SPECULATION Why wasn't the Battle of Endor aborted?

Don't forget that fiasco with his Mole Miners. I know that's not canon anymore but Lando is smart so he managed to launder all his EU credits into the new canon and that one still stings.

 

Lando was also the district attorney for Gotham city.

 

Good point, I missed that.

 

Because the losses of the Rogue One team, Raddus, the others and Alderaan are still too fresh in everyone's minds.

NEVER FORGET @Angelman

 

Don't forget that Interdictors are canon again. The Imperials probably had a handful nestled in the heart of the fleet, which set up their gravity wells the second the Rebel fleet got close to the DS2. Yeah, the fleet was "in the way..." but the Rebels could've shifted their plane of orientation to at least make a quick jump out of the system and then calculate a more orderly retreat. And remind me if I'm wrong, but don't gas giants in canon mess with light speed jumps?

And yeah, the Rebels had a golden opportunity to decapitate the Imperial leadership. Every time they thought they had a chance in the past, they've gone for it- and Palpatine knows it. He's been using the Rebels' desire to kill him to his own advantage for years.

 

I guess they figured if The Empire was allowed to finish the second Death Star all would be lost. It was now or never.

 

It's as Lando said, they wouldn't get another shot at their mission. When we see the events of ROTJ, we see that the Emperor knew many things. The Rebels were backed up by the Sullustan system, they had a large Mon Calamary force ect. After seeing the events of RO I am pretty sure that the Rebels knew full well what awaited them should they fail to take out the second DS. I could easily see the Imperials finishing the DS and then going over to blow up Sullust, Mon Calamary and who knows what other rebellion allied planet to set an example.

 

Agreed, they couldn't let that happen.

 

When the Rebel Alliance discovers that the second Death Star's shields are still up, and even after they discover its superweapon is operational, its leadership still knows that this may be the only shot they have to end the Empire's tyranny once and for all. The Death Star's outer hull is roughly 60% complete, leaving the only possible means of destroying the battle station. Once its construction is finalized, the Rebel Alliance will have no means of successful infiltration or the blueprints for a secret exhaust port that can trigger its demise. A Galen Erso only comes along once every 1000 years.

Palpatine, in all his Imperial glory, who spends the vast majority of his time cooped up on Coruscant with a bevy of different defenses and the power of the force, and Darth Vader are aboard this Death Star, along with several of the Emperor's closest advisers. Regardless of the challenge, the opportunity for the Rebel Alliance to achieve such a momentous victory could not be passed up because they would probably never get another chance to strike at the Emperor, let alone a gathering of his top officials.

And finally, it took months of surveillance, theft, deception, resources, asset allocation, and deaths to plan their attack on the second Death Star. They had mobilized the entire Alliance fleet for their strike, which would have made tracking the retreating Alliance ships far easier than a few starfighters popping in and out of hyperspace for a quick surveillance or attack run. The stakes were too high to turn tail and run, and if they did, the Empire, with its newest fully defended and functional superweapon would have wiped out everything, innocents and rebels alike. Their control would have been absolute. The only thing they could do was trust in their allies on the ground and the skill of their pilots and strategists. It was all or nothing.

Also, there were probably an abundance of ships that were not shown due to Jedi's budget, so the Empire's defensive line probably encircled the Rebel's fleet, keeping them from escaping.

 

Yeh I thought in one of the novels that after the Rebels came into attack the DS2 that the Empire came in and trapped them, blocking their escape route.

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 28, 2017, Original Post Date: Jul 28, 2017 ---

Lets not forget the Emperor was feeding them all the intel that he wanted them to know in order to trap them.

 

I forget exactly what the novelization says, but the dialogue supports the idea that the Rebels were pretty well trapped. Or at least the Empire thought they had them trapped.

Gherant: We're not going to attack?
Piett: I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping.

 

I'm going out on a limb and saying that the Battle of Tanaab will be the big space battle in the HS Stand Alone...

 

A Lando stand alone between Empire and Jedi featuring be Battle of Tanaab would be awesome. I've actually been thinking about small things mentioned in the films that would make great stand alone. Also, the HS film takes place well before Tanaab so we're not going to see it this round. Maybe a sequel Han Solo film featuring that bounty hunter in Ord Mantell.

 

Briefly discussed this in the Hoth thread, but I think it applies here as well-

If the Empire was trying to keep the Rebels from escaping (and they had plenty of time to prepare) why the heck didn't they have an Interdictor or two to prevent fleeing to hyperspace?

You know, outside of the obvious "Lucas didn't have the idea for them yet" meta-argument.

 

They had one there but the Ewoks shot it out of orbit with a catapult.

 

Ah yes, the infamous Ion Catapult. How could I forget?

 

Well, you know what they say... "Yub Nub".

 

Yep agreed on that, one chance to save the galaxy, they had to take it.

 

They probably did, we just didn't see it. Just because you don't see something, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

That's possible as well. Though, when discussing the possibility of retreat, the reason for not doing so given is the missed opportunity, not the lack of ability to escape. Maybe they were just trying to be inspirational or something, I guess.