[horatio]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

There is an interesting duality to Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith when it comes to the characters of Luke and Anakin.

There are two battles that take place, Anakin against Dooku, and Luke against Vader. And there are many parallels between the two.

Dooku had previously defeated Anakin and severed his hand, Vader had previously defeated Luke and severed his hand. The backdrop of both battles is very similar in apperance, and Palpatine is seated and watching during both of them. Dooku taunts Anakin who becomes angry and uses his anger to overpower Dooku. Vader taunts Luke with the threat of pursuing his sister, Luke becomes angry and uses his anger to overpower Vader. Both win by severing the hands of their opponents. (Although Anakin severs both and Luke only one).

At this point, one makes a choice that sends himself further down the path of darkness, and one makes a choice that saves himself. Palpatine goads Anakin into taking his revenge against Dooku, and he executes him even though he is beaten and defenseless.

Luke sees the severed hand of Vader, and looks to his own robotic hand and realizes that the path he is on serves the Emperor. That once he learns to use anger as a tool, it will become harder and harder to resist it. So he instead chooses to spare his father.

As to the point of Windu being willing to destroy a beaten opponent I believe they address this as well. Anakin is not yet in control of his emotions, he has not yet reached the level of mastery that Windu has. That is an important reason why the Jedi allow him a seat on the council, but not the rank of master. He simply isn't ready, and is more likely to lose control of his emotions as opposed to a Master such as Windu.

I never noticed these similarites before, that's a great observation.
Perhaps Windu mistrusted Anakin and opposed his ascent to mastery so adamantly because he was also a hothead when he way young?

[kevin]

Indeed, the Anakin/Luke parallels are clear.

Their stories simply show two different outcomes to Palpatine's influence. Although in the second there's more interaction between Vader/Luke it remains clear that it's Palpatine driving Vader to seduce Luke to the Sith. Which, like any great story, is also why the Emperor is the most important character in the entire saga. His search, his need for an apprentice drives the whole thing. He senses Luke would be even better than Vader, which is why he urges Luke to kill his father and keep the 'One master/one apprentice' balance.

So it's also about choice and strength.

Anakin gives in to Palpatine because Palpatine manipulates him too well, but Luke is able to resist (partly because of the hand - which is Luke's 'epiphany' if you will about what could happen to him, because it's already beginning).

[starwarsrcks]

Star Wars is one of my favourite movie franchises your opinion may differ

[chator]

Originally Posted by starwarsrcks

Star Wars is one of my favourite movie franchises your opinion may differ

Its no longer a movie franchise. Lucas has brought it to the small screen with Star Wars:The Clone Wars, and is intending to further expand the Star Wars franchise on the small screen with an upcoming live-action series. In contrast, it looks like for now, Star Trek will become exclusively a movie franchise, without any competition from Star Wars, but look out Trek, Spiderman 4 is set to be released within a week of the scheduled release date of your sequel.

[starwarsrcks]

Why are they going to reschedule the release date for Trek XII sure they are not working on Trek XII at the minute.

[NCC-73515]

It's Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy... I don't see a problem.