So, the Star Wars galaxy is a huge epic world full of highly advanced science and technology. There are speceships, there's hyperspace travel, there is bacta, there are blasters, there are shield generators, there a photon torpedoes, there's cloning and there are cybernetic enhancements. Still, there are some details that go against this. One of these small tiny details which got me thinking are spectacles (well, glasses) and sunglasses.

Think about it. The medical and cybernetic technologies allow replacement of organic limps with mechanical replicas, as both Skywalker Senior and Skywalker Junior can testify. There's also bacta which can heal virtually any wound or organic defect. Logically, there must also be ways of either replacing defect or degenerating eyes with perfect cypernetic ones or ways of operating eyes so as to remove any defects. Or rather, there ARE attested instances of such technology. Screed lost an eye which he had replaced by a cybernetic visual receptor, and Jolee Bindo's story about the near-sighted Master Hortath, who refused to have his eyes fixed, because he refused to accept that he was going blind also indicate the exsistence of such technology in the galaxy.

The general advanced state of science and technology in the galaxy would render ordinary spectacles obsolete, and it would be logical to assume that the technology behind spectacles would have been lost. But that's not the way it is. There are at least three instances of spectacles in the galaxy: Noa Briqualon from the second Ewoks-movie wears a pair of spectacles, as did Vargo the Hutt, and in an episode of the Droids animated series, C-3PO steals a pair of spectacles from a turtle-like humanoid in order to disguise himself. The poor victim of the theft is rendered virtually blind.

That's only three cases, but since Star Wars continuity is constructed such that anything from an official source is canonical except if some other source claims it not to be, those three cases are enough to make spectacles a canonical part of the galaxy, creating what seems to be an oddity out of touch with the general technological development in the fictional galaxy. Whether they were meant to create part of the impression of a character (as is probably the case of Noa) or just to create some humorous effect (as is the case of C-3PO's act of crime against handicapped citizens of the galaxy), spectacles ended up being canonical, however out-of-touch they are with the rest of the Star Wars universe.

But ordinary glasses are not the only low-tech eyewear to become canonical. There are also instances of sunglasses which are simply pieces of shaded glass designed to keep the sun out of one's eyes. Since there are all sorts of sensory visors, data goggles, combat visors and whatnot around, we could expect there to be some hitech solution to the sun-in-the-eyes-problem. Still there are several instances of what appaer to be old fashioned sunglasses; Kraaken uses then and there is a picture in one of the Star wars Adventure Journal issues of Tru'eb Cholakk wearing sunglasses. There's also some guy in one of the KOTOR comics who wears sunglasses. Again, this seems to be somewhat of an oddity, although more ambiguously so thatn ordinary spectacles. It is afterall possible that the pieces of eyewear looking like sunglasses are, in fact, hi-tech eyewear blocking out the sun in weird and wonderful sci-fi-ish ways.

Anyway, spectacles and sunglasses are surely out of touch with the otherwise hi-tech reality of every-day life in the galaxy, and they are certainly lo-tech oddities in a hi-tech world. This very fact can be, and is, a source of annoyance to some, who regard it the result of some mindless authors and artists joking around or trying to make their characters look cool (as is probably the case of the sunglasses) whoch has now upset the order of the Star Wars universe. However, one could also take a more positive stance and regard these oddities as a source of expansion of the fictional universe. Why do such oddities exists? Why would some characters prefer using spectacles rather than having their eyes fixed or replace be even better cybernetic ones? The existence of spectacles and sunglasses can, and should, be explained by official sources, and hopefully in an interesting way. Okay, sunglasses could be explained by an "if-it-ain't-broke-why-fix-it-explanation", but I don't think spectacles could. Spectacles would require some in-depth analysis of why some characters do not go with the hi-tech flow of the galaxy. Maybe they're scared of cybernetics. Maybe they're stubborn like the revered Jedi Master Hortath? Who knows. In any case, spectacles and, perhaps less so, sunglasses offer potential for interesting expansions, albeit small and non-epic ones, of the Star Wars universe.

Hold on... did he just write an entire blog about glasses and sunglasses?