out of action. However, the Imperials do not launch a coordinated hunt for the Falcon, because Darth Vader does not sense Luke or Leia aboard and assumes they escaped on the transports. The hyperdrive still fails, and they still have to limp to Bespin, but without Boba Fett trailing them because Vader had no reason to hire bounty hunters to pursue the Falcon in the first place.

Dude, the tanks and whatever wheeled/tracked vehicles would reach Echo Base FASTER than the AT-ATs because they don't have to friggin WALK there. Stormtroopers/Snowtroopers pour in way earlier because the tanks and APCs don't have to friggin plod there one step at a time with their legs, man. Have you forgotten how ridiculously slow the AT-ATs were?

General Veers gets neck-crushed by Darth Vader for "bungling" the ground assault, because it took too long to get his units into firing range of the shield generator, allowing the Rebels time to escape. Captain Needa does NOT get neck-crushed, because he did his part of the operation right.

Major timeline changes:
-Han and Chewie make it to Bespin without being followed, repair their ship, and rejoin the Rebellion.
-Luke's training on Dagobah is not interrupted by the need to bail Leia, Han, and Chewie out of the jam on Bespin.
-Luke gets to keep all his limbs, at least for now, and does not learn that Vader is his father until (much?) later.
-Han and Leia don't spend a long period full of unresolved sexual tension on the Falcon, so they don't get together until later, if ever.
-Lando Calrissian does not join the Rebellion and remains in charge on Bespin.
-Jabba the Hutt does not get his favorite party favor, but on the bright side doesn't piss off a Jedi Knight and probably gets to live longer.

Man. What if we gave the tanks non-LOS weapons that allow them to engage and destroy the shield generator from a firing range that's NOT line of sight? Like, gave them actual-factual artillery?

If the tanks launched a missile or projectile at the shield generator, blew it up, and used their superior tracks to reach the Rebel base (FASTER than the slow-ass AT-ATs), then what?