Star Wars sources and analogues

The legendary King Arthur (illustrated in the center) has a significant parallel to Luke Skywalker as a young orphaned hero embarking on a journey to restore peace and justice to his society. Arthur's use of his sword Excalibur as a tool of achieving objectives is reflected by Luke's use of his lightsaber in the same manner.[4]

• Joseph Campbell's comparative mythology book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas, and is what drove him to create the "modern myth" of Star Wars.[5][6]
• E.E. 'Doc' Smith's writings contain elements central to the Star Wars universe.[7] These elements include:
  • Spherical, moon-sized spaceships.
  • Smaller, spherical, jet-less fighters with accumulators for beamed power.
  • Spacehounds of IPC includes light swords of slicing "blade of flame" and "planes of force" wielded by spherical ships, also attested in melee combat.
  • Smith's Lensmen have the telepathic powers of the Jedi derived from crystalline lenses mirroring Kyber crystals in Star Wars.
  • In Triplanetary, a "tractor beam" from an artificial planetoid captures another vessel and a damsel in distress adventure ensues.
  • Space armor with a general focus on melee combat using space axes.
  • Norlaminian worship of "the all-controlling Force" along with general use of "force" powers throughout.
  • A Golden Meteor is the emblem and insignia of the galactic protectors.
  • A galactic trade in drugs which are used as currency: Thionite in Smith, Spice in Star Wars.
  • A galactic corps of heroes with telepathic powers. (Note: Lensman was written 10 years before the Silver Age edition of Green Lantern)
  • Benevolent guardians seeking to fight evil. (Called Arisians in Lensman; Aquillian in the second draft script for Star Wars.)
  • A dark, unseen enemy seeking galactic domination. (Called Boskone in Lensman; Bogan in the second draft script for Star Wars.)
  • Special powers running down through family lines, with twins playing a significant role.
  • Epic space battles involving fleets of ships.
  • Large-scale weapons including a free-roaming planet-sized fortress[8] and the sunbeam[9] (capable of focusing the sun's rays, similar to Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens).
  • Jettisoning a space lifeboat with a data spool containing secrets of the enemy's ultimate weapon, the 'Grand Base'.[10]
  • Training with a helmet with a blast shield, yet able to 'see' due to special powers.[10]
  • Passing a ship off as a chunk of loose metal.[10]
  • Numerous uses of the word coruscant, a term which had declined in use after the 19th century.[11]
• The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov stated on several occasions that George Lucas's galaxy-wide Empire bore a close resemblance to the galaxy depicted in Asimov's Foundation Series. The greatest differences are that Asimov's Galaxy contains almost no robots and no non-human aliens. Asimov addressed both issues directly in the saga's later volumes, most notably Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth. Since Asimov's death in 1992, the Star Wars cinematic universe has gained new Asimovesque elements: The Phantom Menace introduced the planet Coruscant, which bears a close resemblance to Asimov's Trantor.
• Star Wars borrows significantly from Arthurian mythology; especially with respect to plot and main character development. The life and character development of Luke Skywalker resembles that of the legendary King Arthur. Both are orphans who later become heroes in their early adulthood. Both also have mentors who are much older and provide them with guidance and/or training. Arthur was mentored by Merlin; whereas Luke was mentored and trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi prior to continuing his training and mentorship with Yoda.[12][13][14] The role of Anakin Skywalker as the father of the hero, Luke Skywalker, mirrors that of Uther Pendragon who is King Arthur's father. Qui Gon-Jinn, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi's roles match that of Merlin during the era of Anakin Skywalker and Uther Pendragon respectively.[15]
• Star Wars shares many similarities with Frank Herbert's Dune,[16] including the desert planet setting with a moisture-based economy, spice smugglers, obese interstellar antagonists, and a mystical mind control-using sect with great influence over galactic politics — Herbert himself once enumerated 37 similarities.[17] The influence was even more distinct in early Star Wars versions, with Princess Leia guarding a shipment of "aura spice" instead of the Death Star plans. The script for Jodorowsky's Dune was circulating in Hollywood at the time of Lucas' early work on Star Wars.[18][19][20]
• Many Chinese fans of the franchise believe the characters and plot of the original Star Wars trilogy to be directly analogous to Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. Supporting this theory, the mythical concept of the Force bears striking resemblance to the concepts of internal energy and qi, which form a primary element in traditional wuxia literature. Other arguments may include the clothing style in the Star Wars movies being similar to that in the early adaptations of Jin Yong's novels, as well as the similarity in the main leads' motivation and relationship.

• Buck Rogers, another hero from pulp magazines from 1920s, and late comic strips (1929–67) and later a 1939 film serial and a 1950–51 TV series. Star Wars also influenced from its tropes.[3]

The classic science fiction film serial Flash Gordon served as an inspiration for Star Wars.

• Flash Gordon is the pulp-hero whose original property which George Lucas had sought to license before making the first Star Wars film, A New Hope includes many elements derived from the 1936 Universal serial Flash Gordon and its sequel, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. The basic plot involving the infiltration of a megalomaniacal outer-space Emperor's fortress by two heroes disguised in uniforms of soldiers of his army is drawn from Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo filling the roles of Flash Gordon and Prince Barin, respectively, and Ming the Merciless the Emperor. The Emperor's deadly, hostile planet (the Death Star/Mongo), a sometimes scantily-clad brunette space Princess whom the hero defends (Princess Leia/Princess Aura), a big, strong, hairy, animal-like ally (Chewbacca/Prince Thun of the Lion Men), a fearsome monster found underground and/or fought in an arena by the hero (the Rancor/the Gocko or Orangopoid), a city in the sky ruled by someone who originally works with the villains but later joins the heroes (Lando Calrissian of Cloud City), ray-guns, and dogfighting spaceships were all elements retained from the first Universal Flash Gordon serial. The opening text crawl of Star Wars is in the same style as the text openings of each chapter of the Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe serial.
• Lucas mentioned that he read the American translation of Perry Rhodan, a German science-fiction pulp novel series in the late 1960s and early 1970s and considers the series to be an "inspiration, less strong than Flash Gordon, but it influenced the design of many starships of Star Wars".[21][22]
• DC comics and Jack Kirby. There has been a long debate among fans about the influence that comic book writer Jack Kirby had on the original Star Wars trilogy.[23] Kirby's time at DC Comics between 1971 and 1975 was defined by his creation of the New Gods saga. This intergalactic story involved the New God, Orion of the planet New Genesis, being prophesied by the Source as the warrior to defeat Darkseid - the tyrannical ruler of the planet Apokolips, and, by doing so, bring peace to the universe and end the conflict between the two planets. Unknown to Orion was that he was the son of the evil Darkseid. Parallels can thus be drawn between the nature of the relationships between Orion and Darkseid to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, as well as between the mythical Source and the Force . According to some accounts, Lucas met comic book writer and editor Roy Thomas at a dinner in 1972, during which Lucas described the plot of Star Wars, to which Thomas noticed the similarity between this and Kirby's New Gods, which was then already a published series. John Williams who made the iconic Star Wars soundtracks since 1977, also did the soundtrack for the first Superman movie in 1978.[24]
• Marvel- Lucas original trilogy co-writer Lawrence Kasdan noted that the spin-offs were expanding the franchise into more of a shared universe. Far beyond the previously linear saga, adding that one of the strengths of the franchise was how it all fell under the same continuity in comparison to other franchises. Kasdan also contrasted Star Wars to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, noting that Star Wars features less comedy than the latter, and adding that he felt a more comedic approach like Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy would "not be Star Wars" to him.[25][26]
  • Jon Favreau stated that he took what he learned from doing the Marvel adjacent Ironman movies into doing The Mandalorian and Boba Fett in the Star Wars franchise, all these characters rely on high-tech armors.[27]

• J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings novels from the 1940´s inspired George Lucas creation of Star Wars, and in the 2000´s when Tolkien's works were adapted to film, director Peter Jackson was in turn influenced by Star Wars when making The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. And the movies based on Tolkien´s book inspired Star Wars again. The way the books influenced the Star Wars films include:[28]
  • Fellowship of The Ring, the first book of The Lord of the Rings has been compared^{by whom?} to A New Hope. Like Frodo who was adopted and raised by his uncle Bilbo, Luke was adopted and raised by his step-uncle and aunt Owen and Beru Lars. The passage in which Frodo and the hobbits meet Aragon for the first time in the "Prancing Pony" bar, is comparedby whom? to Luke and Obi-wan's first meeting with Han Solo and Chewbacca in Mos Eisley Cantina. With Chewbacca being comparedby whom? to elf Legolas due to his long life-span, and main weapon of choice, which is a bow-caster to Legolas' bow (although Chewbacca is an alien Wookiee who can't speak English, and unlike Elves, his race has suffered slavery, rather than being the dominating race). The scene where the heroes are trapped in the belly of the Death Star and must make a daring escape is strongly inspired by the Mines of Moria chapters. The group is unwillingly drawn down an alternative path when they discover the traditional safe route is destroyed by the enemy. The group is attacked by a tentacled monster and pursued by a resident army (Orcs in Tolkien's novel, Stormtroopers in the film). The destruction of Alderaan (and Luke's realizing his uncle's death previously during the film), could be comparedby whom? to Gimli's realization of the death of his cousin and the rest of the dwarves of Moria. Looking for an exit, the group only manages to escape after the old wizard (Obi-wan in Star Wars, Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings ) sacrifices his life to an evil monster (the Balrog in Fellowship, and Darth Vader in Star Wars) to buy the rest time to escape. With his last words he yells at his friends to "fly" instead of trying to rescue him. The group does not get time to mourn the Wizard's death, as upon escaping, they are immediately set-upon by a new threat(warg riders in The Lord of the Rings and TIE fighters in Star Wars). According to Star Wars website, a draft included Luke speaking a line of dialogue, directly lifted from Tolkien's novels. The respective actors of the Old Wizard characters, Obi-wan and Gandalf, both got Oscar nominations for their roles. While Jackson and Lucas also got Best Picture and directing nominations, for the first film in their respective trilogies.[28][29]
  • The Two Towers and The Empire Strikes Back, the respective second entries of each franchise, have been noted to portray the military advancement of the antagonists. Additionally in both stories, the ancient wizard returns from his death to keep helping the heroes. However, a main difference is that Obi-wan Kenobi only returns as a ghost to provide advice, while Gandalf fully resurrects and evolves from a "Gray Wizard", to a more powerful "White Wizard". Additionally, at the beginning of the film Luke splits up from the rest of the group, like Frodo at the end of "Fellowship of the Ring", with R2-D2, acting as the analogue for Samwise Gamgee. Gollum has also been cited as an inspiration for the character of Yoda. Luke meets the mysterious Yoda, who also speaks in a strange manner, at a similar point in his journey to Frodo meeting Gollum in The Two Towers. Although Yoda, unlike Gollum, is a heroic selfless character, and seeks to help Luke achieve his goals of defeating the empire. Lando´s betrayal is comparable to Boromir´s betrayal too (though Boromir's betrayal occurs in the first installment rather than the second).[28]
  • Return of the King and Return of the Jedi, the third installments of each franchise share a similar title, and also similar finale in which the heroes are assisted to victory by an Army they initially did not know existed (The Ewok Army in Jedi, and The Army of the Dead in King (although the walking trees Ents from The Two Towers have also been comparedby whom? to Ewoks). The real climactic battle is occurring elsewhere with Luke confronting the Emperor and Darth Vader in the Death Star throne room, and in King, and Frodo inside Mount Doom fighting Gollum and himself to destroy the ring. Though, Luke's accepting his place as a Jedi, would be more comparable to Aragorn's acceptance of his place as King. Luke's battle to forgive the sins of his father Anakin becoming Darth Vader, would be comparable to both Aragorn forgiving his great-grandafather Isildur for not destroying the Ring when he could, and Frodo forgiving Bilbo (even though Bilbo was unaware of the Ring's importance).[28]
    • In regards of characters, the duality of the split persona of fallen Jedi, Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, has been comparedby whom? to that of the hobbit creature Sméagol / Gollum. In both cases the former being the good person, and the later the corrupted one, with both characters acting as tragic figures showing what could happen to the hero should he be corrupted and abandon his cause (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, and Frodo in Lord of the Rings). Both of their descents to darkness was caused by an external factor in Sméagol's case it was the temptation of possessing the One Ring and for Anakin it was him being tempted by the dark side of the force. However Darth Vader's place as second in command would also give him a role, analogue to white wizard Saruman being the second of command of Lord of the Rings main antagonist Sauron (to which Emperor Palpatine would be the main antagonist equivalent, even if their backstory is very different). Additionally, Saruman has also been comparedby whom? to Star Wars character Count Dooku, due to both characters being played by Christopher Lee. Dooku being Darth Vader's predecessor as Palpatine's second in command (which Darth Vader would kill and replace) and furthermore like Saruman, Dooku was formerly on the side of good (Jedi) until he fell to the dark side due to negative circumstances, Lucas sought Christopher Lee due to Saruman's influence on Darth Vader, and his performance as Saruman. Additionally Star Wars The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series producer Dave Filoni, inspired the development of Ahsoka Tano on Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings novels and films. Andy Serkis appears as Gollum/Sméagol, while he is also Snoke in the sequel trilogy, both via motion capture.[28]
    • Anakin's character from the Star Wars prequel film The Phantom Menace can be comparedby whom? to that of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Both were shown to be extremely reluctant to leave their home for personal reasons (For Bilbo, his normal life in the Shire and Anakin, his life with his mother, to whom he was emotionally attached to on Tatooine) until they both gave into their desire for adventure (in Anakin's case to also become a Jedi) and joined their companions who paid them a visit, on their quest. Though the shire is a green land with a decent economy, Tatooine is a desert planet with a poor economy ran by Hutt gangsters. The Hobbit trilogy of prequels has been mostly comparedby whom? to the prequel trilogy of Star Wars, due to both receiving a similar reception (though the books were released in chronological order, the films made The Lord of the Rings before The Hobbit. Also, The Hobbit is a single book, adapted into three films).

Both series have received their own "Special Editions", the ones based on Tolkien´s works, greatly expand the run-time.[30]

• Star Wars is widely considered to resemble Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in themes, plot elements, and music.[31]

• Lucas has specifically cited the fact that he became acquainted with the term jidaigeki ("period drama", the Japanese genre of samurai films) while in Japan, and it is widely assumed that he took inspiration for the term Jedi from this.[32][33][34]
• The costume for Darth Vader was visually inspired by the character "The Lightning" in the Republic Pictures serial The Fighting Devil Dogs. The Lightning also had an army of white-armored stormtroopers and flew through the sky in a large triangular airship (the "flying wing").
• Darth Vader's need to wear his helmet to breathe recalls the oxygen helmets of the underground-dwelling Muranians in the 1935 Mascot serial The Phantom Empire, which are required by the caped Thunder Riders to be able to breathe on the surface.
• The Phantom Menace features a pod racing action sequence. This entire sequence is inspired by the famous chariot race of Ben Hur. The climactic moment when Sebulba's Pod attaches itself to Anakin's Pod mimics, almost shot for shot, the climactic moment of the scene in Ben Hur when Messala accidentally locks wheels with Ben Hur. Lines, scenes and themes from Ben-Hur had already previously influenced the Star Wars films. The conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire is comparable to the earlier film's depiction of the historical Roman-Jewish conflict of the time, with an ascendant Roman Empire, represented by Messala, threatening to wipe out the Jewish rebels and send them extinct. The same Chariot sequence also inspired parts of the Endor speeder chase in Return of the Jedi, which also includes a sequence where two speeders accidentally interlock. The film's famous early line "The Emperor is displeased, he wishes Judea be made into a more obedient province!" significantly influenced dialogue in all Original Trilogy Star Wars films, with the first four words, in particular, is frequently directly quoted in relation to Star Wars Emperor Palpatine character.
• Lucas has also cited John Ford's The Searchers and David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia as references for the style—if not the story—used in the films. A more direct homage to Lawrence of Arabia occurs in Attack of the Clones, as Padme and Anakin talk while walking around the Theed palace on Naboo. It was filmed at the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain, which in Lawrence of Arabia was the site of the British Army headquarters in Cairo, and was shot in an exact manner as the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Dryden (Claude Rains) discuss whether to give artillery to Lawrence's Arab troops. In the same film, Padme and Anakin also retreat to an estate called Varykino – the name of the Gromeko family estate in Doctor Zhivago. (Some also have considered Tom Courtenay's Pasha/Strelnikov character from Zhivago as an inspiration for Anakin/Darth Vader, but the similarities are likely coincidental.) Similarly, the chase sequence with Zam Wesell on Coruscant likely references Blade Runner; Lucas based many of the Coruscant cityscapes on Los Angeles in 2019. A reference to The Searchers occurs in Star Wars, when Luke discovers the burning moisture farm, while the Tusken Raiders sequence in Attack of the Clones recalls the climax of The Searchers. Han's showdown with Greedo in Star Wars resembles a scene in another John Ford movie, Cheyenne Autumn.
• Lucas is also a fan of Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the West, and according to Leone's biographer, Christopher Frayling, he listened to the score from Leone's film while editing The Empire Strikes Back. Many have considered Vader's first appearance in A New Hope as being an "homage" to the introduction of Henry Fonda's villainous Frank in the Leone film.
• The death scene of Yoda in Return of the Jedi is taken almost shot-for-shot from the death scene of the similarly mystical High Lama in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon (Yoda and the High Lama also both share a diminutive form and odd cadence of speech).
• The attack on the Death Star in the climax of the film A New Hope is similar in many respects to the strategy of Operation Chastise from the 1954 British film, The Dam Busters. Rebel pilots have to fly through a trench while evading enemy fire and drop a single special weapon at a precise distance from the target to destroy the entire base with a single explosion; if one run fails another run must be made by a different pilot. Some scenes from the A New Hope climax are similar to those in The Dam Busters and some of the dialogue is nearly identical in the two films. These scenes are also heavily influenced by the action scenes from the fictional wartime film 633 Squadron. That film's finale shows the squadron's planes flying down a deep fjord while being fired at along the way by anti-aircraft guns lining its sides. George Lucas has stated in interviews that this sequence inspired the 'trench run' sequence in Star Wars.
• Francis Ford Coppola- Lucas based the Luke Skywalker Han Solo friendship based on his own friendship with Francis Ford Coppola. On the prequels, during Anakin's massacre on Mustafar, the slaughter of the Separatist Council and the declaration of the Galactic Empire are reminiscent of the montage of massacres during the christening scene of The Godfather, a film directed by his friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola. They are similar in that the christening of one (the baby and the Empire) with the death of a group of others (the other dons and the Separatists).[35] Post-Lucas director Rian Johnson inspired one of the final shots of The Last Jedi where the Millenium Falcon door closes, on the final scene of The Godfather where a door closes on Michael Carleone.[36] While, Lucas wanted the sequel trilogy Luke Skywalker inspired on the cynic Colonel Kurtz from Coppolla´s "Apocalypse Now".[37]
• The Maschinenmensch – the robot in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis – inspired the look of C-3PO, although the Maschinenmensch is a gynoid whereas C-3PO has masculine programming.
• Ray Harryhausen used stop motion animation to create a mechanical owl, Bubo, in Clash of the Titans (1981). Despite Bubo's similarities (Bubo is metallic and expresses by whistling and rotating its head) to the droid R2-D2 of the 1977 film Star Wars, Harryhausen claimed Bubo was created before Star Wars was released.[38]
• Lucas used the term the Force to "echo" its use by cinematographer Roman Kroitor in 21-87 (1963), in which Kroitor says, "Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God".[39] Although Lucas had Kroitor's line in mind specifically, Lucas said the underlying sentiment is universal and that "similar phrases have been used extensively by many different people for the last 13,000 years".[40]

• Akira Kurosawa films:
  • The Hidden Fortress (1958) – A New Hope features the exploits of C-3PO and R2-D2, whereas the plot of The Hidden Fortress is told from the point of view of two bickering peasants. The two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are first shown escaping a battle, while C-3PO and R2-D2 are first shown fleeing an attack in A New Hope. Additionally, both films feature a battle-tested General – Rokurota Makabe in The Hidden Fortress and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope – who assist a rebellion led by a princess and engage in a duel with a former rival whom they fought years earlier. Lucas also features many horizontal wipe scene transitions in Star Wars, a technique used thoroughly by Kurosawa in his films. Similarly, the Princess trades places with a slave girl in The Hidden Fortress, with the slave girl acting as a decoy for the real Princess. In The Phantom Menace, Queen Amidala trades places with one of her handmaidens who acts as a decoy.
  • Yojimbo (1961) inspired the brawl scene in the Cantina. Its sequel Sanjuro (1962) inspired the hiding-under-the-floor trick.[41]
    • "A Fistful of Dollars" which is Sergio Leone´s first film in The Man with No Name trilogy, is an unofficial remake of the Kurosawa film "Yojimbo", that also inspired George Lucas. Clint Eastwood´s cowboy character without a name, also inspired the post-Lucas created main character of The Mandalorian, and also the Lucas created character Cad Bane from The Clone Wars animated series. (Though the episode Hostage Crisis that introduced Cad Bane, has the character also inspired on Hans Gruber, the villain of Die Hard, with it´s plot also being a loose remake of the Bruce Willis film).[42]
  • Dersu Uzala (1975), just two years before the first Star Wars movie, there are two scenes that bear a striking resemblance to scenes in Star Wars. The first is the Captain and Dersu looking out over the horizon, seeing both the setting sun and the rising moon at the same time. This is much like when Luke Skywalker stares out on the sky with binary suns in A New Hope. The other scene is when Dersu and the Captain are suddenly caught in a blizzard, and they have to quickly build a shelter to spend the night, to survive the cold. The Captain collapses from the cold and Dersu has to drag and stuff him into the shelter. This is similar to the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo cuts a tauntaun open with Luke's lightsaber and stuffs the unconscious Luke into it, when they get caught in a blizzard on the snow planet Hoth.
  • Rashomon (1950): On The Last Jedi (2017), from post-George Lucas director Rian Johnson. The Rashomon effect, is described on the part where Rey is told by Luke, a description of how he considered murdering his nephew Ben Solo in his sleep, due to feeling his inevitable fall to the darkside of The Force. Then Solo, who by that point had renamed himself as Kylo Ren and destroyed multiple planets, tells his perspective, which causes Luke to tell a third perspective of the event. All whom cause a reinterpretation of a similar even in Return of the Jedi.[43]
• Seven Samurai also inspired an episode of The Clone Wars animated series, and the first Star Wars comic with an original plot, that wasn't adapted from the film. The Mandalorian released its Chapter 4: Sanctuary has also been compared to Seven Samurai.[44]

George Lucas claims he became a fan of Star Trek when the original series broadcast in the late 1960s which played an influence on the development of Star Wars in 1977. Lucas claimed he also visited Star Trek conventions.[45] The biggest similarity comes from post-George Lucas, director J. J. Abrams who directed 2 films for each franchise and produced 3. First he directed Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and produced of Star Trek Beyond (2016) as well as the previous 2, and later jumped to producing 3 Star Wars, directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Rise of Skywalker (2019), and producing The Last Jedi (2017) set between both. Star Trek (2009) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) are each the first entries in expected trilogies. In addition to Abrams, actors such as Simon Pegg appear in both series. These films received favorable critical and commercial response and revived interest for both franchises. Except for the Abrams written and directed Rise of Skywalker (2019), which has been the worst received live-action Star Wars film on Rotten Tomatoes.[46]

A depiction of a science fictional civilization living a medieval Earth-like existence; a concept that Star Wars is a major example of.[47]

• Ancient and medieval history play amongst the strongest and significant influences on Star Wars which reflects ancient Earth history in its settings, including architectural, social and hierarchical structures (i.e. the existence of monarchies and empires) as well as story lines which reflect ancient and medieval history. The transformation of the Old Republic into the Galactic Empire parallels that of the Roman Republic which transformed into the Roman Empire in the same manner of conspiracy and manipulation. Lucas was quoted as saying: "I love history, so while the psychological basis of Star Wars is mythological, the political and social bases are historical".[48]
• Author Nick Jamilla explains that unlike mainstream futuristic stories, with Star Wars, George Lucas ties in science fiction with ancient history, comparing the Jedi to the Samurai and historical European swordsmanship. He also parallels the spiritual aspects of the Jedi to eastern monks and philosophy.[49][50]
• Star Wars reflects ancient history in its planetary settings. For example, the planet Coruscant imitates Ancient Rome as the capital of the Old Republic and later the Galactic Empire; whereas Tatooine (referring to Tataouine - a province south of Tunis in Tunisia, roughly where Lucas filmed for the planet) imitates the ancient Middle East (specifically the Arabian Peninsula) and North Africa in ancient times as being barren desert and sparsely populated (which it still is today to a certain degree).[51] Coruscant and Naboo are also two of many planets in the Star Wars galaxy exhibit architecture inspired by those of ancient Greece, Rome and other ancient southern/southeastern European societies.
• In his book The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, author Tom Henthorne argues that 1970s science fiction movies such as the Star Wars films and E.T. bring back neo-medieval themes at young boys with a masculine tone in his view. He argues the knighthood-type plots give a sense of encouragement to young boys and give girls the image of being their prizes or captives waiting to be rescued.[52]
• The Samurai warriors of Japan are somewhat parallel to the concept of the Jedi as an elite warrior class specialized in combat and swordsmanship techniques charged with protecting their respective societies.[53]

The stormtroopers from the movies share a name with the Imperial German stormtroopers and the Nazi German Sturmabteilung (lit. Stormtrooper). Imperial officers' uniforms also resemble some historical German Army uniforms and the political and security officers of the Empire resemble the black clad SS down to the imitation silver death's head insignia on their officer's caps (although the uniforms technically had more basis with the German Uhlans within the Prussian Empire[54]). World War II terms were used for names in Star Wars; examples include the planets Kessel (a term that refers to a group of encircled forces) and Hoth (Hermann Hoth was a German general who served on the snow-laden Eastern Front).[48] Lucas himself has drawn parallels between Palpatine and his rise to power to historical dictators such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler, saying the films exist as an examination of how democracies allow themselves to become dictatorships.[55] The space battles in A New Hope were based on filmed World War I and World War II dogfights.[3]

Continuing the use of Nazi inspiration for the Empire, J. J. Abrams, the director of The Force Awakens, has said that the First Order, an Imperial offshoot which serves as the main antagonist of the sequel trilogy, is also inspired by another aspect of the Nazi regime. Abrams spoke of how several Nazis fled to Argentina after the war and he claims that the concept for the First Order came from conversations between the scriptwriters about what would have happened if they had started working together again.[56]

In a 2005 interview, George Lucas was asked the origins of the name "Darth Vader", and replied: "Darth is a variation of dark. And Vader is a variation of father. So it's basically Dark Father." (Rolling Stone, June 2, 2005). Vader is the Dutch word for "father" (the Dutch word is instead pronounced "fah-der"), and the German word for "father" (Vater) is similar. However, in the earliest scripts for Star Wars, the name "Darth Vader" was given to a human Imperial general with no apparent relationships.[57]

Commentators have noted the strong political analogies in the Star Wars universe to contemporary American politics. Major analogies include Lucas's opposition to the Vietnam War being seen in the original trilogy.[58] Lucas even said in 2005 that Star Wars "was really about the Vietnam War, and that was the period where Richard Nixon was trying to run for a [second] term, which got me to thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships. Because the democracies aren't overthrown; they're given away."[59] This claim was likewise backed up by the 1973 draft for the first movie, then-called The Star Wars, where Lucas specifically mentioned that the theme involved an independent planet named Aquillae that was compared to North Vietnam, and that the Empire was "America 10 years from now",[60][61] and by Walter Murch, who claimed Lucas, after his failure with Apocalypse Now, decided to do Star Wars as a way to channel the anti-war and pro-Vietcong ideology in a disguised form.[62] Ian McDiarmid, when recalling something Lucas told him during filming of Return of the Jedi, also implied that the Oval Office, and in particular, Nixon's presidency, played a role in the design of the Emperor's throne room.[63] Political themes in Rogue One have also been noted.[64][65]

The political and military conflict of the prequel films, especially Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, bears a strong similarity to elements of the American Civil War (1861–1865): the Galactic Republic's Clone army (officially called the "Grand Army of the Republic") represents the Union Army (whose veteran organization was named Grand Army of the Republic), while the Confederacy of Independent Systems mimics the Confederate States of America (also abbreviated as "the Confederacy").[66][67]