50 most shocking moments in Star Wars history

2. Destruction of Alderaan (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Not only is the destruction of Alderaan one of the most shocking moments in Star Wars history, it’s one of the most powerful. At that moment, there’s a ruthlessness that no one ever imagined. How could they believe that anyone would take out an entire planet?

Leia lost so much in the blink of an eye and her parents were a prominent family on the planet, so this attack was personal. In A New Hope, Raymus Antilles is another character from Alderaan. He suffers at the hands of Darth Vader, but without his demise, Luke would’ve never been united with R2 or C3PO.

Leia, Bail, Brenda and Raymus are the main characters we see from Alderaan who have important roles in the movie. Although, Leia and Bail are easily more important in the bigger scheme of things than Breha and Raymus are. But, that’s beside the point here. An entire planet was destroyed and every single person who was there matters just as much as Leia does to the story at that moment.

Sacrifices are bound to be made during a war, but the people of Alderaan were never given the option to choose whether they wanted that sacrifice or not. In an instant, it was gone and that image is one that can be seared into one’s mind for quite a while.