Why did nearly every Tauntaun get killed in ESB?

[JediTricks]

I just picked up both the Target-exclusive Tauntauns on clearance, and it got me thinking about how just about every tauntaun we meet in Empire gets killed.

1) Luke's Tauntaun is killed by a Wampa.

2) There's that dead Tauntaun in Echo Base that 2-1B is examining that we never learn got killed by another Wampa.

3) Han's Tauntaun dies of freezing temperatures and exhaustion, I assume, as it just plops down dead despite being native to Hoth.

4) Darth Vader just offscreen kills all the other Tauntauns in Echo Base with a combination of lightsaber throws and Force chokes.

That last one only happened in my imagination, but I think there's only 1 other on-screen Tauntaun at all and he's in the background. We never see these majestic snow-lizard steeds during the battle, and it seems unlikely that the Rebellion took them with when they evacuated.

So it's hard out here for a Tauntaun.

[El Chuxter]

Interesting question. I don't think the EU ever addressed this, either. An army of Tauntaun-riding Rebels taking down an AT-AT, perhaps by running around and making it trip itself, or by running around it and tying it up like the Snowspeeders did, would've been cool.

Which brings up an interesting point--why were the only AT-ATs that were destroyed, destroyed by Snowspeeders. The X-Wings worked, and had more firepower. There were Y-Wings, too, even if we didn't see them, and they're heavy bombers (plus the Imps had no visible air support). And the ground-based cannons look like they had more powerful blasters than the Snowspeeders, which, somehow, were able to blow up AT-ATs once they're tripped (which has always bothered me--did they have shield generators that were based on gyroscopes and disabled when they fell, or something?).

Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it, as awesome as the movie is and as visually impressive and dramatic as that battle is, the Battle of Hoth was a logistical fustercluck for both sides.

[Lord Malakite]

We never see these majestic snow-lizard steeds during the battle

You obviously never played the "Battle of Hoth" stage from Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike on the Gamecube.

[JediTricks]

Interesting question. I don't think the EU ever addressed this, either. An army of Tauntaun-riding Rebels taking down an AT-AT, perhaps by running around and making it trip itself, or by running around it and tying it up like the Snowspeeders did, would've been cool.

At the very least, the Tauntaun-mounted Rebels could have fought the foot soldiers that were being delivered by the AT-ATs, but I like the idea of the Rebels riding their Tauntauns out to the AT-ATs and firing shoulder-mounted rockets and throwing explosives onto the AT-ATs, even if it were futile.

Which brings up an interesting point--why were the only AT-ATs that were destroyed, destroyed by Snowspeeders. The X-Wings worked, and had more firepower. There were Y-Wings, too, even if we didn't see them, and they're heavy bombers (plus the Imps had no visible air support). And the ground-based cannons look like they had more powerful blasters than the Snowspeeders, which, somehow, were able to blow up AT-ATs once they're tripped (which has always bothered me--did they have shield generators that were based on gyroscopes and disabled when they fell, or something?).

In the film, they mention that they're having trouble adapting the speeders to the cold, the Snowspeeder is actually a T-47 Airspeeder they adapt to Hoth, and even as they're adapting them they have trouble using them, so I think that would suggest the Y-wings and X-wings aren't adapted to fight in the cold. Also, we've never seen an atmospheric battle with X-wings and Y-wings (except for the Y-wings on Clone Wars), it may not be possible for them to maneuver for battles while in atmo.

The AT-ATs have strong armor, I guess when they fall the plates either dislodge or the weak spots are exposed (if you've ever played Atari 2600 ESB... ). However, the Star Trek nerd in me says that the AT-AT's armor plating appears to be bolstered by some sort of coherence assistance, when the Rebel ground weapons fire into their legs the blasts get absorbed as they spread, so they could be using an energy-dispersal or plate-strengthening magnetic system that can be knocked offline.

Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it, as awesome as the movie is and as visually impressive and dramatic as that battle is, the Battle of Hoth was a logistical fustercluck for both sides.

In the Making of ESB book, during the planning stages it appears that the shield generator was much more important to the battle than the final movie conveys. The shields are bigger, the AT-ATs are chasing and firing on Rebel scouts on Tauntauns, they have tons of Snowtroopers pouring out of the AT-ATs on foot (including the downed walkers - the only reason the Veers walker is destroyed is because Rogue Jr crashes into the slit window at the front), and there's more of an effort to blow up that shield generator. I think some of that got lost in translation as realities of making an even bigger SW movie.

You obviously never played the "Battle of Hoth" stage from Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike on the Gamecube.

This is true, I played N64's Rogue Squadron and Shadows of the Empire, but never got a GC. Ironically, I don't think there's a single mission in Rogue Squadron 1 where you're ever NOT in atmo.

[Lord Malakite]

At the very least, the Tauntaun-mounted Rebels could have fought the foot soldiers that were being delivered by the AT-ATs, but I like the idea of the Rebels riding their Tauntauns out to the AT-ATs and firing shoulder-mounted rockets and throwing explosives onto the AT-ATs, even if it were futile.

And that is exactly what you do in Rebel Strike. Strafe Snowtroopers with blaster fire and ride under AT-ATs to tow cable/plant thermal detonators with your trusty Taun Taun.

[JediTricks]

And that is exactly what you do in Rebel Strike. Strafe Snowtroopers with blaster fire and ride under AT-ATs to tow cable/plant thermal detonators with your trusty Taun Taun.

Sounds good, but not exactly X-wing-esque.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

If you shave off its skin, every tauntaun wears a red Starfleet shirt.

[Lord Malakite]

If you shave off its skin, every tauntaun wears a red Starfleet shirt.

Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my mind when I read that was Han and Luke using lightsabers to skin Taun Tauns so that it just looks like they are wearing "red shirts" from far away so to speak.

[JediTricks]

Awesome! Just awesome.

[LTBasker]

3) Han's Tauntaun dies of freezing temperatures and exhaustion, I assume, as it just plops down dead despite being native to Hoth.

I was just thinking, maybe even if they are native to Hoth then perhaps they're not native to that region? Even though it's an ice planet I'm sure there are going to be areas where it's warmer, such as along the equator. I imagine the Rebels created their base in the region that they did due to the effect it has on technology, or at least repulsorlift technology, and so they brought along a herd of tauntauns to operate during day temperatures. We could possibly also say that their natural region doesn't have wampas, either, given that otherwise they would most likely have instincts to flee when smelling a wampa but Luke's tauntaun only seemed slightly annoyed.

And Rebel Strike was an awful game, especially when it came to on-foot missions. Don't go further than Rogue Leader in that series.