Hot Take: Ground Battles Don't Work in Star Wars

Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration in the title, but I have come to the realization recently that planetary battles on the ground tend to be far less effective storytelling devices than other types of conflict (such as dogfights and lightsaber duels) in Star Wars, and it's all because of the one big issue I have with the post-Disney content that I otherwise tend to really enjoy... scale.

I first mulled this over after the Mandalorian finale of Season 3. The idea that all of Mandalore could be taken by like a few dozen troops does seem a bit odd, but given how it was effectively a deathmatch between two dynasties on the brink of extinction, I think it worked. Far better scale than the rest of the Mandalorian conflicts we've seen in the animation (especially the Reblels one).

Think about it- a planet is huge. Maybe not as big as earth, but even if we were to assume that a planet in Star Wars is the size of one of our continents, it's a bit absurd to think that a single conflict could determine its martial and political fate. Like, can you imagine if all of a continent even as small as Europe was conquered by a battle involving less than 20,000 people on each side (which is quite a bit bigger than a lot of Star Wars battles anyway)?

Even with space battles it's a bit silly that an entire planet's fate is decided by such a relatively small skirmish, but at least they have a few things going for them. First, the planet below is a constant reminder of what's at stake- the planet itself, rather than some random field or forest. Second, to the victor go the spoils- if you've got the only Star Destroyer or Mon Cala cruiser above a planet, you actually are in a position of significant power.

However, if we were to see the absolute madness that would be an actual planetary battle, it would be almost impossible to follow.

See below for a few good and bad examples:

The Battle of Naboo- Good Example


I don't think this battle doesn't get near enough credit for how clever it is. Everything is tied together. The gungans as a distraction, the Naboo guard in their attempt to arrest the Trade Fed leaders, and the starfighters trying to dismantle the droid army. Everything actually matters. Even though the gungan army isn't huge, it plays a believably vital role in the planet being liberated. I think this may be one of the best examples of how to do a ground battle in Star Wars.

The Battle of Hoth- Good Example

Again, what helps with Hoth is that there is more at stake than simply having two forces slog it out. While the scale of the battle isn't huge (and stuff like Rogue Squadron II have massively and retroactively scaled it up quite a bit), the fact that the Rebellion itself is at stake does a lot of heavy lifting, especially since Hoth is otherwise a desolate planet (Crait also benefits from this). The Rebellion is the only thing there (for the most part), so it stands to reason that this planet's fate is decided by the battle. The troops on the ground are simply there to stall the Empire as long as they can. Honestly, I wish that we had more shots of this from a "boots on the ground" perspective... though (and I won't otherwise include it on this list), Scarif did this pretty well.

The Battle of Geonosis- Bad Example


On the other side of the coin is the Battle of Geonisis. This looks far more like what I'd imagine a planetary battle would be- chaos all around, shock troops and ships landing behind and in front of the enemy, battle lines basically non-existent. So, aesthetically, it does exactly what it needs to, and tbh I do think it's mainly just vibes for the movie.

But also, it's just so impossible to understand what's going on here. Maybe I'm being overly picky, but I'd prefer for a battle to have more narrative than just be spectacle for its own sake.

A similar battle occurs later on Utapau, again with invading Republic forces coming from above into ultimate chaos.


The Battle of Endor- Bad Example


The Battle of Endor has a lot in common with Naboo (something, something, poetry), but as much as I absolutely adore the Throne Room scene and the space battle (enough that ROTJ is my favorite film in the series), I just cannot find myself appreciating the ground battle.

And this is 100% not ewok slander, I love those lil guys. It's just that again, the scale is bizarre. The shuttle Tydirium, being a Lamda class shuttle has a crew of 20 max. That means that much like Hoth, this battle has been retroactively scaled up in a lot of Star Wars media since (unless we're to believe that other shuttles also went to the shield generator, though I don't think the movie really conveys that at all).

Also, maybe this is a personal nitpick, but the Rebel rangers at Endor feel like they exist only in scenes that they're needed. Unless I'm misremembering, you don't really see them at a lot of the key events early on at the forest moon, and it kind of seems like the only people on the shuttle were Han/Leia/Luke/Chewy and the droids... but later on there are just these random dudes around, too.

The Liberation of Mandalore (Rebels)- Bad Example


I know I mentioned this earlier, but good god is this "battle" silly. Rebels is one of my all time favorite Star Wars things, but the resolution of the Mandalore arc just didn't work at all for me. Everything with the scaling felt off.

Again, the two dying dynasties in The Mandalorian duking it out over the ruins of Mandalore was one this, but in this episode we have like a dozen lanky Mandalorians taking on the Galactic Empire at its prime. And not even in a way that really emphasises how unrelentingly cool Mandalorians are, half the screentime is Ezra Jar-Jaring his way around how to use a jetpack.

Then the thing is resolved with a pretty strange storyline where teen Sabine has some backstory with some technological terror she'd created when she was even younger. Look, Sabine deserves her time in the spotlight because she's an amazing character (I can't wait for Bordizzo's take on the character in Ahsoka) and sure, Ezra does a lot stuff probably beyond his station too. But this storyline is just one of those things that just makes the universe feel way too small, not unlike how Anakin is apparently the only human biologically capable of piloting a pod racer and people just view him as a random passably interesting slave rather than viewing him as a massive celebrity.

And sure, it's an animation. I'm taking it very seriously. But Rebels has consistently proven itself better than this, it does take itself seriously. It's not that I'm mad, I'm disappointed.

The Liberation of Lothal- Good Example


I like to end things on a positive note. After a rough season opener, Rebels Season 4 gave us a much better ground battle with Lothal in the finale.

Here's the deal- once again, the battle works because it has a lot of moving pieces working together. Starting off with the distraction on the cliffs, and moving to the plan to bring the Imperial city ship off Lothal, this battle might have one of the smallest protagonist armies on the list... yet the plan all comes together in a way that makes it believable that Lothal could've been saved by this group.





So, those are my thoughts. I think that a good Star Wars ground battle that has a proper scale consists of:

- a conflict of believable size given the planet at stake (a small uninhabited desert could be won with a small force, Coruscant would take a ridiculous amount of troops).

- objectives for each force beyond annihilation of the enemy, and that tie together multiple parts of the battle (including the space battle)

- coherency, rather than just total chaos.

Agree? Disagree? Any other battles you'd add, for either side? Let me know!

 

Thanks!

And this is true. Technically, Mando S3 leaves plenty of room open for future conflict on Mandalore, outside of the skirmish we saw.

Definitely! I didn't specifically list Mando S3 as an example, but I think it would fall into the "Good Example" category for this reason. Like I said, I like the "two dynasties on the edge of extinction thing going on there. It's super small scale, but I think it works... especially because (despite some out of movie claims that the First Order was bigger than the Empire) it really feels like Star Wars is an almost Tolkien-esque world of decline... where rather than magic leaving the world, it's that the wars and governments are getting smaller and smaller (and given how ridiculously big a galaxy is, it's super hard to convey that on screen).

I'm glad someone else agrees! I thought this might be a controversial opinion.

Fair enough. I suppose I'm viewing this from the lens of someone in 2023, who is familiar with how weirdly up-scaled it's been made retroactively. I still have my issues with it, and it feels like perhaps Lucas wanted to do some guerilla warfare stuff in Endor. Some of it works (I love the Ewok traps), but at times it feels a bit strangely pitched given the small and seemingly fluid force of Rebels.

Absolutely. In many ways, I think Scarif does pretty much as good of a job as Naboo. And I really like how effectively it portrays the Rebels as the underdogs- they're horribly outnumbered, and all basically doomed to die... but they're in one of the most vulnerable parts of the Empire. A real "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me" situation.

Agreed. I wanted to see more of Mimban so bad. I feel a bit silly saying this (having never actually been in a combat situation myself), but Scarif felt to me like the closest Star Wars has ever gotten to actual war in live action.

 

I thought about adding that too, but I honestly can't remember it that well, so I don't think I could do it justice.

Anything specific about it you'd like to mention?

 

Hmm, that's an interesting point.

I'm actually pretty okay with that. If we get to see just a slice of the combat, but other stuff is referred to that makes a difference like this, then I think this adds to scale in a meaningful way, without requiring a messy and hard to follow chaotic battle scene.

I wonder what other Star Wars media has done this? At a more macro scale, I guess this is sorta what the end of ROTJ does... if the Battle of Endor, in how it shows the Empire's defeat at a small remote moon, doesn't feel conclusive enough, we get shots of uprisings and victories all across the galaxy.