Gah! With respect, because a lot of what they say is not incorrect in of itself, Barcaustic and Darkyoda are magnificently missing the point. It is totally irrelevant how personally important what Luke did was. I am not dneying that it was personally important, and that this was well reflected. Those final scenes were very good. But unfortunately, their ultimate dramatic power was hamstrung. It was meant to be dramatically important. It was meant to tbe the conclusion of the plot of the films, not just another stage in Luke's development. The two are, in any case, inseperable.
Anakin is meant to be the only one who can defeat evil. Luke the only one who can get him to do it. The whole point of the entire saga is that evil will continue to triumph unless the Force is balanced by the Chosen One, and so without the intervention of the Chosen One, the Emperor cannot be killed, and the force not balanced.
So then we can ask the simple question- is this shown on film in ROTJ?
And the answer is... NO IT IS NOT!
Nothing even remotely like it is seen on film. The exact opposite is shown on film- that it is apparent that the Emperor would have died anyway. And all the speculation and theories and retro-continuity that you want to bring into it will not change this simple fact- that it was done wrong.
"I also disagree. Speculation is part of what makes Star Wars great."
An odd point in this context. Speculation is great about things that should be being speculated about. NOT about things which are certain facts. Facts should not be being speculated at all- they are know. We don't speculate about what Han's name is, or about what shape the Death Star was.
Fact 1. The Emperor was meant to be only beatable by Anakin
Fact 2. This was not shown on film- we are given no direct indication to think that the Emperor would not have died anyway.
That kills speculation being something that stops this being a problem. You can make up any excuse you want- that does not stop this having been an error, to have not been shown on film. It should have been made abundantly clear.
"The point of Luke going to confront Vader is in the title of the film. Kenobi and Yoda both told him that he had to face Vader to become a Jedi. It showed the power of the light side and the ultimate redemption of Vader."
We all know what that is about. It changes nothing because, as I say, they forgot to link the point dramatically into the story. In terms of the overall Star Wars story, Luke was meant to be there to save the Galaxy, not improve himself. That was the point, I say again, of the climax of the saga; with Anakin's story thrown in, the point of all six films; that point is rendered void by the failure to make it clear, on film, without dispute, that the Emperor would not have died had Vader not done what he did. That is the central point of the saga- that only Vader could have done this. It was simply not shown as such in ROTJ!
"So then it was no longer about Luke helping the rebels but Luke surviving the wrath of the Emperor and avoiding turning to the dark side. The Jedi were almost wiped out... Luke was the last Jedi left. That is why it is so significant. Not that the emperor had to be killed, but that the Jedi had to survive. Luke was cornered and in danger. At that point, he really couldn't do much to help the rebel cause except survive. The Emperor even taunted him about his friends that he couldn't help."
No! As I just said, it was about defeating evil- that was the PURPOSE of the Chosen One. That a highly personal journey from both Skywalkers is invovled in that is obvious- but that point still has to be dramatically linked into the plot and given purpose by means of Balancing the Force- which, as I point out, was what they MEANT to do, as seen in the early ROTJ versions- it just went wrong with all the plot changes made. You can say it was not meant to be about these things if you want... but you're wrong, they were intending for it to be just that.
If Luke had not gone, the Death Star had blown, and Vader and the Emperor had both died, might we not be justified in saying "Was there actually any point to Luke's story at all?" By extension, Anakin's story loses its power as well. If Luke going there does not change this final outcome, then it is exactly the same as if he had not gone! One of the major themes of the PT is that this is the story of the man who saved the Galaxy in ROTJ- why did he turn bad, and why did he turn good again? If he didn't save the Galaxy... the Saga loses its reason for existence! Therefore, personal importance or no, it is very, very important that the dramatic point of this scene is that Luke turns Vader back and Vader saves the Galaxy. It is obvious that there is far more wide-ranging importance to this scene than just more development of Luke- such development was only a means to an end anyway.
"Luke: "Soon I'll be dead...and you with me!"Luke was aware that if the rebels succeeded it would not matter if he defeated the Emperor or not. In fact he realized later that the only way he could do so was by turning to the dark side and he refused to do so.
Luke: "I am a Jedi...like my father before me!"
Mon Mothma even revealed earlier in the movie that the rebels planned to blow up the death star especially because the Emperor himself was going to be there overseeing things. Luke understood this. He did not originally plan to have to confront the Emperor. He wanted to save his father and keep him from being destroyed also"
Total irrelevance! What Luke thought he was there to do or not do has nothing to do with the plot of that scene. Besides which, Luke is MEANT to be wrong- we know that only the Chosen One can destroy the Emperor at this point. That is canonical. Luke simply doesn't know this. A demonstration of why he was wrong- of why the Rebels could not succeed unless the Emperor was killed- should have been in there.
You cannot possibly be trying to make out that it is CORRECT that the Emperor would have died anyway without ignoring the other films. We all know that this is incorrect. The Emperor would not have died anyway. Everything we know tells us this... except ROTJ itself, which seems to indicate the exact opposite. It is an unintended contradiction, but a serious one.
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All that is being said here is dancing around the main point. ROTJ failed to show that only Vader could have killed the Emperor. It clearly- very clearly- looks as if the Emperor would have died anyway. That is how it looks on screen, and nothing anyone says in that area will change that, and that was a big error, because it contradicts the central point of the saga.
You can say all you like about the 'point' of the scene being Luke's relationship with his father. That was part of the scene, and the final milestone in Luke's journey. But the point of the confrontation was the final defeat of Sidious. The Saga is meant to show how only Anakin could achieve this great deed and so save the Galaxy. At the end of the day, all this work, all this effort, all this characterisation... is cheapened by the apparent irrelevance of Luke and Anakin's efforts, as it is made to look like that that it actually made no great difference. This is a great shame, and it should not have been done in ROTJ- and worst of all, they meant to do it, that was how it was supposed to be, but it got muddled in the storytelling. They simply got it wrong- just as they got all the Imperial rank badges in that film wrong as well. No film spoils the saga more than that one.