CT Why didn’t Luke carry his saber in ROTJ start?

interesting thread. make me watch to watch ROTJ.

 

Any way you slice it, Luke’s plan is idiotic. But it’s a movie...
Hitchcock would do this a lot and call it the Ice Box factor. You see the movie and go on the ride and swept up in the highs. It’s not until a few hours later when you and your spouse are eating out of the fridge (ice box) and talking about the movie, you say ‘hey, wiataminute!” It’s fine, but if it’s during the movie that’s a problem. RotJ doesn’t have the problem while you watch it for the first time,

 

Not so sure. Luke knew he would very likely be searched at a heavily guarded place like the planet's #1 crime lord's fortress. Sure, he could have fought his way past the guards. But then what? The whole palace would have been alerted, heavy blast doors or whatever be closed etc. And remember Luke didn't have enough Jedi skills yet to deal with all of Jabba's guards, not by himself. Nor was he familiar with the place. Also, Jabba when attacked may have decided to kill Han, Chewie AND Leia right there, just to spite Luke. So I don't think going into the palace unarmed in itself was idiotic, however when he faced Jabba and 3PO tried to warn him of the trap door he simply ignored him. He should have acted a lot faster or anticipated this kind of trap. That was definitely pretty foolish and over-confident.

 

I'm thinking he wanted to try "peaceful negotiations" at first, knew Jabba was scum and one of the worst kinda people in the planet, but just like Anakin, negotiations turned to "Aggressive Negotiations"...

The hood never helped his cause, but yeah I guess he predicted the saber was always going to be taken away, possibly even tossed into the pit.. doubtful because of its value.

 

Guys, c’mon. It’s really bad all the way through in the reality of the situation. And if we were on the writing team planning it out back in 1981, we might say waitaminute, let’s go over this whole strategy for Luke and team if it went correctly. But it’s in the tradition of the action serial. And it’s more about the attitude of the character for the scene than the practicality... so you just roll with it because it’s so charming and fun.

 

It's a good thing R2 wasn't put on latrine duty at the palace.

 

Was part of the plan for R2 to be on the barge as a bartender? And how do drinks work on the barge? Is it an open bar?

 

His Jedi and Force skills were not fully developed yet is probably the best explanation in-universe, also back then the movies relied more on team effort than flat out superpowers using the Force. Its important to keep in mind that he had not completed his training with Yoda on Dagobah, and failed even. He had piecemeal training, and just suffered a major defeat on Bespin when he went all in by himself with his lightsaber. Even onboard the yacht, Luke was not invincible, one thug managed to shoot his robotic hand, had it not been artificial it could've cost him his life.

 

I think we're meant to assume that Luke improved a great deal on his own in the year or so between films.

 

Luke was simply acting like a true jedi and was trying to negotiate with Jabba and if he saw Luke with his lightsaber and he was captured then his lightsaber would’ve been taken and his plan would’ve failed.Plus Lucas probably wanted a big reveal with his lightsaber.

 

I don't know, when Luke first sees the Rancor he seems surprised by the whole situation. Or maybe he's just awed by it being bigger and more ferocious then he he anticipated now that he's actually seeing it in person.

 

Well, I don't think Luke had every single detail planned out. I doubt he believed he would face the Rancor.

 

Given my earlier post, I think Luke was counting on facing it. It just that, as has been posted earlier, just hearing stories about it was very different from seeing it in person.

 

If he expected it then why was he stupid enough to stand on that trapdoor, ignoring 3PO's warning?

 

Check my earlier post; that was part of the plan. In fact, facing and defeating the Rancor was the big crisis point. Beating the Rancor gets them all out of the palace and out to the Sarlaac, where they can finally fight back and escape.

 

I mostly agree with @Kenneth Morgan's excellent post. However, I do wonder if Leia trying to free Han all on her lonesome - and exposing her cover while still in Jabba's palace - was part of the plan. I suspect not.

I'd guess more likely Luke gave an offhand vague instruction like "If you see a chance to unfreeze Han and slip away, take it." Which a love-stricken Leia interpreted as "sneak into the throne room and unfreeze Han the second it seems Jabba's gone to bed for the night". Not only that, she takes her helmet off and blows her own cover while still in Jabba's throne room. A display of recklessness parallel to her brother's rush to Bespin in ESB, and with similar personally traumatic consequences.

 

Well, this is certainly not the first thread on these boards to point out the inconsistencies of Luke's "rescue plan" of Han......and it certainly won't be the last. But it's still fun to watch Luke open a can of Force Whoop-Ass at the beginning of ROTJ.

 

Not necessarily. Han needed to be awake and ambulatory for all of them to be brought out into the open for the eventual escape. And, if Leia was caught, she'd still be in position to throttle that Hutt so-and-so when Luke starts the ball rolling. Again, a multi-phase plan with more than enough opportunities to switch tracks. And no need for the Secretary to disavow any knowledge of their actions.