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Star Words: Episode VI, Part 30
The last meeting between Luke and Vader was...intense. A prolonged lightsaber duel, a crushing (and maiming) defeat for Luke, an awful revelation. Vader called on Luke to join him, confident that he would succumb. Luke howled his defiance, cried like a baby (that's not an insult; I'd cry like a baby too) and finally jumped to his apparent death.
That makes this moment of reunion all the more surreal. It's quiet. Luke is calm, passive. They look at each, silently, while the Imperial officer gives his report. They stride down the corridor together and talk quietly. You can hardly tell that Luke's hands are bound, he appears so self-composed and assured.
But the very space between them crackles with charged emotions and implications. Things finally get heated when Luke acknowledges Vader as his father, then qualifies that he has accepted his former identity as Anakin Skywalker. Vader immediately denies that the name has any meaning, a denial that seems pretty feeble when you see how defensive he's becoming. Luke counters with a poignant reply.
"It is the name of your true self. You've only forgotten."
Oh, my heart. There is so much meaning and symbolism with names of Star Wars, and this is the most powerful. When Anakin took on the dark mantle of Vader in Episode III, he still retained some part of his old self. Palpatine only addresses him by his Sith name, but Obi-Wan and Padmé continue to call him Anakin. He responds to it, having not yet entirely lost his connection to goodness. By the time of the original trilogy, that connection is severed, leaving only Darth Vader.
...or is it? Luke is convinced that something of Anakin remains, something deeply buried and forgotten but not destroyed. He has formed a bond with his father; that much is clear from their mutual sense of each other's presence. So does he actually sense something that others cannot see, or is it only wishful thinking? The viewers are left guessing till the very end, wondering if Luke is particularly insightful or sadly delusional. I could not fault him either way. He loves his father, the man he was and the man he could become again. That is reason enough to try.
Next time, another heartrending quote from Luke....
That makes this moment of reunion all the more surreal. It's quiet. Luke is calm, passive. They look at each, silently, while the Imperial officer gives his report. They stride down the corridor together and talk quietly. You can hardly tell that Luke's hands are bound, he appears so self-composed and assured.
But the very space between them crackles with charged emotions and implications. Things finally get heated when Luke acknowledges Vader as his father, then qualifies that he has accepted his former identity as Anakin Skywalker. Vader immediately denies that the name has any meaning, a denial that seems pretty feeble when you see how defensive he's becoming. Luke counters with a poignant reply.
"It is the name of your true self. You've only forgotten."
Oh, my heart. There is so much meaning and symbolism with names of Star Wars, and this is the most powerful. When Anakin took on the dark mantle of Vader in Episode III, he still retained some part of his old self. Palpatine only addresses him by his Sith name, but Obi-Wan and Padmé continue to call him Anakin. He responds to it, having not yet entirely lost his connection to goodness. By the time of the original trilogy, that connection is severed, leaving only Darth Vader.
...or is it? Luke is convinced that something of Anakin remains, something deeply buried and forgotten but not destroyed. He has formed a bond with his father; that much is clear from their mutual sense of each other's presence. So does he actually sense something that others cannot see, or is it only wishful thinking? The viewers are left guessing till the very end, wondering if Luke is particularly insightful or sadly delusional. I could not fault him either way. He loves his father, the man he was and the man he could become again. That is reason enough to try.
Next time, another heartrending quote from Luke....