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star wars - Did Luke play any significant role in “Return of the Jedi?”



I read somewhere that Luke after A New Hope didn't do anything good to the plot.


The explanation was compelling.


I'm focusing on Return of the Jedi and the final showdown of the two trilogies.



  • The rebels got information about Death Star II, without Luke's help (in fact it was a trap of the Emperor)

  • They start a command mission to destroy the shield generator. Here Luke's only contribution is the speeder fight and using the force to convince the Ewoks that they are friends, shortly before Leia shows up, who would have convinced the Ewoks also if Luke were not present, I assume. The speeder fight was about not giving their presence away to the Emperor, a fact that is later revealed was already known by him (or does not play any role because even the shield generator was a trap).

  • Luke surrenders to Vader, fights him, turns him and makes him kill the Emperor.

  • Han & Co destroy the shield generator with help of the Ewoks (without Luke).

  • The rebel fleet fights the Death Star II and Imperial fleet.

  • Lando and Wedge (without Luke) reach the main reactor and destroy Death Star II.



If Luke were not present in Return of the Jedi, did not turn Vader, and Vader did not kill the emperor, wouldn't they both be killed in the destruction of Death Star II anyway? Vader could have survived if he perhaps would have not been aboard Death Star II. Perhaps he would have died aboard the Super Star Destroyer that crashes into Death Star II.


Could the Emperor have changed the course of events if he would not have been distracted by Luke and his fight with Vader? Would he have been able to flee the Death Star if he was not killed by Vader?


Both trilogies make a big deal about prophecy, the chosen one and so on, that Luke has to meet Vader, etc. It would be sad if all that in the end didn't matter.


So what was the significance that Luke fought and turned Vader, and Vader killed the Emperor shortly before Death Star II exploded anyway?



Answer



Luke's actions in ROTJ were instrumental in the destruction of the Empire and the death of the Emperor.




  • Luke successfully invaded the stronghold of Jabba the Hutt, freeing his friend Han Solo. Han went on to lead the strike team that destroyed the Shield Generator on Endor. Notably, without Han's idea to use the walker to trick the guards into opening the main doors, the attack would have failed.





  • Luke used his "magic" to levitate C-3PO, proving the robot's godhood to the primitive Ewoks.
    C-3PO later went on to convince the Ewok Chieftain and elders to call in the other tribes and attack the Empire's forces against the advice of the tribe's Medicine Man.




  • Luke's presence on the Tydirium resulted in the rebel strike force being allowed to land.
    Vader senses that something isn't right with the shuttle. Had he not felt Luke's presence, Vader would probably have had Piett detain the shuttle, resulting in the strike team being captured/killed.





  • Luke's presence resulted in the Emperor making poor tactical decisions.
    The Emperor could easily have destroyed the rebel fleet on arrival. His decision to use the Death Star II against them seems to have been largely provoked by a desire to demonstrate the absolute superiority of the dark side of the Force to Luke Skywalker.




  • Luke's presence convinced Vader to kill the Emperor.
    The film's official novelisation indicates that the death of the Emperor (prompted by Vader's decision to save Luke) resulted in panic amongst the Empire's forces. Assuming their pilots and ship commanders were similarly distracted this would undoubtedly helped the invading rebel force.




  • Without Luke, the Emperor would have had ample time to escape the Death Star.
    Luke spent almost five minutes chatting with his dying father before hijacking a shuttle and sauntering off. In the absence of a distracting fight between Vader and Luke (and his untimely death), the Emperor would have had nearly ten minutes to make good his escape, counting from the time that the shield went down.





In short, with Luke absent, it's likely that Han would have remained stuck on Jabba's wall, Leia would probably have tried to rescue him on her own (and gotten herself caught in the process, requiring a frontal attack by the Rebellion to free her), the strike team's shuttle would have been captured, the attack on the Endor base would have failed due to lack of Ewok support, the Death Star would have been free to destroy the Rebel fleet on arrival and the Emperor would have escaped to fight another day.


To put it another way, we would have witnessed the final destruction of the Alliance, and the end of their insignificant Rebellion.


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