How is Princess Leia a princess when her father is a senator?

The answer is simple, but easy to miss. Leia’s adoptive father is Bail Organa, senator for Alderaan in the Republic Senate. However, his wife, Leia’s adoptive mother, is queen of Alderaan. Would this not make Bail the king of Alderaan, trumping his lowly rank of senator? Not exactly, since he is only part of the royal house of Alderaan through marriage. Thus he is a royal consort, or prince of Alderaan. This makes Leia a princess, being the daughter of the prince and queen.

Is it technically possible to throw a lightsaber?

The question seems simple enough, but throwing a lightsaber is much more difficult than it appears. If you’ll notice, whenever a lightsaber is dropped or knocked out of someone’s hand, it immediately shuts off. This is because lightsabers typically have a dead man’s switch that must be held to keep the lightsaber on. This means that whenever a lightsaber leaves someone’s hand, it shuts off, whether it is dropped or thrown. For example, when Luke’s hand is cut off in Empire. How, then, does the lightsaber stay on when Darth Vader throws his lightsaber at Luke in Return of the Jedi? There are two explanations available to us:

1) That some lightsabers have a lock for their lightsaber switch, allowing it to stay on even when leaving the owner’s hand
2) That the thrower must use the Force to telekinetically push down the button as the saber is being thrown.

Either is possible. While the second explanation seems more obscure, it is the likelier one. Throwing a saber is rare in the films, indicating that it is a difficult maneuver. In numerous Star Wars video games, lightsaber throwing is common, but it is usually a higher-level Force power, indicating that it requires more skill.

Are Imperial Stormtroopers clones?

Yes and no. When the Republic first transformed into the Empire at the end of Episode III, the clone army was still in effect. While no one knows when their official title changed to “stormtroopers,” it’s safe to say that the first stormtroopers were in fact clones.

However, by the events of Episode IV, the clones of Jango Fett would be the equivalent of 80 years old or more, due to their enhanced growth hormones. These original clones would certainly not be serving in the military.

There is also a technical reason for the stormtroopers not being Jango clones. George Lucas, whose creative bullying has injected the original films with updated special effects and altered sound and image to create consistency with the new trilogy, changed Boba Fett’s voice in Empire to be Jango Fett’s. However, Lucas did not change the voices of the stormtroopers to match Jango’s, indicating that they are not his clones.

However, the stormtroopers could be clones of someone else. Rumours around the internet say that George Lucas claims that in the original trilogy, stormtroopers are actually a mixture of clones (not Jango’s but someone else’s) and conscripts, accounting for their different sizes and voices. No definitive source for this can be found, though.

Lucas can hardly be trusted anyway, since his movies are finished, and he himself is outside of the canon of Star Wars. Exactly what the mixture between clone and conscript is in the stormtrooper ranks will always be unknown.

Why is Lando wearing Han Solo’s clothes at the end of Empire?

Admittedly, Family Guy’s Something, Something, Something Dark Side brought this to my attention. Brian/Chewbacca says “Why are you wearing Han’s clothes? Seriously, watch the actual movie. Lando is wearing Han’s clothes in this scene. It’s really weird.”

I have no idea. That’s super creepy. You’re on your own, there.