Dagabah Dark Side Cave

I was just wondering, after watching ESB again, how come after Luke goes in the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah Yoda says something like "The cave, remember you're failure in the cave?" What's that all about? Didn't Luke destroy Vader?

 

Huh?

The cave on Dagabah was a dream like sequence.

Luke failed by tapping into the darkside and using aggression and fear to defeat dreamlike Vader.


CLone

 

Yep. The cave was Yoda's test of Luke's mental strength, to see how much he had learned. Yoda had just told Luke about "anger, fear, aggression, the dark side of the Force are they ..." - now he wants to test if Luke really did learn that. When he says "only what you take with you", he means the mental state you go in with. Luke goes in with fear, with anger at Vader and with hatred of him - these bad vibes cause the phantom Vader to appear, and Luke uses his fear and anger to kill the image of Vader with his weapon. But then he sees that the Vader was actually himself. Basically, it means that Luke is giving into the same emotions that caused Anakin to fall into the dark side, and if he continues on this path, he will become Darth Vader. He sees it again at the end of RotJ, when he cuts off Vader's hand - he sees that Vader also had a mechical hand, just like he has - he is becoming what his father became. The danger of the series is that what happened to Anakin will happen to Luke.

 

Very well put DMM.

 

Inside the cave Luke felt fear, which is why he went after the easy kill by cutting Vader's head off. It was just a test of Luke's confidence in Yoda's instruction and and he failed.

 

Fear. Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

But with that said, I'm not so sure that Luke failed due to being afraid. I think it was more of a search of his inner self, to not draw his blade and go on the offensive. A Jedi is a defensive warrior, Luke took the offense. THat is why he failed IMO.

 

After the X-Wing in the swamp, this dialogue ensues:

Luke: "I don't believe it."

Yoda: "THAT is why you fail."

I'd guess it's the same with the cave.

 

In K.O.T.O.R., one of your Jedi masters tels you that The Dark Side is very strong in cavernous places. It is its natural form.

 

Yoda is seeing how luke would react in the cave...and i don't think that he did to good..

 

how does luke know what vader looks like? is there an EU spot that explains that? but anyway as far as the dark side being strong in caves and so forth, i forget where i read (or maybe im making it up) but degobah as a planet is very very strong with the dark side of the force. almost pure evil...and thats why yoda is there. he is so good he balances it out so its not that bad. and its maybe the best place for yoda to hide from the emperor..since maybe they cant detect him there...but i guess thats a whole different discussion

 

how does luke know what vader looks like?

He briefly saw him on the Death Star. Plus he's probably seen images/holograms of him before -- recent enough to show the changes he made to his uniform

 

To get an extact correct answer for ya self, just for proof.

Pop in TESB DVD, put on the Audio Commentary, skip all the way to the Dagabah Cave Scene, watch & Listen, The Director & I think GL Explain it.


I recommend it, its helpful to those who had trouble understanding what that scene ment. I always thought it was Vader using the Force to Focus his energy and physical presence toward out the Galaxy to Find out where Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Leia, 3PO, & R2.

 

crap-im so dumb. i forgot all about the bit where he saw him on the death star.