From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Luke Skywalker accomplishes many amazing feats in Star Wars thanks to his mystical abilities, but his most impressive feat had nothing to do with the Force. We’re talking, of course, about his ability to escape the second Death Star, even though it was still full of stormtroopers who could have easily killed him while he was dragging Darth Vader’s body to the nearest shuttle hall. However, one fan theory could explain how Luke survived: Simply put, all the Imperials would have let Luke live because they assumed he had just murdered both Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
Luke Skywalker is terrifying
As viewers, we know what happened towards the end Return of the Jedi: After Luke Skywalker almost gives in to his anger and destroys Darth Vader, he throws away his lightsaber and surrenders. In return, Palpatine begins to strike the young Jedi with Force lightning, but he is only slowed down Darth Vader threw his boss into the shaft. Vader subsequently dies from the lightning bolts coursing through his body, but since none of the Imperials witnessed the confrontation in the throne room or Vader’s deathbed redemption, they would have come to that conclusion Luke Skywalker is the most terrible enemy in the galaxy.
Think about it: For the Imperials aboard the Death Star, Luke entered the throne room of Emperor Palpatine, their biggest boss and the scariest guy they know. The film begins by showing us how the very idea of Palpatine coming to the space station sent Moff Jerjerrod into a trembling mess of fear and anxiety. 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 overpower Palpatine, and no mere stormtrooper is going to want to fight the guy who successfully took on the Emperor.
At this point, skeptics will point out that not everyone aboard the Death Star knew of Luke Skywalker’s presence; it was actually a closely guarded secret. Therefore, very few Imperials would assume that the young warrior had achieved the impossible and escaped the clutches of the most powerful man in the galaxy. It would be impossible However, I want to overlook another important detail: that Luke Skywalker appears to be dragging Darth Vader’s body.
Darth Vader’s body
Palpatine was a very abstract threat to most Imperials, but Vader was quite tangible. This is the guy who commands Star Destroyers and visits military bases and instantly kills even the highest-ranking officers who annoy him. He was the scourge of the entire Imperial service that everyone aboard the Death Star would fear. Yet here comes a young pup, dragging the Sith Lord’s corpse to the shuttle bay as if he were simply taking a large bag of trash to the trash compactor.
None of this is intended to diminish Luke Skywalker’s powers or his many accomplishments, but the enduring 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 done it light was killed at some point on the Death Star, but he survived because everyone thought he had just murdered the most powerful people in the galaxy. He lives because of a simple misunderstanding, although some would say that this is merely evidence that the Force works in mysterious ways.
