"...Knowledge and defense..."

If Jedi are only supposed to use the Force for knowledge and defense anf never for attack, why does 1) Luke strike first in his duel with Vader in ESB and 2) Luke use the force to grab the blaster from the gaurd in Jabba's palace....did he know beforehand that he would be dropped into the Rancor pit? cuz he sure looked surprised when he saw the rancor.....just wondering...

 

1)Luke isn't ready yet. He can "feel the Force" but "you cannot control it", OB1 tells him right before he leaves Dagobah, meaning he cannot control his emotions. He was probably so jacked up to finally face Vader he lashed out first.
2)I don't think he used the Force to grab the blaster because he knew he was going to face the rancor. I think his original intention was to point it at Jabba or maybe get rid of his guards or something like that.

 

"I think his original intention was to point it at Jabba or maybe get rid of his guards or something like that."

That's exactly what i mean, isn't that attack? This doesn't really matter i suppose, i was just watching ROTJ and it kinda popped out at me that he shouldn't have done that....

 

By "attacking" with the blaster grab, I think that it was Luke's intention to be captured by Jabba to set off the whole Sarlaac pit rescue. The Rancor pit was an unexpected entanglement...we know this because Threepio tries to warn him.

So his "attack" is a very contrived and indirect "defense" of his captured friends.

 

Luke's still learning. He sometimes doesn't realise how close to the Dark Side he gets.

 

Luke seems to have a problem with villains that have a personal connection to him. Tatooine's own Jabba must have been a source of much consternation and outright fear for Luke for much of his life (parents probably tell their children to go to bed on time or Jabba will get them), and Vader is just a scary dude who killed Luke's Master (and, more importantly, the only link to his home that Luke had left).

It's all about Tatooine.

 

Agreed. There's something in the sand...

 

If Jedi are only supposed to use the Force for knowledge and defense anf never for attack, why does 1) Luke strike first in his duel with Vader in ESB and 2) Luke use the force to grab the blaster from the gaurd in Jabba's palace....did he know beforehand that he would be dropped into the Rancor pit? cuz he sure looked surprised when he saw the rancor.....just wondering...

Good topic.

Luke struck first in ESB, because as other people have said, he wasn't ready. Yoda and Ben tried to beat this into his head, but like his father, he didn't listen. He makes the same mistake in ROTJ.

Luke certainly was unprepared for the Rancor thing, yet his Jedi training made sure he was ready to deal with it in the moment.

What Luke did in ROTJ counts as defense. While none of Jabba's men technically fired a "first shot", Luke and his friends were put in a position where he had to fight his way out. Also, it is very important to note that Luke went in trying to resolve the situation without violence.

I look at this from a political standpoint. Jabba was illegally holding Han Solo as a prisoner, and Luke took it upon himself to put his life on the line for his friend. He even gave Jabba gifts in an attempt to woo him over. Ultimately, Jabba chose to be stubborn, so Luke hinted at using force (as any good peacemaker would), to which Jabba tried to respond by killing Luke with the Rancor. When Luke successfully defended himself against that, Jabba threatened the lives of him and his friends.

Luke handled the situation with Jabba as well as any Jedi ever could. This situation mirrors Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's situation with the Trade Federation in Episode I. Jabba was totally the aggressor here, as the Trade Federation were, and Luke had no choice but to use violence to resolve the sitiation. Just like the TF used poison gas to try to kill the Jedi, Jabba was about to shove Luke into a grotesque pit of death.

Jabba only died, because he refused to cooperate and release an illegally held captive, under Luke's authority. This was far from a failure for Luke, it was his first successful mission as a Jedi (yes, I know he wasn't "technically" a Jedi until later in the film).

 

1. Swinging ones lightsaber/striking first does not require force use.

2. Grabing a weapon with the force is not an attack.