#hard system

Well, it started off hard and then got soft. And that's why people keep complaining about little details and lightsabers changing colors.

I think a lot of people have heard something about a magic system when it comes to fiction. Namely, the difference between a hard magic system and a soft magic system. A "hard" system tends to focus on the details of the world the fiction takes place. Think of it like the science of the world. Avatar the Last Airbender would be a hard system, with rules and systems in place about as many aspects of bending as possible. A "soft" system tends to leave the details at the door, aiming toward a more ambiguous just-go-with-the-flow kind of powerset. The Lord of the Rings is a soft system series, where all the magical abilities in the series can be boiled down to "whatever makes the plot work".

Usually, a fictional world gives the viewer a general idea of what kind of system that they're going to be running on. Likewise, the viewer knows how to temper their expectations in terms of all the powers that can be used. That tends to boil down to "don't ask hard system questions in a soft system fiction" and vice versa. For example, were you ever wondering why the eagles in LotR didn't just come in and fly Frodo to the mountain and save everyone the trouble? That is a hard system question for a soft system fiction. Likewise, a soft system question for a hard system is essentially asking for a scientific answer in a fictional world. For example, "can nonbenders learn how to bend?" The answer for that ends up being an entire plot point of the Legend of Korra, with a bunch of details explaining how in the world nonbenders suddenly learned how to bend and all the life changes that come as a result of that.

Now, with that out of the way, let's take a look at Star Wars. Star Wars had started as a hard system, leaning into the "science" aspect of science fiction. There's an entire timeline of the universe before the movies ever started. Each part of a lightsaber has been broken down and named, even going so far as to explain where you'd get those parts if you wanted to build your own. Remember midi-chlorians? That was straight up a "rule" in the hard magic system, specifically to explain how people found Force users to be trained at their academy. The original expanded universe only built up on these hard details, which honestly are too numerous to explain here. The fact that all of that got retconned is a moot point. The thing is that the original fans of Star Wars were raised to believe that Star Wars runs on a hard magic system, with laid out rules and hard coded scientific facts that can be replicated, studied, and mimicked.

So what happens when Disney bought Star Wars from Lucasfilms? Well, they immediately turned it into a soft magic system. Things will just happen for the sake of the story and the plot. Holdo can now ram through a whole starfleet because damn that CGI is nice. A lightsaber can now be corrupted and turn red because damn isn't that a nice visual. The Force can now be used to heal wounds because I guess we wanted this Reylo ship to happen for a few minutes. Why couldn't the First Order have found a way to weaponize ramming starfleets and take over the galaxy? Eh, don't worry about it, it's rare so it's not worth looking into. Why didn't Anakin's lightsaber turn red when he slaughtered all those children at the academy? Well, fuck them kids, that's why. Why didn't Luke heal his father when he was fatally wounded all those years ago? Eh, he's a robot, probably wouldn't have worked.

For the people who probably weren't all that deep into Star Wars prior to this? They walked into this franchise thinking it was a soft magic system, or even more cynically, happy that this nerd thing has essentially softened the tracks so that they could get on and enjoy the ride. But for the hardcore fans that have been here since the beginning? Reading all their extended universe and played all the games and got immersed in the lore and science and mechanics of a galaxy far far away? I have to believe that they feel massively ignored, or even thrown to the side. The new people at the reigns don't care to keep this hard system going, and are essentially throwing it all away and catering to the new fans that are coming in. The first sequel movie came out in 2015. If you were a teenager when this came out, that means that your entire Star Wars history would involve seeing Star Wars as a soft magic system franchise. You probably don't really care that "the lore was wrong", because you were never taught to care about that in the first place. Disney sure as hell didn't want you to. That way, they can make up whatever they want with the Force and have it sell.