10 Crazy Star Wars Theories That Might Not Be Quite So Crazy
3. The Empire Leaked The Design For The X-wing To The Rebellion
This theory takes inspiration from the X-wing's Legends origins. As the story goes, after the Incom Corporation was nationalized by the Empire, Rebel sympathizers among the staff defected and supplied the blueprints for the X-wing to the Rebel Alliance, thus giving the Rebels their war-winning fighter.
But it you pay close attention to the Battle of Yavin IV, you will note that the X-wing's performance is rather underwhelming. Its opponent, the TIE Fighter, is demonstrably faster and more manoeuvrable – not a single X-wing is able to shake or outrun one – is no more durable, and its weapons no more deadly.
This is easily explained if it was not sympathizers, but Imperial agents who, aware that the Rebels desperately needed a replacement for their old Y-wings, leaked the designs for the inferior X-wing knowing full well the Rebels would jump at the chance to fly it. This theory also answers another perplexing question: why did Tarkin not dispatch all of the Death Star’s TIE Fighters? Because he knew he did not need to.
It may be one of science fiction's most iconic starfighters, but if this theory is true, the pilots deserve the glory, not the craft.