Star Wars is relatively tame in terms of violence. There is (almost) no blood and no bullet wounds. Only laser burns and the occasional missing limb, via lightsaber cut, are seen to scare the kiddies. But if you actually tally up the number of on-sceen deaths in the original trilogy, you might be surprised by the amount of carnage.
That's what Digg has done in the below video by adding up the deaths of all the pilots, stormtroopers, ewoks and more who gave their life during the Galactic Civil War. Star Wars Episode IV holds the record for the highest kill count. Things start slow, but after the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star it spikes to more than 2 billion deaths in an instant. Another spike occurs after Luke destroys the first Death Star. The count jumps up another 2 million after its destruction. It is, after all, a battle station the size of a small moon.
Through the course of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi the numbers steadily climb but still stay below 3 billion. How comforting. The destruction of the Super Star Destroyer Executor adds thousands to the tally, along with the second Death Star, which wasn't as fully populated as the first due to its "under construction" status. If you are wondering where Digg got the death numbers for the Death Stars, Alderaan and all the giant space ships, they consulted Wookiepedia.
Still, the massive final kill count is surprising given the "kid friendly" nature of Star Wars. Blowing up an entire planet full of people will do that. J.J. Abrams has his work cut out for him.
