Return of the Jedi

Special Edition Laserdisc Side 7, Chapters 14-16

Chapter Titles: The Emperor, Yoda’s Twilight, and Obi-Wan’s Point of View

The Emperor has just arrived on the new Death Star, where Darth Vader bows before him:

E: Rise, my friend.

V: The Death Star will be completed on schedule.

E: You’ve done well, Lord Vader. And now I sense you wish to continue your search for young Skywalker.

V: Yes, my master.

E: Patience, my friend. In time, he will seek you out; and when he does, you must bring him before me. He has grown strong. Only together can we turn him to the Dark Side of the Force.

V: As you wish.

E: Everything is proceeding as I have forseen. <Cackles>

<The scene shifts to Dagobah. Luke and Yoda are in Yoda’s hut:>

Y: <Yoda’s not looking particularly healthy> That face you make. Look I so old to young eyes?

L: No, of course not.

Y: <Cough> I do. <Cough, cough> Yes, I do. Sick have I become. Old and weak. Hm. When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not! Hm? <Chuckles and coughs> Soon will I rest. Yes. Forever sleep. <Sitting on his bed> Earned it, I have.

L: Master Yoda, you can’t die.

Y: Ah. Strong am I with the Force. But not that strong. Twilight is upon me, and soon night must fall. That is the way of things. The way of the Force.

L: But I need your help. I’ve come back to complete the training.

Y: No more training do you require. Already know you that which you need.

L: Then I am a Jedi.

Y: <Chuckles and coughs> Not yet. One thing remains -- Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will.

L: Master Yoda...is...Darth Vader my father?

Y: A rest I need. Yes, rest.

L: Yoda, I must know.

Y: <Turning away in his bed> Your father he is. Told you, did he?

L: Yes.

Y: Unexpected this is. And unfortunate.

L: Unfortunate that I know the truth?

Y: NO! Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete was your training. That not ready for the burden were you.

L: I’m sorry.

Y: Remember, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. Everywhere...anger...fear...aggression. The Dark Side are they. Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Luke...Luke...do not...do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor. Or suffer your father’s fate, you will. [Yoda then speaks one syllable...can’t make it out. "Yem?" Maybe just a grunt?] When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. [I hear a whisper here..."You?"] The Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned. <Yoda’s really struggling to speak now.> Luke...there...is....ano...ther...Sky....wal....ker. <Yoda dies, disappears, and his blanket falls flat on the bed.>

<Luke walks outside to find Artoo welding their ship, which has fallen in the swamp again. Landings on Dagobah are notoriously difficult, and damaging to the hardware.>

L: I can’t do it, Artoo. <Artoo beeps encouragement> I can’t go on alone.

<Ben’s voice is heard>

B: Yoda will always be with you.

L: Obi-Wan! <Ben materializes among some trees> Why didn’t you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.

B: Your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker, and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true. From a certain point of view.

L: A certain point of view?

B: Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend. When I first knew him, you father was already a great pilot, but I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. <Speaking with resignation in his voice> I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.

L: There is still good in him.

B: He’s more machine now, than man; twisted and evil.

L: I can’t do it, Ben.

B: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again.

L: I can’t kill my own father.

B: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.

L: Yoda spoke of another.

B: The "other" he spoke of is your twin sister.

L: But I have no sister.

B: To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That was the reason why your sister remained safely anonymous.

L: <Suddenly realizing, while Ben is speaking> Leia! Leia is my sister.

B: Your insight serves you well. Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.

1) But Luke has ALREADY faced Vader! Why would he need to confront him again to become a Jedi? Is Yoda saying Luke can’t become a Jedi until he DEFEATS Vader? And if that’s what he means, why doesn’t he say it?

2) It appears that as some point in Episodes II or III Anakin will underestimate the powers (plural) of the Emperor, and that’s how he will succumb to the Dark Side.

3) Why is the death of Yoda played so dramatically if Yoda will be able to come back to Luke as a blue ghost and carry on like Ben as though nothing major has happened? Also, how come if Yoda knows so much about Luke, he doesn’t know that Luke knows who his father is?

4) It turns out that Obi-Wan’s statement to Luke that Vader "betrayed and murdered" his father was figurative language -- which is, of course, the kind of thing that can be found throughout the Bible. Obi-Wan admits he lied, but he argues that it was the right thing to do. Seems the Jedi religion embraces relativism. According to Obi-Wan, truth and presumably the difference between right and wrong depend on your point of view. What’s wrong in one situation might be right in another. In a Web search for "situational ethics," a philosophy that was discussed widely while Lucas was coming of age in the 1960’s, I found lots of views, pro and con. One page, despite its provacative title ("Situational Ethics: A Perversion of the True Gospel"), seemed to sum up Obi-Wan’s position pretty well:

http://gospel-herald.com/genesis_studies/situational_ethics.htm .

There’s really not much doubt about it -- Lucas is offering Jedi philosophy as a religion. It just doesn’t seem to me to be a fully realized code of ethics. Is it enough just to strive to do the right thing? Maybe in the GFFA it is.

5) Luke’s comment, "I can’t do it, Ben," has no antecedent. Do what? Kill Vader? "Confront" Vader? Turns out they’re talking about the former, but Luke and Ben haven’t discussed this yet. I suppose we’re to assume Ben’s been listening to Yoda and Luke’s conversation, and Luke correctly inferred that by "confront," Yoda meant, "kill?"

6) If it was ever doubtful what was meant by, "A New Hope," Ben makes it clear when he tells Luke, "You were our only hope."

7) Yoda and Ben are certain it’s Luke’s destiny to face Vader again. Guess they’ve used the Force to catch a glimpse of the future?

8) Both Luke and Leia were hidden from the Emperor when they were born. They were twins, but Vader himself learned of only one of them. Will be interesting to see how Vader (or perhaps a deeply troubled Anakin) can be kept in the dark about a second child.

9) If all the information Ben relates to Luke in this scene is information already known to an audience that has watched Episodes II and III, then this scene will be superfluous. It’ll be a total waste of time -- it’ll bog down this film unnecessarily. So is that where we’re heading? Or is it possible that even for future audiences this scene will still be big news?