Top 10 Most Unexpected Brutal Deaths in Star Wars
#10: Admiral Ozzel Is Force Choked
“Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) The Empire is so full of fools, it’s a wonder the rebels have such a hard time with them. One such figure is Admiral Ozzel. While scouring the galaxy for their quarry, Ozzel dismisses Hoth as their hiding place, only to be immediately overruled by Darth Vader. When the fleet makes the jump to Hoth, they come out of lightspeed too early, alerting the rebels that they’re there. Vader, being the understanding supervisor that he is, contacts Ozzel via comms and strangles him with the Force over the vast distance of space! While it’s not the first time Vader Force chokes someone, Ozzel is the first one he kills this way. Plus, it’s just so casual!
#9: Rathtars Run Amok
“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” (2015) Han Solo makes plenty of friends smuggling things across the galaxy. And enemies. Unfortunately, it’s his enemies who catch up to him after he meets Finn and Rey on the Millennium Falcon. Solo’s freighter is boarded by a Guavian Death Gang, as well as their rivals, Kanjiklub. While Han tries unsuccessfully to talk his way out of his debts, Rey unintentionally comes to his rescue. She releases Han’s latest cargo – Rathtars. The vicious, tentacled creatures rip their way through the gangsters, and the heroes only barely escape the carnage. The gangs should’ve known better than to tangle with Han.
#8: Supreme Leader Snoke Is Cut Down
“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” (2017) Supreme Leader Snoke is a mysterious figure in the Sequel Trilogy, which led to a lot of speculation as to his identity. The First Order’s leader has Kylo Ren bring Rey to his throne room after her capture. After showing Rey how hopeless she is against him, Snoke urges his apprentice to cut down his true enemy. However, Ren doesn’t do as he or the audience expects. He instead ignites Rey’s lightsaber remotely and cuts Snoke in half! Fans were shocked when the new apparent big bad was killed off in only the second movie and in such a grisly way.
#7: Oola’s Last Dance
“Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” (1983) Jabba the Hutt is a brutal and repugnant crime lord. The big slug still enjoys music and dancing though, even if he’s probably not great at either. One of his slave dancers is Oola, a Twi’lek woman. During her dance, Jabba tugs on her chain to bring her closer, but when she resists, he has her thrown into the Rancor pit. While we don’t see the deed, her scream is enough to make it clear that she was killed and probably eaten. Still better than listening to “Jedi Rocks” though.
#6: Han Solo Reunites with His Son
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“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” (2015) Han Solo’s goals in attacking Starkiller Base are twofold – blow it up, and save his son Ben from the Dark Side. And he succeeds...at one of them. While he and the others are making their escape from the base, Solo confronts Ben, or ‘Kylo Ren’, on a bridge. Han wants him to leave the First Order, and while Ren is conflicted, he makes his choice – and stabs his own father with his lightsaber. The death of a beloved character gets us every time, and the fact that it was his own son who did it? That just makes it even crueler!
#5: Count Dooku Is Executed
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“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” (2005) The “Star Wars” movies are no stranger to shocking beheadings. One need only look to Jango Fett in “Attack of the Clones.” However, even more surprising is the death of Count Dooku. While ‘rescuing’ Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi duel Dooku aboard an attacking flagship. Obi-Wan is knocked out, and Anakin manages to defeat Dooku alone by tapping into his darker impulses. He has the Sith Lord at his mercy and down two hands, but Palpatine urges Anakin to murder the Separatist Leader in cold blood. Anakin does so, using two lightsabers to cut Dooku’s head off his shoulders! As shocking as it was for us, Dooku was even more taken aback by Palpatine’s betrayal.
#4: The Whole Crew Dies
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“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016) When Jyn Erso proposes stealing the plans for the Death Star, the Rebel leaders are too timid to back her. So she and her group go rogue and infiltrate an imperial base on Scarif. We were sure that the Rebel leaders would change their mind and arrive with the fleet. And they do … but it’s too late to save anyone. One by one, the crew members die. Bodhi takes a grenade. Chirrut Imwe dies in his friend’s arms, who dies soon afterwards. K-2SO sacrifices himself to give Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor time. They die too when the Death Star fires at the planet. Sure, the Rebels always face long odds, but seeing every major character in the story die? That’s pretty dark for “Star Wars.”
#3: Alderaan Is Destroyed
“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977) The Empire can often be the butt of the joke among fans, but at this moment, there’s nothing more terrifying than the power they display here. After Princess Leia is captured, she’s brought before Moff Tarkin, who threatens to destroy her home planet of Alderaan unless she reveals where the rebels are hiding. Although Leia gives a fake location, Tarkin doesn’t bother checking, since the planet is too remote for its destruction to instill the fear they need the Death Star to create. So he has them destroy Alderaan anyway. Everyone Leia knew and cared for on the planet is gone in an instant. Obi-Wan can feel it through the Force, and it sends chills down our spines every time too.
#2: Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru’s Fiery Demises
“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977) Luke’s aunt and uncle, Owen and Beru Lars, don’t get much screen time in their first appearance, but it’s clear they care for their nephew. When Luke takes their new droids to see old Ben Kenobi, he and the Jedi stumble upon the remains of the Jawas that sold the droids to his family. From there, the Stormtroopers’ next target is clear – Luke’s home. He rushes back, but it’s too late. The farm is burned, and his family’s charred skeletons lie next to it. We may not see the deed itself, but the grim result speaks volumes about the brutality of their deaths.
#1: Anakin Slaughters the Tuskens
“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” (2002) Darth Vader is known for having a bad temper and for killing a lot of innocent people. It was tempting to discuss his killing of the Jedi Younglings in “Revenge of the Sith”. But an even more shocking mass killing occurred before he turned his allegiance to the Dark Side. After returning home to Tatooine, Anakin is disturbed to learn that his mother has been captured by Tusken Raiders. When he arrives at the Sand People’s camp, Anakin is too late, and his mother dies in his arms. He doesn’t handle it well. In his grief and anger, Anakin kills everyone in the camp – from the warriors to the children.
