The Ending of Eternals Recreates the Oldest Star Wars Ending Plot Hole
The finale of Eternals matches the joyous ending of Return of the Jedi:
While the Eternals look to finish with a massive victory over Earth’s nascent Celestials, they come up with a horrific discovery that mimics the tragedy of Return of the Jedi’s joyful ending. Because, in the end, the Eternals’ story has a frightening sting in it that would ruin mankind, much like the famed Ewok plot hole that followed the destruction of the second Death Star. The Rebels score another surprising win over the Empire at the conclusion of Return of the Jedi, inspired in part by the Galaxy’s most legendary underdogs, the Ewoks on the moon of Endor. Unfortunately for them, recent discourse has called into question the impact of the Death Star’s explosion on the moon and its inhabitants. The idea, which was first mentioned in a post on TheForce.Net, uses science to map out the nuclear winter impact on Endor’s moon and effectively confirms that the Ewoks would have been wiped off. A pleasant conclusion, to be sure.
The aftermath of the Death Star’s destruction has eclipsed the joyous festivities of Return of the Jedi:
The truth of the Eternals is that while Sersi and her Unimind halted Earth’s annihilation, a terrible extraterrestrial nonetheless burst through the earth’s core, transforming the globe utterly. It’s not only that Tiamut’s face has become an unusual new monument; you have to contemplate the ramifications of a foreign entity robust enough to resist the pressures at the core and the overwhelming weight of physics to even burst out, partially separating Earth. When a chick explodes out of an eggshell, it creates a mess, so why could Eternals get away with implying that a planet would just bounce back from a celestial birth? If asteroids triggered nuclear winters in the past, wouldn’t an interior asteroid implosion have the same effect?
New landscape created by Tiamut’s corpse will bring in new MCU characters:
Of course, the new landscape created by Tiamut’s corpse may bring in new MCU characters: theories already speculate that Eternals secretly set up Namor in Phase 4-most likely in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-and it would make sense that the disruption of the seas would lead to the appearance of Marvel’s most famous ocean-dweller. But it wouldn’t be enough: the harm to the Earth’s core caused by a figure equal to Arishem is significantly greater than a hand and face breaking through the sea’s surface. Earthquakes would spread in epidemic waves at the absolute minimum, and the long-term consequences of such vast alterations to the Earth’s core would be terrifying. As solved by the Eternals, there’s no way it’ll all be forgotten by the time the following movies come out. It remains to be seen if the MCU will overtly address the aftermath of the Celestial Emergence in the same manner as the impact of Avengers: Endgame and both Thanos and Hulk’s snaps affected Phase 4’s early tales. However, there are several options. Clearly, Arishem has already promised a future reckoning for Earth as he decides whether humanity is worthy, and the frozen, dead celestial may potentially become a new Avengers headquarters in Phase 4 or 5. Explicitly investigating the influence on the Earth itself, however, may be more challenging, even with the probable setup of Namor and Atlantis: After all, the MCU can only do so much with natural calamities because they aren’t “villains” to be guarded against. Pushing too hard in the aftermath of Eternals would also set up a replay of the Avengers’ accountability that led to Civil War, which Phase 4 desperately needs.
