Star Wars: 10 Secrets Of The Stormtrooper You Didn't Know
7. Stormtroopers Aren't Always Terrible Shots, Sometimes It Was On Purpose
As alluded to in that prior entry, stormtroopers have picked up a bit of a reputation for not being the greatest of shots with a blaster.
And while they certainly missed their fair share of Rebel targets over the decades, one of the most infamous examples of these supposedly "precise" stormtroopers - according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, at least - being anything but was actually just all part of the plan.
You see, while many would ultimately assume the troopers were just entirely useless when trying to prevent Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo's escape from the Death Star in that first 1977 picture, the truth was actually hiding in plain sight all along.
Combine Leia's comments on the Empire letting the gang escape so they could track them to their Rebel base on Yavin IV with the scene just before that showing Grand Moff Tarkin talking about Darth Vader planting a homing beacon on the Millennium Falcon and all that terrible shooting suddenly makes sense.
The troopers must have been secretly ordered to not kill our heroes with their weapons, with Vader and co. knowing that killing them here would ruin their chances of finding the rest of their annoying adversaries.
So, there you have it. Stormtroopers were sometimes just crap on purpose!