- "It's a trap!"
- ―Admiral Ackbar
Admiral Ackbar during his famous delivery of "It's a trap!"
"It's a trap!" is a famous phrase from Star Wars media used when a character learns or suspects they or another character are entering a trap. First spoken by Princess Leia in Cloud City to warn Luke Skywalker of a trap set up by the Darth Vader during the events of the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, the phrase gained popularity following Admrial Ackbar's delivery of the line during the events of the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi upon the admiral's realization that the Battle of Endor was an trap designed by the Galactic Empire. The phrase has since been used in other pieces of Star Wars media including Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, with similar variations of the phase such as "it was a trap" and "this is a trap" also been used in similar contexts.
Appearances in Star Wars
In Canon and Legends
Films
- "It's a trap!"
- ―Princess Leia
The first instance of the phrase "it's a trap!" being used in Star Wars canon was in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. In the film, upon Luke Skywalker's arrival to Cloud City, he spots his friends, whom he had come to rescue, being escorted by a group of Stormtroopers, which in reality was a trap meant to lure Skywalker to Darth Vader and allow the Jedi's capture. As a result, Luke attempted to free his friends from the stormtrooper escort, during which Leia, still in the stormtroopers' custody and aware of Vader's trap, tried to warn Luke of the trap by exclaiming the phrase twice, but Luke still followed the escort and was brought before Vader.[2]
The quote's next use was in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi during film's climax of the Battle of Endor. During the battle sequences, the Emperor reveals to Luke that the Battle of Endor was a trap as Imperial ships arrived and alongside the Death Star II, surrounded the Alliance to Restore the Republic fleet. Upon the rebel Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar being surrounded as the admiral ordered the rebel ships to take evasive action, Ackbar, realizing the fleet was caught in a trap, exclaimed the famous phrase.[1] Following the film's release, Admiral Ackbar's delivery of the phrase grew in popularity, internet meme many years after the film's release.