Star Words: Episode V, Part 39
Sep. 17th, 2020 03:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilNow that the Imperial presence in Bespin has been revealed, Vader proceeds to create a trap to ensnare Luke -- with the particularly cunning and brutal technique of meaningless torture. Meaningless for any practical use for the Empire, but quite productive in creating a personal disturbance in the Force for Luke. The more I think about it, the more chilling Vader's methods really are. He knows precisely of the sort of agony that comes from sensing loved ones in pain. He knows the desperation it causes -- the dark paths where it can lead. Uggghhh, it hurts my heart.
Lando's pretty miserable about it, hearing Han's screams of pain, but Boba Fett has different objections as Vader emerges from the torture chamber.
"He's no good to me dead."
"He will not be permanently damaged."
Shudder. To them, Han is nothing more than a piece of merchandise, an object that has value only inasmuch as it provides access to other possessions. For Vader, it's about getting Luke (and there, too, it's all about possessing and controlling rather than seeing his son as a person with his own autonomy and inner depth). For Fett, it's about getting his bounty. No problem with inflicting agonizing pain on someone, as long as it achieves the desired goal. It's a simple matter of cost-benefit analysis.
Lando, meanwhile, is beginning to rethink his initial cost-benefit analysis and wondering if this deal was really worth it. But it's only when he abandons all of thought of deals and exchanges and seeks to protect people, whatever the consequences, that he can do the right thing and become a hero.
(Unrelated question: was Cloud City already supplied with torture chambers, or does the Empire have equipment for quick installations? Just some fodder for nonsense speculation.)
Next, a showdown between the betrayer and the betrayed...
Lando's pretty miserable about it, hearing Han's screams of pain, but Boba Fett has different objections as Vader emerges from the torture chamber.
"He's no good to me dead."
"He will not be permanently damaged."
Shudder. To them, Han is nothing more than a piece of merchandise, an object that has value only inasmuch as it provides access to other possessions. For Vader, it's about getting Luke (and there, too, it's all about possessing and controlling rather than seeing his son as a person with his own autonomy and inner depth). For Fett, it's about getting his bounty. No problem with inflicting agonizing pain on someone, as long as it achieves the desired goal. It's a simple matter of cost-benefit analysis.
Lando, meanwhile, is beginning to rethink his initial cost-benefit analysis and wondering if this deal was really worth it. But it's only when he abandons all of thought of deals and exchanges and seeks to protect people, whatever the consequences, that he can do the right thing and become a hero.
(Unrelated question: was Cloud City already supplied with torture chambers, or does the Empire have equipment for quick installations? Just some fodder for nonsense speculation.)
Next, a showdown between the betrayer and the betrayed...
