CT Did Luke not know about Force Lightning until Palpatine hit him with it?

Movie novelizations aren't as high up in cannon as the movies but the ROTJ novelization was great. You should take a look.

 

They're both considered G-canon in general- however, where they differ, the movie takes precedence (So Luke was a member of Red Squadron, not Blue Squadron). Elements originating with the author rather than Lucas, are C-canon- but it's hard to know what those elements are. The backstory of the Sith in the TPM novel, for example, apparently came straight from Lucas- including the name of the founder of the Rule of Two: Darth Bane.

 

Why warn Luke if he was more or less a sacrificial lamb anyway?

Force lightning is the perfect way for Luke to be put into a position which would force Vader/Anakin to have make a choice, and ultimately fulfill his role in balancing the Force.

 

I think the fact that it was Force Lightning was somewhat irrelevant. Luke should have been prepared for any Force power the Emperor could conjure. Even if he didn't know about Lightning, he knew very well of the Sith abilities like Force Push, or Choke. An unarmed Emperor was still one of the deadliest beings in the galaxy.

 

In a way, it wouldn't have mattered if Luke knew about it or not. He went there on what he figured was a suicide mission. (Remember: "Soon I'll be dead, and you with me.") At best, he figured the Alliance would arrive and blow them all up. At worst, he'd resist the Dark Side and set a good example for Anakin, but get killed in the process.

As for his asking for help later, it's one thing to philosophically decide to give up your life before a crisis starts. It's another to continue with that thought as you're getting painfully electrocuted.

 

^ ^ ^

 

Luke should have stayed to finish his training. Yoda was THIIIIIIIIIIIS close to showing Luke how to deflect lightning. Oh well, that's what Luke gets!

 

Im not sure thats fully accurate. He claimed to have "foreseen" everything coming and (most people miss this) I think when luke walked in the throne room with the cuffs on, palpatine twitched a finger and they fell off.
Actually I can prove it. Emperor Palpatine: Welcome, young Skywalker, I have been expecting you. You no longer need those. [uses the Force to detach Luke's cuffs. Wikiquote.

I just think he was powerful enough that he didn't have to put much effort into it.

 

How in the world do you know this?

 

Yes I agree. Someone correctly pointed out the thing with the cuffs up above. I think the point I'm making is that he hadn't shown a great deal in the way of force power, so when he did, it was that much more spectacular. This is something I really liked about OT Palpatine. If he'd been showing his powers off to a great extent throughout the film, the unleashing of the lightning on Luke wouldn't have had nearly the same effect.

 

Obviously, the real answer to why Yoda didn't warn Luke about lightning was so that when it happened, it would come as a... wait for it... SHOCK!!!

 

And, in the older prequel time-line superseded by the PT, Yoda and the Emperor probably didn't fight each other.

 

I donno about that...the Emperor and Yoda do have a confrontation in earlier drafts of ROTJ. Heck, Palpatine even keeps a lightsabre up his sleeve at one point. I don't think we can really say whether or not they would have fought in the earlier prequels timeline simply because we don't know squat about it.

As for why Luke gets hammered flat by Palpatine-he does briefly manage to deflect it in the novelization, but I think it works better the way it does in the movie. Luke just defeated his father and his own inner darkness seconds before and BAM, he gets swatted like a fly by Palpatine.

 

Well if Yoda and Palpatine fought in the PT I would like to think Palpatine used 2 or 3 different dark moves not related to Force lightning so that Yoda would be correct on that count.

 

C'mon, Luke's Jedi training lasted, like, a weekend. There's only so much you can tell the boy if you gotta keep him running through the swamp 24 hours a day.

 

I don't think he did.

 

He had no clue. Obi-Wan never told him... Either did Yoda.

 

I still don't know why Yoda and Obi-Wan thought the best course of action for defeating the Sith was to go into exile for 20 years and then give Anakin's son a crash course in Jedi training.

 

Now that I think about it you're totally right. Best answer I can think of: Narrative convenience!

AKA,

Less of the story was planned ahead than you thought it was!

 

I realize that, but I always look for in-universe explanations whether they were intended or not. There isn't a good one in this instance.

 

Well let me apply the thinking cap for a moment...

If Yoda and Obi-Wan were training more Jedi out-of-hiding, they would have been tracked down and wiped out. The children were given chances to lead semi-normal lives until they were mature enough to bear their burdens... but beyond that i am really stumped.

I expect an equally illogical reason for the assumed timejump between VI and VII. I guess I don't mind that though.

 

Another one of those post ANH story elements that doesn't sit too well with the original film. I can't remember ever hearing a convincing in-universe answer.

 

Exactly. Luke knew that if he continued using the force he would fall to the dark side (that's why he throws away his weapon, the universal symbol for refusing to fight). And he would rather die than have that happen.

 

Yeah this is probably accurate. In the recently released conversation with Lucas from the 80s about the backstory he said that Yoda wasn't much of a fighter.

"Also another misconception is that Yoda teaches Jedi, but he is like a guru; he doesn’t go out and fight anybody."

 

It can't be a misconception that he teaches Jedi- because he himself says so, straight out.

I thought the sentence should be parsed as:

Another misconception is that: "Yoda teaches Jedi, but he is like a guru; he doesn’t go out and fight anybody"

So- it's his not fighting anybody, that is the misconception.