This is why Rogue One’s Saw Gerrera was basically bin Laden

Eric Milzarski
Jan 28, 2019 6:40 PM PST
1 minute read
Humor photo

SUMMARY

In last year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, they finally sealed the thermal exhaust port sized plot hole of how to destroy the First De…

In last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, they finally sealed the thermal exhaust port sized plot hole of how to destroy the First Death Star without "many Bothans" dying.


Jyn Erso, a former criminal turned rebel soldier, leads her team in the Battle of Scarif where they capture the blueprints — and vulnerabilities — of the Death Star, which helps Luke Skywalker eventually destroy the moon-sized weapon. Before she goes on that mission she's given another: hunt down and locate Saw Gerrera for Capt. Andor to kill.

Makes sense in the logic of the series. The group labelled "The Rebel Alliance" is a ragtag group comprised of many different rebel groups to restore the Galactic Republic. Gerrera was an extremist who gave the Rebellion a bad name and needed to be removed so they could claim morale superiority over defeat the Empire and the Dark Side.

However, in Saw Gerrera's final moments, he isn't given the "good riddance" treatment as with most villain deaths — he has a sweet farewell. Nothing about his character was deserving of that moment.

It's more than likely because they had a great actor in Forest Whitaker and didn't want to waste a good thing.

Comparing him to all of the heinous and messed up things done by the real world Osama bin Laden isn't too far of a stretch.

Related: This is why General Kenobi was basically General Grant

He was so wicked even the Rebels didn't like him

The Rebels aren't exactly without blood on their hands. Remember, they were willing to blow up a Death Star — and everyone on it — three times.

Gerrera isn't just a one-off character in the Star Wars canon. He's appeared in novels, cartoons, and comics as well. In the novel "Rebel Rising," Saw proves that he's willing to do just about anything to achieve his ends — including gunning down thousands of innocent lives to get to just a few Imperials.

The Mujahideen did the same thing happened to Osama after the Soviet-Afghan War.

(YouTube, MovieClips)

He used child soldiers

It's very subtly talked about and most people gloss over it, but the book mentions that he trained Jyn Erso from a young age. She mentions the reason she left was because she couldn't handle the fighting at age 16.

This is not unlike how the Taliban uses child soldiers to fight and plant IEDs. The Taliban knows that Americans and our NATO allies would hesitate before pulling the trigger on a child. So they use kids.

Just this scene in Rogue One

To set the scene: a group of soldiers are patrolling through an occupied desert city. Some on foot, others in the vehicle. An insurgent grenade is tossed in the crowded street, taking out a few. The insurgents pull weapons out of their robes and start gunning down the soldiers.

It's true the soldiers cause collateral damage, but the insurgents intentionally kill innocent to get to the soldiers. The insurgents are not afraid to blow themselves up to kill a soldier or two.

Which am I talking about? The real life fight in Afghanistan or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?

(YouTube, Orlok425)

My heart keeps going out to the Stormtroopers more and more.

Related: 6 reasons why it would suck to be a Stormtrooper in Star Wars

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