Fear........

Here's some food for thought.

Yoda in TPM seems to be very weary of Anakin's fear. Yoda senses it, and bluntly explains that it is the path to the darkside. Jedi, aren't supposed to fear, hate, or love.

Yet in ESB, before Luke begins his Jedi training with Yoda, he tells the Jedi Master, "I am not afraid", to which Yoda responds in probably the darkest line of the saga so far "ohhhhh, you will be.....you. will. be."

Seems like a contradiction in Yoda's perception fear. Considering that Luke is one of the two only hopes of the Jedi, why would Yoda try and provoke fear in Luke, rather than encourage him to have no fear.

 

I imagine at this point thay Yoda is trying to break Luke's obvious overconfidence. Luke is approaching it like it's no big deal, and Yoda is telling him that it won't be easy. I don't think Yoda is actually trying to instill fear into him.

 

I don't think it's true that a Jedi isn't supposed to fear. I mean, Yoda expresses fear himself;

"Much danger I fear in his training."

It's to do with how a Jedi handles his fears- if he acts on it, then he's taking a step to the Dark Side.

Look at Anakin's fear for his mother- he dwells on it until he can't take the thought anymore, then he acts on it.

Then there's Luke's fear for his friends safety in ESB- he acts on it, and it nearly costs him (and them) everything.

Jedi are allowed to feel emotions- it's how they deal with them that marks them as Jedi.

 

Yeah.. but remember the context of that scene in ESB. Its not that Luke is overconfident. Well, maybe he is, but his statements were not made to boast his courage, it was to convince Yoda to train him.

That whole scene is Yoda claiming "the boy" is not ready to be trained, and Obi-Wan's voice and Luke trying to convince him that he is. It sounds like Yoda is saying " You have no idea what you are getting yourself into" which I think was meant to instill fear. Maybe a fearful respect, but fear nonetheless.

 

I don't think Yoda was trying to istill fear at all. I think he was just telling Luke the truth - that he will feel fear before his training is through. If he wanted to ispire fear in Luke I'm sure there are plenty of frightening things he could have done. I always personally found that line kind of creepy though
"You will be, you will be..."

 

Right. It was said in a creepy way. Yoda could have prepared Luke by saying "Its going to be hard" But he SCOFFS at Luke's lack of fear and then tells him how scared he's going to be.

 

Fear is the first step towards the Dark Side. A Jedi needs to learn how to stop at fear, before getting to anger-hate-suffering and all that.

Yoda is telling Luke that he will feel fear. It's just a simple fact, Luke will be afraid, and it will be up to him to get past that fear and overcome it.

 

Again, Luke tells Yoda "I am not afraid". While Luke may have no idea what he is about to embark on, he is dealing with this uncertainty without fear. Yoda doesn't tell him "You must remain that way, you must always push fear out of your mind if I am to train you" But instead, Yoda seems to say that fear is unavoidable. That Luke will be afraid.

I don't know. I am having trouble overcoming this contradicton from TPM.

 

Maybe Yoda's testing Luke or something. Seeing if he can handle the fear, how he reacts to that line "You will be, you will be..."

 

...possibly. But Yoda seemes to be more sure of it. It sounds like a warning.

 

It's not a contradiction- Luke will experience fear. There's nothing that can stop that. It's how he deals with it that is important.

Bear in mind that Yoda is making out to Luke from the start that he doesn't think that Luke should be trained- he has to prove himself. Everything he does, every single lesson is a challenge.

Let's face it, if all it takes is a 3 foot green midget putting on a scary voice to make Luke afraid, he needs a considerable amount more preparation before he can face Darth Vader.

 

Well I don't think it's the physical appearance of Yoda that would get Luke scared...