Aren’t you a little short for a storm trooper
Essay on Star Wars “Aren’t you a little short for a storm trooper? ” (Lucas New Hope 40). Rings a bell, doesn’t it? This is one of the many quotes and a memorable one from Princess Leia in George Lucas’s saga Star Wars. Lucas had created an all American myth and was the first to do it. His movie saga used every archetype known to man and was inspired by the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Campbell’s book also had every archetype known to man in it. It affected an innumerable amount of people around the world.
Lucas’s Star Wars saga even went further than the big screen by inspiring comics, video games, toys, and other merchandise making Lucas a billionaire. His first three movies he made in the saga are New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of The Jedi. In this Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas illustrates that the hero must be wounded either physically or emotionally to be open to spiritual knowledge and transformation. Leia’s wounds open her to love, Luke’s wounds open him to becoming a Jedi Knight, and Anakin Skywalker’s wounds open him to redemption.
These transformations are marked by physical and emotional wounds. In George Lucas’s Star Wars, Leia’s physical and emotional wounds open her up to love. First, Leia is wounded emotionally by the Death Star destroying her home planet of Alderaan. “A button is pressed which switches on a panel of lights. A hooded imperial soldier reaches overhead and pulls a lever. Another lever is pulled. Vader reaches for still another lever and a back of lights on a panel and wall light up. A huge beam of light emanates from within a cone-shaped area and converges into a single laser beam out toward Alderaan.
The small green planet of Alderaan is blown into space dust” (Lucas New Hope 44). Princess Leia has been captured from the consoler’s ship and is being interrogated by General Tarkin. He is asking her about the whereabouts of the rebel base and if she doesn’t comply he will destroy her home planet of Alderaan. She finally decides to lie so her home planet will be spared except they thank her for her cooperation, throw her in the detention level, and destroy Alderaan anyway. Leia is wounded emotionally by this because that was her home planet the Empire just destroyed using the Death Star.
That means her family and all her friends and loved ones were on Alderaan and they all got completely destroyed. Everything that was her past and childhood memories was just destroyed right before her eyes. Lucas included this wounding because it is a very strong one. Leia just basically lost everything in one quick moment. He uses it also to show her strength in being able to control her emotions. Next, Leia is wounded emotionally by watching Han get frozen in the carbon freezing chamber. “Tears roll down Leia’s face as she watches the dashing pirate walk to the hydraulic platform” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 70).
Darth Vader uses Han as a sort of test dummy to test the carbon-freezing chamber on. He is testing to see if it will keep the person inside alive because Vader plans to use it on Luke later on. It is also a trap to attract Luke to Cloud City so Vader can capture him. This shows that Leia’s heart is completely open to love because she tells Han she loves him and even gets emotional when he gets ready to be frozen. Han responds with “I know” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 70) showing the love between the two and without a doubt proving that Leia is now balanced between head and heart.
Lucas has Han get frozen in carbon to reveal Leia’s true emotions and show that her heart is finally open to love. She shows it by telling him she loves him and tearing up about it. It shows that she does care and truly does love Han. Last, Leia is wounded physically by becoming a slave to Jabba the Hut. “Threepio is standing behind the grotesque gangster as he strokes Leia like a pet cat. Several of the guards, including Lando bring Luke from the other side of the room. Boba is standing behind Jabba” (Lucas Return of the Jedi 18).
After trying to rescue Han from Jabba’s palace, Leia gets captured by Jabba and he uses her as his personal slave. He keeps her by him held by a chain. By becoming a slave to Jabba it opens Leia’s heart to even more emotions of love because her lover, Han, rescues her. Lucas has Leia get captured because it will drive Han even more to rescue her. This proves his love for Leia because he risks his own life by protecting her. By the end of all of these experiences, Leia’s heart is completely open to love showing her full emotions. In George Lucas’s trilogy Star Wars, Luke’s wounds open him to becoming a Jedi Knight.
First, Luke is wounded emotionally by having his known family killed. “Luke stumbles around in a daze looking for his aunt and uncle. Suddenly he comes upon their smoldering remains. He is stunned, and cannot speak. Hate replaces fear and a new resolve comes over him” (Lucas New Hope 19). Luke sees that the Imperial Troops have slaughtered the Jawas and then realized that they probably traced them back to Luke’s aunt and uncle’s house. He then speeds back to his house in his speeder and finds their remains and the remains of their dwelling.
This greatly wounds Luke emotionally because the Empire has just destroyed his family and all he’s ever had and known. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru was the only family he thought he had left so this just devastated him emotionally. His fear is replaced by hate for the Empire. This also helps him make his decision on following Obi-Wan and training to become a Jedi Knight because he has no other options now that he has lost everything. Lucas had Luke’s known family destroyed to place anger in him making him follow in his father’s footsteps unconsciously.
It also helps him make the decision to travel with Obi-Wan and train to be a Jedi Knight because now there is nothing left for him on Tatooine. Next, Luke is wounded physically by having his right hand cut off by Darth Vader. “Luke glances at the instrument complex floating away. At that instant, Vader’s sword comes down across Luke’s right forearm, cutting off his hand and sending his sword flying. In great pain, Luke squeezes his forearm under his left armpit and moves back along the gantry to its extreme end. Vader follows. The wind subsides. Luke holds on.
There is nowhere else to go” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 77). Luke is in Cloud City fighting Darth Vader after he escapes his carbon-freezing trap. Vader finally beats him down and cuts off Luke’s right hand with his light saber. Luke is driven by anger and hate which in the end ultimately causes him to lose this battle. Vader cuts off Luke’s right hand. That is the hand in which he wields his light saber. This represents his power hand and now he has no power because he has lost his right hand. This weakens Luke greatly. During this wounding he has the epiphany that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, his father.
During this wounding he is wounded both physically and emotionally. Physically because he loses his hand and emotionally because he learns that this evil man is indeed his father. Lucas had Vader cut off Luke’s power hand showing now that Luke is weak and vulnerable. At this point Vader also tells Luke that he is his father because Luke cannot escape from the truth being physically wounded and defeated. Last, Luke is wounded emotionally by having his father die. “Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker…Luke’s father, dies” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 88). Luke is on the Death Star to defeat the Emperor but
Darth Vader gets in his way and starts fighting with Luke instead. Luke keeps backing down saying, “I will not fight you, father” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 81). Luke then finally beats down Vader and cuts his hand off, just like Vader had done to him. The Emperor walks over to Luke and asks him to join the Dark Side but Luke refuses so the Emperor starts to electrocute him with his hands showing no mercy. “Vader grabs the Emperor from behind, fighting for control of the robed figure despite the Dark Lord’s weakened body and gravely weakened arm.
The Emperor struggles in his embrace, his bolt-shooting hands now lifted high, away from Luke. Now the white lightning arcs back to strike at Vader. He stumbles with his load as the sparks rain off his helmet and flow down over his black cape. He holds his evil master high over his head and walks to the edge of the abyss at the central core of the throne room. With one final burst of his once awesome strength, Darth Vader hurls the Emperor’s body into the bottomless shaft” (Lucas Return of the Jedi 86). This emotionally wounds Luke because he finally has feelings of love towards his father.
His father, Anakin, just sacrificed himself for his son overcoming the evil within him letting his good side show. Luke feels sad and does not want to leave his father. His mother has already died so that was the last adult in his family and he finally felt that father to son connection. Sadly it only lasted a little bit because Anakin quickly dies. Lucas shows this as the final state of Luke becoming a true Jedi knight. This is shown by Luke saying, “Never! I’ll never turn to the dark side. You’ve failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me” (Lucas Empire Strikes Back 84).
In the trilogy Star Wars, by George Lucas, Anakin Skywalker’s wounds open him up to redemption. First, Anakin Skywalker gets emotionally wounded by the Sand People kill his mother. After the Sand People kill Shmi, Anakin’s mother, he goes on a rage and kills an entire village of Tusken people including women and children. He does this out of anger. Anakin’s mother Shmi gets captured by the Sand people. He then goes to free her and help her escape because of the love he has for his mother. As Anakin is walking her out of the village a Tusken raider shoots and kills Shmi.
This puts Anakin in an outrage and he then massacres the entire village out of anger and hate with his light saber. This emotionally wounds Anakin greatly because the Sand people just killed his mother. Shmi was the woman he loved and cared about the most. He had always taken care of her and supported for her. Now that they just murdered her, it sent him on an unstoppable rage. Lucas has this happen to set Anakin on his course to becoming Darth Vader. All the hate and anger that came into him after this event turned him evil therefore setting him up for later redemption.
Next, Anakin is physically wounded by falling into a burning lava pit. “Anakin’s clothing blows into the lava river and ignites. Suddenly Anakin bursts into flames and starts screaming” (Lucas Revenge of the Sith 89). Obi-Wan and Anakin are fighting on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. Obi-Wan cuts off Anakin’s arm and greatly wounds him sending him falling close to the lava river in which his clothes ignite and his body is badly burned almost to the point of death. This greatly wounds Anakin and sets him on his way to being the mechanical more-machine-than-human Darth Vader.
After he lies injured for a while he is finally spotted by Darth Sidious and what is left of him is put in a medical capsule. They then turn him into Darth Vader by replacing his injured parts with robotic parts making him more machine than human. Last, Anakin is wounded physically by saving his son Luke. “Vader grabs the Emperor from behind, fighting for control of the robed figure despite the Dark Lord’s weakened body and gravely weakened arm. The Emperor struggles in his embrace, his bolt-shooting hands now lifted high, away from Luke.
Now the white lightning arcs back to strike at Vader. He stumbles with his load as the sparks rain off his helmet and flow down over his black cape. He holds his evil master high over his head and walks to the edge of the abyss at the central core of the throne room. With one final burst of his once awesome strength, Darth Vader hurls the Emperor’s body into the bottomless shaft” (Lucas Return of the Jedi 86). Then, “Vader’s cape is whipped by the wind and he staggers, and collapses toward the bottomless hole.
Luke crawls to his father’s side and pulls him away from the edge of the abyss to safety. Both the young Jedi and the giant warrior are too weak to move” (Lucas Return of the Jedi 86). In the Death Star, Anakin watches his son dying and then the good in him kicks in as Luke begs his father for help. Anakin steps in and sacrifices himself for his son. Anakin redeems himself here for all the evil he has done by sacrificing himself for the love of his son Luke. He just can’t bare it anymore to watch his son suffer so he acts on love and aves his son from the Emperor killing himself in the process. Lucas shows Anakin redeeming himself by sacrifice. He obtains redemption by giving into love and finding the good in him to save his son. In this Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas illustrates that the hero must be wounded either physically or emotionally to be open to spiritual knowledge and transformation. Leia’s wounds open her to love, Luke’s wounds open him to becoming a Jedi Knight, and Anakin Skywalker’s wounds open him to redemption. These transformations are marked by physical and emotional wounds.
