The Themes of Star Wars

I. Love. Star Wars. More specifically, I love the music of Star Wars. Composer John Williams is known for his themes, and some of his best-known themes reside in Star Wars. It's not hard to find themes in Star Wars, some of the songs on the soundtracks directly state themselves to be themes, like Leia's Theme in A New Hope (1977), or Yoda's Theme in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). But while there are full themes that are fairly obvious throughout the movies, there are some themes present that aren't so obvious.

The most famous example of an unstated theme comes from the first movie, A New Hope, known as either Binary Sunset or the Force Theme. In the original trilogy the theme is associated speicfically with the character Luke Skywalker, but as the franchise has expanded the theme has more recently become associated with any use of the Force by a Jedi or Jedi-in-training. The theme is most famously played in A New Hope after Luke has just discovered a piece of a hologram transmission of a mysterious woman (Princess Leia), and has an argument with his aunt and uncle about being able to leave the family farm to begin pilot training. He then goes outside his house and looks out at the twin suns of his planet. There's no dialogue, and without the music, this would be one of the most random shots in the entire film, but the swelling music allows the audience in on Luke's inner feelings of being trapped on his home planet and longing for adventure.

The best way of clearly listening to the various themes in Star Wars is to find the sound mixes for the end credit sequences. With the movie over the music is allowed to play freely as opposed to serving the tone of the movie. Of all the Star Wars end credit sequences, my favorite has to be from The Force Awakens (2015), as it's the most cohesive and dramatic of the bunch. It also has the most themes jam-packed into it, so hold on, because breaking this down is going to get long. The song that contains the end credits sequence in the soundtrack actually starts before the end of the movie: Rey has just discovered now-Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and the theme for Ahch-To Island plays, a theme that comes back more prominently in the next film, The Last Jedi (2017). She holds out his lightsaber towards him as the screen dramatically cuts to the credits.

The main theme starts every end credit sequence, the same theme that plays at the beginning of the movie. The next theme is Rey's theme, one of the more obviously stated themes that's also its own song by the same name. The next theme is Kylo Ren's theme, a shorter motif that is introduced during the sequence Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle close to the beginning of the movie, and continues to appear in more understated variations during his other scenes. The theme after that is the movie's battle theme, all of the Star Wars movies from the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy have their own battle theme, with the prequel trilogy having Duel of the Fates, a choral battle theme that spans all three films. The next theme is March of the Resistance, the theme for the protagonist organization of the sequel trilogy. As the credits sequence finishes, the music decrescendos, playing a hint of Binary Sunset, before transitioning into a softer variation of Rey's theme, and finally the trumpet motif from March of the Resistance plays before closing with chimes playing the main theme.

In conclusion, while most people can hum the main theme of Star Wars, there are so many other interlocking themes within the music brought together by composer John Williams. And hopefully this overview of the various themes of Star Wars will enhance your appreciation of the series, as you listen to realize what themes play when.