The other day I was thinking how odd is the character of Wedge. Dramatically it makes no sense but its one of those awesome universe building things that made us love the Star Wars Universe.

But think about it, why was Wedge in A New Hope? He is barely introduced and suddenly he is a big part of the plot. Biggs had his (deleted) scenes and he works as Luke's friend and partner. But Wedge just appears out of nowhere and he is the only one called by name.

But more importantly, he doesn't die. Every single pilot is killed one by one to leave Luke alone against the Death Star but for some reason this one pilot that we don't know escapes instead of blowing up. Imagine you are watching this for the first time and you saw Wedge running away... it would be weird to see that and not have a payoff, not have him reappear.

He is such an oddity...

And in the next two movies he appears again. He is never ascended as a character, we never see his arc or learn anything about him he is just there. You could write him off of ESB and ROTJ, he is only there to do things that any other movie would have left to the main characters. Any other movie would have had Biggs save Luke from that TIE. Any other movie would have had Luke destroy the AT-AT. Any other movie would have left the Falcon alone by the time they reach the Death Star core to show how desperate that moment was.

But he is there. And he is awesome. I'm sure noticing Wedge throughout the movies is one of those little things that made many of us appreciate this saga more. At some point knowing who Wedge was was the entry level to be a Star Wars fan.

Keeps the door open.

I've always liked this article: http://www.starwarsreport.com/2015/01/27/sorry-the-wedge-antilles-problem/ . The premise is that Wedge goes through his own hero's journey. His doubts at the first Death Star where he bails on Luke (did he really have to?), his growth and strong teamwork on Hoth, and then his triumph at the second Death Star where he confronts his own weaknesses.

Although, if anyone says the point of Wedge is Skywedge, well, I can't say I'm opposed.

Wedge is an exposition bot given name to sell toys.

On 01/01/2018 at 0:25 AM, melminiatures said:

But think about it, why was Wedge in A New Hope? He is barely introduced and suddenly he is a big part of the plot. Biggs had his (deleted) scenes and he works as Luke's friend and partner. But Wedge just appears out of nowhere and he is the only one called by name.

As well as Wedge and Biggs, Porkins, Tiree and Dutch are all called by name during the pilot chatter in A New Hope (at least they are in the version I watched the other day).

"I'm going in. Cover me, Porkins."

"Gold Five to Red Leader, lost Tiree, lost Dutch."

Now here's a question, who's flying the Y-Wing that survives the Battle of Yavin?

6 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Now here's a question, who's flying the Y-Wing that survives the Battle of Yavin?

Both the newcanon and Legends have taken that Y-wing pilot and given them their own spin.

In Legends, they were Keyan Farlander (protagonist of the X-Wing video game).

In newcanon, they are Evaan Verlaine (Leia's sidekick in the Princess Leia comic).

20 minutes ago, Ironlord said:

Both the newcanon and Legends have taken that Y-wing pilot and given them their own spin.

In Legends, they were Keyan Farlander (protagonist of the X-Wing video game).

In newcanon, they are Evaan Verlaine (Leia's sidekick in the Princess Leia comic).

Yeah, I thought I remembered Keyan being mentioned. Certainly none of the Gold Squadron pilots seen talking in A New Hope make it out alive.

Im talking about this in the dramatic sense. Wedge is an odd character to include in any movie. Imagine any other trilogy where there is a character that only appears in combat scenes and always survives for no particular reason. With no character background or development.

I agree, Mel. It's like they were purposely leaving stuff for the EU or something, which is odd because everyone figured Star Wars would be a one-off cult classic. And then he just continued doing that the whole time, even when they knew it would be a trilogy.

He's kind of a purposeful red-herring to the actual story, which is something I kinda love about Star Wars. Episode VIII was full of those random characters and side-plots that don't actually contribute much to the actual important events in the universe, but I kind of loved it for that.

I guess there's also sort of an "everyman" aspect to Wedge as well. He's like this sort of quiet person who's always in the background surviving and helping with the major battles, like the player character in a video game or something. So I guess if you just can't identify with any of the main characters on the movie, just about anyone should still be able to identify with Wedge.

I was hoping Jess would be the sequel trilogy's version of Wedge. Her, or Snap Wexley. But no, they didn't show up at all in The Last Jedi. So sad.

@melminiatures, that is an excellently written first post, and I will definitely be pondering Wedge for the rest of the day thanks to you.

@melminiatures - From what I heard, Wedge was created as a tertiary returning character to represent some stability in the military angle of the rebels. If all other soldiers are "expendable of the week" Wedge was there to represent that some did indeed survive to fight another day. It wasn't that he was the best pilot in the galaxy, it was he was a survivor. He was never originally created to be the ace that old EU eventually made him out to be.

But George Lucas thought he might not do more Star Wars movies. Thats why he killed Obi Wan and the Death Star so early. I doubt he would sacrifice those storypoints but save Wedge the surviving background pilot.

You are overthinking it, Mel.

It was all for the line: "Look at the size of that thing!"

Cut the chatter, Red 2!

13 hours ago, Parakitor said:

I was hoping Jess would be the sequel trilogy's version of Wedge. Her, or Snap Wexley. But no, they didn't show up at all in The Last Jedi. So sad.

@melminiatures, that is an excellently written first post, and I will definitely be pondering Wedge for the rest of the day thanks to you.

Well, Poe is sort of the analogue to Wedge but is thrown much more into 'main character' status.

Of course, Wedge himself has ended up much more as a major character as the various EU books picked him up and ran with him in the Rogue Squadron series of books and comics.

Snap - you might well see him 'back', as isn't JJ Abrams directing episode IX? He pretty much always puts the guy in a film somewhere.

18 hours ago, LagJanson said:

@melminiatures - From what I heard, Wedge was created as a tertiary returning character to represent some stability in the military angle of the rebels. If all other soldiers are "expendable of the week" Wedge was there to represent that some did indeed survive to fight another day. It wasn't that he was the best pilot in the galaxy, it was he was a survivor. He was never originally created to be the ace that old EU eventually made him out to be.

On that note, I had always thought that Wedge and Luke should swap pilot abilities in X-wing - precisely because Wedge is a survivor. Oh, and Luke made that kill shot on the Death Star, and used the Force to sense where the surface guns were and destroyed them.

But that's water under the bridge now. It's ok the way it is. There's reason for the current abilities, too.

16 hours ago, Odanan said:

You are overthinking it, Mel.

Yep. A lot of art is happenstance. A flaw in the marble causes you to model this instead of that. A burl in the wood changes the shape of the carving. The glaze cracks as it cools creating an unintended but interesting effect. Having talked to artisans about their craft, often the final piece (as beautiful as it is) was not their initial intention.

Maybe Denis Lawson just happened to be available 3 times for a cameo.

Then, "What pilot, besides Luke, is in all 3 SW movies?" became a viable trivia question.

Now, Wedge is a front-and-center extra in the lore, and you begin to add too much gravitas to his tadpole days.

Just had another thought - Luke is definitely a better pilot than Rey, and probably on par with Poe. A lot of people (myself included) said that even Rey's piloting skills in TFA seemed a little incredible, even though all the lore would suggest that she and Luke had very similar levels of piloting experience. So Wedge is there to show that Luke isn't magically surviving a battle that other people aren't. He actually serves an important purpose from the perspective of showing that Luke isn't really better than the more trained pilots, he's just luckier. Perhaps if many, many ships had fled Jakku at the same time, and Constable Zuvio's ship had also survived, people wouldn't have been as surprised by Rey's piloting skills, and would have understood (if it was done right) that the other ships were all better piloted than Rey's ship, but she was just very lucky and the Falcon is a pretty tough ship. So in summary, I think one reason Wedge is there to defend Luke from attacks from fans.

plus it is worth noting that the Lucas's pre-final cut, the Deathstar attack would have been longer and more involved, and as a result wedge might have played a slightly bigger role. said cut also included a bunch of scenes early in the film on tatooine with Biggs, as well as some at Yavin. which would have made wedge still just a named extra, but one that gets less notice since Biggs is there.

Named pilots are there to create drama, so they're not just nameless redshirts who die and are forgotten. A few lines, even just a name, gives them personalities.

Had Lucas had a little more time, he might have had a few more scenes to let us get to know the pilots before the mission, just like the WWII movies Star Wars takes many of its cues from (go watch 633 Squadron or Dambusters if you want the original trench run sequences). We'd have the tough, experienced squadron commander, the new guy trying to prove himself, the inevitable screwup, the comic relief, the fish-out-of-water, guy with unusual accent, the best friend, the older brother figure ... The closest one (Biggs) to the hero (Luke) will inevitably die to show how serious the stakes are the commander will be shot down to give the hero his chance, and the plucky underdog (Wedge) will survive to show the importance of teamwork and to have someone to contrast the hero to.

Edit: Man, 633 Squadron! Mosquitoes are beautiful, aren't they?

6 hours ago, Kieransi said:

Just had another thought - Luke is definitely a better pilot than Rey, and probably on par with Poe. A lot of people (myself included) said that even Rey's piloting skills in TFA seemed a little incredible, even though all the lore would suggest that she and Luke had very similar levels of piloting experience. So Wedge is there to show that Luke isn't magically surviving a battle that other people aren't. He actually serves an important purpose from the perspective of showing that Luke isn't really better than the more trained pilots, he's just luckier. Perhaps if many, many ships had fled Jakku at the same time, and Constable Zuvio's ship had also survived, people wouldn't have been as surprised by Rey's piloting skills, and would have understood (if it was done right) that the other ships were all better piloted than Rey's ship, but she was just very lucky and the Falcon is a pretty tough ship. So in summary, I think one reason Wedge is there to defend Luke from attacks from fans.

But that role could have been Biggs. Who in the original script was Luke's established friend and a more experienced pilot and person. Which ultimately dies to show how dire the situation is because now Luke is alone without anybody to help him. Not even R2.

The whole scene is about leaving Luke alone, to make the situation more tense and dangerous. Having Wedge just leave seems odd considering every single pilot in the scene has died.

On ‎1‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 4:52 PM, LagJanson said:

@melminiatures - From what I heard, Wedge was created as a tertiary returning character to represent some stability in the military angle of the rebels. If all other soldiers are "expendable of the week" Wedge was there to represent that some did indeed survive to fight another day. It wasn't that he was the best pilot in the galaxy, it was he was a survivor. He was never originally created to be the ace that old EU eventually made him out to be.

In fairness, he probably became the best pilot in the galaxy through the very act of surviving so much. He may have been talented, but he wasn't the best pilot in the galaxy at Yavin. Through surviving that and other missions, though, he got even better and earned his place among the best of the best. At least, that's how I always figured it.

20 hours ago, melminiatures said:

But that role could have been Biggs. Who in the original script was Luke's established friend and a more experienced pilot and person. Which ultimately dies to show how dire the situation is because now Luke is alone without anybody to help him. Not even R2.

The whole scene is about leaving Luke alone, to make the situation more tense and dangerous. Having Wedge just leave seems odd considering every single pilot in the scene has died.

I don't know, there's a sort of feeling of abandonment from Luke ordering Wedge away that I think would be missing if he had simply been blown up. Personally, I think there's something about Wedge leaving rather than getting blown up that makes the whole thing feel more like a military engagement rather than just a plot setup for Luke to be a hero. Wedge getting knocked out of the fight but not destroyed adds at least a little credibility to Luke's success.

31 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

I don't know, there's a sort of feeling of abandonment from Luke ordering Wedge away that I think would be missing if he had simply been blown up. Personally, I think there's something about Wedge leaving rather than getting blown up that makes the whole thing feel more like a military engagement rather than just a plot setup for Luke to be a hero. Wedge getting knocked out of the fight but not destroyed adds at least a little credibility to Luke's success.

Or Luke wanted to be the only guy receiving a medal. Han and Chewie kind of came out of nowhere and he couldn't really order them to go away. Unfortunately, thinking like that frequently goes into modern military engagements.

41 minutes ago, flyboymb said:

Or Luke wanted to be the only guy receiving a medal. Han and Chewie kind of came out of nowhere and he couldn't really order them to go away. Unfortunately, thinking like that frequently goes into modern military engagements.

I see! Then after Endor, where his conflict with the Emperor was overshadowed by Lando and Wedge taking out the second Death Star, Luke pouted and hid himself on a tiny island in a far remote planet!

Exactly. Why do you think he gave up on saving Dak during the Battle of Hoth? He suddenly realized that if he did anything awesome he'd have to share credit with his gunner. Same reason that he ran off at the first chance to face Vader, why he at first introduced only himself to Princess Leia when he opened her cell when there were two other guys in the cell block with him, and why he didn't even turn around and say 'hey you okay dad?' after he defeated his father in combat.

Luke's a glory hog.