In what would have to be one of my favorite examples of “over-reading an under-read text” or “double reading,” I’ve come across “A New Sith, or Revenge of the Hope: Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III“ by Keith Martin, which reinterprets Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope based on the events at the end of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

After Sith came out, lots of fans noticed some pretty major continuity errors in A New Hope: Why doesn’t Obi-Wan recognize R2-D2? How did Chewbacca end up with Han Solo after fighting in the Clone Wars alongside Yoda? Why doesn’t Darth Vader realize that Luke and Leia are his children? and so on.

Martin’s re-reading of A New Hope suggests that R2-D2 and Chewbacca are top Rebel operatives passing messages back and forth, that Qui-Gon serves as a relay allowing Obi-Wan and Yoda to communicate, that R2-D2 setup Obi-Wan and Luke’s meeting with Chewbacca and Han Solo, that Leia was intended to meet Obi-Wan in order for him to assess her powers of the force, and that Obi-Wan let himself die in order to create a disturbance in the force so that Darth Vader wouldn’t recognize Luke and Leia.

I think what I like the most about this theory is that it renders our original understanding of A New Hope as total nonsense. Everything we thought we knew turned out to be a deception or misunderstanding. In a way, the movie is radically different — nothing is random and everything was setup or manipulated by either Chewbacca, R2-D2, or Obi-Wan.

I’m not sure how serious Martin is about this interpretation, but it sure helps me appreciate the movie more.