MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Discussion > Was Luke too smart or stupid/lucky?

Was Luke too smart or stupid/lucky?

posted 8 years ago by jaroto
14 replies | jump to latest

So Luke just defeated his father in a lightsaber duel... He is infront of the Emperor and instead of facing him he throws away his lightsaber. WTF? The logical would be to defeat the Emperor run away from there and save his father. I mean he is infront of the final boss, throws his weapon away and does nothing?

Or maybe he was smarter than I think and planned all. He wanted to be attacked by the Emperor, exagerate his suffering and convince his father to save him in roder to turn him to the good side.

Or maybe he just got lucky and everything got fixed inspite of doing the most stupid thing.

[–] Kruleworld 8 years ago

I mean he is infront of the final boss, throws his weapon away and does nothing?

Don't forget, the Emperor is unarmed as well at this point. who would have known he'd be able to throw lightning out of his fingers?

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

[–] ak47wong (479) 2 years ago

Yoda could have told him. Force lightning is exactly how Palpatine defeated him 23 years earlier. Yoda did say Luke’s training was incomplete, but it would have taken him two minutes to explain it!

[–] yusef-ghanima 8 years ago

it's christian crap that will be explained in second trilogy

[–] DarklordRB 8 years ago

I think he was unwise as Vader told him, "You are unwise to lower your defenses!". Luke should've realized there was more to the Emperor than meets the eye. I guess Luke thought that his piousness and defiance was enough to overcome the Emperor.

[–] ThatGuy25 8 years ago

I think he was kind of biting his thumb at the emperor by throwing his weapon down when he asked him to kill Vader.
Also he could have been forcing Vader to make a choice by putting himself in the Emperor's way. (That's a pretty conniving Luke though)

[–] hubcap18 8 years ago

Killing the Emperor would complete his transition to the dark side of the force, and all three of the men in the room knew that. That's why he threw his lightsaber away.

_______
The sun is shining... but the ice is slippery.

[–] MrAnonymous (128) 2 years ago

I don't fully get that. Sure if he killed him out of rage when he didn't have to that would be bad, but Jedi have killed when it was necessary. Removing a man who is a severe threat to the entire galaxy, should be seen as legitimate

[–] avortac4 (3504) 3 years ago

The whole plan was that Luke would defeat Vader, then attack Emperor.

Emperor was, as anyone should know, WELL-equipped to handle some young punk with a feeble lightsaber, 'a Jedi's weapon', that the Emperor sarcastically laughed at. Luke wouldn't have been able to kill the Emperor no matter what he tried to do, and during the 'attempt' to kill him, Luke would've given in more and more to the dark side, grown to hate the Emperor more and more, and eventually flipped completely, rendering him evil and ..

.. yeah, I still don't get how he would've become Emperor's servant, though. I realize that to fall to the dark side, you have to give in to hate, but how and why would you start to SERVE someone you hate so passionately?

Luke defeated Vader in anger, exactly because he temporarily slipped into the dark side (so it was more powerful despite what Yoda said), but Luke would never have served Vader even if Luke had lost, no matter how angry Luke had become. Why would you serve someone you hate?

So amost nothing about Emperor's plan makes any sense, except 'make Luke angry so Luke slips into dark side'. What was that plan on then changing him from hating you to serving you? Or could Emperor somehow hypnotize Luke to hate something else but not the Emperor?

Would he lose all his reason, so he can't understand or remember that Emperor manipulated him into becoming a servant of evil forces? HOW was all this supposed to work?

I'd like to see the 'Emperor's plan succeeded' version so I can make SOME sense out of it..

Of course knowing Lucas's 'writing abilities', I am convinced he doesn't know how to make sense out of it, either. This cameraman just wanted to make a movie or three.

[–] millsey72 (9604) 3 years ago

Whether he was smart, stupid or lucky, its a plot hole

[–] PaladinNJ (20324) 3 years ago

At least you got confirmation that it wasn't a plot hole.
I think the reason was Luke didn't know Palpatine was a Sith Lord. He threw down his light saber as a sign that he was not going to use it on Vader and go over to the Dark Side. He probably thought without Vader protecting him, Palpatine was helpless.

[–] kuatorises (7467) 3 years ago

This movie was always my favorite movie growing up, but even given that, I absolutely hated certain parts of the ending; especially since the whole throne room scene and final duel was fantastic. But then I have to watch Luke pull a Buddhist monk only to be saved by his mass murderer of a father; who only "turned good" because it was his son. What a bunch of crap.

I don't know why, but Lucas seemed hell-bent on making us think Luke was doing a noble thing. I don't know why, because the Emperor attacked him anyway. He was always going to attack Luke once Luke decided he wasn't going to join him. The Emperor gets what he wants or you die. WTF was Luke thinking would happen, that the Emperor would surrender? I get that Lucas didn't want his hero flat out murdering Palpatine, but he could have sat there armed and defended himself when Palpatine refused to surrender and attacked.