This is a debate that has raged since the dawn of time.

It was a meme before memes were a thing. Stormtroopers in Star Wars are rubbish shots.

Stormtroopers are supposed to be elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire. After all, they are clones of the infamous Mandalorian bounty hunter, Jango Fett, father of Boba Fett.

Being clones of a ruthless bounty hunter, why are they rubbish shots?

The most logical reason is that it’s written in the script because if they were as deadly as they should be, the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia would be dead before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope got a sequel.

But we’re not talking real-world logic here. In the Star Wars universe, they should be amongst the most officiant soldiers of the Galactic Empire.

This topic has sparked countless debates from fans for years but some fans believe they have the answers we’ve been looking for.

“I have a theory, as Obi-Wan says in Episode IV, the Force is in everyone. So that could explain when the Stormtroopers shoot at Leia or more recently Rey, the Force within those two is so strong, which is why Stormtroopers miss”, said Redditor boypwns.

“If that were true, they’d have hit Han Solo when he ran into them in the assembly room on the Death Star,” replied houtex727. “Also, the Clone Troopers wouldn’t have stood a chance with the Jedi Generals they were mowing down.”

“The most logical explanation is that they were missing on purpose,” suggested Dippingsauce86. “They skillfully kill every single rebel on the ship in A New Hope, and Vader wants the rebels to escape, so he can plant a tracker on the Millennium Falcon and follow them to the rebel base.”

“People always try to come up with a rationalisation for why the Stormtroopers can’t hit the star actors in the film, but the reality is that they simply have a poor aim in those scenes because the script calls for it,” said thennessy-cig, also using real-world logic.

In truth, there could be any number of reasons why Stormtroopers are seemingly such poor shots. It could be a restricted view from inside their helmets, poor training or perhaps as Dippingsauce86 said, they miss on purpose after being given strict orders.

The entire Star Wars movie saga is available to stream now on Disney Plus