Cutting off hands what does it mean?

I've been wondering about this since ROTJ. There is alot of people who lose part of their arm or lose their hand in SW. Why? What is it supposed to mean?

 

I think it means most people in Star Wars are either unlucky or accident prone

 

It is a symbolic castration. Note that in Ep2, Obi tells Ani that his saber is his life. Later, in the monstrous womb of the doid factory, he has the saber cut in half. Then at the end he gets his arm chopped off.

 

So what you´re saying is that a real man never looses his lightsaber?

 

If you want to go for hidden meanings, perhaps what Obi-wan says can be broadened to "You can't do it all by yourself. You have to accept the help and support of others." It has been my experience that when problems arise, don't be afraid- or so egotistical- that you won't ask for help. Too many people get stuck in the "I can do it myself - I have to do it myself" mode, and refuse to acknowledge that sometimes they need help

Maybe you can solve some problems all by your lonesome, but when you need help and refuse it, you're cutting yourself off from the extra strength you need to get the job done the way it should be done.

 

my first reaction is to say its just a way to have a recurring theme worked into all of the films; that there is no real "meaning" short of the obvious fact that a hand gets cut off in all five so far (and i'd bank on at least one in Episode 3). period. but i got to thinking that if it's symbolic of something, i would have to say its disempowerment in literal terms. or a loss of innocence. ponda baba is a pretty incidental character in ANH, but luke's bearing witness to some startling violence (and the power of a lightsaber)in the cantina seems to be a part of his coming of age and realizing that conflicts and violence are a part of the real world. i think luke and vader lose hands in ESB and ROTJ to draw parallels between father and son. destiny vs. choice. those sorts of ideas. and anakins's loss of his hand in episode II at the (no pun intended) hands of dooku just adds to the complexity of two generations with shared experiences in that same established way. zam and the wampa seem more elusive in proving very cryptic beyond simple choices GL made to continue a theme. i don't know. maybe episode III will show us the correct placement on the skywalker family tree for those others to deepen the theme. zam is luke's second aunt, the wampa will turn out to be his third cousin, and walrus-man will be shown as luke's long-lost brother. LOL

 

on second thought, i like secretsister's response much better than my own. mine sucked.

 

I always figured there was no real meaning behind it other then to show how Luke and Anakin's adventures I guess you'd call them parallel eachother in some ways

 

This could be presented in the mythology thread.

Dismemberment is rampant in mythology. In an example from "Star Wars The Magic Of Myth", Set kills his brother Osiris, dismembers him and scatters the body parts along the Nile. Isis gathers the parts and Osiris lives on in spirit to become the judge of the underworld.

In many hero stories hero makes many sacrifices, in this case the loss of his hand.

 

I think then Leia should have challenged Vader to a race with stone boats and cheat and win like Horris did to Set

That'd make it just like the Egyptian mythology, only problem is it wouldn't make any sense

 

I think that it is because they literally "lose their grip" on things (bad pun intended). They lose control of their emotions, and consequently lose part of themselves physically.

 

It is just a cool visual. It also makes for some good action.

And it happens a lot to show symetry and repeating themes in the movie which Lucas loves to have.

 

It's just a parallel that lucas thought wuld be cool.

Axl.

 

Check out the Cut off Hands of Star Wars

 

It means "hands off my OT, Mr. Lucas!!!"

 

If you listen to the AOTC audio commentary, it is mentioned that Lucas has a thing for having people lose their arms/hands. He just likes to do it.

 

It just runs in the Skywalker family

 

What does it mean? It means Jedi who constantly get their arms cut off wouldn't make very good pianists.

 

I think it happens as it is a good way of finishing off a saber battle with out always having some one decapitated or sliced in half, becuase the person can go on to fight another day. unluck Qui-Gon - Stabbed with a saber or Darth Maul - cut in half. Jango Decapitated. If vader had sliced of lukes head there wouldn't have been a return fight in ROTJ the same goes for ATOC if Ani had dies, then what.

On a more mythical note maybe it has a parallel to Samaurai myths where your sword is you honour. Maybe Lucas was trying to show that in some subtle way, as well as some sais earlier he just likes people having there limbs removed, when luke loses his hand he also loses his light saber, his protection etc.

 

"in some subtle way"

Yeah, unlike Monty Python's Black Knight

 

Losing an arm or hand seems to be a punishment for people that are arrogant or overconfident. It serves as a warning: don't underestimate your opponent or overestimate your own skills, or you might end up getting harmed.

Examples:

Zam is overconfident, and thinks she can kill Obi-Wan. She loses an arm.

Anakin is overconfident, and thinks he can take Dooku alone. He loses an arm.

Ponda Baba seemed to have an arrogance problem, and loses an arm.

Luke thinks he can take Vader, even with such little training. He loses a hand.

Vader provokes Luke to anger, little realizing how violent Luke will get. He loses a hand.

In all these cases, the soon-to-be-limbless person starts as the aggressor. This may be another commentary on the danger of aggression and attacking, as opposed to defense, as seen in many other aspects of the saga, most notably the Jedi Code.

 

Well...is just that the lightsaber is one hell of a powerful weapon. I slices through just about anything so its hardly surprising that amputation plays a big part in a Jedi's life.

Oh to be a personal injury lawyer in the Star Wars universe...

 

It means a lot of people have had their hands lopped off by lightsabers. Nothing more. Any symbolism is just made up by someone with too much time on their hands(no pun intended). Why do people care so much about symbolism? Just enjoy the story. Sometimes symbolism is obviously created by the author/director/whatever, but most of the time it's just made up by people who feel that symbolism must be found in every work of fiction.

 

Thanks for the plug ousley!


EDIT: I was comin' in here to plug the site myself, sad to say...


EDIT TWO: For the post below me... nobody lost a hand in TPM. Not until I get conclusive evidence -- a screenshot of a battle droid losing a hand/arm AND ONLY THE HAND/ARM -- will I believe a battle droid got it.



Rick McCallum s you! (Happy Valentine's Day!)

 

Who got there hand/arm cut off in Phantom Menace? Well maybe a battle droid.