Star Words: Episode VI, Part 49

[matril]

The Emperor is none too pleased with Luke's decision, to put it lightly. If he's been denied the pleasure of luring another Jedi to the Dark Side, then at least he'll glory in a tortuous kill. He unleashes his nastiest weapon -- lightning summoned from his own fingertips. Not a quick, painless death. He prolongs it with vicious glee, pausing to taunt Luke before another bout of electricity. Luke doesn't respond to any of that. He has only one brief plea.

"Father, please!"

Yes, Luke was ready to die when he surrendered to the Imperials on Endor. But he's hardly a masochist. He cries out in pain, like a child. A child calling for his father.

What is the only thing worse than dying at the Emperor's hand? Dying at the Emperor's hand while his own father watches, unmoved and uncaring. It's not that Luke regrets his decision to spurn Palpatine's invitation and throw away his weapon. He just doesn't want it to end this way.

And it's not the first time his father has witnessed something like this.


Correct me if I'm mis-hearing, as the audio is deliberately muddled, but isn't there an "Anakin, please!" somewhere amid Padmé's cries? Certainly the parallel is there, whatever the specific wording. So the circle is coming round again. A loved one writhes in agony, begging for help. Anakin failed to save his wife because he misunderstood her peril. It wasn't her life he needed to save, it was their relationship. By falling to darkness, he would have lost her whether she died or not. And now Luke calls out to him, not for a physical rescue, but for his father's love. The sort of plea that Vader ignored from Padmé on Mustafar when she told him all I want is your love. Now he has a second chance.

Next time, a glorious resolution to the emotional climax....

Comments

[krpalmer]

I'd gone to my copy of "The Annotated Screenplays" last week, noted Luke's words here were on a line with two more, and wondered if you were about to look somewhere else... Anyway, bringing up Padme is more impactful than an older comment or two I can remember seeing that just noted "Anakin has also been hit by 'Force lightning' before." I do wonder whether "Luke had hoped to convince his father to just leave with him" had overshadowed "preparing to sacrifice himself" at the very first, and I did happen to consider the wrinkle "without Luke alive to distract him, the Emperor might make a speedy getaway as soon as he knows the Death Star is unshielded," but that's getting towards quibbles.

[matril]

I figure that Luke assumed the destruction of the Death Star would happen a bit swifter than it did, because he was unaware of the Emperor's trap. If the shield had already been down when the Rebel ships arrived and the entire Imperial fleet wasn't lying in wait, they could have made quick work of it. But he was probably also holding out hope that his father would turn back to the light before they both died. Lots of different possible scenarios, but I doubt anyone anticipated this one.

[krpalmer]

I hadn't quite been thinking of Luke trying again to talk to his father after the duel had begun and circumstances had changed, but it does seem worth considering. In any case, I'd forgotten to mention before how I'd been contemplating a line of the Emperor's, "Your hate has made you powerful." I could see a sort of "you can't win without getting mad and losing" taunt that Luke casting aside his weapon has some bearing on, although as ever it can be pushed to "the rules set up should be interpreted as Jedi being incapable of aggression" extremes. (Whether this could be fleshed all the way out into a "Star Words: Episode VI, Part 47.6," I don't know.)