Return of the Jedi - Original Ending - Yoda/Obi-Wan/Luke vs Sidious
This is a a summary of the officially released rough draft of the ROTJ script. The un-script text is a fan's summary and analysis of it from The Secret History of Star Wars. The script is, obviously, the actual script.
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After rescuing Han from Jabba the Hutt, Luke, Han, Lando and the droids travel to a spaceport to leave onboard the Falcon, a great sandstorm raging. In the confusion of the storm, Luke is ambushed and kidnapped. He awakens in a metallic cell onboard an Imperial transport, being brought to the Emperor. He begs out loud for Ben to help him but Yoda appears and reveals that Ben’s power is drained and that he will soon become one with the Force. Luke says he cannot kill his father, and Yoda reveals that if Luke fails, his twin sister will be the only hope—Leia! Luke is brought to Had Abbadon—however, Imperial officers loyal to Vader see Luke and realize that their Lord is being deceived. Luke meets the Emperor, who says Luke will soon turn to the darkside, but Luke defies him:
Meanwhile, Vader finds out that the Emperor has Luke. He becomes consumed with rage and confronts Jerjerrod. “What is the Emperor doing with my son?” he demands, but Jerjerrod instead states that Vader should stay away. Vader finally lifts Jerjerrod up by the throat and breaks his neck. He then storms towards the Imperial Palace to rescue Luke from the Emperor’s clutches.
As before, this is a revolutionary turn for Vader’s character. As the film progresses, he becomes a character of equal importance to Luke, and one much more interesting. In fact, in this scene, he becomes a bizarre sort of hero, killing the Emperor’s minions to save his son. Luke meanwhile is in the tombs. Here, the underground lava setting from the rough draft is reprised—Luke awakens on a small island on a lake of lava. Luke turns around to see Obi Wan— in the flesh! He says that he and Yoda will help him defeat the Emperor and Vader, but Luke protests that he still cannot kill his own father. Meanwhile, Vader marches on the Emperor’s palace to save Luke. He storms the fortress, killing Imperial guards who stand in his way and forces his way into the throne room, finally confronting the Emperor about his betrayal— but the Emperor begins choking Vader with the Force until he finally submits to him.
97. INT. THRONE ROOM - HAD ABBADON Vader storms into the throne room and marches right up to where the Emperor is sitting. The Emperor slowly raises his head to stare at the Dark Lord.
VADER Where is he?
EMPEROR Safe…There is no need for you to worry. I will take good care of him…
VADER It is for me to train my son…you must… The Emperor raises his hand, and Vader's breathing suddenly stops. The Dark Lord struggles at his controls, attempting to regain his air supply. He chokes.
EMPEROR You forget yourself…Lord Vader. I will tolerate no more discussion on the subject. The boy is mine to train. Your place is with the fleet. Vader collapses on the floor and the Emperor lowers his hand. Vader starts breathing again and rises to a kneeling position.
VADER Forgive me, master.
EMPEROR The Rebels will soon begin their attack. You must be ready for them. For now that I have all of them in one place, they will be crushed once and for all.
VADER Yes, my master.
EMPEROR Now take your leave, for I have your son to attend to.
Vader rises and exits the throne room, and the giant door slides closed behind him.
This scene is pivotal in Vader’s character development. We finally see the power of control the Emperor has over Vader—Vader’s servitude to him is finally revealed as not a partnership of evil, as the previous films had portrayed it as, but a rather tragic one of unwilling obedience. We finally learn the true pathos of his character.
Soon after this scene, the Emperor travels down the elevator to confront Luke in the tombs. Vader watches from the shadows, secretly following him down there. The Emperor arrives and sees Obi Wan with Luke. Yoda appears as a ghost, and the Emperor has a very curious reaction to him—“You!” he says in shock upon seeing the Jedi master. Lucas may have indeed have had in mind a previous confrontation between them, perhaps when the Emperor first seized power and destroyed the Jedi knights—a fact which we would not find out until 2005 (although Lucas would also later imply that the Emperor never even knew of Yoda’s existence533 and the novelisation implies that the Emperor only vaguely remembers him—apparently Lucas never really delved into Yoda’s history when writing the films. Frank Oz recalls, “I went through the scripts of Star Wars and Empire , writing down all the things that Yoda knew about Luke, what Luke knew about Yoda, what Yoda knew about Darth Vader, the Force and Obi Wan. I asked George Lucas at lunch one day for his thoughts on Yoda, and he said, ‘Just make it wonderful.’”534). The Emperor is also revealed to carry a lightsaber of his own!
Vader steps out of the shadows as the confrontation starts and joins his master. After the Emperor’s treatment of him previously, we now view his siding with him as a much more pitiful action. Vader must obey his master, though he remains torn between the loyalties to him and his son. The Emperor orders Vader to kill Luke and gives him a lightsaber, and the battle ensues. As father and son duel, the Emperor tells Obi Wan that the boy will soon fall to the darkside; Obi Wan says he has foreseen the Emperor’s death but the Emperor refuses to believe it. Luke fights his father across the lava rocks with all his strength and gives into his anger, finally forcing Vader to fall, his arm slipping into the lava. The Emperor goads Luke to finish him off, telling him it is the power of the darkside that he feels, but Luke refuses, tossing away his lightsaber and saying “if he is to be destroyed, you must do it.”
The Emperor turns and fires lightning at Obi Wan but Luke jumps in front of him, and Yoda shields Luke as in the previous draft. Luke soon begins to tire under the strain of the Emperor’s power, but as his strength is about to disappear Vader runs at the Emperor to save him, and both Vader and the Emperor tumble into the lava and are destroyed.
EMPEROR This is the power of the Dark Side that you deny. Your strength will never match it. Luke struggles to remain conscious against the superior power of the Emperor.
LUKE Yoda…
EMPEROR Obi-Wan foresaw my destruction at your hands, young Skywalker, but it seems his vision was clouded…Perhaps there is still another Skywalker. Why can I not see, could the netherworld have influenced my perception? Another Skywalker…your father!
The Emperor turns around to see Lord Vader flying at him. The lightning bolts around Luke disappear as Vader hits the Emperor, knocking them both into the fiery lake of lava. The hideous screams of the Emperor are soon muted. Luke struggles to his feet and stares at the spot where his enemy and his father disappeared into the cauldron of molten rock. Ben puts his hand on the young Jedi's shoulder.
BEN It is in Yoda's hands now.
LUKE He turned back to the good side.
BEN Yes, he did
Vader finally chooses to turn on his master once and for all when he sees his son in danger, and dies killing the Emperor. Once again, as in the rough draft, his final sacrifice is rather glazed over and not as poignant as in the final film, but his motivation leading up to it is developed enough that his action is still quite powerful.
As the Rebels celebrate, Luke talks to Ben, and Yoda appears as flesh and blood. His stay in the Netherworld has ended since Vader has turned to the good side and he has been able to save Vader’ sprit and allow him to retain his identity. Annikin appears, and they all join the celebration, except for Yoda, who watches them all from the side