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As if we needed any more comparisons between The Force Awakens and A New Hope, I just discovered this:

In The Force Awakens, shortly after Phasma is captured and Rey breaks loose, we see a group of Stormtroopers running down a hallway saying this:

We think they may be splitting up. Heading to quadrants 4 and 5.

This is quite similar to the line from A New Hope:

We think they may be splitting up. They may be on level 5 and 6, sir.

Now in A New Hope our heroes did indeed split up: Han and Chewie chased the troopers down the hallway and Luke and Leia went on ahead, taking a different route and ending up at the air gap. But in The Force Awakens, no splitting up happens. Rey is on her own, and as far as I can tell Han Solo and Chewie and Finn have not even been discovered yet at this point in the movie. At this point, all they likely know about is the lone Rey, so why do they say "they" and "splitting up"?

Is there an actual in-universe meaning to what the Stormtroopers in The Force Awakens are saying here or is it just an out-of-universe allusion to A New Hope?

(I haven't been able to find a clip of this scene to post here—it's at 1:40:47 in the iTunes HD version. If anybody knows where to find one or can create one, an edit would be greatly appreciated!)

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    "Heading to quadrants 4 and 5." Gotta love how they have 5 quadrants. Kind of like the third half.
    – RichS
    Jan 1, 2017 at 23:01
  • Oh, I didn't even notice this! Wow, that's actually a really dumb thing to say.
    – Bob
    Jan 1, 2017 at 23:40
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    Remember, this isn't the future... It's a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... where there are at least 5 quadrants, apparently...
    – Steve-O
    Jan 2, 2017 at 1:28
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    I feel like this isn't the only place where writers assume "quadrant" means "just any arbitrary division of something that we don't want to have to explain"
    – Paul
    Jan 2, 2017 at 3:07
  • @Paul Yep, agreed.
    – Bob
    Jan 2, 2017 at 13:52

1 Answer 1

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This ties into a deleted scene in which the Falcon is located and searched by Kylo Ren. The troops at the base would have been made aware that there are at least a few Rebel troops (including Han Solo) in the vicinity.

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  • Seems a little weak to me, but I suppose it's the best we can do to make sense of the line.
    – Bob
    Jan 2, 2017 at 0:57

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