Forest Warfare
Across the nine films of the Skywalker Saga, the heroes almost always win their battles when they fight for or launch an attack from a green, ecologically vibrant planet, and almost always lose when they fight for an arid, barren planet.
In The Phantom Menace, the heroes win the Battle of Naboo, a planet partially covered in jungle, by enlisting the help of the primitive Gungans, who emerge from the jungle to attack the Trade Federation army. Likewise, in Return of the Jedi, the heroes win the Battle of Endor by taking out a shield generator with the help of the primitive Ewoks, who use the forest to their advantage against the Imperial forces. And in A New Hope, The Force Awakens, and The Rise of Skywalker, the heroes triumph over the Empire or First Order’s planet-destroying superweapons by launching offensives from bases hidden on jungle planets: Yavin IV, D’Qar, and Ajan Kloss, respectively.
In Star Wars, the color green typically symbolizes natural harmony, integration with what has been hidden or repressed, and balance in the Force. It is fitting that the heroes are victorious when they are based on green planets – on two of which they win specifically by integrating with the hidden, primitive inhabitants of the natural world.
In contrast, in The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi, the heroes lose when trying to defend bases on the icy, snow-covered Hoth and the rocky, salt-covered Crait. It’s telling that in both cases the defeat occurs after the Rebellion or Resistance is forced to evacuate the green planet from which it claimed victory in the previous film (A New Hope or The Force Awakens). The heroes are woefully overmatched when they have been thrown off-balance.
But there are two exceptions to this pattern, and it’s significant that both of them are battles that take place during the Clone Wars. First, in Attack of the Clones, the Republic’s Clone Army, led by Yoda, successfully routs the Separatist forces on the desert planet Geonosis. But the Battle of Geonosis was secretly orchestrated by Chancellor Palpatine, playing the two sides against each other to consolidate his own power. In his conversation with Obi-Wan Kenobi afterward, Yoda is right to suspect it wasn’t really “victory.” Second, in Revenge of the Sith, by the time the Republic’s Clone Army, once again led by Yoda, finally overpowers the Separatist forces on the jungle planet Kashyyyk with the help of the primitive Wookiees, the Republic has all but officially become Palpatine’s Galactic Empire. No matter who wins or loses, the Clone Wars move the galaxy away from balance, towards disharmony and disintegration, because both sides are under the control of the hidden Dark Lord of the Sith.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Films: Episode I: The Phantom Menace / Episode II: Attack of the Clones / Episode III: Revenge of the Sith / Episode IV: A New Hope / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VI: Return of the Jedi / Episode VII: The Force Awakens / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi / Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: deserts / forests / hiding / nature and technology / primitives / victory and defeat
Interpretive Tools: Tripartite Soul Theory
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