Why didn't Darth Vader use battle meditation during the attack on the Death Star?

Or at least have the X wings crash into each other?

 

He was a little busy dogfighting

 

Battle meditation is really a power that was only seen in the EU (specifically in KOTOR), and was something that was not created during the time of the filming. Secondly, the character(s) using battle meditation in the EU were never piloting a craft or involved in the battle in anyway. They were safely sitting in a command center where they could focus on their power. Vader is in the middle of a dogfight and has no time to use battle meditation if he even has the ability to do so.

 

and it's not even overconfidence to think those 30 or so ships would be as big a threat as to require something so large-scale as battle meditation. Even the normal TIEs got rid of a few X-Wings, so what could possible pose a threat to the Death Star or Vader?

Another Force user. And to expect someone like that to show up is very far-fetched. Vader personally took care of that in the past (in the EU I think it's only been a week since he's slain a Jedi ).

Besides, does battle meditation even affect Force users, even untrained?

 

While his concubines were catfighting.

 

The "Battle Meditation didn't exist at the time of filming" explanation should be enough of a reason, but for those that insist on an EU explanation, while Vader is the Chosen One, and incredibly strong in the Force, its possible that he either couldn't do Battle Meditation because its just not something Skywalkers are talented in (same reason that Cilghal is the Jedi Healer, not Luke) or in an effort to help control his apprentice, Palpatine never taught it to him. It has been insinuated by Timothy Zahn in the Thrawn Trilogy that Palpatine used a form of Battle Meditation at Endor, so if we count the EU, Palpatine clearly knows how to do it. To the best of my knowledge though, and, I admit my knowledge of the comics is quite limited, Darth Vader has never been shown to use Battle Meditation, so it could be simply that he either can't do it, or doesn't know how.

 

catfighting.... sweet! star wars needs more of that!

I think if Vader new BM (couldn't resist) maybe given his enjoyment of battle, he doesn't like it or something. *shrug* its the old addage: just cause you can do something doesn't mean you have to do it.

 

Doesn't matter - it's just something the books made up anyways.

 

you're so insightful and original

 

Well, it is kind of a silly question. Battle meditation - what is that?

Perhaps I just pine for the days when the mods here preserved the film threads as EU-free sanctuaries.

 

that has never been the case and has nothing to do with this anyway. and... PMs, plz.

 

I have to say that I hate the Palpatine using Battle Meditation at Endor thing. It just makes the Imperial fleet look all the more pathetic. Seriously, the Empire layered everything they had on top of the Rebels....and they still couldn't win? Bad enough that the fleet alone loses to the Rebels, bad enough that they lose even with the Death Star's superlaser helping out, but now they have some divine intervention from their Emperor for half the battle and they still failed?

 

Eh, I think it makes sense, though. Their offensive, at least the one in space, didn't really implode until Palpatine did (LOL, like what I did there?).

And in the film it's been, like, a day. But maybe he's overconfident after the death of Obi-Wan. Also, as has been pointed out, Vader was kind of busy when he was in the trench.

But both E_V and I hated EU. This is a well-known fact!

 

Battle Mediation is a difficult thing to put into the SW universe. In the eu, Palpatine did have the capabilities during the Battle of Endor, but how Vader fit's into it, I don't know. In TTT, this is Zahn's reasoning of how the rebels defeated the Empire at Endor even though the Empire had a 10:1 ratio in ships. That certainly makes the Empire look completely imcompetent, though. I don't really know how realistic the power is, though. Battle Meditation had been brought up in the current Legacy of the Force series, however. Lumiya, apprentice of Darth Vader, claims that only a Sith Master could learn the skill of Battle Mediatation and teaches it to Jacen Solo by the time she dies. Lumiya says something along the lines of only a person that has all their body parts can do Battle Mediatation, hence she can only teach the skill to Jacen Solo, not do it herself (Lumiya is half cyborg before she died). It's very confusing, and i'd rather have the power deleted from the eu, to be frank.

 

Well I don't count Obi-Wan towards the Purge. Much more personal, though of course Anakin takes everything personal...

 

That makes Palpatine look incompetent. Hes supposed to be evil incarnate, and the second most powerful Force user next to Luke. Is it possible that Luke subcociously marginalized Palps effort?

 

Like any Force power battle meditation is a learned skill and as such that leaves up with tow simple answers to the question.

1) Vader didn't learn the skill in question, the reasons can be many (he wasn't taught it, he didn't want to learn it, etc), but if he doesn't know how to use the skill then he can't use it.

2) Vader knew how to use battle meditation but his pride told him that he wouldn't need to use it against the lowly Rebels and hence he didn't use it.

 

ummm, failing to see how it makes Palpatine look incompetent? Incompetent how? For failing to teach it to Vader? How could Luke marginalize Palpatine's effort? The EU Battle Meditation theory suggests that the Empire didn't start to really lose until after Palpatine's death, which obviously would have broken any Battle Meditation on his part. The EU has also established that different Force users are better at different things. Cilghal is better at administering the Jedi healing techniques than Luke is, despite Luke being a Skywalker. Doesn't mean she is stronger in the Force, just that is where her talents lie. Corran Horn is terrible at the telekinisis stuff, but is extremely talented at projecting Force images into someone's mind. He is also able to absorb energy such as a blaster bolt and reconvert it. Each Jedi is good at some stuff, weak at others. The Skywalkers may not be particularly talented at Battle Meditation, as they aren't particularly talented at healing. Its also possible that Palpatine never taught the technique to Darth Vader, which, considering the Sith frequently betray each other, its possible he was holding that info back, as a way to come out ahead if Vader ever assembled a fleet of his own...who knows. Either way, I fail to see how Vader not knowing Battle Meditation makes Palpatine look incompetent...

But then again, the real reason is there was no such thing as Battle Meditation in 1977 anyway, as its an EU invention...

 

It was in the TOTJ comics in the 90s.

 

Perhaps he tried...only to have it blocked by Obi Wan

I always figured that Vader used the force to help line up his shot, essentially hold the other ship in place while his computer locks on to the signal. Hence the line "the force is strong with this one" when he had trouble taking Luke out in the trench.

Anyway...if he powers were really that strong then he would have secured the falcon himself in ESB, rather than wait for the tractor beam to be placed upon it by the star destroyers

 

Incompentent by showing how weak he is with Battle Meditation. I think the last poster had the best explanation, though

 

Except for a few things...First, Force ghosts can't manipulate the physical world. IE, Obi-Wan couldn't have blocked any Force usage by Vader, so Skyysoblue is just wrong about that. Second, Palpatine wasn't anywhere near the first Death Star. Assuming he even had the capability to use Battle Meditation halfway across the galaxy, what would have been the need? During ROTJ, the need would have been obvious. The Rebel Fleet was coming at them en masse, not just a few squadrons of fighters. Palpatine was also present for the events in ROTJ, but wasn't for ANH.

Tarkin certainly didn't think the Death Star was in any danger, in fact, from the Imperial's perspective, it was a very simple blow up the rebel's base and leave mission. They didn't know about the weakness in the exhaust port until it was too late, so the Empire never believed the Death Star was ever in danger. There would have been no perceived need to use Battle Meditation.

 

Regardless of whether or not Vader could use the technique, I don't think he's the kind of guy to actually use it in the middle of a battle. He's definately more of a "hands-on" fighter, not one to sit back and plot the outcome of a battle. He gets into the fray and decides the outcome.

 

This question is like asking 'Why didn't Vader just thow yslarmi around Bespin to trap Luke?'.

 

that's an excellent question, you should make an extra thread about it!