Following Master Yoda's Example
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker travels to Dagobah to train as a Jedi under the tutelage of Master Yoda. When Yoda instructs Luke to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp where it has crashed, Luke quickly gives up, complaining, “You want the impossible.” Yoda then corrects his student’s hopelessness with a demonstration, using the Force to lift the X-Wing out of the water himself.
In The Last Jedi, Luke – now a Jedi master himself – has once again lost hope. Having exiled himself to Ahch-To in his despair, he intends to burn down the tree housing the sacred Jedi texts, effectively ending the Jedi Order. However, Luke’s old master Yoda appears as a Force ghost and once again corrects his hopelessness with a demonstration, performing the seemingly impossible feat of striking the tree with lightning from beyond the grave. Yoda then encourages Luke not to despair but to return to the fight for the sake of his student Rey.
In The Rise of Skywalker, Rey loses hope, travels to Ahch-To, and burns the ship that brought her there, intending to follow Luke’s example by exiling herself and effectively ending the Jedi Order. However, her old master Luke appears as a Force ghost, confesses to her that he was wrong to despair, and encourages her to persevere. He then uses the Force to perform a seemingly impossible feat, lifting his old X-Wing out of the water from beyond the grave so she can use it to return to the fight.
Luke’s last lesson to Rey directly mirrors two of the greatest lessons he received from his own master, fulfilling Yoda’s charge to him in Return of the Jedi: “Pass on what you have learned.”
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Characters: Luke Skywalker / Rey / Yoda
Films: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi / Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
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Concepts: hope and despair / teachers and students
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"We are what they grow beyond." The motto of all good teachers!