Yoda Predicted The Worst Part Of The Star Wars Sequels

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 28 seconds ago

Star Wars fans had plenty of hate for the Sequel Trilogy for many reasons, but none as bitter as the portrayal of Luke Skywalker. It was tough to watch this hero of the Rebellion as a burnt monk, and it was especially hard to watch the revelation that Kylo Ren’s descent into evil was not true started until Luke was tempted to kill his nephew. This seemed remarkably out of character, but Yoda himself actually predicted the worst part of the Star Wars sequels when he warned Luke that “once you set out on the dark path, it will dominate your destiny forever. “

Luke, Yoda, and the Dark Path

Before he met Yoda (and long before the Star Wars sequels were produced), Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training was a long weekend with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Fortunately, the diminutive Jedi Master Kenobi gave Luke a more extensive education, including warning him about how taking even one step towards the Dark Side could taint his destiny forever. However, we see Luke take several steps down the dark path, and most fans don’t realize that his murderous thoughts about Kylo Ren are a result of those earlier mistakes.

Arguably, Luke’s first step down the dark path was his failure in the cave on Dagobah inward The Empire Strikes Backwhen he took up arms inside (literally choosing violence despite Yoda’s warnings) and tricked an illusion Darth Vader who turned out to be Luke (a clear warning that he was in danger of becoming his father). Luke also abandoned his training to go help Han, Leia, and Chewbacca despite Yoda’s warning that doing so would “destroy everything they’ve fought and suffered for.”

And in Return of the JediEmperor Palpatine successfully urges Luke to try to kill him after making the claim “The hatred is swelling within you now.” When Vader blocks the killing stroke, Luke channels his rage towards his father, with the script specifically stating that he “realizes he’s using the Dark Side.

Luke is not Listening

So what does this history lesson have to do with Yoda’s words and the most controversial element of the Star Wars sequels? In short, the Jedi Master warn Luke that going down the dark path would lead to a dark fate, but that wasn’t enough to keep Luke from doing so. Years later (as we find out in The Last Jedi), in a moment of weakness, Luke is tempted to kill the young Ben Solo because he believes, “Snoke had already turned his heart,” and Ben, “brings destruction, and pain, and death, and the end of everything for me. love because of what will come.”

Rey has to tell Luke, “You failed him by thinking his choice was made” and, echoing Luke’s own opinion of Vader back in Return of the Jediinsisting that “there is still conflict in him.” Sure enough, there was good in Kylo Ren, and his redemption ultimately helped Rey defeat Emperor Palpatine in The rise of Skywalker. A famous Jedi Master Luke Skywalker clearly wrong in his assessment of Ben Solo, and the simplest explanation for this is that Yoda was right: his fate in the Star Wars sequels was still “dominated” by those earlier mistakes from the Original Trilogy .

While Yoda’s dark prophecy could explain Luke’s controversial options, this explanation isn’t likely to sway Star Wars fans who hated the Sequel Trilogy. No matter how highly motivated a character change is, seeing a passionate hero transformed into a nihilistic duelist is never fun. Together, we can simply hope so Disney will do better in the future and that their first steps down the dark path of the Sequel Trilogy will not dominate the fate of this franchise forever.