Return of the Jedi

**Return of the Jedi** is a 1983 film starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz, directed by Richard Marquand, written by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas and produced by Howard G. Kazanjian.

## Plot

In an attempt to rescue Han Solo from crimelord Jabba the Hutt, C-3PO and R2-D2 are sent to Jabba's palace on Tatooine in a trade bargain made by Luke Skywalker. Disguised as a bounty hunter, Princess Leia infiltrates the palace under the pretense of collecting the bounty on Chewbacca and unfreezes Han, but is caught and enslaved. Luke soon arrives to bargain for his friends' release, but Jabba drops him through a trapdoor with the intent of letting him be eaten by a rancor. After Luke kills the creature, Jabba sentences him, Han, and Chewbacca to death by being fed to the Sarlacc. Having hidden his lightsaber inside R2-D2, Luke frees himself and battles Jabba's guards while Leia uses her chains to strangle Jabba. As the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah, where he finds that Yoda is dying. Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, is Luke's father, and the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi reveals that Leia is Luke's twin sister. The Jedi Masters tell Luke that he must face Vader again to finish his training and defeat the Empire. As Yoda disappears, he becomes one with the Force.

The Rebel Alliance learns that the Empire has been constructing a new Death Star under the supervision of the Emperor himself. As the station is protected by an energy shield, Han leads a strike team to destroy the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor; doing so would allow a squadron of starfighters to destroy the Death Star. Luke and Leia accompany the strike team to Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle. Luke and his companions encounter a tribe of Ewoks and, after an initial conflict, gain their trust. Later, Luke tells Leia that she is his sister, Vader is their father, and that he must confront him. Surrendering to Imperial troops, Luke is brought before Vader, and he tries to convince his father to return from the dark side of the Force.

Vader takes Luke to the Death Star to meet the Emperor, intent on turning him to the dark side. The Emperor reveals that the Death Star is operational and that the Rebel Fleet will fall into a trap. On Endor, Han's team is captured by Imperial forces, but a counterattack by the Ewoks allows the Rebels to infiltrate the shield generator. Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian leads the Rebel Fleet in the Millennium Falcon, only to find that the Death Star's shield is still active, and the Imperial fleet waiting for them. The Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger, and Luke engages Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader senses that Luke has a sister, and threatens to turn her to the dark side. Enraged, Luke attacks and severs Vader's prosthetic hand. The Emperor entreats Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses, declaring himself a Jedi as his father had been. Furious, the Emperor tortures Luke with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down into a pit but is mortally electrocuted in the process. At his father's last request, Luke removes Vader's mask, and the redeemed Anakin dies in his son's arms.

After the strike team destroys the shield generator, Lando leads a group of Rebel fighters into the Death Star core and destroys its main reactor. As the Falcon flies out of the Death Star's superstructure and Luke escapes on a shuttle with his father's body, the station explodes. On Endor, Leia reveals to Han that Luke is her brother, and they kiss. Luke cremates Anakin's body on a pyre. As the defeat of the Empire is celebrated, Luke sees the spirits of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin watching over him.