Darth Vader’s Millennium Falcon Obsession reveals an amazing secret to fans
From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Empire strikes back is definitely the best Star Wars movie, but it still leaves fans with questions. It’s never clear, for example, why Darth Vader is so obsessed with risking thousands of Imperial lives to hunt down the Millennium Falcon. However, a fan theory provides an elegant answer: he would have sensed a strong Force user on board, and since he didn’t know it was actually Luke Skywalker’s twin sister Leia, he would have assumed it was the man who owned the Death Star destroyed, was on the ship.
Darth Vader wants the Millennium Falcon
In case you need a quick recap: Darth Vader personally helped with the invasion of Hoth, and after the Millennium Falcon escaped, he led the pursuit from his own Star Destroyer. The rebels’ escape is successful thanks to both cunning and piloting skills Han Soloand we see that the pursuit costs the Imperials many lives. Two Star Destroyers collide and another appears to be destroyed by an asteroid, and fans have wondered for decades why Vader was willing to lose nearly 47,000 lives (the total of one Star Destroyer) to hunt down two humans, two droids, and one Foreigner.
There are obviously several practical reasons for this Darth Vader could be obsessed with capturing the Millennium Falcon, including the fact that it would be the only way to interrogate rebels after the botched invasion of Hoth. In addition, he came under additional pressure from the Emperor, who intervened via hologram to warn him of their “new enemy”. Luke Skywalker.” According to this fan theory, Vader’s obsessive pursuit of the Falcon boils down to the fact that he was completely convinced that Luke Skywalker was on board and that he was willing to sacrifice countless lives of the Empire to defeat the Empire’s greatest enemy to capture the empire.
Darth Vader sensed Leia on the Millennium Falcon
It’s a very good theory because the culmination of Return of the Jedi confirmed that Vader had no idea of Leia’s existence. In fact, Luke Skywalker doesn’t give in to his anger until his dark side father threatens to find Leia and recruit her to his cause. Hence the Darth Vader of The Empire strikes back would have sensed the strong Force user aboard the Millennium Falcon and simply assumed it was Luke. From a distance, their presence probably would have felt very similar to Luke’s presence during the Death Star attack (“The Force is strong in this attack,” he said at the time).
Some Star Wars fans may think that Darth Vader’s Millennium Falcon obsession didn’t need a compelling reason, and it’s admittedly funny to think that the Dark Lord of the Sith simply doesn’t care about the number of victims of his obsession (nearly 47,000 people have disappeared, and that’s only from the Star Destroyer that we know of!). However, we like the idea that Vader always has a secret goal. In the novelization of A new hopeObi-Wan Kenobi speculated that his former student was “marking the time to prepare for an incomprehensible abomination.” Believe his old Jedi master: this bionic villain never does anything without a reason.
If nothing else, this fan theory will change our view of events The Empire strikes back. Next time Darth Vader hunts the Millennium Falcon, remember that he most likely thinks he’s hunting Luke Skywalker. Little did he know that the young man was relaxing on Dagobah and taking the week-long crash course that would help him eventually become the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy.
