Star Words: Episode V, Part 22
May. 21st, 2020 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilYoda's warnings about the Dark Side are followed by a much more visceral illustration of the danger that threatens Luke. As he begins to sense something ominous nearby, the Jedi Master informs him that he must go into this domain of evil. Understandably confused, Luke asks what he will find there.
"Only what you take with you."
This cryptic reply doesn't do much to reassure Luke, and so he girds himself with his weapons belt, just in case. And ignores Yoda's statement that he will not need them. You can't really blame Luke too much if we're approaching this situation from a pragmatic, mundane perspective. Better to have them and not need them than the opposite, right?
But this is not a pragmatic, mundane situation. This is literally a place that only contains what you take into it. Luke, bringing his weapons, thus finds himself facing a grim vision of his worst enemy (we can guess that it's only a vision since Vader's theme is conspicuously absent). And he finds himself in the position of aggressor, being the first to ignite his saber, the first to deliver a blow. Moments later, Vader's helmet lays at his feet.
And he sees his own face behind the mask.
We can speculate endlessly on what sort of place this is; why there would be a domain of the Dark Side on Dagobah and how it originated and what sort of metaphysical powers does it possess and so on and so on...but that's not thematically useful. Thematically, Luke just learned that the real danger lies inside himself. He entered the test with violence in his heart, and violence is what he discovered there. While we might not encounter such tests in a literal sense, we will often find that any given situation becomes whatever we bring to it. If we look to find fault, to take offense, to attack, to covet, to resent -- that is exactly what we will find.
Next, another narrow escape for the Falcon...
"Only what you take with you."
This cryptic reply doesn't do much to reassure Luke, and so he girds himself with his weapons belt, just in case. And ignores Yoda's statement that he will not need them. You can't really blame Luke too much if we're approaching this situation from a pragmatic, mundane perspective. Better to have them and not need them than the opposite, right?
But this is not a pragmatic, mundane situation. This is literally a place that only contains what you take into it. Luke, bringing his weapons, thus finds himself facing a grim vision of his worst enemy (we can guess that it's only a vision since Vader's theme is conspicuously absent). And he finds himself in the position of aggressor, being the first to ignite his saber, the first to deliver a blow. Moments later, Vader's helmet lays at his feet.
And he sees his own face behind the mask.
We can speculate endlessly on what sort of place this is; why there would be a domain of the Dark Side on Dagobah and how it originated and what sort of metaphysical powers does it possess and so on and so on...but that's not thematically useful. Thematically, Luke just learned that the real danger lies inside himself. He entered the test with violence in his heart, and violence is what he discovered there. While we might not encounter such tests in a literal sense, we will often find that any given situation becomes whatever we bring to it. If we look to find fault, to take offense, to attack, to covet, to resent -- that is exactly what we will find.
Next, another narrow escape for the Falcon...
no subject
Date: 2020-05-23 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-23 01:34 am (UTC)I find that such speculation puts me more in mind of the Aes Sedai in The Wheel of Time series. If you've never read it -- they're an order of magic-wielders who bear many similarities to the Jedi. Novices and initiates must pass through magic tests that simulate challenges uniquely suited to each person. But...it could simply be that I finished the series just last year and so it's fresh in my mind. ;)