Tag: luke skywalker

swan2swan:

Have I ever talked about how much I love the cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back?

Because I do.

-It all starts when Luke talks about feeling cold and death–”That place…is strong with the Dark Side of the Force. A domain of evil, it is,” Yoda explains. And then he looks up and says “In, you must go.”

Luke’s reaction is absolutely perfect here because so many stories have mentors warning their students “You mustn’t enter this place” or “You mustn’t read this book” and then the student inevitably does so anyway…but Yoda doesn’t warn Luke away from this place. He brought Luke here to teach him (or did Luke “accidentally” run to where the cave was, and Yoda realized what it meant? We don’t know, and it’s a valid interpretation either way).

This scene then shows us how far Luke’s come in the weeks he’s spent on Dagobah and the years he has been at war because he doesn’t say “All right then!” and rush in, nor does he question Yoda’s instruction: instead, he asks “What’s in there?” He’s trying to prepare himself, and attempting to figure out the meaning of the lesson.

“Only what you take with you.”

Again, we have a perfect moment: Yoda dipping his head and playing with the gimer stick, hesitating before he answers because…why? Does he know what Luke’s about to see? Has he been in before? What did he see when he went in? (Fun fact: that’s a yes, and you can see what he saw if you watch Season 6 of The Clone Wars!). Whatever it is, his response sets the stage for everything: this is a test of one’s self. He can’t help Luke, he can’t do this for Luke. All he offers is one piece of advice:

“Your weapons…you will not need them.”

Now, everyone knows that this is the point where Luke fails the test (or is this a lesson?), because he ignores Yoda’s advice and keeps the weapons on him. But what one must observe is that Luke nods in understanding (ahahaha) and keeps them on him–he’s interpreted Yoda’s advice as “Don’t worry, you don’t have to kill anything in there, there’s not some scary monster, this isn’t that kind of test”, and he’s just moving onward. He’s choosing to remain prepared, but doesn’t walk in there with his saber drawn and his blaster ready.

But having brought them in, the cave prepares a test that will suitably match what he took with him.

Darth Vader emerges, and Luke draws his blade…and this moment, right here, is one of the most symbolic moments in all of Star Wars. No more than five minutes prior, Yoda had told Luke that a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense–”Never attack.” When I was young, my father always observed that only the Dark Siders drew their weapons first: Obi-Wan ignites his lightsaber after Vader, Luke ignites his weapon first here and on Cloud City, and then he lights his saber up first when he is being tempted by Palpatine. The first to draw is making an aggressive move and is giving the edge to the Dark Side. Luke should have waited for Vader to pull out his weapon here, and he might have still passed the test…but he’s a Skywalker, so he just fumbles everything.

But before we get to that next part, let’s observe why he’s facing Vader here in the first place: his anger and his fear. Yes, he’s afraid of Darth Vader finding him and cutting him down before he can complete his training, following Luke to Dagobah to kill Yoda and end the Jedi, but it’s so much more than that. Darth Vader just led a squadron to put down the rebellion on Hoth, he murdered Biggs above the Death Star, he sent stormtroopers to kill Luke’s family, and of course, he struck down Obi-Wan. This menace is now turning to Luke, but here Luke finally has a chance to avenge everyone. 

This isn’t merely a reflection of Luke’s fear: this is what Luke wants. The cave is offering him a test to see how he acts, and Luke dives headlong into it, striking the fatal blow and achieving the vengeance he craved.

But then the mask burns away, and he sees his own face staring back up at him, dead and smoking: in striking down evil, he struck himself down. His face was behind the mask of darkness, and this failure is what later teaches him to reject the Dark Side wholly: when he looks down at his artificial hand on the Death Star and realizes that he’s become like Vader, he remembers what happened in this cave and finally throws his weapon away. It’s in this moment that the cave shows him that seeking revenge and violence will only destroy one’s own self…but it’s not a lesson he learns immediately, nor is it a lesson that is explained. The lesson is left to be explored thematically throughout the rest of this film and the next, as much a parable for the audience as it is for the characters.

This isn’t even everything that I love about the scene: it also works as a warm-up to the final duel between Luke and Vader, giving the viewers a brief tease of lightsaber combat and the menacing power of the Dark Lord…and then Luke wins. So it seems that his training has pushed him to a level where he can match Vader…which makes it all the more impactful when he fail in the main event. It also serves to effectively break up the tedium of Luke’s adventures on Dagobah, keeping the kids engaged and not boring them on this lonely swamp world.

It’s a perfect marker of how far Luke has come in his training, and also a sign of how much he has left to learn: it shows that he can kill Vader, but also clearly shows the cost. It’s a scene that serves multiple purposes, and even Yoda’s “hmm…” at the end is a moment unto itself: was he expecting Luke to fail, and now feels, “Well, he’s learned his lesson”? Is he thinking “Well, I guess he’s not ready after all”? Again, we don’t know: but Yoda brings it up later as a warning to Luke when the Jedi is preparing to leave. “Remember your failure at the cave!” Luke doesn’t even defend himself by saying “I won”–Luke understood the lesson enough to realize that he had more to work on. 

There’s more to talk about, I’m sure, but this is a lengthy post and rest I need.