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star wars - Why was it so important that Luke confront Vader and not the Emperor?



Yoda and Ben make a big fuss about how important it is for Luke to confront Vader, but they make no mention of him needing to kill the Emperor. Doesn't the Emperor also need to be destroyed to restore peace to the galaxy?



Answer



Yoda did acknowledge that Luke would eventually have to defeat the Emperor:



Yoda: 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.1



However, they emphasized Luke's confrontation with Vader because Vader was an easier target than the Emperor (the Emperor had defeated Yoda himself, but Vader's connection to the Force was weakened by his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan on Mustafar). Luke needed to prove to himself that he could confront Vader and survive without turning to the dark side. Only then would he be a full Jedi:



Yoda: One thing remains: Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be.2




If Luke finished his training and confronted Vader without turning to the dark side, the rebellion would have a fully trained Jedi on their side to oppose the Empire. This would increase the Rebel Alliance's chances to defeat the Empire, and in doing so help gain allies from systems which wanted to rebel but were afraid to do so. With the help of a fully trained Jedi, the Rebel Alliance could conceivably score victories against the Imperial military and perhaps kill Vader himself. Then, the Emperor would be politically and militarily weakened, and Luke would be strong enough to defeat him.


But that's the long game. At this point, Yoda and Obi-Wan were trying to avoid a scenario of total defeat: Luke was their (nearly) last hope, and if they lost Luke to the dark side they would have virtually no chance to defeat the Sith.3 In that case, the Empire would be even stronger (yet another Sith), and the Rebel Alliance's morale and support would suffer massively -- because the hero of the Rebellion joined the enemy!


Thus, the fate of the Rebellion hinged on Luke's confrontation with Vader. That's why Yoda and Obi-Wan put so much emphasis on it. Luke could confront the Emperor later, once he was better prepared.


Since we're not privy to what Yoda and Obi-Wan saw through the Force, we don't know how they expected Luke's confrontation with Vader to turn out. It's possible they had an inkling that Luke would redeem Vader and then either Luke or Vader would defeat the Emperor, but Obi-Wan seemed to think that Vader was irredeemable (Obi-Wan says Vader is "more machine now than man"). They probably thought Luke would have to kill Vader, as indicated by Luke's conversation with Obi-Wan in Episode VI:



Luke: I can't kill my own father.


Obi-Wan: Then the Emperor has already won.



They thought Luke would have to kill Vader, but he would have to do it as a Jedi rather than giving in to his anger. If Luke did this, he would prove to himself that he could defeat a Sith Lord with the light side of the Force rather than turning to anger and the dark side. Luke would need this confidence as a Jedi against the Emperor, too, so Luke's confrontation with Vader was crucial.




1 Episode V, as Luke is about to leave for Cloud City


2 Episode VI


3 It's true that Leia was another hope, but the situation would be even more bleak if it came down to Leia. If Luke turned to the dark side (either by killing Vader or simply joining the Sith), Leia would have to somehow defeat the Emperor and a young, evil Luke (and possibly Vader) all by herself. And while Luke at least had a crash course in Jedi training from Obi-Wan and Yoda, Leia wouldn't even have that -- Obi-Wan was already dead and Yoda died before the Battle of Endor.


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