PT Padme & Luke

Hey everyone. I just wanted to make this thread so I could read what people have to say about this subject. I think a thread should be devoted to this wonderful link between trilogies. I personally feel like you can see so much of Padme in Luke with the whole saga completed, and I really love that. On the other hand, you can see some Anakin in Leia. I think they both have traits from both of their parents, but for me Padme's connection to Luke really stands out...

I love that as ROTJ proceeds, and Luke slips into a role similar to his mother's personality and dying words, he unconsciously starts to take an interest in her, almost like wait, I'm not like my father right now. I've always been so interested in him, in identifying with him, but I'm not like him. So who am I being like? What about... my mother? And this is such an issue to him that he brings it up to Leia to ask her. I think he feels some unconscious resonance -- for who knows why, which I love is open to speculation! Simple psychology, mother-son bond, The Force? Who knows, but it works so well thematically because Luke's strength and Padme's strength are the same in the end -- crafty plans which rely on quick thinking and emotional openness. He has the steadfast belief in goodness like his mother. They both are the only two people to defeat Sidious' plan, with him essentially both times calling them 'naive' for appealing to compassion & unity [Padme in TPM, Luke in ROTJ] -- almost like the great genius planner Palpatine's one weakness is compassion and working together for mutual benefit; he doesn't believe in it, he just seems to believe in selfishness. Most of the time he's right. But in the case of Padme and Luke, they can't be bought off or bargained with, and he has nothing to offer them to twist the situation to its advantage -- he has to resort to simply trying to kill them. True idealism, it seems, is his kryptonite & his antithesis.

Padme and Luke also share a weakness, a potential Achilles' heel -- which Palpatine correctly pointed out: naivete. Padme and Luke share a great strength -- belief in people's goodness -- which sometimes succeeds brilliantly, but sometimes it also undoes them. In Padme's case, it's a permanent failure, in Luke's it's a temporary one. Padme trusts people, and sometimes she trusts people who are not good for her. She takes a leap of faith and trusts Jar Jar, Anakin, Palpatine even if there are disquieting things because she believes in people's goodness. Jar Jar helps in the first film, and Anakin in the second. However all of them let her down. In the case of Luke, he appeals to Vader, but mostly this falls on deaf ears and Palpatine almost tortures him to death. Only by Vader's last second conversion does Luke succeed.

So, I could go on about this, but I want to hear what you guys think. What are Luke and Padme's similarities? Where do you see Luke in Padme, or Padme in Luke? Strengths and weaknesses they share? And what about Anakin's influence?

 

I was watching Darth Vader's death scene yesterday for some reason and the connection between Padme and Luke just hit me really hard at the point when he says, "You were right, tell your sister you were right."

It's then that I realised there were only 2 people in the entire saga who had stated that there was still good in Anakin once he became Vader, Padme and Luke. Padme says it to Obi Wan and Luke says it to Vader himself.

Of course, as an external viewer we know that Lucas was trying to draw a parallel to the line in the OT when Padme says it in the PT, but from an in-universe perspective, we can safely say that the trait of seeing the good in people no matter how bad they got, was passed on from Padme to Luke.

They both knew that only through continued compassion and non-violence and love could they turn evil to good. Maybe that reflects more in their principles than the majority of their actions (Padme's agressive negotiations in TPM and AOTC and Luke's in ESB and ROTJ), yet when it came to Vader they both reacted quite similarly in the end, appealing to the good left in him.

There is definitely something there and I'm sure Lucas fully intended to make Padme calm and honorable like Luke and Anakin brash and impulsive like Leia.

 

One of my favorite themes. I see some of the Anakin's characteristics in Luke, but he has much more of Padme. I agree with you both, I just will add some details.
Luke and Padme are soft, not weak. They even share physical similarities: Luke is short like his mother: obviously Lucas intentionally have chosen actress with such physical appearance to play Padme. Luke is rational, Lea is risky, Luke prefer to wait, Lea is always on the move (remember they choose different plans to save Han and of course Luke succeeded not because is stronger, but because he waited enough). And of course, the most important thing: Luke feels the good in his father. Remember the choice of Lea: if Vader is our father you should run, not to face him. The funny thing is that both siblings choose not to go against their father, but Luke is the one that chooses to save him.
I have always missed the presence of Padme in the OT. I mean, I have wondered what Vader thought when he understands that he has a son. I think the mere presence of Luke make him feel better because he know that he didn’t kill the love of hid life. It is a pity that Lucas didn’t include some glimpses of this in the OT remastered version.

 

I was thinking about this the other day and I just wanted to point how awesome it would be if Luke references Padme or the Amidala family line when he presumably trains Rey on Ahch-To. It would be a great way to connect some element there, especially if there is a familial link between Rey and the Skywalkers. Basically, knowing that Luke has shown similarity to and interest in his mother's heritage before, I'd like to see it at least a little bit in the ST.

Also, C-3PO is from the Skywalker line -- while R2-D2 is from the Amidala line. Contemplating Luke's connection to his mother, it's noteworthy I think that C-3PO is with Leia and Han for much of the OT, while R2-D2 is with Luke for much of the OT.

Shout out as well to:

 

Yes, I've heard it often that Leia and Luke both take after the parent of the opposite Gender for the most Part..

For Luke we hear how reckless and impulsive he is but it is mostly an informed trait, he is usually shown being far more reserved, diplomatic, and level headed like Padme.

Leia however despite being in the Senate for years seems more hot headed and prone to insults. And in fact this just came to my head, I know this is a Luke and Padme thread but this interests me.

Anakin: General Grievous, your shorter than I expected.
Leia: Grand Moff Tarkin, I should have expected you would be holding Vaders leash, I smelled you foul stench when I was brought on board.

Like Father like daughter no?

But indeed I love these parallels in character, it truly shows the genius of George Lucas to put so much of Luke and Leia in their Parents, it is fascinating.

 

They said that in ANH Lucas still didn't decide that Lea should be Anakin's daughter. Yet, in ANH exactly in that scene, before the destruction of Alderaan can be seen that Lea is not afraid of Vader but of Tarkin. Is not that she is frightened, but she feels who is the biggest danger: not the big menacing man with the mask, but the soulless, merciless bureaucrat. Or maybe she has a vague feeling that Vader wouldn't really hurt her? Who knows... But it is true that Vader didn't hurt her: yes he send a mind probe droid, but she obviously look pretty well after that and I suppose Vader did it because after all he is a 'relict from the old times' and even in his now twisted mind it is impossible to torture (personally) a woman (should I compare this to the pathetic wannabe Kylo Ren). Also during the destruction scene, when Vader catches her, she didn't run away from him, she just stayed there (maybe it was less worse than stay close to Tarkin).. Anyway, I didn't want to derail the thread, just to emphasize on the opposite connection (Lea-Anakin) that is mentioned less that this between father and son.
Back to the topic Luke and Padme. Lea has some vague memories of her mother and I think ROTS explains well why: not only because Bail Organa knew Padme, but also because Lea was there when her mother passed away. But Luke has no memories, yet she is interesting on that: who was his mother and why on Earth she fell in love with this menacing villain? Maybe she knew his father when he was a normal human?
Now when Disney decided to make the so called anthologies, I'm wondering why they didn't film the comic when Vader knows the truth that Luke is his son and tries to find some proofs about that ( it wouldn't derail TESB, because we don't know if Vader didn't lie the emperor about the fact the he knows/doesn't know the truth about Luke and most important, the reason of Padme's death). So for me it will be a peculiar tribute to Padme and something practically dedicated to the connection between mother and son.

 

@The_Phantom_Calamari Hey I hope you don't mind me moving our conversation to this thread to fit the topic better.

How is Luke short-tempered?

ANH:
- R2 tricks Luke into removing his restraining bolt, then runs off, which makes Luke go out looking for him, resulting in him getting attacked by the Tuskens, and R2 makes no attempt to rescue him. Luke doesn't show the slightest bit of anger towards R2, and actually seems quite fond of this loyal little droid when talking to Obi Wan about him.
- His foster parents get killed because of the danger brought to them by the droids, but again Luke doesn't show the slightest bit of anger towards them
- In the cantina, two random strangers shove him and say things like "I don't like you" and "You just watch yourself," and Luke responds with "I'm sorry" and "I'll be careful."

ESB:
- Does not kill the wampa after cutting off its arm, choosing instead to turn and run, and risk getting pounced on from behind.
- Seems quite in control of his emotions during his fight with Vader, despite thinking that this is the main guy behind the deaths of his father, Obi Wan, Owen, and Beru.

ROTJ:
- He was a little angry at Obi Wan and Yoda for not telling him the truth about his father, but that's it. Just a little angry, for quite a big betrayal, I'd say. He forgave them pretty quickly and still treated them with love and respect.

I don't see Luke as short-tempered at all. He's like an angel, almost too perfect to be real.


He is also very hardworking, as shown by his training scenes on Dagobah. Yoda was a pretty strict teacher, but Luke had no complaints and tried his best. Anakin was not hardworking, as evidenced by Obi Wan's line in AOTC: "If you spend as much time practicing your saber techniques as you do your wit, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman."

I also don't see how Luke is impulsive, either. Maybe a little in ANH when rescuing Leia, but understandably so as he was new to those types of situations. He is willing to listen to advice that others may have. In ROTJ, he made a sophisticated plan to save Han.

 

P.S. I forgot to mention how gentle Luke was in ROTJ to the ewoks who attacked them.

 

He whines and complains constantly in A New Hope, he flies off the handle at Han in the cantina, he's extremely dismissive and rude to Yoda in Empire (which is the whole reason Yoda initially refuses to train him), he impulsively abandons his training to go to rescue his friends despite being told repeatedly that he's not ready, he's hot-blooded and arrogant in his first confrontation with Vader, he allows himself to be provoked by the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, and he (pivotally) flies into a murderous rage when goaded by Vader at the end of their second duel.

Luke is far from an angel. He loses his temper and makes shortsighted decisions constantly in the original trilogy. It's a central part of his character. Luke being nice to droids doesn't negate this aspect of his character. Anakin is nice to droids too. You can't just point to instances when Luke was kind, because of course there are lot of such instances. Both of them are nice guys overall, but they're also both whiny, impulsive hotheads. The fact that Luke and Anakin have very similar character flaws is absolutely fundamental to the story being told. There's no point to the story otherwise. The whole point is for a viewer to have a reasonable fear that Luke may turn out the same way Anakin did.

 

Yes Anakin is nice to droids, but the droids were nice to him too. My point is that Anakin is not forgiving and easy going like Luke is.
Luke underestimated Yoda at first, but he was still being gentle. He let him have the flashlight, and didn't lash out when Yoda made a mess of his belongings. Yes he was frustrated when he thought he wasn't brought to Yoda (he thinks this little creature doesn't understand the gravity of the situation and is just wasting time) and upset when Han asked for such a large sum of money (Luke has not dealt with those types of matters before so that sum seems ridiculous to him), but he wasn't being aggressive towards them or anything. Luke is overall a very sweet tempered person while Anakin is easily provoked. I don't even understand what's so insulting about being put on the Council without being made a master.

Flying off to Bespin was not an impulsive decision. Yoda and Obi Wan tried to stop him because they were worried that he would turn to the dark side. Luke listened to what they had to say, but he knows himself well, he knows he won't turn, and decided that the best course of action is to go. And it turned out relatively well. I doubt Leia would've been able to escape if Luke wasn't there to keep Vader busy.
This is not the same as Anakin ignoring Obi Wan's tactically sound instructions of attacking Dooku together, in favor of charging at Dooku alone. The former's advantage is a higher chance of success, while the latter has zero advantage.

 

Anakin wasn't so much insulted as he was frustrated. The ROTS novel (not saying you have to read this but the way George shot the scene didn't help) explains that Anakin was aware of the Jedi Archives in the temple that only Jedi Masters had access too. When he was told he was going to be made a member of the council he thought he'd then be able to find the answers in the archives for the knowledge he needed to save Padme. At this point he had already gone to Yoda for help and got nowhere. The idea that the council seat came with the Master's archive access was what he most wanted.

 

That would be easier to understand. But yeah that's not what happens in the movie, where he says it's "insulting" just because it's never been done before.

 

Luke's decision to go rescue his friends was wrong. All he managed to do was get his hand cut off before attempting to commit suicide, surviving only by sheer chance and having to be rescued by his friends. Nothing Luke himself did actually accomplished anything other than delaying his friends from successfully rescuing themselves. Vader would likely have been busy waiting for Luke regardless, and in any case, no one can say for certain that Luke's friends couldn't have gotten out of their situation themselves. All that can be said for certain is that Luke rushed off with the wrong mindset and with his training incomplete, got his ass kicked, and escaped succumbing to the dark side only by deciding to kill himself and forcing his friends to turn around and head straight back into the lion's den to retrieve his weakened and broken body. I wouldn't call that turning out "relatively well."

"This scene here is, again, stressing the fact that Luke is making a critical mistake in his life of going after--to try to save his friends when he's not ready. There's a lot being taught here about patience and waiting for the right moment in time to do whatever you're going to do." -- George Lucas, The Empire Strikes Back DVD commentary

Luke's critical error is foreshadowed throughout the film in various ways as Luke demonstrates both his impatience and overconfidence in his own abilities:



DACK: Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself.

LUKE: I know what you mean.

Dack represents the younger, more naively confident side of Luke--the Luke who took on an entire Death Star alone in his X-wing and blew it up with two well-placed torpedoes. At this point Luke is still essentially the Luke we know from A New Hope. He is of a single mind with Dack, which is represented symbolically by their placement back-to-back in a single speeder, calling to mind imagery relating to Janus, the god of transitions:



One face looks backwards and represents the past, and the other looks forward and represents the future.

In the course of the Battle of Hoth, Dack is killed. In other words, the young, backward-facing Luke who was able to destroy the Death Star is killed, and now the older, forward-facing Luke is left alone to deal with the consequences of this grievous blow to his simplistic worldview (we can see here how the reflected compositions of the shots emphasizes the duality represented by the two characters):









This is followed by Luke's speeder being critically hit, resulting in the first of two symbolic crashes:










In the first case, the struggling Luke desperately abandons his craft as it's stomped on and destroyed by the giant foot of an AT-AT (simultaneously obliterating Dack-Luke in the process):



In the second case, however, Luke is expected to raise his craft from the mire in which it has become stuck. In other words, he is expected to exhibit patience and discipline. Luke's training, culminating in the raising of his X-wing, represents the attainment of maturity and taking control of one's life. Luke is in a state of transition from childhood to manhood. He has left his youth behind, but he has not yet found true maturity. He has become stuck in a mire of fog and uncertainty, and he must learn certain lessons before he can escape this mire and become a man. But Luke fails to learn this lesson at every step along the way:

Yoda, in his guise as a mad hermit, teases Luke for being unable to get his ship out ,and Luke immediately "loses patience." You see these two ideas already being linked in the narrative from the moment of Luke's first encounter with Yoda.

Later:

Again, Yoda counsels "patience," but Luke doesn't listen:

Again, Yoda counsels "patience" in the face of Luke's entreaties, but instead Luke loses his temper and lashes out. It is at this point that Yoda makes his determination:

"The boy has no patience."

Ben insists the Luke will "learn patience," but Yoda notes with all-too-much justification that Luke has "much anger in him, like his father":

Yoda insists that Luke is "not ready." Luke lacks patience and so he isn't ready. He has too much anger in him. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?

Moving on:

Yoda tells Luke to leave his weapons outside the cave, but again he fails to listen. He is impatient and seeking confrontation, and as a result he finds Darth Vader inside the cave. He attempts to strike Vader down but finds he has only destroyed himself. This is all foreshadowing Luke's future decision to ignore Yoda's advice and rush off to face Vader. Luke's failure at the cave foreshadows his failure on Cloud City. Both failures arise from the same character flaws which have been emphasized throughout the whole film: impatience, anger, aggression. A misplaced faith in weapons and a lack of faith in the Force.

Later:

Again, we see evidence of Luke's impatience. The task at hand is difficult and requires discipline, and so Luke gives up almost immediately. He petulantly dismisses everything Yoda says to him:

Ultimately, Yoda decides to lift the X-wing for him. Luke refuses to be patient, refuses to take control of his own life, and so Yoda, like a disappointed parent, must do it for him:

Luke has failed. Just as Yoda predicted at the outset, Luke lacks patience. He is too angry, too quick to lash out when the going gets tough. He is not ready.

And so this brings us to Luke's decision to abandon his training to go rescue Han and Leia. He couldn't even lift his own X-wing out of the swamp, and now he wants to rush off to face Darth Vader. Luke can't even take control of his own life, but now he wants to control the future itself:

Yoda begs Luke to remember his "failure at the cave," a last ditch effort to make Luke understand what he and Ben are trying to tell him:

If he rushes off now to seek a confrontation with Vader, his failure at the cave will repeat itself. But Luke doesn't listen, and so Yoda and Ben try one last time:

Patience! Patience, patience, patience. There's a reason this word keeps being repeated. Luke is choosing the quick and easy path now, just as he did at the cave, and it's leading him inexorably towards the dark side and calamity:

“It’s one of those things that’s risky in terms of storytelling,” says Lucas. “Basically, he screws up and everything turns bad because of his emotional decision, where he knows that he’s not ready but goes anyway. His attachment makes for a very selfish decision.”

“I was supposed to pick up this king snake at the moment Ben said, ‘You would become an agent of evil,like Lord Vader’—it was heavy symbolism,” says Hamill.

-- J.W. Rinzler, The Making of Star Wars






The symbol of the snake keeps recurring--at the time of Luke's failure in the cave and at the time he makes the decision to abandon his training. These two events are connected. One prefigures the other.

Again, read the quote of Lucas's that I posted at the beginning:

"This scene here is, again, stressing the fact that Luke is making a critical mistake in his life of going after--to try to save his friends when he's not ready. There's a lot being taught here about patience and waiting for the right moment in time to do whatever you're going to do." -- George Lucas, The Empire Strikes Back DVD commentary

Luke's choice is "a critical mistake." He is "not ready." He hasn't yet learned "patience." It's all connected. This is what the film is all about. This is Luke's arc. He fails because of his character flaws--the very same flaws which doomed his father.

 

It's also noteworthy that Dak dies because of a risky choice Luke made. Dak wanted to do something about the problem with fire control, but Luke told him to ignore it and ready the tow cable. One more glancing hit to the shields was all it took to set off a fatal burst.
Again, this seems to stem from a lack of patience and overconfidence.

 

Good point! Yes, Luke is messing up left and right in Empire.

And Luke's failure in abandoning his training to rescue his friends is directly mirrored in the second film of the prequel trilogy. Just as Luke receives a vision of his friends, Anakin receives a vision of his mother in pain, and he abandons his mission of protecting Padme to rush off and try to rescue her. Of course it's already too late for him to have made any difference, and his showing up only serves to make the situation worse. Anakin, like Luke, is not yet ready to face the situation he's rushing into, and it results in dire consequences:

"This is obviously a very pivotal scene for Anakin because this is reuniting with his mother and his youth and at the same time dealing with his inability to let go of his emotions and allow himself to accept the inevitable. The fact that everything must change and that things come and go through his life and that he can't hold onto things which is a basic Jedi philosophy that he isn't willing to accept emotionally and the reason that is because he was raised by his mother rather than the Jedi. If he'd have been taken in his first year and started to study to be a Jedi, he wouldn't have this particular connection as strong as it is and he'd have been trained to love people but not to become attached to them. But he has become attached to his mother and he will become attached to Padme and these things are, for a Jedi, who needs to have a clear mind and not be influenced by threats to their attachments, a dangerous situation. And it feeds into fear of losing things, which feeds into greed, wanting to keep things, wanting to keep his possessions and things that he should be letting go of. His fear of losing her turns to anger at losing her, which ultimately turns to revenge in wiping out the village. The scene with the Tusken Raiders is the first scene that ultimately takes him on the road to the dark side. I mean he's been prepping for this, but that's the one where he's sort of doing something that is completely inappropriate."

--George Lucas, Attack of the Clones DVD commentary

Then later on, infuriated by the deaths of his Jedi comrades, Anakin impulsively rushes into battle against Count Dooku, dashing any hopes of stopping him through a combined assault and ultimately losing an arm in the process, just as Luke rushes into battle with Vader and loses a hand.

Events are repeating themselves with Luke, for the same reasons, and with similar consequences. Watching the films in episodic order, this serves to build up the tension, causing us to wonder if Luke will succumb to the same fate as his father. He very well might, because all along we know the Jedi have another option in Leia. Even if we assume the good guys must prevail in the end, we have no reason to assume that Luke is safe. He certainly seems to be heading down the same path as Anakin.

It's interesting to note that early in the story development of Empire, Lucas planned to have a scene where Luke gets angry and massacres a group of stormtroopers, much as Anakin does to the Tusken Raider tribe in Clones:

“When Luke first displays his talent as a Jedi warrior, we can really do a big number where he’s in a physically trapped situation, with stormtroopers. Luke polishes off 137 stormtroopers. Vader comes in and they have a giant duel as all the doors close and lock, and Luke is trapped with Vader. The fight is psychic because, at the same time, Vader is trying to convince Luke to come over to his side of the Force.”

[...]

Lucas also carefully balanced the film’s structure in terms of the main characters’ emotional development. In the treatment, Ben had told Luke it was time to leave Yoda; now Luke must choose between an instinctive emotional attachment and the completion of his training. “Luke’s decision to rescue his friends is the right one, but his methodology is wrong,” Lucas says. Luke’s massacre of the stormtroopers, on the other hand, was cut. “I was homing in on how angry he gets and how much do I make him look like he’s turning to the dark side. I decided to move him closer to the dark side in the next film, not in this one.

--J.W. Rinzler, The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Note here that Lucas clarifies that Luke's decision to rescue his friends is actually, in a sense, the right one. The problem is his "methodology," which of course refers to the fact that he went in motivated by attachment. If he had completed his training, Luke would have learned to let go of his attachments, but since he hadn't done that, he should not have rushed off. Yoda and Ben aren't saying Luke is wrong to want to rescue his friends. They're saying he is in no condition to do so without likely making the situation worse. Since Luke has no way of knowing for sure what will happen to his friends, Luke is making an impulsive decision which takes only his own feelings into account, and completely ignores what his friends would actually want him to do. Obi-Wan makes this same point to Anakin in Clones, during the scene where Padme falls out of the gunship:

ANAKIN: Lower the ship!

OBI-WAN: I can't take Dooku alone! I need you! If we catch him we can end this war right now! We have a job to do!

ANAKIN: I don't care! Put the ship down!

OBI-WAN: You will be expelled from the Jedi Order!

ANAKIN: I can't leave her!

OBI-WAN: Come to your senses! What do you think Padme would do if she were in your position?

ANAKIN: ...She would do her duty.

We see the same sorts of situations being encountered, the same issues being dealt with. Why is Anakin willing to forfeit any chance of stopping Dooku and end the war in its tracks? Is it because it's the right thing to do? Or is it because of what he wants for himself? Like the situation with Luke and his friends, Anakin doesn't even know if Padme actually needs his help. As it turns out, she doesn't, and so if Anakin had gone back for her, it would have been for no reason.

Contrast the decision Yoda makes a short time later: Should he press the attack with Dooku and allow Anakin and Obi-Wan to be crushed, or should he save them at the cost of ending the war and potentially saving countless lives? This time, the right thing to do is for Yoda to save his friends. He knows for certain that they need his help now. He doesn't know what the future holds with Dooku and the war. The difference is that Yoda's decision here is motivated not by his attachments, but by a genuine regard for doing what's right. It is not an easy choice for him to make, and we see clearly that it weighs heavily on him.

These sorts of decisions aren't black-and-white. It's all about going into them with the right mindset, and making choices for the right reasons.

 

If Luke didn't go go Bespin, Vader would keep torturing Leia until either Luke comes or Vader gives up and kills Leia out of frustration. He's not going to stand around the carbon freezing room doing nothing while letting Lando take Leia away, and continue to do nothing when Leia and Lando fight the stormtroopers. The only reason he stopped paying close attention to them is because he received news that Luke had already landed, so Vader is putting his focus on dealing with Luke. Yes, Luke's friends had to turn the Millennium Falcon around to save Luke, but at least they were already on the Falcon, as opposed to being stuck in the building under the direct supervision of Vader. Sure, I guess it's possible that they could have gotten out of their situation themselves, but the chances are very, very low.

No, it's not the same. Obi Wan actually had a plan for fighting Dooku, one more likely to succeed. With Han and Leia, they were like, "Well, there's actually a *chance* they can escape by themselves. The most important thing for you is to become a Jedi, so you should just stay here and *hope* they escape."

Ok this one is more similar, because there's a conflict of interest between the safety of those close to them and the greater good of the galaxy. But there's still a difference. Anakin isn't a doctor, so abandoning his duty in order to stay with Padme doesn't accomplish much of anything. Whereas with Luke, he actually has some fighting skills that can be of use in dealing with the Empire, plus he brought along R2 to help with technical issues (which in hindsight, was crucial to their escape).

This one I think is actually understandable. Anakin was pretty sure Shmi was already suffering and needed rescuing. Padme *might* be lucky enough to not get assassinated during the short time that he tries to rescue his mother. Unfortunately he was too late to save Shmi, but at least she died happy because she got to see her son one last time. Of course this is not enough for Anakin. He probably thinks he should have went earlier and actually save her.


Regarding Luke not being "patient" from when he meets Yoda to when Yoda reveals his identity. Why would he be "patient" under those circumstances? He's goal-oriented and strives to do well (qualities I see more in Padme than Anakin), so he is eager to start his training and save the galaxy. Admittedly he should have been more polite to someone who's offering him a meal (and admittedly Padme might be better at this Luke), but his frustration is understandable too. To him, it seems like this creature doesn't know the importance of Luke's mission, and is just fooling around. As far as Luke can tell, this creature might not even plan on bringing him to Yoda at all...if he even knows where Yoda is. Luke might be better off searching his own.

I find this stressing over situations more similar to Padme than Anakin. Both Luke and Padme are pragmatic and look at long term issues. Take the pregnancy situation, for example. Padme was very worried about the consequences. "What are we going to do?" "This baby will change our lives. I doubt the queen will continue to allow me to serve in the senate, and if the Council discovers you're the father, you'll be expelled." Anakin, on the other hand, was postponing those problems to later and just living in the moment. "We're not going to worry about anything right now. All right? This is a happy moment." "We don't need his help. Our baby is a blessing."
If Anakin was in Luke's place on Dagobah, I don't think he would be as stressed as Luke. He might be something like this: Ship stuck? Meh, I'll figure something out later. R2, let's explore this place! Can't find Yoda yet? Ah, I'm sure I'll find him. What are you cooking?

I'm not sure if Luke bringing in weapons is so much "seeking confrontation" as it is being tense, doubtful, and overly cautious. I agree that he must have had anger/hatred (towards Vader) entering the cave though. But I don't see what patience has to do with this, nor lack of faith in the Force (lack of trust and obedience towards Yoda maybe, but not the Force).

What does this have to do with patience? My understanding of patience is if there's two methods for doing something, one with a lower success rate but works faster, and another with a higher success rate but takes time, a patient person will choose the second method.
But that's not what's going on here. Luke thinks there's no method that would work. According to Yoda, Luke fails because he doesn't believe it will work. Which, to me, just means Luke underestimated the power of the Force. But what does that have to do with anything? Did Anakin ever underestimate it? You also said Luke is overconfident at times. So...he misestimates things both ways? How is that a character flaw?

I don't see what patience has to do with this either. It's not like Luke got bored of training and couldn't wait to kill Vader. The issue was about weighing the risks of going and staying. Yoda and Obi Wan didn't want Luke to go because they thought the risk of him turning to the dark side was very high. But Luke was determined to not fall to the dark side, so he thinks it won't happen. And it didn't.
And how is this a "quick" and "easy" path? He's not looking for shortcuts. He's going to a dangerous place to increase the chances of his friends surviving.

Though I agree that Anakin is short-tempered and impulsive, I don't see how these are the flaws that doomed him. Never mind Yoda's words; he wasn't there to witness Anakin's turn. We, the audience, saw it first hand in the prequels. The reason he cut off Mace's hand was not because he was angry at him, but because he was trying to save Padme. And he wasn't looking for a "quick and easy" path, either. He chose what he saw as the only possible path to saving her. It's not about patience. It's about a conflict of interest between the survival of his loved ones and the greater good of the galaxy.

 

Actually for me the decision to go to Bespin was right. If Luke never went there he would never learn the truth and will never face his father before the final combat and respectively would never had the time to think that Anakin could be saved. I don't speculate of the Jedi would tell him or not (although it can be seen that they probably wouldn't) but in both cases he just wouldn't have the time to rethink it.
Now, back to the main topic: generally while Luke prefered to wait and then to act ( in which conisist his patience that is different from the trained more experienced patience of the Jedi) sometimes he can do something rush, in a hurry: and he does it when he thinks that is the right thing to do and it will bring good for many people. Padme does that too, actually, no matter that generally she is pacient and rational. That's why in Ep.2 captain Typho says: I'm more worried that she will do something not him.
Regarding to the test of Yoda, in short, Luke is young. He does have the impatience of the young age which is confirmed by Obi Wan in the same conversation, actually. The difference is that in the Jedi temple the padawans learn to control it at younger age and Luke had grown up in a normal family. Yes, he whines for may things (Anakin, shockingly is more reserved) but when is to make something big Luke is there while he hesitates at first (Padme acts in the the same way in TPM).
@lord_sidious_ , I neither consider that Anakin went quickly to the Dark side. What Yoda meant there is not that the path to the Dark side is short (could be large enoug, with Count Dooku it happened at old age). What is quick and easy is how you recieve your power: quick , easy and something that Yoda didn't say, but we see in Anakin's fate, in such higher price that the person looses himself/herself completely.

 

Yeah Padme takes risks too. "I will not defer. I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee." Also in AOTC, she goes to Geonosis in an attempt to rescue Obi Wan. She isn't exactly being patient either, but she has reason to act the way she does.