LucasfilmThere’s one thing Star Wars fans love more than list-making, and it’s a good debate. And for what it’s worth, Star Wars has always offered plenty to discuss: the saga spans decades, features countless characters and worlds, and dives deep into tons of existential issues. There’s something for everyone, no matter what your preference or interest... but that’s exactly what makes the fandom’s obsession with objective rankings so tedious. No matter where you look, someone always seems keen to break down the best of Star Wars — the best characters, the best ships, the best order to watch the saga in. It’s a fun exercise, especially with friends, if only because the final result is never the same. The fandom is fiercely opinionated, and everyone’s got their own biases. But when those biases are reinforced again and again, over time, it becomes an echo chamber. Star Wars fans have been trapped in the same cycle for years; we don’t have to look much further than Empire’s most recent Star Wars ranking for evidence of that.Is Kylo Ren really a better character than Rey Skywalker? | LucasfilmThis week, the Empire team created its own list of the 50 greatest Star Wars characters across TV and film. That scope already seems a tad limited, as there are characters from canon video games and comics that are beloved by fans the world over. But the issues in this ranking don’t stop there: in fact, Empire’s list only reinforces some of the biggest problems within the fandom. The biases here are pretty tangible, even if this list is careful to feature at least one character from each era. It doesn’t discriminate against droids and silly creatures, either — if you’re a fan of Babu Frik, Empire’s list won’t disappoint. But it also falls prey to recency bias here and there, and if you’re a fan of Star Wars’ female characters, this ranking leaves even more to be desired. Empire names only nine women in this entire list. They make up less than 20% of the greatest Star Wars characters, according to the Empire writers polled. That’s a shocking number for a franchise chock full of compelling heroines, and an embarrassing metric for a list that, again, includes Babu Frik.Combing through the entire galaxy to find 50 of its best characters will never be an easy task, but there are still a lot of blind spots here. Empire names the generic heavy-hitters, like Leia Organa, Ahsoka Tano, and Padmé Amidala. Rey Skywalker just barely scores a spot in the top 10. Empire even gives a nod to Asajj Ventress, a relatively deep cut anti-hero from the animated universe. But equally compelling heroines — like Jyn Erso from Rogue One, Kleya Marki from Andor, Osha and Mae Aniseya from The Acolyte, or Sabine Wren from Rebels — aren’t as lucky. Empire acknowledges Chopper the droid over Sabine (seriously?), Kino Loy over Kleya, Master Sol over Osha or Mae. Other placements feel entirely too high for a list meant to consider every character: Baylan Skoll has great potential, but one lackluster season of Ahsoka should not put him among the 50 greatest in Star Wars history.Andor may have the most characters on Empire’s list, for better and worse. | LucasfilmFor every inspired choice, Empire’s list makes another predictable one. Its bias for a top-of-mind show like Andor — which does, admittedly, feature some incredible characters — is clearly felt, as is its preference for droids and aliens (Neel from Skeleton Crew, for example) over flesh-and-blood women. Empire also selects female characters that have no business cracking the top 50, like The Last Jedi’s Admiral Holdo and Rose Tico. (No shade to these ladies, but there are much better-written heroines who were left off this list entirely.) Sadly, this is nothing new for the Star Wars fandom. Long before “anti-woke” movements or the rise of groups like the “Fandom Menace,” female characters were largely ignored or trivialized by male fans. One could argue towards a preference for other characters: maybe someone on the Empire staff really, really likes Baylan Skoll. But tallied up with all the other efforts, however conscious, to elevate subpar male characters over qualified women, it just reinforces a tired status quo and a flawed bias in the fandom, which has been around for decades.