Gratuitous amputations
From Ewokpedia
"That's what happens when you play with swords." - George Lucas
One of the major themes throughout the Star Wars films and subsequent Expanded Universe canon was the gratuitous amputation of limbs, usually via lightsabre.
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Canon Amputations (films)
- Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul is maliciously bisected by Obi-wan Kenobi.
- Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones: Anakin Skywalker has his right arm lopped off by Count Dooku; Zam Wesell has her weapon arm lopped off by Obi-Wan.
- Star Wars 3: Return of the Sith: Count Dooku has both his hands amputated by Anakin Skywalker; Mace Windu has his lightsabre hand amputated by Palpatine; Yoda chops the arm off a Clone Trooper; Anakin gets thoroughly de-limbed by Obi-wan.
- Star Wars 4: A New Hope: The Aqualish thug Ponda Baba gets his blaster arm cut off by Obi-Wan; C3P0 is dismembered by Sand People
- Star Wars 5: The Empire Strikes Back: Luuke Skywalker lops the arm off a Wumpus on the Ice Planet Hoth; Darth "Johnny" Vader chops Luuke's hand off at Bespin; C3P0 is blown apart by a stormtrooper.
- Star Wars 6: Revenge of the Jedi: Luuke Skywalker gives Darth "Johnny" Vader his third arm amputation, giving Vader the record for "most arms amputated by lightsabre from a single character" in the Star Wars universe.
Canon Amputations (Extended Universe)
This section is a stump.
Non-Canon Amputations
- The Secret Tales of Luke's Hand: Luuke's severed hand from Star Wars 5 has its thumb cut off by Emperor Palpatine's foot.
Statistical Breakdown (for canon films)
- Total number of limb amputations in the Star Wars films: between 11 and 23 (see below)
- 12 by Jedi, 3 by Sith, 4 by Sand People, 4 by Stormtrooper
- Total arms/hands amputated in the Star Wars films: 15
- 17 if Darth Maul's bisection is counted as the amputations of two arms
- 13 amputations by lightsabre, 2 by blaster, 2 by gaffi stick
- Total legs/feet amputated in the Star Wars films: 6
- 8 if Darth Maul's bisection is counted as the amputation of two legs
- 4 amputations by lightsabre, 2 by blaster, 2 by gaffi stick
There is some controversy over Darth Maul's bisection, specifically whether it counts as zero, two, or four limbs lost.
Further controversy concerns C3P0. He is the character who loses the most limbs, with an astounding tally of 8, having been completely dismembered twice. However, all his original limbs were reattached after both incidents, so it is debatable whether any of these count as true amputations.
Apart from C3P0, the character who undergoes the most limb amputations is Anakin Skywalker, with 5 (He loses all four limbs, and one of his mechanical replacement arms is later chopped off).
Most Limbs Lost
- 8 - C3P0 (debated)
- 5 - Darth "Johnny" Vader
- 4 (2?) - Darth Maul (debated)
- 2 - Count Dooku
