Vader saves Chewie....
In the carbonite scene, when Chewie starts throwing stormtroopers around, one of them is just about to shoot him....when Vader pushes his blaster back down.
shareGood relations with the Wookies, he had.
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MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Discussion > Vader saves Chewie....
Vader wanted him alive for his own purposes...
shareI've noticed that before but I never understood why. I guess it was a little bit of Anakin coming through.
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I never noticed that. Though it's possible it was because as has been suggested already that he just wanted more victims to insure Luke's cooperation, had he ended up both beating and capturing him.
shareYeah, I don't know why he'd save Chewie. You'd think he'd allow the stormtroopers to stun-blast Chewie at the very least. Why keep the raging wookie upright?
Possible theories:
1. Lando's deal stipulated no harm was to come to the prisoners. Counterpoint: unlikely given how clearly disinterested Vader was in respecting the deal. Still, Lando did turn on the Empire at some point, so maybe Vader was aware that Lando had a breaking point and he didn't want Chewbacca harmed lest Calrissian hit that point and double-double-cross them.
2. Vader wanted everybody alive and well so as to glean information out of them. Leia, 3PO, and Chewie all would possess knowledge of the Rebellion that Vader would want. Heck, Vader might even have learned that Chewie was a member of the wookie army on Kashyyyk all those years ago and might have wanted to know about Yoda. While this is slim, I do think that Vader wanting information - and therefore, living prisoners - is most likely.
I do also like your theory of his holding more leverage over Luke.
Good stuff.
I like to think it was a little bit of Vader's humanity coming out--like he maybe had some respect for Chewie, fighting for his friend and willing to go down swinging.
That could be, but I feel like at that point in his character arc he hadn't really recovered much, if any, of his humanity.
shareI think this is pretty simple. Vader wanted Leia and Chewie as prisoners for leverage. They were Luke's friends, the very thing that drew Luke in to begin with. To be disposed of later no doubt, but for the moment, with Luke on his way and so much in the balance, why throw away potentially useful hostages?
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