A Little Bit About Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, In-Light of the Official Canon
In reference to the rest of the official canon, what are some important points in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)?
There’s a lot to go over here: How does Darth Vader know who Luke is? How has Luke progressed so much with his Force abilities? Is Dash Rendar “real”? Why is Yoda on Dagobah? What’s the deal with this Dark Side cave? Why Cloud City? Who is the other hope for the Jedi, and the Galaxy? Does Vader love his son?
With Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars stopped being just one movie and became a franchise!
We see in the opening crawl that Luke is in charge of the rebels at the Hoth base.
Darth Vader knows who Luke Skywalker is. Not only have they met and battled in person (seen in the comics), but also Vader has dispatched Boba Fett to track down the identity of the pilot that destroyed the Death Star. Upon learning the name and origin of Luke Skywalker he realizes that Emperor Palpatine deceived him and his hate grows immensely. In the new (official canon) comic books we see how much Anakin really wants to reunite his family, and how he honestly wants Luke to join him – with the evil twist that they will be Sith Lords ruling the galaxy.
The Burgeoning Solo/Skywalker romance takes off,
Did Han Solo run into Boba Fett on Ord Mantell? Han Solo never paid off Jabba the Hutt inbetween the films, a bounty hunter was after him, was it our favorite Mandalorian?
The important part fo the Wampa scene wasn’t about the scars, it was showing us that Luke has received training, his force usage has grown, he has increased his skill and is able to levitate objects and wield a lightsaber.
Han and Chewie may have started out with a rescue and life debt, but they are definitely fans now. How did they meet though? In one Expanded Universe story Han was in the Imperial Academy and saved a Wookiee slave being abused, who was Chewbacca; in another Legends storyline the two of them were serving on a pirate ship and Han stepped in when Chewbacca’s life was being threatened. Whatever the official story (to be released soon?) the fact is now it is more than just honor or business.
Han uses a lightsaber in-that he picks it up, turns it on, and does something – but not necessarily skilled usage, like General Grievous.
No one knows Luke and Leia are siblings, neither even knew they had siblings… yet!
The Rebels we see are not the only Rebels.
The Outrider is canon, it was also in A New Hope (taking off over Mos Eisley), but Dash Rendar is not necessarily official yet.
In the Preqeul Trilogy (and Teh Clone Wars TV show) R2-D2 had more gizmos, what happened – why did he not use his rockets on Dagobah? Well, we could talk about special affects, abilities, and budgets… or we could just say that because of R2’s age (over 30 years in service thus far) not everything is functioning; yeah, let’s go with that!
Luke’s jacket at the end of A New Hope, the Rebel flight suits in all three Original Trilogy films, and Finn’s jacket all have the same shoulder style/design… interesting…
Why is Yoda on Dagobah? Well, right now we only have inference, common sense, and the Legends stories of the old Expanded Universe to look to for now:
1. Dagobah is an out-of the way place, like Tatooine was for Ben Kenobi – but even more so, there are zero settlements on the planet.
2. The terrain and wildlife would be advantages to Yoda in the event that someone ran across him, easy to hide, easy to escape, easy for them to get lost.
3. According to Legends there was a very powerful Sith Lord who settled / was exiled to Dagobah, this powerful lingering Dark Side presence canceled-out, or even overshadowed Yoda’s own.
Yoda is “faking” his eccentricities as a test of Luke’s patience, he knows who Luke is from before he gets to Dagobah – he has been watching him via the force from his remote system. In Star Wars: Rebels Yoda also “kept tabs on” Ezra Bridger.
Luke is going through a “Jedi boot camp” of sorts. He is there for more than a few hours, but we aren’t sure how long exactly. Keep in mind, Luke has also received other training before this.
The cave is the supposed residence of that Sith Lord. In the cave Luke confronts a vision/hallucination of Darth Vader, of Himself…
It is a fun theory that Boba Fett killed the Lars’s, but that is not the canon story line. The “no disintegration” line is just to show us that he is ruthless, he is to be feared.
What is the Force? We won’t get into Midi-Chlorians yet, but the Force does inhabit and bind all living things.
Lando Calrissian has risen to a position of prominence, but he and Han are from the same stock, they have a shared history, and Lando is not the most reputable character. Rebels has introduced Lando and hopefully we will see some more of his stories in the coming future.
MY FAVORITE: “There is another.” is it Ezra bridger? In retrospect, with the new continuity, the official canon – is Yoda thinking of Ezra as the other hope for the Jedi Order, even the entire Galaxy?!?
Luke and Vader have met and battled before! Not just in the Splinter of the Mind’s Eye Legends story, but in the current Marvel comic books.
Luke loses his lightsaber in the Cloud City duel with Vader. When his hand is cut-off Luke drops Anakin’s lightsaber. it is recovered (but by who?) at some point and given to Leia in The Force Awakens.
Palpatine has foreseen Luke destroying him. Vader genuinely wants to join with Luke to destroy the Emperor – but not as a “good guy”, he still see the Force as a way to rule the galaxy (to protect those he loves).