Luke vs. Vader: When Did Luke Lose?

After examining the Luke/Darth Vader duel from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back in my last two posts, I wanted to try to answer the question: Exactly when did Luke lose the duel?

There are several possible answers to this question. Naturally, we might automatically look to the end of the fight to find the answer there. Two particular moments that might point to the instant Luke lost are when Luke is shoved to the gantry floor at blade-point, or when Luke’s hand is cut off.

When Vader forces Luke to the ground, he says, “You are beaten,” and I have to agree with him. At the start of the last bout there is a veritable shift in Vader’s approach. He dispenses with the mind games and focuses on his primary objective: subduing Luke. And with this shift, we see that Luke is unable to defend against the onslaught. When Vader pushes Luke to the floor (for the second time!), he truly establishes that Luke never had a chance. Despite whether or not Luke accepts it, he has been beaten.

But if we, like Luke, refuse to accept that as his moment of defeat, the next moment certainly drives it home. With the loss of his hand, Luke can no longer delude himself that he can defeat Vader. He has been physically defeated, and he is left with what is either simple stubbornness or indomitable spirit (or maybe a bit of both).

But if, for argument’s sake, we decide that Luke’s unbroken spirit qualifies Vader’s victory as incomplete, we can fast forward a bit to another option: the big paternity revelation. After the “I am your father” bomb is dropped, Luke is left reeling. His resolve is shaken, and his black-and-white views of good and evil are in desperate need of calibration. To Vader’s credit, it really puts a finishing flourish on Luke’s defeat.

These points are, I believe, fairly reasonable candidates for pinpointing Luke’s defeat. But is it possible that Luke actually lost earlier? For instance, what about the moment Luke decides to pursue Vader after kicking him from the top of the freezing chamber? He had a chance to escape and search for his friends, but he pursues Vader instead. Perhaps, in this moment, has Luke sealed his fate. I surmise that if Luke had gone into the conflict with his mind open, and the Force flowing through him, he would have been able to sense (and accept) the disparity between his skill and Vader’s. With that knowledge, Luke’s fight could have turned out very differently.

But perhaps if we look even earlier, we could pinpoint the moment of Luke’s defeat at the start of the duel. Almost poetically, the duel is bookended by moments of Vader’s domination as Luke is pushed to the ground. The fight could have ended the first time Vader does this, and it is only his ulterior objectives that keeps him from doing so.

But from ‘a certain point of view,’ is it possible Luke lost the fight the moment he ignited his lightsaber? Luke enters the room, says nothing, and without direct provocation (setting aside, for the moment, the danger to his friends) ignites his lightsaber. Far from being “calm, passive, at peace” as Master Yoda taught him, he is impulsive, overconfident, and aggressive. The moment he instigates the duel he has doomed himself to fail, just as in the cave.

But what do you think? Feel free to let me know in the comments. Until next time, Mata Ne!

The Cantina Cast

The wretched hive your Jedi Master warned you about!