From: shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham)
Subject: Re: Hiding a Skywalker on Tatooine.
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 02:42:09 GMT

  My pet SW theory is that the entire trilogy (and, perhaps, the unmade movies
as well) is really a power struggle among the various veteran Jedi (Dark and
whatever the good ones are called). The Rebel alliance, the smugglers, and
everyone else are cynically used as tools and pawns in that struggle. Luke,
the new Jedi, is a choice pawn ("a great asset" - the emperor), not mature
enough to be a player.

   Under this interpertation, Vader intended to ultimatly replace the emperor.
His intentions were strictly for the love of power, no good or evil ideology
involved. His attempt to recruit Luke to that goal during the dual in the Cloud
City was not a fake. A Vader administration under the platform of ENDING THIS
DESTRUCTIVE CONFLICT AND RESTORING ORDER TO THE GALAXY, may not be as
benevolent as the old republic (perhaps idealized in the minds of those who
claim to remember it), but it sure would be better than the emperor's (and
I suspect that the wacky rebels, with all the good intentions in the Universe,
could not manage the serious bureaucracy required by an industrialized galaxy). 

   Ben and Yoda raving about the good side of the Force, is no more than a
method of gaining the loyalty of the energetic, but impressionable, young Luke.
They succeded.

   The remarkable coincidence, where the two droids that contained the stolen 
DS plans would end up in Luke's hand - triggering the chain of events that 
would allow Luke to develop his potential - should have been noted. (If
it was - I have not monitored this newsgroup very long or very consistently -
then my apologies to the net). My view is that this event *must* have been
*engineered*.

The summary of events, and the relative positions of the *true players* 
from the prespective of this theory is as follows:

   ANH:
   ----
Emperor - Gaining control of the galaxy. His *skill* is unmatched. The 
          emperor *does not* know about Luke; thinks Ben, and Yoda are gone.

Vader   - Playing the role of the Emperor's right hand man (right hand jedi?),
          until such time as he is ready to act on his own. Vader is keeping
          the untrained Luke on Tatooine until such time as he is ready to
          pull that card (at the home of Owen and Beru, pawns). Vader also
          thinks Ben and Yoda are gone (or too old to be a factor).

Ben     - Behind the scenes, motivating the rebel alliance to keep pressure
          on the Emperor (the princess and her father are instrumental in this
          play). Ben knows about Luke, (and the princess). In fact, Ben choice
          of home so close to Luke is no coincidence either, he needs to keep
          close look on this fella, and be on hand in an emergency. Be may "be
          getting too old for this kind of stuff", but power games are just too
          addictive to give up. Ben still dreams of confronting Vader directly
          and converting him to his cause (as a stepping stone toward toppling
          the Emperor), but he knows that the only realistic chance he got is
          to grab Luke and train him himself ahead of Vader.

Yoda    - Also getting old, and also addicted to power games. Willing to see
          his nominal ally, Ben, destroy himself pursuing his dream of
          confronting Vader, provided that young Luke is delivered to HIM for
          training. Yoda is fanatic about keeping his existence secret
          (so sercet that no mention of him is made in ANH :-) since he cannot
          survive a discovery by the emperor. He (it?) is willing to live on
          an unpleasent planet (I don't remember the 'diplomatic' words Luke
          used to describe Degoba)

Vader engineers the the Tatooine affair of ANH in an effort to gain control
of Luke without arousing the Emperor's suspicion. Luke is much more important
to Vader than the plans for the DS (The empire can do just fine without the
DS {ESB}, or build another one if they realy want to {ROJ}; but there is only
one Luke). Ben becomes aware of this plan (perhaps alerted to it by Yoda), and
realizes that the time to act has come. He takes advantage of the fact the Vader
is unaware of his activities to maneuver young impressionable Luke to his
control. Ben's first priority is to get *Luke*, not the droids, off the planet
and away from Vader. Ben's plan to go to Alderon are frustrated (to say the
least) by Vader, perhaps unintentionally. The rescue mission on the DS would
normally never been approved by Ben, if it was not for his self-destroying
dream of confronting Vader (it proved that he realy was too old for that kind
of stuff). Vader is surprised that Ben made another showing, but  he still does
not make the connection with the failure to capture Luke. He finally does
realizes that Luke has been snatched from him (and even took a seminar
- Introductory Force 101 - on the MF), during the battle of the DS ("the force
is strong with this one").
Yoda is satisfied watching and maneuvering from afar ("a long time I have
watched this one (Luke)" - Yoda, ESB). His strategy is working, Luke is being
delivered to him on a silver platter by Ben who is doing all the hard work
(and taking all the risks).
The Emperor is too busy consolidating his power to observe the scheming of
Vader, and the activities (existence) of Ben and Yoda. The latter two also
instigate the rebellion to keep the Emperor occupied.


   ESB:
   ----
Emperor - Have fully consolidated control of the galaxy. His skill is still
          unmatched. Luke's existence can no longer be hidden from him
          (something about a great disturbance in the Force). He begins to
          suspect that a Luke-Vader coalition would destroy him, but not that
          exactly such a coalition is Vader's objective.
Vader   - No longer able to hide Luke from the Emperor, he fakes loyalty when
          he suggest that he would turn Luke to the dark side as an asset to
          the Empire. The Emperor buys this plan, and Vader has an official
          cover for his hunt for Luke.

Yoda    - His fanatic secrecy and superior scheming pays off: He gets to train
          Luke away from prying eyes during the most critical (impressionable)
          phase of the training. Luke is now firmly a Yoda tool!

Vader discovered the Ice base on Huth (sp?) not for the rebels, but for Luke!
However, Yoda beats him to Luke and is rewarded. Luke is lured to Degobah, where
Yoda can leisurely do his job. The only way Vader can intercede is via the
Cloud City trap. Yoda desperately try to prevent Luke from leaving, even willing
to admit that Luke's friends are expendable pawns, but to no avail. The trap
works in pulling Luke from Degobah, but perhaps too late, Luke will not break
from Yoda's hold. In desperation, Vader attempts a direct recruit by telling
Luke his plan plainly ("join me, together we can destroy the emperor...").
But it is just too late.


   ROJ:
   ----
Emperor - His (well founded) suspicion of Vader builds up. He realizes that
          Luke has grown so powerfull that Vader's help is needed to control
          him. The plan: have the two destroy (or weaken) each other so he can
          finish them both off.

Vader   - Convinced that the Emperor is unsuspecting, continues his efforts to
          gain control of Luke.

Yoda    - Realizes he will die of old age before his plan is fully executed, he
          still wants to leave his mark on the future Galaxy. (Maybe they will
          name a planet after him ;-)

Luke    - Shows signs of maturity (finally!). Luke realizes that Ben and Yoda
          are not all-good (they lie!) and that Vader is not all-bad (there
          is still good in him).

The Emperor supplies the rebels with the news of DS II. In doing this he sets in
motion the chain of events that will bring Vader and Luke to his chamber for
a confrontation he plans to dominate. Vader plays along, thinking that at the
opportune moment he would turn on the Emperor and gain his seat. Luke, begining
to question the methods - if not the motivations - of the Ben/Yoda team, also
plays along. His (pathetic) effort to directly convert Vader to his cause is a
sign that he is begining to understand how jedi *really* gain power. Luke's skill
in conversion is very weak though and he fails (unlike his skill in using the
Force which is "impressive").

The true climax of ROJ is the confrontation in the Emperor chamber, not the 
battle of Endor (ask yourself who would be the ultimate victor if Emperor
survived, regardless of the hardware destroyed). The plan is to provoke Luke
into a battle with Vader. By building uncontrollable rage in Luke, both the
Emperor and Vader hope to gain a powerfull weapon against each other. Luke, with
his budding maturity realizes that he is being used again, but is not sure how. He
does not like it, but has no counter-plan of his own (he still too young for THAT).
The best that Luke can do is to refuse to cooperate, but eventualy he is provoked.
As rage is built up, and Luke is about to kill Vader, Vader expects the Emperor to
step in and save him as, presumably, agreed beforehand. That is the moment Vader
planned to execute his backstab by surprising the Emperor with a rapid change of
allegiance (and that silly Luke would think Vader finally repented and turned to
the good side - and well deserves to be the new ruler). The Emperor, however; 
having made his mind about ridding himself of that traitor Vader, fails to come.
The Emperor is perfectly happy to see Luke weakend (by going into rage, Luke cannot
control his emotions or use the Force effectively enough to hold his own against
the Emperor) and Vader killed. As Luke is beating down on the helpless Vader,
Vader realizes he was betrayed by the Emperor. Only when the Emperor (stupidly)
ORDERS Luke to kill Vader does Luke catch on that this is all a set-up and stops
attacking Vader. The Emperor, thinking that Vader is too injured to be a factor,
proceeds to destroy the weakend Luke. Vader, fataly injured, but still in control
of his actions, takes his revenge on the Emperor by proceeding with the backstab
plan after all. (And sure enough, silly Luke DOES think Vader has turned - which
is just as well, they might name a planet after him too ;-)

Well, as the only surviving Jedi, Luke gets the last laugh. In the post-empire
era he will be the top dog (even if not by title). The only question is if he
will know to train his sister to be a direct tool for himself, or will she grow
to become an independent player herself.


OVERALL STORY:
	Young Luke, a Jedi in training, is being manipulated by veteran Jedi
locked in a titanic power struggle amongst themselves. Eventually the veterans
destroy each other as Luke matures and learns that things are not always what
they appear to be.


	Well, I admits there might be holes in the theoty. I don't have a good
expaination for the ghousts (mostly Ben) that appears from time to time. Maybe
they are a trick that Yoda plays on Luke's mind. I also admit that the concept
was Influenced by such stories as the Foundation, Videodrones, and other stories
were a few powerfull characters manipulate titanic battles against each other
from behind the scenes.
	I love the SW story and attention to detail (to say nothing of the special
effects). The view expressed here should NEVER be interpeted as criticsm of SW.
It is merely another level on which the story can be understood and is consistent.

	I invite anyone who agrees with this theory and has additional insight on
the subject and anyone who sees problems with it, as well as anyone who thinks I am
on the right track but missed the *true* point, to mail comments to me or post
it here on the net.