What If? the Star Wars original trilogy had its turning points dramatically changed? What if Luke failed to destroy the Death Star in A New Hope? What if he froze to death during that blizzard in The Empire Strikes Back? What if C-3PO got damaged during Leia and Jabba's negotiations in Return of the Jedi?
Well, this series of graphic novels is the answer. Infinities is split into three independent Story Arcs, one for each film. This means that they are not sequels to each but self-contained canon-divergent, alternate continuities. For example, in Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back, Luke did destroy the Death Star and everything is exactly as canon until he dies in Hoth. The changes that Infinities — A New Hope introduces do not carry on. Likewise with Infinities — Return of the Jedi.
The graphic novels ran from 2002 to 2004 under Dark Horse Comics. As the years passed by, Infinities would become a label for anything else deemed completely non-canon, such as official parodies, the Star Wars Tales anthology comics, and crossover content like LEGO Star Wars.
Tropes:
- Alternate Continuity: By virtue of exploring different, often quite drastic scenarios, each story arc is not only alternate in regard to each other but to the Star Wars canon as a whole as well. It's not canon that Luke has died or failed to destroy the Death Star, nor that Princess Leia entered a fight with Jabba after C-3PO couldn't translate anymore. These changes don't affect the next Infinities novel or (most of) the subsequent Expanded Universe stories.
- And the Adventure Continues: In stark contrast to the film it's based on, Infinities — Return of the Jedi has an open ending. Emperor Palpatine manages to escape from the Death Star before the Rebels destroy it, but Luke and Leia successfully manage to save Darth Vader's life after convincing him to turn from the Dark Side. In the last pages, Vader joins the heroes as they all vow to hunt down Palpatine together.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: In Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda uses his powers to make Darth Vader confront his sins. This means having to fight spectral copies of Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and potentially other Jedi whom he killed during his rise to power. Vader wins and kills Yoda.
- Colony Drop: In Infinities — A New Hope, Yoda ends up taking control of the Death Star that Luke failed to destroy several years prior and sets it to crash into Palpatine's palace on Coruscant, putting an end to the Empire and leaving Coruscant... broken.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Considering how little space was left, Vader's Good Costume Switch to white might just have been shorthand for "Hey, Vader's part of the Rebellion now!" since readers might not have known otherwise. The costume is memetic now and has its own action figure.
- Enemy Mine: Yoda and Darth Sidious (the latter presumably having revealed his Sith identity to Yoda) have to forge a temporary alliance to stop Anakin Skywalker, who became exceptionally powerful via the Dark Side thanks to the Son. The allegiance does them no good, though, as Anakin effortlessly kills them.
- Good Costume Switch: In Infinities — Return of the Jedi, Vader undergoes his redemption aided by both his children and survives betraying the Emperor for their sake. In the denouement, we see him standing alongside Luke and Leia as one of the good guys wearing a costume identical to his usual one, just colored white and with some more cloth and a little less armor.
- Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Infinities — A New Hope depicts the Sith taking over the Republic and turning the Jedi Temple into Palpatine's residence.
- Mythology Gag:
- Palpatine turns the Jedi temple into his residence in Infinities — A New Hope, which gets referenced in Star Wars: Tarkin (2014).
- In Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back, Leia becomes a Jedi following Luke's death in Hoth. This same plot is used in the non-canon Endor DLC of the second installment of The Force Unleashed.
- Point of Divergence:
- Infinities — A New Hope: Luke fails to destroy the Death Star because one of his torpedoes malfunctions. As a result, the Empire catches several Rebels trying to escape Yavin, including Leia, whom Vader trains as his apprentice. In the meantime, Luke trains with Yoda, and after five years he confronts Vader and Leia, ultimately ending when Yoda Colony Drops the Death Star on top of the Emperor's palace.
- Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back: Luke dies of exposure on Hoth, leading Han and Leia to seek Yoda. Lando doesn't betray Han, getting Cloud City destroyed. C3PO ends up in Vader's hands and finds out about Dagobah, leading him to confront Yoda (and get into a mental battle against the spirits of Jedi passed like Qui-Gon and Mace). Vader gets killed in a surprise attack by Han, leaving him and Leia to rejoin the Rebels and fight the Emperor.
- Infinities — Return of the Jedi: C3PO gets disabled by accident, forcing Leia to reveal her identity to Jabba and allowing Boba Fett to escape with Han in the confusion. Yoda dies before Luke can hear his final message, meaning Luke (and the Emperor) sense his death and Luke gets captured leaving Dagobah. Meanwhile, Leia mounts a rescue mission to save Han, but he's become permanently blind. Because the heroes don't befriend the Ewoks, they attack both sides at the shield generator, meaning Han and Lando have to take it out. Luke and Leia manage to redeem and rescue Vader, who dons a white costume and joins the good guys in hunting down the Emperor.
- In a nice touch, the highly trained Force users can sense that things are not as they should be, though they don't quite know what is going on. They just know the Force is going nuts. Also interesting, each scenario still results in the heroes defeating the villains, just with the plots changed significantly. (In fact, each ending may have actually been better if slightly bittersweet.)
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Lampshaded. In Infinities — A New Hope, Luke and Han encounter the red-robed Imperial Guard in Coruscant. In standard canon, they are commando stormtroopers, which is bad enough, but in this, they are armed with lightsabers. When Han asks what does that mean, Luke answers that red robes mean the guards are trouble.Han: They're wearing red robes, Luke. Tell me what it means when they wear red suits, Luke...
Luke: I think it means trouble. - Restricted Expanded Universe: Thanks to them being alternate continuities, the graphic novels can break the restrictions imposed by Lucasfilm —such as that neither Luke, Leia, or Han can be killed. Indeed, in the Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back continuity, Luke dies and comes back one In-Universe century later as a Force ghost in Star Wars: Legacy.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Infinities — A New Hope ends with Yoda dropping the Death Star directly on top of Palpatine.
- Trespassing to Talk: In Infinities — The Empire Strikes Back, Lando walks into his office in Cloud City only to find Boba Fett with his helmet off and his feet up on Lando's desk.
