Why didn't Luke kill The Emperor in ROTJ?

He tried to but Vader stopped him .

 

Hmm...it did sound different in the draft from October 24, 1978:

"There is no escape. You must join me or die. Don't make me destroy you here...The Emperor is strong with the Force. But if you join me, together we could overthrow him. Do not resist. It is your destiny!"

But the interesting part is this: The Emperor had a premonition that Luke would destroy him, yet the irony remains that Luke merely became the catalyst in the Emperor's destruction where actually Vader killed his master.

 

Well remember that Palpatine didn't think VADER could kill him as he assumed that he was just too weak...Vader protected His Master (at first) from Luke Skywalker .

 

Vader killing Sheev was far more dramatic. It showed how he came full circle, from wanting to take down the Emperor for his own greedy reasons to seeing the "light side"(Luke) then redemption by destroying Sheev down the shaft.
That's why Anakin chooses to die quietly on the Death Star II rather than go on with Luke.
He knew that was his ultimate path. To destroy what he considered corrupt & evil. Anakin also knew Luke would be strong enough to become the best Jedi(against what Yoda or others might say). This may also play into Luke & maybe Rey confronting Darth Plaguis in the 3rd act of TFA or in EP8.

TFM

 

Luke didn't destroy the emperor because I believe back on Dagobah Obi Wan had more to say to Luke about Anakin/Vader & the prophecy of being the chosen one away from the viewers.

 

The Emperor, although dangerous, was unarmed. Jedi don't kill unarmed people. Also, killing the Emperor would be giving into his anger which would ultimately lead to the dark side.

 

Because ROTJ is about Vader's redemption, and changing fate; not Luke's heroism.

 

Totally agree!

 

I don't think he could. When Sheev decided to kill Luke if Vader didn't intervene, he would have been dead.

 

As long as he has hands, the Emperor is armed..

 

Heh.

 

As @AstromechRecords said earlier, Luke tried to kill him. Unarmed or not.

 

I DID say that

 

I think it is worth noting that in both the OT and PT, the protagonist fails to best their rival whom they set out to destroy, and in so failing from then on are defined by that failure.
For Luke, it was a choice to fail; he chose not to try, knowing it could likely kill him.
For Anakin, he strove rashly and failed, which fueled his bitterness and sense of betrayal.

Interestingly, they both failed, but were defined by their failures in directly the opposite ways by those failures.

Lucas and Kasdan are both fascinated with the trap of fates inherited, the fight to change those fates, and how the same things repeat and how the children of the parents have the ability to redeem the wrongs of their parents through chosing differently, better, when they come upon the same events in life.

That is the point of the loss: to redeem his Father's loss - not the loss against Ben, but the loss of Anakin's soul to evil. While Anakin lost his soul, his way, in losing against Ben, Luke redeemed Anakin in losing to the Emperor.
Because ultimately, Luke did not lose to the Emperor. He may have allowed himself to be struck down physically, but like Ben, he grew stronger than ever before, as with that single choice he won back his Father and retained his own goodness.

 

Yes he was armed but Jedi don't kill. In cold blood in doing so he would turn to the dark side.
That's how Anakin turned into Darth Vader

 

Actually if he killed it was for good reasons to save his father and it would have ONLY STARED His path to the dark side but he whole point of The Skywalkers is their ability to go back and forth between the dark side...and the light .

 

Was it really that important for Luke simply kill the Emperor or Vader, or was it more important that he did not give in to his more negative impulses?

Isn't it the point for everyone to maintain a balance between positive and negative traits and eventually learning to control them?

 

Yeah but the difference with The Skywalkers is that they can become dark side and turn back and forth...everyone else will/should maintain balance and a decent understanding between the dark side and light side of the force .

 

Theoretically, Palpatine could have been just fine hanging out down there at the bottom of that oddly located shaft. Lando and Wedge killed the Emperor!