Star Wars Summary

[Archibaldo]

If the Empire had destroyed Yavin to get a line of fire on Yavin 4. The death star wouldn't have had enough energy to charge another shot to destroy the planet. So if they had destroyed Yavin, the rebels would have had a hell of a lot more time to destroy the Death Star.

[Modus Ponens]

Dude, if they destroyed the planet, the moon's gonna be mighty fucked up. I'd say conditions for the rebels would go downhill FAST if the planet their moon orbits got blown the fuck up.

[rock_nog]

The real question is, would the Death Star have been powerful enough to destroy Yavin. It was, after all, a gas giant, and it was only ever established that the Death Star had enough firepower to destroy an Earth-sized planet. Though I will say, if the Death Star was capable of destroying Yavin, I seriously don't think they'd have to worry about recharging the laser to take out Yavin 4, because the destruction of the planet would do plenty of damage on its own.

[Modus Ponens]

Okay, naming convention question, here—I thought "Yavin 4" meant "the fourth planet of the Yavin system", or "the fourth planet orbiting the star that is called Yavin". Isn't the moon that the rebel base is on called Endor?

[erm2003]

Endor is the forest moon in Episode VI. Yavin IV is the fourth moon surrounding the planet Yavin and it is the location of the rebel base in Episode IV.

[Shazza Dani]

The planet itself is fully named Yavin Prime. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Yavin_Prime

[Archibaldo]

Even if the moon was mighty fucked up it would give the Rebels a bigger chance at evacuating before the Death Star had enough energy to charge another attack. Plus, the moons in the Star Wars universe may not work the same way they do in ours.

[Shazza Dani]

I believe if the planet was destroyed, and if the moons were somehow not destroyed along with it, they would be caught in the gravitational pull of the nearest/most massive object and crash into it.

[Modus Ponens]

Well, I think what would happen is if it weren't completely destroyed outright with the planet, it would continue whatever straight course it had before the planet was gone, and basically hurtle off into space.

[Archibaldo]

Perhaps the force of Yavin Prime's destruction would send the moon even further out into space like Modus said. Then the Death Star would have to charge it's laser again and get into range again.


Or maybe the Empire didn't want to destroy Yavin? They only destroyed one planet before the final battle. And it was only to get information out of Leia. If they were to go destroying planets willy nilly more would have been destroyed throughout the course of the movie. I don't think they actually wanted to destroy the planets, just use the threat of destroying planets to control the galaxy.