by Kyle Armstrong
The darkest film in the franchise, as well as my favorite film in the franchise (after the Christmas special, of course). This is the film where we learn that Vader is partially human, we see the back of burnt scalp, and we learn Vader is a puppet of the Empire. On Dagobah, Yoda starts to train Luke, and again, we get an image of Luke suspended in an upside-down position to reflect his letting go of all urgency. This is an image symbolizing the Hanged Man (one of the Tarot card's most mysterious characters), where the character finds inner peace, in a dreadful situation. He is seen in this position 3 times in the film. Meaning to do what you feel, not what you must. To be, not to begin, and to just "hang out" or "chill", if you get my drift.
After the ice cave incident, Han finds him almost dead, opens up the womb of a dead Tauntaun, where Luke is reborn, after Obi Wan's force ghost tells him to go see Yoda. Also, don't give me that "midichlorian" mumbo jumbo, that's probably what Han didn't believe, because neither do I. The force should not be explained by science, that takes away the beauty of it. We shouldn't worry about if Han shot first, we should worry about these "midichlorians" infecting our heroes. Kill me, I sound like Kirk Cameron. Later, when Luke asks about the cave and what's in it, Yoda replies "only what you take with you", Luke journeys into the cave, finding Darth Vader. Luke decapitates Vader, revealing Luke's own face under the mask, foreshadowing the true identity of little Anakin (no, no, no, we aren't going to talk about that), it also symbolizes what Luke is becoming, that evil follows him.
Luke then gives into this evil as he disobeys his master. "Stopped they must be. On this all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil.", but Luke leaves anyway, because he really wants to go to the Tashi station to pick up some power converters (I'm probably gonna to run this joke to the ground). This is where transhumanism vs nature comes full circle. Luke gets in his big flying machine, leaving the natural swamp, but if Luke won't eat the Root Leaf Stew, who will? Back at Cloud City, we are shown Han Solo, who was sold out by his friend, Lando Calrissian, is getting the chance to get a carbon freezing and not knowing how lucky he is, nothing replenishes the skin more than a carbon freezing, resembling Osiris, where Boba Fett (Set) puts the nail in his said coffin. The sad irony of the man who was in it for the money, is the one being sold.
Han's jacket has been removed and this time he is seen in all white, because for once he is the martyr, this is his most noble moment. Luke walks into Cloud City, and like Yoda said he would, he messes everything up and walks into a trap. After an amazing lightsaber battle, Vader chops off Luke's hand and reveals that he is in fact the father (tough love is the best kind of love). After that reveal from Vader, Luke goes through a different kind of rebirth, a rebirth through technology.
Later, Luke is being fitted for a cybernetic enhancement, bringing him one step closer to his father. What consumed his father is beginning to consume him. The film ends in one of the most depressing endings ever, but we did find out that there is another Skywalker. Although the ending is depressing, it's unpredictable and one of the greatest endings of all time. The films can only get better from here... Right?
