CT Palpatine's plan in ROTJ was very weak.

I'm talking about:


'The Death Star will be completed on schedule, my master,' Vader breathed.
'Yes, I know,' replied the Emperor. 'You have done well, Lord Vader ... and now I sense you wish to continue your search for the young Skywalker.'
Vader smiled beneath his armored mask. The Emperor always knew the sense of what was in his heart; even if he didn't know the specifics. 'Yes, my master.'
'Patience, my friend,' the Supreme Ruler cautioned. 'You always had difficulty showing patience. In time, he will seek you out... and when he does, you must bring him before me. He has grown strong. Only together can we turn him to the dark side of the Force.'
'Yes, my master.' Together, they would corrupt the boy - the child of the father. Great, dark glory. For soon, the old Emperor would die - and though the galaxy would bend from the horror of that loss, Vader would remain to rule, with young Skywalker at his side. As it was always meant to be.
The Emperor raised his head a degree, scanning all the possible futures. 'Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.'
He, like Vader, had plans of his own - plans of spiritual violation, the manipulation of lives and destinies. He chuckled to himself, savoring the nearness of his conquest: the final seduction of the young Skywalker.

 

Yes, but Palp was still surprised that Luke showed up at Endor, so he still wasn't part of the original plan, which was to completely destroy the rebellion en masse. Instead, he has Han and Leia captured, and the Imperial fleet is held back while the DS takes out capital ships one by one, forcing Luke to make an untimely decision.

EMPEROR
Send the fleet to the far side of Endor.
There it will stay until called for.

VADER
What of the reports of the Rebel fleet
massing near Sullust?

EMPEROR
It is of no concern. Soon the Rebellion will
be crushed and young Skywalker will be one of
us! Your work here is finished, my friend. Go
out to the command ship and await my orders.

VADER
Yes, my Master.

 

I'm not sure that Han and Leia's capture was planned. It doesn't take place till very late in the actual battle, and the period of capture lasts for a few seconds at most (since Leia still has her blaster).

I figured it was more a judgement call on that particular stormtrooper's part - without any specific orders to capture them rather than kill them.

 

Sorry, but stormtroopers don't guess at the Emperor's plan. They were all doing exactly what they were told.

"Your faith in your friends is yours." The Emperor began smiling; but then his
mouth turned down, his voice grew angry. "Everything that has transpired has done
so according to my design. Your friends up there on the Sanctuary Moon—they're
walking into a trap. And so is your Rebel fleet!"

As if in answer, the Emperor leered, and put the lightsaber down on the control
chair near Luke's hand. "It is unavoidable," the Emperor said quietly. "It is your
destiny. You, like your father, are now…mine."
Luke had never felt so lost.
--------------------
Han, Chewie, Leia, and a dozen commandos made their way down the
labyrinthine corridors toward the area where the shield generator room was marked on
the stolen map. Yellow lights illuminated the low rafters, casting long shadows at
each intersection. At the first three turnings, all remained quiet; they saw no guard
or worker.
At the fourth cross-corridor, six Imperial stormtroopers stood a wary watch.
There was no way around; the section had to be traversed. Han and Leia looked
at each other and shrugged; there was nothing for it but to fight.
With pistols drawn, they barged into the entryway. Almost as if they'd been
expecting an attack, the guards instantly crouched and began firing their own weapons.
A barrage of laserbolts followed, ricocheting from girder to floor. Two
stormtroopers were hit immediately. A third lost his gun; pinned behind a
refrigerator console, he was unable to do much but stay low.
Two more stood behind a fire door, though, and blasted each commando who
tried to get through. Four went down. The guards were virtually impregnable
behind their vulcanized shield—but virtually didn't account for Wookiees.
Chewbacca rushed the door, physically dislodging it on top of the two
stormtroopers. They were crushed.
Leia shot the sixth guard as he stood to draw a bead on Chewie. The trooper
who'd been crouching beneath the refrigeration unit suddenly bolted, to go for help.
Han raced after him a few long strides and brought him down with a flying tackle.
He was out cold.
They checked themselves over, accounted for casualties. Not too bad—but it
had been noisy. They'd have to hurry now, before a general alarm was set. The
power center that controlled the shield generator was very near. And there would be
no second chances.
--------------------
Han pressed the button on his wrist-unit and covered his head: the reinforced
door to the main control room blew into melted pieces. The Rebel squad stormed
through the gaping portal.
The stormtroopers inside seemed taken completely by surprise. A few were
injured by the exploding door; the rest gawked in dismay as the Rebels rushed them
with guns drawn. Han took the lead, Leia right behind; Chewie covered the rear.
--------------------
"Have the fleet hold here," Admiral Piett ordered.
The first captain hurried to carry out the order. The second stepped up to the
window, beside the admiral. "We aren't going to attack?"
Piett smirked. "I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has
something special planned for this Rebel scum." He accented the specialness with a
long pause, for the inquisitive captain to savor. "We are only to keep them from
escaping."
--------------------
The Emperor interrupted Vader's contemplation with a cackled remark to Luke.
"As you can see, my young apprentice, the deflector shield is still in place. Your
friends have failed! And now…" he raised his spindly hand above his head to mark
this moment: "Witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station."
He walked over to the comlink and spoke in a gravelly whisper, as if to a lover.
"Fire at will, Commander."
--------------------
Beyond the window of the throne room, the Rebel fleet was being decimated in
the soundless vacuum of space, while inside, the only sound was the Emperor's
thready cackle. Luke continued his spiral into desperation as the Death Star laser
beam incinerated ship after ship.
The Emperor hissed. "Your fleet is lost—and your friends on the Endor Moon
will not survive…" He pushed a comlink button on the arm of his throne and spoke
into it with relish. "Commander Jerjerrod, should the Rebels manage to blow up the
shield generator, you will turn this battle station onto the Endor Moon and destroy
it."
"Yes, Your Highness," came the voice over the receiver, "but we have several
battalions stationed on—"
"You will destroy it!" the Emperor's whisper was more final than any scream.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Palpatine turned back to Luke—the former, shaking with glee; the latter, with
outrage.
"There is no escape, my young pupil. The Alliance will die—as will your
friends."
Luke's face was contorted, reflecting his spirit. Vader watched him carefully, as
did the Emperor. The lightsaber began to shake on its resting place. The young
Jedi's hand was trembling, his lips pulled back in grimace, his teeth grinding.
The Emperor smiled. "Good. I can feel your anger. I am defenseless—take
your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey toward the
dark side will be complete." He laughed, and laughed.
Luke was able to resist no longer. The lightsaber rattled violently on the throne
a moment, then flew into his hand, impelled by the Force. He ignited it a moment
later and swung it with his full weight downward toward the Emperor's skull.
In that instant, Vader's blade flashed into view, parrying Luke's attack an inch
above the Emperor's head. Sparks flew like forging steel, bathing Palpatine's
grinning face in a hellish glare.
Luke jumped back, and turned, lightsaber upraised, to face his father. Vader
extended his own blade, poised to do battle.
The Emperor sighed with pleasure and sat in his throne, facing the
combatants—the sole audience to this dire, aggrieved contest.
--------------------
For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding
Destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led
to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further
malfunctions, and general chaos.
Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once,
people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin
depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued
bombardments by Rebel cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened
the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive.
For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the
cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this
nondirected—this was simply where it led.
Confusion.
Desperation.
Damp fear.

 

Which suggests the plan was for the stormtroopers to kill every Rebel on Endor, not capture anybody.

That said, the first capture - everything up to "You rebel scum" could have been planned, with the Emperor not having anticipated the big Ewok attack, and the second "few seconds" capture being made by a stormtrooper who remembers the standing orders that led to the first capture.

 

Oh, the plan was always to kill the rebels on Endor...until Palpatine realized Luke was down there. Now instead of killing them quickly, he wants to hold off on the final killing so that Luke will think that turning to the Dark Side will save them. At this point, killing them before Luke's turn would serve no purpose.

"being made by a stormtrooper who remembers the standing orders"

Yeah, I'm not going to go there.

 

Except Palpatine never makes any such offer, Vader does.
Palpatine is just gloating at making Luke angry and is drawing out the destruction of the rebel fleet to make Luke even angrier.

Also, Palpatine did not know for sure that Han and Leia were down there.
The MF is out in the battle and that is Han's ship, so he could assume that Han is onboard that.
Vader could read Luke's thoughts so he could know that Han and Leia were down on Endor.

That there was a capture order is debatable.
Yes the imperial did not shoot Han and crew down right there in the control room.
But that reason could simply be that they didn't want to risk a firefight in there as that could damage the controls.
So the rebels could just be lead out and then be executed on the spot.

That Palpatine prolongs the space battle due to Luke being there, yes that can work. Because he can see it.
What happens on Endor he can't see, he was just told that they are walking into a trap.
And Palpatine's way to get Luke to turn was just to make him boiling mad, mad enough to kill in hate.
That was apparently enough.
No offer to save his friends, it was all "Your friends are dead or dying, ha, ha, don't that make you mad?

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

^ That’s how I always read the scene. He never made an offer to save Luke’s friends. He prolonged the space battle (1) so Luke could see it as you said, and (2) he’s a sadist who wants the Rebels to feel the growing desperation that they’re in a fight they can’t win. A fight they can’t escape.

I don’t recall Vader ever making any offer to save Luke’s friends. He was all, “It’s pointless to resist, Obi-Wan taught you well, oh! You have a sister! His failure is now complete. If you will not turn, she will.”

 

I don't think his plan was weak. When you push someone into a corner and make them desperate, there's no telling what they will do. Sidious had won often enough that he was overconfident, and there was no guarantee that Luke would have come out of that situation without being Sidious' apprentice or dead. Fortunately, Luke remembered his training and was able to focus himself. Also, Vader was the one who pushed him even more than Sidious did.

As for the plan with the Death Star, I think it was a good trap on both ground and space. The only thing Sidious did not consider was the Ewoks (natives on Endor who could help the Rebels, even if they struggled initially).

Also, on that note, I don't think the Ewoks are the problem in ROTJ. I think Jabba's Palace is the problem in ROTJ. The lead-up to the fight in front of Jabba's sail barge is convoluted and dumb, really. But, still, it's very watchable because you can always use your imagination and say that Luke had foreseen this turning out this way through the Force. But, still, the order in which he sent people into that palace makes no sense. Too many risks.

 

He doesn't specifically need to know if it's Han or Leia...it's a small band of rebels that aren't actively attacking the DS in a spacecraft, which means they are easy captives to hold on to. That, and the fact that Luke came with him, implies familiarity.....Luke's either been with Han and Leia, or coming to their aid, in all their dealings with the Empire. The rebel fleet is a little different because they are the more immediate threat - but even so, the Imperial fleet is being held at bay. The rebel fleet are fish in a barrel, and Palps is taking his sweet time picking them off.

Are you saying Vader kept that a secret from Palps?

VADER
Give yourself to the dark side. It is the
only way you can save your friends.

 

Sidious's visions are just little snippets of the future, not a detailed, full out series of events. My understanding is that he foresaw Luke being present on the DS2 somehow during that battle. There's two ways Luke could have participated in that battle, either with the rebels on Endor or as part of the fleet attacking the DS2. Since Sidious didn't sense Luke's presence on the stolen shuttle, he assumed Luke would arrive later with the fleet. But Vader filled him in on the missing detail, and Sidious figured how to get Luke onto the DS2 from there.

He's talking about the quote MeBeJedi just mentioned above. I disagree with that interpretation though. We discussed it earlier in another thread so I'll just quote part of our conversation here (I hope @Samuel Vimes doesn't mind?) instead of rewriting it:

 

Thanks for the clarification.

I agree with Samuel Vimes’ interpretation. It’d make more sense that Vader might be trying to sweeten the deal by implying that they’ll call off the attack/lessen the carnage if Luke joined. The other idea — requiring that Luke (1) somehow kills the Emperor, (2) somehow knows exactly how to get to the control room in a ballooned up version of moon-sized battle station previously blown up, and (3) order an Admiral and other officers to follow his commands (assuming he can even survive the fighting to even get to them) is just...completely asinine and convoluted.

While yes, Luke is desperate and desperation can make you do the most insane thing possible, I’m not entirely sure that’s what Vader was intending.

 

Oh, I think we all know his offer was BS, and Luke did as well....but keep in mind, Palpatine did foresee Luke destroying the Sith...he just didn't see how. So Vader's gonna throw everything possible at him to persuade, entice, and trick him into turning to the Dark Side, thinking he'd make a better ally than foe. Vader's grasping at straws to turn Luke, and Luke's grasping a t straws to save his friends. Even if Luke doesn't believe it, it still makes him focus on the fact that his friends are being killed as he ponders Vader's words. That, in and of itself, contributes to Luke's growing fear, which does lead to the Dark Side. In that regard, Vader's "offer" makes perfect sense. In fact, the one thing that did break Luke was when Vader threatened Leia. At that point, Luke gave into his fear and hatred and defeated Vader...but he was able to turn back, which showed Vader that it was possible.

 

No, Luke went after the first DS with other rebels, not with Han, he joined later and Leia was back at the base.
Luke left Hoth on his own, not with any of the others. He later came to save them yes.
This is an infiltration and sabotage mission. Han is a great pilot so his skill would be best used in the attack on the DS.
Leia is a leader so could be coordinating the attack.

So it is not unreasonable that Leia or Han is there but there is no solid proof either.

In any event, the taking prisoner and to be used to turn Luke is a possibility but another is that the rebels would be shot just outside the bunker as the imperials did not want to risk a fight inside.
And at no point does Palpatine bring up any prisoners on Endor or make any offer about them.
He lets Luke watch the rebel fleet get decimated and thus the whole rebellion, knowing that it will make him boiling mad.

How exactly was Vader supposed to tell Palpatine? I am talking about when Vader is searching for Luke on the DS2. That is when he comments on Luke's thoughts being focused on his friends and that is when he learns of Leia being Luke's sister and right after that, Luke goes wild on him.
So when was Vader supposed to tell Palpatine?

I know, which is why I wrote this at the top of my previous post.

So again, Palpatine makes no offers, only that Luke will be his slave, like his father.
And is basically just poking Luke in the groin with a cattle prod in order to make Luke as mad as possible.

Vader makes the offer, after he had started to probe Luke's mind and saw how strong the connection was and how much Luke cared and so he used that.
Vader knows that if the fight goes on it will end with him killing Luke or Luke killing him and I doubt he wants either.
So he could try to get Luke to join willingly and end the fight.
Yes the rule of two says that there can't be three Siths but Vader knows that if Luke turns then he is the likely one to be disposed of. But if he can delay that and play for time, then he might find a way to not die at Luke's hand. Might not work but Vader has little in the way of options.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

While this is technically true, you are ignoring some very important details. Han didn't simply "join later"....he took out Vader's ship and saved Luke!

And Leia was at the base that Luke had left to start his attack on the DS, and returned to afterwards.

I never meant the three were joined at the hip 24/7. Here are a few other moments I feel I should remind you of:

-Han, Luke, and Leia were together on DS when they tried to rescue her.
-When Vader invaded Hoth base - which he knew Skywalker was at - the last ship he saw was the Millennium Falcon
-Vader risked several star destroyers trying to catch Han and Leia in the Falcon
-Vader took over Cloud City in order to capture Han and Leia solely to torture them as a lure for Luke. "No disintegrations"

VADER
Good work, Commander. Leave us. Conduct your
search and bring his companions to me.

Palps and Vader know Luke isn't alone. Bringing Luke's "companions" to Vader was already part of the plan. They are going to be used as bait again. just as they were in ESB.

Nor does he correct Vader, which would be stupid, because Luke's friends aren't much of a bargaining chip if Palpatine corrects Vader in front of Luke, "Oh....that isn't true. I've already given the order to have them killed." As should be painfully obvious now, no correction was needed, because there was no kill order. Palpatine is letting Vader deal with Luke as he sees fit, and this includes using hostages. That Vader later learns Leia is also Luke's sister (and hence, his daughter) is just icing on the already-baked hostage cake.

 

But Sidious made it pretty clear to Luke that his friends will all die. Vader doesn't have the authority to take matters into his own hands and change Sidious's plans. If he had an alternative idea in mind, he would need prior approval from Sidious before making the offer to Luke.

IF Luke *somehow* manages to kill both Vader and Sidious, the rest should be pretty straightforward. His only enemy left is time. He can ask for directions to the control room from anyone on the DS2 (the closest ones to him would probably be the red guards) and very few people would dare defy him.

 

And just how is he gonna do that? I’m not trying to start a fight, I’m just legit curious.

“Hey, hey, I’m some random pleb you’ve never met before/some prisoner Vader dragged in. Can you point me in the direction of the control room for this battle station?” If he held the Emperor’s head aloft, why would they even want to help him? He had just killed their leader.

Keep in mind that the Red Guards are fiercely loyal to their leader. We even see this in The Last Jedi. Kylo bisecting Snoke didn’t make them scared and submit to him. Indeed, Kylo and Rey had to fight an entire throne room of Red Guards.

Back to Luke, we don’t exactly know just how strong he is yet in the Force (i.e., using Jedi Mind Tricks.) Even if he managed to put a Stormtrooper or two under his will, that’d still leave him with trying to force everyone else to obey despite them immediately shooting him. And even if all he did was mash on the control panels of the throne and talk to the officers there, they’ll likely say something like, “Who are you? How dare you presume to order us around?” Keep in mind that they’d likely know just where that signal would be coming from so they’re going to be wondering why the Emperor is suddenly letting some random nobody they don’t even know use his communication device.

If I were Luke and I had managed to kill both Vader and the Emperor, I’d be running as fast as I could to the nearest hanger, not wasting time trying to find a control room full of angry, hostile soldiers in a battle station about to blow up.

 

Vader knows that Luke is close to Han and Leia yes but that does not mean that all three always go on missions together.
And I have given some examples.
So Vader and Palpatine might think it possible that Han and Leia are also on Endor but they have no direct evidence of that.

Companions would include fellow rebels that are part of the mission.
Plus the empire would have an interest in capturing the rebels.
And how could they bring them to Vader?
He is now on the DS2 and they would need to fly there and the shield would have to be lowered.
But there is a big battle going on and lowering the shield at that point would be less than bright.

Even IF Vader wanted captives that might not mean that Palpatine wanted that.
We never see Palpatine give any such order to Vader.
All he tells Vader is go to Endor and wait for Luke and then bring Luke to him.
Nor do we see him giving any orders to the officers on Endor.
He told Piett to just keep the rebels from escaping and told the DS2 crew to fire at will.

Combined with Palpatine not saying anything about hostages but Vader does, then it is possible that the hostage thing was Vader and Vader alone.

There is already a kill order in place, Palpatine ordered the DS2 to fire at will, Meaning to kill the rebels out there. So his intent is clear, the rebels will all die and Luke can do nothing about it. This feeds into Luke's fury and frustration thus making him more and more angry.

Again, I am talking about the scene where Luke is hiding from Vader underneath the plattform where Palpatine is. Palpatine is not there. He is in the same room but some distance away and if Palpatine heard what Vader said is not established.
And IF the hostages were part of the plan, why didn't Palpatine bring them up when he is goading Luke?
All Palpatine is saying, "The rebellion is lost, your friends will die, take your weapon and strike me down."
He is offering Luke nothing, only slavery.

Vader, again he knows that if this fight goes on, then either he or Luke will die.
So that he tries to use "You can save your friends" and put an end to the fight, that makes sense.
To Palpatine the plan was to get Luke and Vader to fight and whoever won would be his servant, the looser would die.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

That scene in TLJ didn't make much sense. A coup just happened, why would the guards sacrifice their lives for a DEAD leader? Unless they truly love their leader and choose to do so out of their own free will, but Snoke and Sids don't seem particularly nice to their subordinates so I kinda doubt that. Or if they do so because of their strong moral beliefs regarding loyalty, but... somehow I doubt that too.

It's pretty simple, really. Go up to a group of people while holding the Emperor's head in one hand and a lightsaber in the other. If someone shoots at him, deflect it back. If someone tries to run away, jump in front of him and slice him in half. Once everyone is standing and staring at him, ask, "Where is the control room." If someone says something along the lines of "Who are you" or "Why should we tell you," slice him in half and then make eye contact with the remaining people. If no one answers after three seconds, randomly slice someone and make eye contact with the remaining.

These are just minor technicalities. The general gist is that by defeating the leaders, the imperials now have no one to obey. In addition, Luke would have proven himself to be the most powerful, so most people wouldn't dare oppose him. That's how a coup works; you get some critical people either destroyed or controlled, and thus take over everything. You don't have to kill each and every person originally on the other side. There's a saying in Chinese that goes, "树倒猕猴散" (when the tree collapses, the monkeys leave/disband). They're going to look for other trees, not stay on the fallen one.

 

Never said they did.

None of this changes the fact that he wants the companions brought to him. We're talking about the guy who forced his SDs into an asteroid field.

Once again, you are deliberately misrepresenting events of the film.

104 INT EMPEROR'S TOWER - THRONE ROOM 104

EMPEROR
As you can see, my young apprentice, your
friends have failed. Now witness the
firepower of this fully armed and operational
battle station. (into comlink) Fire at will,
Commander.

107 EXT DEATH STAR 107

The giant laser dish on the completed half of the Death Star
begins to glow; Then a powerful beams shoots out toward the
aerial battle.

Palpatine's order is to the commander on the DS to fire on the fleet. Did you think he was shooting at the moon, too?

Yes, because he's forcing Luke to act before they all die...there's no urgency if they're all already dead. This is why Palpatine is taking out capital ships one at a time, and holding back the Imperial fleet.

Have fun grasping at straws.

 

There really should have been a smaller but still significant - say half a dozen ISDs - Imperial fleet at Endor that the Rebels expected and had to engage before moving on the Death Star (and the Emperor subsequently springing the trap with the far larger fleet). It would make both sides' plans more sensible: the Emperor's trap would be less obvious if he gave the impression the DS had at least some token defense force while the Rebels would have a reason to commit their capital ships from the beginning.

 

Actually, the Emperor is a Sith, and a very skilled Sith. He should have foreseen the Ewoks potentially messing up his plan and have been prepared for it.

 

No, because the emperor is using a hopelessness approach.
To show to Luke that all is lost, his friends will all die and he is prolonging the torture to make Luke more and more angry.
When Luke says that soon they will all be dead, Palpatine reveals that he knows about the attack and this is all a trap. Destroying Luke's hope.
Then he lets Luke watch the fleet getting decimated, slowly, to fan Luke's rage.
All the while he has Luke's weapon right there and he is egging Luke on to take it, to kill in hate and make his turn complete.
All of this is done to shatter Luke's hope and make him give in to anger and hate.

It is not that dissimilar to what John Doe did to Brad Pitt's character in the movie Se7en.
Make him embrace rage and kill.
The obvious difference is that Palpatine does not want to die, he wants to provoke Luke to attack and then Vader and Luke would fight to the death.

Is your argument that Luke has NO friends on the rebel ships?

In terms of numbers, maybe 95% of the rebel members are on the ships and a very small number is on the moon. So by destroying the ships, the vast majority of the rebels will die.
So a kill order is in place.
That it is drawn out changes nothing.
And it will kill people Luke cares about.

And what is the act that Palpatine wants from Luke? To get angry and attack, so that he will fight Vader and if he gives in enough to his hate, he will kill his father and become Palpatine's slave.
Never does Palpatine say anything about Luke could stop this if he gives in and joins them willingly.
And for Luke to think that he could kill Palpatine AND Vader and then somehow stop the attack is nonsense.

What Palpatine wants to for Luke to embrace his rage and lash out. He offers no chance that doing so would give Luke anything positive, he would just become a slave like his father.
If a person is forced to watch a video of his family all getting slowly killed and the guy that did it is right there and gloating about it. That person could very well get really angry and try and kill that person, esp if there is a weapon right there. The death of the family can't be prevented but that likely will not matter to the person in a murderous rage.

Vader makes an offer yes, but that is when Luke is in hiding and Vader needs to flush him out.
Plus as I've said, Vader knows that if the fight goes on, it will end with his or Luke's death and he does not want that.

Bye.
Blackboard Monitor

 

Do me a favor, @Samuel Vimes....don't tag me in this discussion again.

 

They just watched their enemy bisect their leader. Even if the leader wasn’t particularly nice, that doesn’t change that their enemy is now armed and well prepared to fight. If I were one of the guards, I’d sure as hell ready my weapons to kill him, my own opinions of the now dead leader aside.

That seems way too Dark Side for Luke to start slicing up people he’s interrogating. I think once he killed the people shooting at him, the others would wisely do what he requests immediately.

The whole problem, for me, is time. Remember, Luke had seconds to get off the Death Star. Indeed, we see it explode moments later. And this was when he was dragging Vader to presumably the nearest hanger. While he’s busy running around finding the control room and ordering people around, the Rebels are currently flying within the bowels of the station’s innards shooting at the reactor core. Remember, the clock is ticking and the Rebels aren’t going to halt and wait for Luke (whom they don’t even know is onboard that thing) to instigate a one-man coup.