Why did no one teach Luke to catch lightning???

I mean, seriously. Ben could catch it on a lightsaber. Yoda could catch it in his hands.

If you watch the movies I-VI like Lucas says to, Luke looks like (a) a total wimp for getting knocked out by something that the other guys could handle (not counting Anakin's first run-in with Dooku) or (b) way too manipulative in getting Vader to save him.

I just keep imagining Luke laying there, lightning pouring into him, thinking "No more training do you require, my ***!"

 

Yea the only thing luke does 2 defend himself is give Darth Vader, supposed Lord of the Sith and Master of evil a pleading look. Ok it worked, but still...

He could have at least jumped out the way

 

Maybe he didn't know about Force Lightening, he just stood there as Palpatine shot it into him, I don't know...

 

Palpatine's Lightning is extremely powerful, pretty much the only guy that could absord was master Yoda. And all he taught luke, was the basics and then of course Luke was a moron and went off into the trap in ESB. He probably was taught how to catch it on his saber, but he had thrown the saber away when saying, "no I wont fight my father" etc.

 

I always thought he just wasn't prepared for it. In his mind, and many of the viewers minds at that time, Palpatine was a weak, old man who had no real power that could take on a young Jedi.

This was the first time anyone had seen lightning as a Dark Power. I guess the idea was that only the Emperor could make/use it. That was changed when Dooku used it but anyway, I don't think Luke had any idea it existed. Or he thought the Emperor was weak, or both.

 

Who says Luke didn't know how? The whole point was that he was surrendering himself. If he deflected the lighting, it wouldn't be much of a surrender, would it?

 

I agree,Luke worked through the masterplan Yoda,Obi and Qui-Gonn came up with......So trying to deflect or even absorb lightning it isn't flawless roleplaying,Vader would've thought Luke was able to defend himself and he wouldn't be forced to throw Palpy into the reactor shaft(sumtin' like that was).....

 

Why did no one teach Luke to catch Force lightning?

Because Luke ran off to Bespin to save his friends before either Yoda or Obi-wan had a chance to warn him about PalpSidious' signature power.

 

how did obi wan know of his power?

 

Obi-wan knew about it when Dooku tried to shoot the lighting at him.

 

Because he was taught by Ben Kenobi not Ben Franklin

 

LOL!

Of course the real reason is that Yoda never fought the emperor until Lucas decided he had have to have celebrity death matches every six minutes in the prequils. That and it would ruin the element of surprise for the audience if Yoda had said, "beware the [sith lightning] powers of the emperor..."

 

but that doesnt mean that he knew that sidoius had it

 

Yoda probably told Obi of Emperors powers.....

 

Come on, Obi-wan knows that Dooku would have no way of knowing how to shoot lightning from his fingertips unless he had a Sith Lord teach him how to do it which is Sidious so that would indicate to Obi-wan that if Dooku has that power, than so does Sidious.

 

I am actually working on a Journal of Obi-wan Kenobi and I am going to put something in there about Obi-wan catching the lightning, but the info deterates over time so Luke has no knowledge of it.

 

Good call!!!

Luke never finished his training.

When Luke came back in RotJ he asked Yoda why he did not tell him that Darth Vader was his father. I am sure this came as more than an unexpected suprize. Yoda knew that his time was short. (He died a few moments later, neither he or Obi-Wan could have trained him from the grave.) The second plan may have been that if Luke failed that Leia would have to use her military power to destroy Palpatine and Vader. However, all would be lost in trying to return Vader to the light side of the Force.

Bringing balance would have required destroying both evils.

 

I think that Luke's training was MUCH MUCH different then the Jedi of old. The RoTS novel, during the Obi-Wan/Vader battle talks about "Hours and hours of combat training and fighting side by side made the two combatants know almost everything about their fighting styles."

The old order had sparring sessions, competitions, training, etc. We saw Luke have exactely ONE lesson in combat training - the deflecting remote bolts in ANH on the Falcon. With that single exception, his training was mostly a "Feel the force...Feel the moment...use the force as your ally." I'm positive that Yoda wasn't like "And this is Soresu, a form of lightsaber combat." "This is how you duel a form V duelist." "This is the best defense against an energy attack by a Sith Lord." There was a limited time and limited resources in which to train Luke. The most important thing was to teach him how to avoid the Dark Side and how the basics of using the force worked. They did a damn good job. As the last words from Qui-Gon to Yoda in the RoTS novel stated "Love is the answer to the darkness." Yoda and Obi-Wan trained Luke well enough to get him to the point where Qui-Gon's thought could ring true.

Carnage

 

I agree Carnage. Being amazing in combat can only get you so far, as the jedi found out. By the time of ROTJ, Yoda and Obiwan knew that only love and compassion could defeat the dark, and that if Luke was unable to win with those, he would ultimately be defeated, irrespective of his combat skills. If Vader hadn't turned back, he and Sidious could easily have overpowered Luke. Luke may as well just surrender himself, which is of course exactly what he did.

 

Theres one itsy-bitsy problem unto why Luke could deflect lightning...








WHERE WOULD THEY GET LIGHTNING!?!

 

Yoda could've turned to the dark side just for the practice sessions.

 

actually in the ROTJ novelization Luke deflects the lighting for a bit, but the Emperor's lighting was too powerful, I like to think Luke held it for a couple of seconds and then the emperor over powers him.

 

^^ Does it detail how he deflected it or if he was warned about it?

 

In the ROTJ novelization, when the Emperor begins to fry Luke, it states that Luke had never known of the Force being used in such a way. However, his intuition kicks in and he figures, "Hey, if the lightning is based upon the Force, surely I can use the Force to deflect it" (the same split-second realization that saved him from Vader's kinetite blast in Splinter of the Mind's Eye). Luke is successful in blocking the lightning, but only for a moment -- The bolts come so fast and so frequently that Luke is overwhelmed.

I agree. Additionally, the lack of training also resulted in a lack of discipline on Luke's part. In the Emperor's chamber, Luke succumbs to the temptation of the dark side twice. I feel that the knowledge of the existence of such powers accessible only via the dark side might have only served to further tempt Luke.

 

Ah okay...thanks.

You were answering me as I was typing the question lol.