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So now that all is said and done, can we safely say that Luke was probably weaker than the Emperor and never really posed a threat to him directly, or is that still up in the air?

-referring only to the canon mythos

Originally posted by Mendax
So now that all is said and done, can we safely say that Luke was probably weaker than the Emperor and never really posed a threat to him directly, or is that still up in the air?

-referring only to the canon mythos Luke certainly had the potential to surpass Palpatine -- we found that much out during ESB:

Palpatine: "There is a great disturbance in the Force."
Vader: "I have felt it."
Palpatine: "We have a new enemy -- the young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker He could destroy us..."

Clearly whatever latent power/potential Palpatine sensed from Luke was well beyond his own(and Vader's), which makes sense given GL's statements that Luke's potential = Anakin's(ie. the Chosen One.)

Whether or not Luke actually realized his full potential in canon, however, is more of a mystery. That said, the upcoming TLJ novelization(along with future novels/comics/shows/films/etc.) might possibly give us some answers in that regard, so we'll just have to wait and see. For now, though, it would be pretty hard to argue that he's > Palpatine, canonically. /shrug

Luke did have the potential not just to surpass Sidious but to destroy him as well, and I think that is stated multiple times in SW.com outright.

Plus his TLJ feat was insane, despite the fact that he was greatly strained by it.

However for now, I don't think he has shown anything that puts him above Sidious in canon.

So midi-chlorians don't make you stronger or weaker.

Unrecognized potential doesn't mean much in the scheme of things, though.

Ben Solo is indeed a prime example: massive raw potential(likely the greatest in canon, with Rey being his equal), yet I certainly wouldn't put him above Palpatine at this point -- potential be damned.


*Not saying that Luke never reached his potential, btw. We just don't know yet one way or the other.

Originally posted by Galan007
*Not saying that Luke never reached his potential, btw. We just don't know yet one way or the other.

We don't know but logically it makes sense given his immense growth curve seen in the OT and decades of progress afterwards. Luke's reservations had to do with his failure to raise Ben, not his lack of power.

Originally posted by The Ellimist
We don't know That's all I'm saying. We can speculate all we want, but the bottom line is that the extent of Luke's canon power is still mystery.

Originally posted by The Ellimist
We don't know but logically it makes sense given his immense growth curve seen in the OT and decades of progress afterwards. Luke's reservations had to do with his failure to raise Ben, not his lack of power. He did get knocked out by a roof caving in on him.

It'd be like if Obi Wan dropped a light on Palpatine and ended the sith

That seems to trivialize the situation. It's like, "Oh, the Sith aren't a big deal. You can just pick them up and throw them down shafts."

Originally posted by The Lost
That seems to trivialize the situation. It's like, "Oh, the Sith aren't a big deal. You can just pick them up and throw them down shafts." The difference is Palpatine has done everything in the force before hand. Luke so far has a handful of feats at his full power. One of which is apparently comparable to Palpatine getting thrown down kilometers into a reactor.

I'd say if Luke is supposed to be above Palpatine, he has done nothing so far to suggest it.

Originally posted by One Big Mob
He did get knocked out by a roof caving in on him.

Lol

didn't Luke shut himself off from the force?

Meetra did too.

Originally posted by One Big Mob
The difference is Palpatine has done everything in the force before hand. Luke so far has a handful of feats at his full power. One of which is apparently comparable to Palpatine getting thrown down kilometers into a reactor.

I'd say if Luke is supposed to be above Palpatine, he has done nothing so far to suggest it.

I am saying it says little about Luke's overall ability, just like Snoke's fate and Sidious' fate says little about their overall ability.

It's possible that The Emperor said "he could destroy us" because he rally people behind him like how Napolean rallied people behind him out of nostalgia of older times. Luke could be the beacon of hope in the dark times that people live in. Those who remember the Jedi will maybe not feel as threatened by the Empire anymore and be willing to rebel.

And when this was written, the Star Wars Universe was very different. What the galaxy was like was also different, so I'm willing to say that Luke was a threat to the Empire in the way that he was a remnant of the old world which the Empire had destroyed.

As far as Luke being more powerful than the Emperor, it doesn't seem likely in the original script. It also just doesn't make poetic sense. In what the expanded universe has become, it's possible that yeah, Luke, if left to train for a few more years, could have surpassed the emperor, but I don't think that's what the "he could destroy us" quote was reffering to.

Originally posted by Zentrex
It's possible that The Emperor said "he could destroy us" because he rally people behind him like how Napoleon rallied people behind him out of nostalgia of older times. Luke could be the beacon of hope in the dark times that people live in. Those who remember the Jedi will maybe not feel as threatened by the Empire anymore and be willing to rebel.

And when this was written, the Star Wars Universe was very different. What the galaxy was like was also different, so I'm willing to say that Luke was a threat to the Empire in the way that he was a remnant of the old world which the Empire had destroyed.

As far as Luke being more powerful than the Emperor, it doesn't seem likely in the original script. It also just doesn't make poetic sense. In what the expanded universe has become, it's possible that yeah, Luke, if left to train for a few more years, could have surpassed the emperor, but I don't think that's what the "he could destroy us" quote was referring to.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/RDLBrVtuAfyb6/giphy.gif

Originally posted by Zentrex
It's possible that The Emperor said "he could destroy us" because he rally people behind him like how Napolean rallied people behind him out of nostalgia of older times. Luke could be the beacon of hope in the dark times that people live in. Those who remember the Jedi will maybe not feel as threatened by the Empire anymore and be willing to rebel.

And when this was written, the Star Wars Universe was very different. What the galaxy was like was also different, so I'm willing to say that Luke was a threat to the Empire in the way that he was a remnant of the old world which the Empire had destroyed.

As far as Luke being more powerful than the Emperor, it doesn't seem likely in the original script. It also just doesn't make poetic sense. In what the expanded universe has become, it's possible that yeah, Luke, if left to train for a few more years, could have surpassed the emperor, but I don't think that's what the "he could destroy us" quote was reffering to.

Not sure why we're coming to this conclusion just because of TLJ. Anakin's potential wasn't retconned, and it appears to have passed down his line given Kylo's power (and Luke's own astronomically fast progress in the OT).

Originally posted by The Ellimist
Not sure why we're coming to this conclusion just because of TLJ. Anakin's potential wasn't retconned, and it appears to have passed down his line given Kylo's power (and Luke's own astronomically fast progress in the OT).
That's not what I meant. I meant that when the movie was made (when the only expanded universe material was a few comics, one book, and the holiday special), the story was that the galaxy was different from the time of the Jedi, which was 30-ish years ago in that timeline. So ANYTHING which survived from that time was an immediate danger to the Emperor and what he had built.

And Luke in that timeline probably would never have surpassed the Emperor in terms of the Force.

Originally posted by Freedon Nadd
https://media0.giphy.com/media/RDLBrVtuAfyb6/giphy.gif
what is with you and your dr. Who gifs today?

Originally posted by Zentrex
what is with you and your dr. Who gifs today?

https://media.giphy.com/media/ZAdAS1xI8Ormg/giphy.gif


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images? q=tbn:ANd9GcT7vFPQTOkMc1FllUYvTvxi8lPkEcRVGjgU6Tkg
eFP3sUAJPPb5Rg

I was just confused. They seemed out of context.