Yoda Predicted The Worst Part Of The Star Wars Sequels
Star Wars fans had plenty of hatred for the Sequel Trilogy for many reasons, but none so bitter as the portrayal of Luke Skywalker. It was rough to watch this hero of the Rebellion as a burnt-out monk, and it was particularly tough to watch the revelation that Kylo Ren’s descent into evil didn’t really start 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 start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.”
Luke, Yoda, And The Dark Path
Before he met Yoda (and well before the production of the Star Wars sequels), Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training amounted to a long weekend with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Fortunately, Kenobi’s own diminutive Jedi Master gave Luke a more extensive education, including warning him about how taking even a single step towards the Dark Side could forever taint his destiny. 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 in The Empire Strikes Back, when he took weapons inside (literally choosing violence despite Yoda’s warnings) and dueled a phantom Darth Vader who turned out to be Luke (a clear warning that he was in danger of becoming his father). Luke also ditched his training to go help Han, Leia, and Chewbacca despite Yoda’s warning that doing so “would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.”
And in Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine successfully goads Luke into trying to kill him after making the claim that “The hate is swelling in you now.” When Vader blocks the killing stroke, Luke channels his rage towards his father, with the script explicitly noting that he “realizes he is using the Dark Side.
Luke Doesn’t Listen
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 warned Luke that going down the dark path would lead to a dark destiny, 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, “would bring destruction, and pain, and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become.”
Rey has to tell Luke, “You failed him by thinking his choice was made” and, echoing Luke’s own thoughts about Vader back in Return of the Jedi, insisting that “there’s still conflict in him.” Sure enough, there was good in Kylo Ren, and his redemption helped Rey ultimately defeat Emperor Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker. Famous Jedi Master Luke Skywalker was obviously 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 being “dominated” by those earlier mistakes from the Original Trilogy.
While Yoda’s dark prophecy may explain Luke’s controversial options, this explanation is unlikely to sway Star Wars fans who hated the Sequel Trilogy. No matter how well-motivated a character change is, seeing a passionate hero transformed into a nihilistic burnout is never fun. Collectively, we can simply hope that Disney does better in the future and that their first steps down the dark path of the Sequel Trilogy won’t forever dominate this franchise’s destiny.
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