Star Wars: Rogue One - 10 Ways It Changes A New Hope

One of the most glaring (literal) plot holes that has bothered Star Wars fans for decades, is how the Empire, the ultimate military force in the galaxy, could allow such a potentially devastating flaw in their supposedly all-powerful super-weapon. Rogue One fills us in, as it turns out that the flaw in the Death Star was not naive oversight on the part of the Empire, but rather sabotage of the main reactor by Galen Erso, a traitor with the Empire's trust.

As one of the main designers of the Death Star, Galen was able to have the small exhaust port included with no issues whatsoever. As a standard exhaust port is something that no one would have any reason to take issue with. Even then, the exhaust port would be inconsequential, had it not been for his tampering with the main reactor, which is, in fact, what would cause the ultimate explosion a la Luke Skywalker's proton torpedo.

This was not incompetence on the part of the Empire, it was someone on the inside setting them up to fail right under their noses. Now, they now come off as a much more believable threat in regards to battle strategy given this information.

Also, as an added bonus, the Empire's decision to build a second Death Star in Return of the Jedi suddenly makes a lot more sense, since they knew that the only reason the first one failed was because of the aforementioned sabotage.