SPECULATION Will Luke actually help the Resistance? After DS1, he didn't really help the Rebels.

But I think you are missing the point of the Force (or perhaps the will of the Force). Redeeming his father was the right thing to do for Luke, morally and as a Jedi. Because it was the right thing to do, because it was the will of the Force, that is why it worked out for the Empire to be defeated. The micro and the macro are indelibly intertwined, because *cough* that's how the Force works. (After all, it surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.)

So, like Obi-Wan obeying the Force and hiding out on Tatooine to protect the future of the galaxy in Luke, Luke needs to do the right thing according to the will of the Force, and ultimately it will work out for the galaxy. (Hopefully with not too much more collateral damage!)

 

He used his Jedi skills to blow up the first DS. He turned off the targeting computer.....

He became an officer and a squadron leader by the days they were in Hoth.

He lead the air defense of Hoth. They were overrun, but the plan was never to defeat the Empire on Hoth. They started evacuating as soon as they were discovered.

He lead the speeders as they brought down one at-At, then took down one on his own.

He went off to train as a Jedi because he promised Kenobi he would.

Bail organa, Yoda, Luke, Leia, and Kenobi all knew Luke was their best hope to defeat Vader, which was the only way they could defeat the Emperor.

Luke is rescuing Han from Jabba as a friend but he's also a valuable Rebel officer. The Rebellion obviously sanctioned the extraction. They gave Han a promotion and offered him an essential mission upon his return.

The Rebel Allance was trying to kill the Emperor themselves because they knew a straight up military victory was nearly impossible.

Luke volunteered for Hans mission as part of the plan to kill the Emperor & destroy the DSII.

With Luke's skills, he was of course viewed as a key component of the Endor mission.

Luke probably thought Vader would be involved in the DSii completion, but when that is confirmed by his presence on the command ship, he decides to confront him and let Vader bring him before the Emperor.

Luke's exact plan isn't ever explicitly revealed (its established that he wants to save his father and kill the Emperor, possibly with Vaders help, or at worst stall for time while the Rebels destroy all of them with DSii , but he doesn't fall into the Emperor's trap.)

He knows about the Ewoks underrated strength and believes that DSII is facing a larger Rebel force than DSI and rightly suspects DSII will meet the same fate.


Luke spends 2.5 movies doing whatever he can to aid the Rebellion. He joins the Rebellion late in ANH & does as much or more than anyone in the Rebellion in that time to depose the Emperor & destroy the Empire when we leave him at the end of ROTJ.

We know he tried to found a new Jedi order which he hoped would protect and stabilize the New Republic.

Tragedy struck, and Luke lost heart.

Yes he disappeared. He left the map with someone I believe.

He needs someone to help him get back in the game, but in my mind there is no way he won't rejoin the struggle between Leia's Resistance and the FO.

Just because JJ couldn't figure out how to include the hero of the OT into TFA doesn't mean Luke won't play a huge part in the story going forward.

He's not overjoyed about having to return to a life of battle and loss, but he's still Luke, he will fight evil and do his duty, which looks to be taking on another apprentice.

 

...Luke was a Rebel commander between ANH and TESB, which is about 2-3 years?

 

Yes.

I don't know remember if his rank of commander akin to the US naval rank of commander or what. He was a pilot....so that would make sense


Han was a captain and then a general. Seems like they were in two different branches.
So Luke might have outranked Han technically at the start of ESB, since a naval squadron leader (he was rogue leader) is the same as a major (OF-3) vs an army captain (OF-2) like Han.


Ackbar is an admiral (OF-8 or OF-9 in ROTJ, possibly OF-10---Admiral of the fleet. I think he's definitely OF-10 in TFA, albeit with a smaller fleet).

Han was likely an OF-6, Brigadier General in ROTJ while Lando was either an OF-7 or OF-8

General Nadine was likely OF-10, possibly OF-11


My point with all this is that Luke was a pretty high rank in ESB, and once he'd gone to Dagobah for training (something he would have revealed after the fact, I imagine, for security reasons) he was treated a bit like a Navy SEAL. He was allowed to lead Lando, Chewie, the droids, and Leia (all alliance personnel or property) on an extraction mission to retrieve a valued officer and destroy a target of opportunity that would be an obstacle to the future New Republic (Jabba), one they had corroborated with the Empire already (those bounty hunters were in Jabba's Rolodex, not Vader's).

The rebels were happy for Luke to volunteer to go on the Endor mission because it was a Special Forces mission, not a traditional military type of operation.

Luke has always been a vital part of the Rebellion and in an official capacity.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 27, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 27, 2017 ---

Luke was told by Yoda and Kenobi that he had to face Vader AGAIN.

Yoda warns him about the Emperors power and not to underestimate him.

Facing the Emperor is a possibility Luke has considered and understands is likely.


Luke is tempting Vader with redemption BY SURRENDERING. If Luke had attacked the bunker and confronted Vader with another duel it would have resulted in his death or his turning to the dark side.

He's being passive, giving VDer the opportunity immediately to kill him. Vader doesn't. That's the beginning of Vader coming back to the light. It's a slow con. Luke is showing Vader does have love for his son even as he does the Emperors bidding.

"Soon I'll be dead and you with me" shows he's part of the plan to kill the Emperor. He's going to vie for the soul of Vader until the attack happens, and then he's going to keep them both on the station until the attack succeeds.

Of course he is forced to improvise, but that's war.

If Luke had flashed a big grin at Vader when told they would be going to the Emperor, that would have made Vader suspicious.

Luke is controlling his emotions, doing his best to game the situation as it unfolds. He has some plan, but he's also improvising.

After that convoluted rescue plan for Han, do you think he is just showing up at the Endor instillation and expecting Vader to turn good immediately, especially since Luke knows the Emperor is on the DSII?

The script doesn't have Luke always truthfully reveal his thoughts and plan. He's playing Vader & The Emperor.

You're clinging to this idea that the MAIN hero of the OT didn't help the forces of good significantly and officially in the last two movies.

Luke wasn't a grunt or part of a fighter wing for most of the last two movies, but he's the most important and impactful member of the Rebellion in the entire OT.

 

But it wasn’t a choice he was going to make if not for Luke. That’s the point. Luke forced him to confront the conflict within him and persevere. It doesn’t happen without him.

I was speaking more to Luke saying he had to save him and Anakin clarifying that he already had. Luke saved Anakin and Anakin defeated the Emperor. One can’t happen without the other.

I’m not aware of Obi-Wan or Yoda ever framing the conflict in terms of ‘Jedi vs Sith’. He was only tasked with confronting Vader – which he technically does (from a certain point of view).

There’s being narcissistically self-assured and then there’s being irrationally delusional. This wasn’t Tarkin part 2. The Rebel attack plan on DS1 only succeeded because one of their pilots just happened to be a flaming space wizard. Han called it, that shot was “one in a million”. Tarkin made the practical call. He couldn’t have known one of the X-jockeys buzzing around outside was using torpedo aiming magic.

The same can’t be said with DS2. Palpomatic, more than anyone, understood what would happen if the assault on the shield generator were to actually succeed. Enemy fighters would head straight to the stations core and that would be that. There’s no way the guy would just sit around, looking creepy, and waiting to go kablooey. He didn’t think it would happen. But once it was confirmed to be reality, I seriously doubt he would have denied his imminent peril.

Which was a benefit to the Rebellion overall, yeah?

 

But you should, without Luke making C3PO appear as a god, the mission might have ended way earlier and the Ewoks wouldn't have been involved in the way they were.

 

And without Anakin, there’s no 3PO or Luke. At a certain point you have to let go the degrees of separation, yeah? Otherwise, it’s that wad of midichlorians knocking up Shmi Skywalker that truly saved the day

 

Luke DIDN'T defeat Palpatine. Anakin did.

 

The conflict between Luke and Palpatine was over the allegiances of father and son. Would Anakin maintain obedience to his master and continue on the dark path, or would he embrace his role as father and Jedi? Luke was victorious in that conflict for rejecting the darkside and validating his faith in his father. That’s how Luke defeated the Emperor.

The son couldn’t have done it without the father, but the father couldn’t have done it without the son. This thread was about what role Luke had.

 

Sheev would have probably escaped DS2 had Luke not been there to turn Vader back to the light.

 

Assume that in ROTJ rebel alliance fails to destroy the shield generator on Endor, as well as rebels lose the space battle and gets completely decimated, but the events on DS2 exactly transpires as in ROTJ i.e. Luke redeems Vader and Emperor dies, now here Luke Skywalker within DS2 has a chance to destroy it as well as the Imperial fleet in close proximity to DS2.

Luke Skywalker was ready to sacrifice himself in ROTJ to save the rebel alliance or what's left of it. That's the whole point of ACT-3 in ROTJ, when he surrenders to Vader on Endor, one way or the other way he was ready to sacrifice himself by redeeming Vader or ready to die along with emperor and Vader if it gets blown up by rebel alliance.

Hence Luke Skywalker is a Jedi as well as a Rebel scum