Yoda and Ben were wrong, Luke was right in rushing to Bespin

First of all I must apologize if this topic has been discussed before...

I have been watching ESB for quite a while and something just struck me. I noticed how everyone comments how Luke was foolish in rushing to a trap on Bespin with incomplete training. However it was a good thing he left to Bespin; otherwise R2-D2 wouldn't be there to fix the hyperdrive on the Falcon. Any thoughts?

 

You're right. It's both good and bad in that respect. It's good because it got the heros out, but bad because Luke found out that the guy who's been trying to kill him is his daddy-dearest and he got his hand lopped off.

 

Luke made a bad choice; he lost his hand, learned a painful truth, and his friends ended up saving him. But be that as it may, he said no to the darkside in the most tightest of corners, which in turn gave him the right thinking, which helped him become the switched-on jedi we see in ROTJ. Luke chose the hard road, but lived to tell the tale. He acts very intuitively throughout the saga. It comes down to a debate of rationality (Yoda & Ben), versus emotion (Luke). In this case it was not Luke's choices that saved the day, it was his actions. Vader's trap worked perfectly, as he knew that Luke would follow his friends like bees to honey. In Luke's mind he had no other choice.

 

The outcome was good, he was able to save most of his friends by going there. But the action was wrong. Luke was not prepared to face Vader yet, as we see he gets his hands cut off. Plus he finds out the truth about Vader being his father and isn't ready to accept it yet.

However, to save someone at any cost is very much like a jedi in the PT. Compassion and all that.

Now that we've seen the PT the scene kinda reflects AOTC with Anakin rushing off to save his mother and Obi Wan. Each time it was to save someone he cared about and it ended with a bad outcome.

 

So what was it about Luke that ultimately led him to not choose the dark side? I mean all throughout that duel you could say he was sliding further and further down that slippery slope, so what made him hold back in the end?

I guess that's sorta what I didn't like about ROTS, where Anakin's turn involved a much too impulsive action rather than any sort of battle-induced rage or anger.

 

Had R2 not been there to fix the hyperdrive then Leia and gang would have been recaptured and used once again as bait to bring out Luke. They may have been taken aboard the Death Star anyway where Luke would have gone to find them. The only problem would have been getting Han away from Jabba the Hutt. Luke may have had to wait until after confronting Palps and Vader to get Solo.

Ultimately Luke was right I think. Come ROTJ he was stronger for his confrontation on Bespin, but hindsight is of course 20/20.

 

If you go by the logic that a good result means you made a good decision...then nothing luke did was wrong.

He ran off to see what happened to his aunt and uncle.

He left the safety of the control room to rescue Leia

He turned off his targeting computer

He underestimated the power of the emperor and threw his light saber away

He figured out Leia was his sister and allowed vader to learn of her identity....

 

That's pretty clearly what the Emperor was angling for twenty years ago with Luke in ROTJ ("Hey dude, your hate makes you powerful! ...and um, that's all I've got!") so I really don't see how that's a valid criticism.

 

Well Anakins turn involved the death of his loved ones and his desire to prevent it. Luke never got to that point, IMO Yoda and Ben taught him better with attatchment than Anakin. It was a whole different situation because Luke was 'the last hope' [other than the fact that there was another skywalker] so it really did depend on Luke not to turn. Luke understood that the better of the galaxy was more important than the few. He wants to save his friends, but he doesn't give in to the darkside completely. He strikes the emporer and it leads to a duel with Vader where he unleashes his anger because of the threat of Leia being turned but once again controls it because he knows if instead of jumping into defeat head on, he'll fight and use strategy which pulls Anakin back out and ultimately saves the galaxy.

However, rushing to Bespin was abit of a tie. His training wasn't complete and therefore he lost to Vader and had a revelation he wasn't fully prepared for. But at the end of ESB Luke titles himself jedi knight because Bespin was somewhat of a trial. Just like Anakin partaking in his trials, he did some of the actions wrong but in the end of the outcome was mostly a success. The best Luke got out of rushing to bespin was saving his friends from Vader

 

Having Luke confront Vader without being brainwashed into thinking he has to kill him by Yoda and Obi-Wan went a long way into redeeming Anakin in RotJ. Were it up to Yoda and Obi-Wan, Luke would train without interruption into a lean, mean Sith-killing machine.

 

Luke was right in going to Bespin.
He was also right that there was still good in Vader.

Luke is the hero-iest hero in all Star Wars Land. He's quite clever, for a human being.

 

Obviously Obi-Wan and Yoda havn't heard of the saying, that you have to make mistakes to learn from them. You wont learn otherwise.

 

Please, parson my spam, but I find your avatar very, very hard to resist these days...


GO SENS GO!!!

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

I think if Luke didnt go to Bespin when he did, Vader would not have killed off Han and Leia and Chewbacca, at least not for a long while. They were too valuable as bait. Yoda should have forseen that. I think Luke should have trained a while longer.

 

Not ncessarily. I don't see Vader just waiting around on Bespin forever. Eventually, I think he would've decided to cut his losses and try some other way to lure Luke in.

Han, as before, would've gone to Jabba. Leia would've been turned over to the interrogators, then executed on the Holonet. Chewie would've been enslaved again, assuming they didn't just shoot him down. And Threepio gets melted down.

But, since Luke did arrive, Vader's attention is diverted, allowing Lando to set his plan in motion and effect their escape. So, Luke still manages to save them, by extension.

 

First, GO SENS GO...My precious Oil failed last year...


Despite whichever way you may lean in regards to Lukes decision in confronting Darth at Bespin, I always like to think of it as a turning point for Vader.

Do you ever see him kill anyone after his battle with Luke?... just the emperor.
Although Luke rushes into the confrontation he is better trained and prepared IMO then Obi Wan and Yoda thought... He made a choice his father was unable to... to turn his back on ultimate power, to 'rule the galaxy as father and son.'
Luke is able to say no thanks and chooses to plummet instead of succombing to the dark side, something his father was unable to do.

When I see Vader look down in disbelief at his son choosing to plummet, I see Vader starting to ponder... 'Ummm ****...why didnt I make a similar choice..." hahaha

So it is my belief Luke made the correct decision in rushing off to bespin, despite the costs.

 

I just had a thought.

Think about the experience those two have had in the past, with anakin. After they failed to rein him in and discipline him they'd be more cautious now with Luke, especially since he is the hope of the Rebellion. Plus Luke is very old for an apprentice and in their own experience that is a huge risk.

I hope you get my drift

 

Maybe slightly off topic, but one thing that bothers me a bit is one of the reasons that I think Luke was able to stay away from the dark side where Anakin was not is that Yoda taught Luke about the dangers of the darkside. It seems Anakin was never told of the downfalls associated with traveling the dark path. So while Luke did rush off to Bespin, he was more prepared than Anakin was even though Anakin had supposedly received "proper" training. Luke knew to what out for the temptations of the darkside, but to Anakin it was more of a "hey, why not if I think it'll save Padme". He never had any training to suggest that it would be a bad move to go all sith.

 

Not really, when you think about it-on Luke's age.

The key thing about Anakin's age is that he's 9. Nobody's ready to leave home at that age; you aren't ready to leave, slave or not.

Think of the difference between Luke leaving and Anakin leaving. Luke makes his own decision to leave Tatooine; for Anakin, the decision is more or less made for him. Luke is already bucking to leave as it is; Anakin is quite hesitant.

Luke is a man when he leaves. Anakin is still just a boy.

Hope you get my drift.

 

I don't think its that simple. Anakin was a slave who was hardened by his upbringing and was more suited to hardship and adversity, while Luke was living a very sheltered experience as a farmer.Age doesn't necessarliy translate into maturity. Luke in ANH is more whiny than Anakin in TPM.

EDITS-Bad Spelling

 

I understand that both Obi-Wan & Yoda wanted Luke to have more training. But, if he would have waited it could have ended much worse. So I guess you take the good & ya take the bad.

 

IMO Anakin probably was told about the "dangers of the darkside" ( he was probably told in his training just not seen on flim IMO. I don't think the Jedi was soo idotic to not teach their students about the dangers of the darkside) Anakin was very arrogrant and IMO thought he could avoid those dangers. Plus his love for Padme blinded him to dangers of the darkside. So you combined his arrogance, blinding love for Padme and being told he is the chosen one, he probalby thought he was immortal and nothing could hurt him.

As for the original topic. At first glance it looks like Luke made a bad decsion. He almost ends up dead, gets his hand sliced off, founds out his dad is Vader. But he doesn't get killed, saved by Leia. His hand gets repaired, and finding out who his daddy really is, becomes a almost like a weapon to kill the Palpatine. The force works in mysterious ways

 

Luke took a huge risk in going to Bespin. He was almost killed, which would have been basically the death of any chance to destroy the Sith. Forget Leia, she wouldn't have stood a chance.

 

I think that yes, ObiWan and Yoda were wrong, and Luke was right. Luke was ALSO the only one who believed that there was still good left in Vader - the ONLY one - and he was right - Vader destroyed the Sith (Palpatine, and himself in the process).

So, naturally the conclusion one must come to is GO SENS GO!.