With “Star Wars: Episode VII,” the force has awakened. Unfortunately, it didn’t do so in time for grammar class.
Since its release last December, “The Force Awakens” has gone on to earn rave reviews and some of the most ridiculous box-office numbers of all time. But it’s not perfect, which director J.J. Abrams confirmed to The Huffington Post.
Abrams already admitted to the error of having Chewbacca walk right past Leia following Han Solo’s death. But there’s another mistake that, while seemingly small, is light-years more egregious ― and it’s in one of the most iconic moments from the film.
The “Star Wars” opening crawl is the synonymous imagery that pops in your head when thinking about the franchise. All the “Star Wars” films have included it (even though there are reports of the upcoming “Rogue One” supposedly dropping the crawl). It’s the first thing the audience sees. You want to get it right.
Unfortunately, the “Force Awakens” opening crawl has been mired in controversy. MIRED!
The paragraph in question, which was noticed by a content editor at Mic, reads:
With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.
The problem is with the name “Luke” in the phrase, “She is desperate to find her brother Luke.” The name doesn’t have any commas around it, making it information that’s essential to the sentence. But the only reason it’d be essential is if Leia had more than one brother and Luke’s name had to be specified.
Yeah, that’s pretty heavy.
If Luke was Leia’s only brother, as we all believe, there would be commas around the name because it’s nonessential, i.e., the sentence has the same meaning without it.
The comma exclusion implies that Leia has more brothers ― perhaps some missing sibling we haven’t met. The revelation quickly went viral as the internet had a bigger meltdown than the Death Star.
Does this mean Vader had another kid? Holy Nerf Herder ...
HuffPost recently spoke with Abrams about his new movie, “Star Trek Beyond,” and during the call, the director cleared up the opening crawl mystery:
“I think its intention is pretty clear, and I take full responsibility for any punctuation errors,” said Abrams.
Sorry, conspiracy theorists. This is not the answer you’re looking for. Leia has only one brother. It was just a good old-fashioned typo.
Now we can focus on more important things, like: Who shot first? Who are Rey’s parents? And will Chewbacca Mom actually play Chewbacca’s mom?
Fingers crossed.