By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Luke Skywalker achieves many incredible feats in Star Wars thanks to his mystical abilities, but his most impressive achievement has nothing to do with the Force. We are of course talking about his ability to escape the second Death Star despite the fact that it was still swarming with Stormtroopers who could have easily killed him as he transported Darth Vader’s body to the shuttle bay the closer. However, one fan theory may explain how Luke survived: Simply put, all the Imperials supposedly left Luke alive because they assumed he had just assassinated Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
Luke Skywalker is terrifying
As viewers, we know what happened towards the end of Return of the Jedi: After nearly giving in to his anger and destroying Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker throws away his lightsaber and surrenders. In turn, Palpatine begins zapping the young Jedi with Force lightning, and he is only stopped by Darth Vader throwing his boss into the well. Vader then dies from lightning passing through his body, but since none of the Imperials witnessed either the throne room confrontation or Vader’s deathbed redemption, they would have concluded that Luke Skywalker is the most terrifying enemy in the galaxy.
Think about it: among the Imperials aboard the Death Star, Luke entered the throne room of Emperor Palpatine, their greatest boss and the scariest man they know. The film begins by showing us how the very idea of Palpatine coming to the space station has reduced Moff Jerjerrod to a simmering mess of anxiety and fear. The Imperials saw Luke enter Palpatine’s throne room in chains and emerge alive and free… the only reasonable conclusion is that he somehow managed to kill or subdue Palpatine, and no Stormtrooper base will only want to fight the guy who succeeded. attacks the Emperor.
At this point, skeptics will point out that not everyone aboard the Death Star was aware of Luke Skywalker’s presence; it was, in fact, a well-kept secret. Therefore, very few Imperials believed that the young warrior had accomplished the impossible and escaped the clutches of the most powerful man in the galaxy. It would be impossible However, another major detail is missing: that Luke Skywalker is dragging what appears to be the corpse of Darth Vader.
Darth Vader’s body
Palpatine posed a very abstract threat to most Imperials, but Vader was quite tangible. He’s the guy who commands Star Destroyers and visits military bases, instantly killing even the highest-ranking officers who annoy him. He was the scourge of all Imperial service, the kind that anyone aboard the Death Star would be terrified to see. Yet here is a young dragonet dragging the Sith Lord’s body to the shuttle bay as if he were simply taking a large trash bag to the trash compactor.
None of this is meant to belittle Luke Skywalker’s powers or his many accomplishments, but the consistent lesson of the Star Wars prequels is that all it takes to kill even the most powerful Jedi is enough people firing blasters at the same time. Luke could have easily was killed anytime on the Death Star, but he survived because everyone thought he had just murdered the most powerful people in the galaxy. He’s alive because of a simple misconception, although some would say it’s simply proof that the Force works in mysterious ways.
