Sometimes I think about when Luke asks Yoda about Vader and Yoda is all, “Unfortunate this is.” Because Luke “isn’t ready for the burden.” Because his training isn’t complete. Yoda says that AS HE’S DYING. How else was Luke ever going to find out?
They weren’t going to tell him.
Granted there are Force ghosts, but clearly they weren’t planning to tell him that was actually his father he was fighting till after he’d become a Jedi. Which involved killing Vader. So even if Luke survived, if Yoda and Obi Wan had their way, he would only find out he’d killed his own father after the fact.
I suppose that if you were convinced it was the only way, you could consider it the merciful option, but can you even imagine?
So I actually have a theory about this. First off I think you’re right. And it’s completely fucked up. But I think Yoda and Obi-wan did this for vastly different reasons.
Luke first hears about Darth Vader and his father as different people in ANH when he asks Obiwan about how his dad died. Obiwan tells him that his dad was killed by Vader. Here’s the thing, Obiwan hasn’t talked to Yoda yet because in Empire Obiwan has to convince Yoda to train Luke. Obiwan tells Luke that Vader killed his father because that is the narrative that he himself uses to conceptualize events. It is very difficult to believe that a person you love and trust has betrayed you completely and behaved entirely contrary to everything you’ve ever known about them. Obiwan in ANH is still holding on to Anakin’s memory and it’s much easier to believe that someone you loved died than that they never existed at all.
So he tells this lie and then he’s stuck. Yoda on the other hand gets Luke handed to him believing that Vader killed his father. Yoda almost doesn’t train Luke because of his father. Yoda is very afraid of Luke turning to the dark side. Yoda outright says that he wanted Luke to kill Vader and that Luke knowing Vader is his father will impede him in this task. Yoda sees this lie and figures out how to use it to get Luke to continue to wage his war against the Sith.
And this is why Yoda has always been one of the most terrifying coldest characters in the entire Star Wars universe for me.
Yeah, that’s basically how I see it. Obi Wan is definitely trying to be merciful, or perhaps even straight up truthful as he sees it. He stood in the exact same place, as someone having to kill a person he loved, and couldn’t do it. So he’s trying to help Luke see it as the necessity Obi Wan thinks it is.
I’m less clear on what I think about Yoda. He’s a good guy, generally, and I think he was trying to be as kind to Luke as he could find a way to be, given the circumstances. But it’s, like, half protection and half manipulation and I dunno. Maybe some people would be happier not knowing, but if I were standing where Luke was, I’d want to to be told. But I guess it comes down to the fact that Yoda doesn’t 100% trust him, the way you don’t necessarily put all your trust in the emotional stability of a child. Or a Skywalker.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1PzieDt