CT "Jabba, this your last chance. Free us, or die."

We should remember that Luke presented R2 and 3PO as gifts to Jabba. I have great difficulty believing that Luke would really leave those droids behind - they're almost a part of his family. So even if Jabba had been reasonable I think Luke would have taken his droids back. Now if Luke was willing to double cross Jabba in this area then I think we can believe that Luke in fact did intend to "sort out" Jabba once and for all.

 

Luke grew up on the same planet as Jabba, so he probably heard rumors about how "trustworthy" Jabba was. That knowledge, combined with a little bit of Jedi foresight, probably indicated that a bloodless resolution was highly unlikely.

 

Luke had no intentions of instigating the fight, however, he knew there was no way that the situation was going to resolve itself peacefully. Remember why Luke gave 3PO and R2 to Jabba... It was to plant R2 and thus sneak his light saber into the fray so it would be available when he needed it. Luke knew it would be confiscated when he showed up to negotiate with Jabba.

 

Exactly. Jedi equal Judge Dredd

 

Honestly, if Jabba had bargained, I think Luke would have just bought the droids back. Jabba's very mercenary-minded - the only reason I think the Alliance couldn't ransom Han was because Jabba was interested in making an example of him.

 

But Jabba liked 3PO. He was useful as an interpreter. And R2 was useful for all those little odd jobs around the palace. Like I said earlier, these droids are almost part of Luke's family. I can't believe he would have given them to Jabba on the off chance that he might be able to buy them back. Anyway, neither Luke nor the Alliance had a great deal of money to spare and I imagine that Jabba was quite the extortionist.

 

I never got the impression that Jabba LIKED 3PO, he was just useful. And R2 was essentially a butler. Luke may have traded for them actually

 

I agree that Luke wouldn't have left the droids with Jabba, but that doesn't mean he was planning on killing Jabba all along. There are many, many other avenues he could have taken to get the droids back that wouldn't have involved violence. And even if he did have to resort to stealing them back, sure, technically he'd be breaking his word, but stealing back two droids you only gave to someone as part of a ploy to free a prisoner is a far cry from killing someone who you promised to leave in peace.

 

Or... Luke became powerful enough in the Force that he was able to see that any way Luke approached Jabba ended in Jabba trying to kill or imprison them. Thus why he made sure everyone was planted within Jabba's Palace before he showed up. It's believable because we see in Empire that Luke was powerful enough at that point to see the Future with Han and Leia in pain on a "city in the clouds" Yoda even says it is the future he sees.

So possibly Luke knew in advance through the Force that anything he did would result in a battle.