"To Win The War"

 

"The Empire Strikes Back" was a failure.  That statement alone could get me banned from some sci-fi communities.

But it's true.

Not in a cinematic sense.  But in the story.

The Empire wins this one.  The rebellion is struck and scattered.  They lose the battles on Hoth.  They flee to the ends of the universe - divided and nearly decimated.

Our hero, Luke.  Escapes death at the hands of a steroided Snow Beast to go to the swamps...

Han and Leia play the part of the pin ball in an asteroids machine.  Then find themselves charmed and sold out to Vader and the bounty hunter "Fett".

But the battles that are the center of this story are Luke's own.  His fears in the cave.  His anger and frustrations when told he should abandon his friends.  His bravado that would turn into a cowering boy hanging limp and alone - under the clouds...

Luke loses more than a hand.  He loses his purpose.  The cave was right.  He has found that all the life he's lived was built upon lies that were fed to him by those who cared for him.  Everything that he believes has to be dissected and found as truth or lie.

There are some battles that we lose.  Vader comes out of the cave and enters into life.  In the midst of misplaced bravado, or just undeserved moxie we think we can handle the battle.  Facing it with everything that we have at that moment, we stand...

...only to fail.

We lose in that moment.  The realization that life has setbacks is hard, but it's true.  Sometimes you have to lose the battle to ultimately win the WAR!

So at the end...

Han Solo frozen in Carbonite.

Chewbacca and Lando flying off in the Falcon to rescue him.

Leia, caught in her feelings for Han and unaware of her family lineage.

Luke Skywalker.  The hero.  Beaten.  Now aware that everything he has known has changed, before his eyes.  What next?

Well of course, he "Returns"!