Darth Sacrifice

"But I have to save you."

"You already have...my son."

Dun. Dun! DUNNNNN!!!!!

***SPOILER ALERT!!!***

So, yep, we rounded out the Star Wars epic by watching the sixth and final installment, Return of the Jedi. Or ROTJ in chat rooms and comic book conventions. You know, I've never been to a comic book convention. They have a stigma, obviously. Always been afraid of catching whatever they're emitting. And that was wrong. They might be pretty sweet. But, that's a whole different blog post. Let's stick to the game plan. And that plan is ROTJ.

That little back and forth dialogue up top was between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, after Luke almost succumbed to the Dark Side and put a steady beatdown on Vader. His anger got the best of him. It also didn't help matters that Emperor Palpatine was all in his ear provoking him and telling him the Rebellion was about to be crushed along with all his friends. Also, maybe didn't help that Vader was pretty twisted and sparked fear in everyone throughout the galaxy. Yea, all those things, led to a lightsaber whipping and a hand chopping off.

But, it was that hand of Vader's getting booted off the show that stopped Luke's descent into darkness. Luke lowered his lightsaber and looked at his own hand - which was a robot hand now also - and was reminded that he was trucking down the same wicked path his father skipped down long ago. Not a good road to travel. No gas stations. Bad restaurants. Heavy traffic. The whole nine.

Needless to say, the Emperor was a tad non-plussed and started Zeus'ing out with the lightning bolts. After a few moments, Vader, with mixed feelings now towards light and dark, after seeing his own son nearly make the same mistakes he did, opted for risking his own life and picking up the Emperor and tossing him into an exhaust shaft. (As we watched this, A remarked that it looked like either screaming demons or lost souls that blew back up from the shaft as the Emperor died. Maybe George Lucas was hinting at something. A little Easter egg for the adults in the audience? Something I certainly never noticed as a kid. Anyhoo...)

So, Vader gave his own life, his life-preserving cybersuit fried State Fair-style due to the Emperor's electricity, to save Luke. Thus, in the end, redeeming himself and becoming one with the Force...

Sacrifice brought him peace. I wonder what I could sacrifice, or let go of, in order to bring on some peace. Hm...