Was Luke trying to kill himself after his first duel w/ Vader?

After the Luke/Vader duel in ESB, Luke throws himself off the ledge rather than join Vader. But everytime I watch it, I get the impression that he was trying to commit suicide. To say Luke didn't take the news well would be quite an understatement. It devastated him. I think he saw suicide as the only alternative to joining Vader. Obviously he'd changed his mind by the time he was hanging on for his life underneath the platform, but I still think it was a suicide attempt. Luke was still incredibly depressed about Vader's revalation after he was on board the Millennium Falcon. Thoughts?

 

Lore has created a general consensus that Luke could either join Vader or face *almost certain* death. He may have thought that he had a chance to live, but he probably knew that he would likely die. There's almost no chance it was a flat-out suicide attempt. He just chose the lesser of two evils.

 

It's like you are an American soldier in WWII fighting the evil Nazis and Hitler has you backed up to a ledge and tells you to join him because he is your father. If I could not kill him, I would probably jump too.

 

Luke wasn't trying to commit suicide. He simply chose death before dishonor.

 

If he was truly suicidal, he would have probably let go of the wind vane he was hanging off of. Notice he still tries to get back inside after he falls out.

I think part of his reasoning might have been to show up Vader. Notice how right after Vader says "Come with me. It is the only way," Luke proves him wrong by showing that there is another way. He probably expects death to be this way out, but he's (pleasantly) surprised to find himself alive. Plus everything said above about death being preferable to helping evil.

 

You know I could never think of that scene in that way but now that you speak of it. I think he tryed to kill himself cause he could face the truth of Vader beening his father,

 

Perhaps this will mirror the duel between Obi Wan and Anakiin... Join the Jedi who he will grow to hate, or die. Yet he will survive and the rest is history. Of course we do not know what will happen, but I would say its a good bet.
So basically I agree that Luke just did not want to join Vader and he believes falling was his only choice.

 

I don't think of it as a suicide attempt. It's also possible that Luke realized Vader was going to take him whether or not Luke agreed to come, and he decided to do anything necessary to keep Vader from having the added power of Luke at his disposal.

 

Luke was taking the only way out he could see, by nobly sacrificing himself instead of becoming an instrument of evil.

Though Lucas would have you believe he slips on a banana peel with his revision of this scene for the SE, by taking out the shot with Luke's victorious look at Vader as he let's go of the platform and by adding a ridiculous scream that makes Luke sound like one of the three stooges. Lucas twisted one of the most important scenes for Luke, simply because looking back, he thought that killing one's self rather than joining an ultimate evil is not noble. But accidentily falling to one's death is.

 

Was Luke trying to kill himself after his first duel w/ Vader?

Quite the opposite - I always felt he was trying to save himself, from the darkside that is

 

I agree that it was not his intent to actually kill himself, but rather to save himself.

Philisophically speaking, Luke knew that to succumb to the dark side would be a spiritual death, a fate worse than possible physical death, so he decided to take his chances.

 

Why didn't Vader use the force to stop Luke from falling? A force tractor-beam of sorts. Then he could deliver his prize to Sidious.

 

Maybe one Force user can't do things like that to another. After all, couldn't Maul have then just used the Force to throw Obi-Wan down the shaft?

Living things and inanimate objects are different things in the eyes of a Force that's based on life, so the fact that rocks and pipes can be thrown around doesn't prove that people can be.

 

You know, Lucas could've had Luke die, then Leia would take over as the hero.

God, that would've been bad.

 

Why didn't Vader use the force to stop Luke from falling? A force tractor-beam of sorts. Then he could deliver his prize to Sidious.

If he did that, then he'd have to take him back to the Emperor ASAP. The general consensus is that both Palps and Vader were planning on turning Luke against the other; Palps using his manipulative skills and braintwisting, Vader playing the father-son card. When Luke rejected Vader's offer of joining him (and NOT the Emperor), Vader's one-and-only plan for turning Luke wasn't possible anymore. He probably figured he'd tell the Emperor that Luke chose death over joining the Dark Side. (leaving out the part where he offered to help Luke overthrow the Emperor ) Vader doesn't seem too eager to help turn Luke in ROTJ after their confrontation on Endor, after all.

If he actually survived, Vader thought he would have Leia and Chewie. In that case, he could just wait for Luke to rescue them.

 

I agree with most people. Luke wasn't trying to commit suicide. He couldn't fight Vader anymore because he lost his hand and his weapon and he knew that if he went with Vader he wouldn't be strong enough to resist Vader. He decided to take his chances by letting go of the pole.