"The cave, remember your failure at the cave!"

Supa troop

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
OK so this has alway's confused me.

Luke is leaving for Cloud City, and Yoda and Obi-wan are trying to presuade him to stay. Yoda says to Luke "remember your faliure at the CAVE"

skipping back to the scene where Luke enter's the CAVE and confront's Vader, Luke lop's off Vader's head, the helmet explode's to reveal Luke's face.

What kind of test is this? and why is it seen by Yoda as a faliure??

would be interesting to read your thought's on this.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Remember your Faliure at the Tree

I thought it was about "what you bring with you" into the tree.

Yoda says Luke won't need his lightsaber in there, but he brought it anyway. So in a self-fulfilling prophecy, turns out he did need it.

FAIL.

:)
 
Re: Remember your Faliure at the Tree

"The cave, remember your failure at the cave!" Sorry, but I had to not only correct the OP on misquoting, but I was able to do it with the quote!

And you call yourself a Star Wars fan!
 
Re: Remember your Faliure at the Tree

oh dear :rolleyes :)

For the Anul members, ive changed the original title to this thread.
 
The cave scene! It's so symbolic! Of... something. I have a pet theory that every viewer puts their own interpretation onto what Luke's actual failure was.

For me, Luke took his fear and anger - both personified in Vader - into the cave with him. Note that when the vision of Vader appeared, Luke drew first and attacked first, despite Yoda's teaching ("A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, NEVER attack", "Your weapons... you will not need them"). In doing so, he made himself vulnerable to the Dark Side's influence, which was represented in the vision by the reveal that the Vader of the vision was Luke himself - literally following in his father's footsteps.

So, when Yoda reminded him of his failure at the cave, it was in the context of warning him not to rush to face Vader before completing his Jedi training. Half-trained and still full of anger as he was, Yoda believed that Luke would be unable to resist the lure of the Dark Side (remember: Yoda knew exactly who Vader was). "If you end your training now, if you take the quick and easy path, as Vader did... you will become an agent of evil."
 
Last edited:
I've always wondered what would've happened if he didn't bring his weapons into the cave and saw 'Vader'?

When I was younger, I always imagined he would sit there and try to chat with him. Hey, I was 13! :lol
 
He took his weapon because he was afraid despite being advised by Yoda not to do so, he learned inside.... that the true face of his enemy was not Vader's but his own.

Why a tree was strong with the darkside and a domain of evil, who knows, do trees have mitachlorian whats-its? LOL
 
I wanna know why there's never been any explanation, or even a reference to (officially or even in the EU) the fact that this "cave" has a manufactured entrance. There is definitely a concrete-ish doorway structure.

Also, in one of the Zahn books, Luke goes back to the cave and finds a remote thingie, the sort of device one of the other characters had used in a battle. But THIS thingie (it's been a while) is never mentioned again. Mistake or Red Herring? Or is that redundant? :lol
 
Bringing weapons wasn't the failure. Bringing fear was the failure.

The cave scene! It's so symbolic! Of... something. I have a pet theory that every viewer puts their own interpretation onto what Luke's actual failure was.

For me, Luke took his fear and anger - both personified in Vader - into the cave with him. Note that when the vision of Vader appeared, Luke drew first and attacked first, despite Yoda's teaching ("A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence, NEVER attack", "Your weapons... you will not need them"). In doing so, he made himself vulnerable to the Dark Side's influence, which was represented in the vision by the reveal that the Vader of the vision was Luke himself - literally following in his father's footsteps.

So, when Yoda reminded him of his failure at the cave, it was in the context of warning him not to rush to face Vader before completing his Jedi training. Half-trained and still full of anger as he was, Yoda believed that Luke would be unable to resist the lure of the Dark Side (remember: Yoda knew exactly who Vader was). "If you end your training now, if you take the quick and easy path, as Vader did... you will become an agent of evil."


These are pretty much my take on the failure.
 
Wasn't it like a big tree cave thingy?
Or am I not remembering right.
I always thought it was some kind of living cave area inside big roots or something.
 
He didn't resist his darker impulses. The test was to see if he would give in to the dark side for an easy victory, and he did, so he failed. The rest was just simple foreshadowing.
 
It wasn't the best use of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey that requires a test of the hero. If he hadn't taken the saber maybe he'd have found out he shouldn't have the hots for his sister lol.
 
I wanna know why there's never been any explanation, or even a reference to (officially or even in the EU) the fact that this "cave" has a manufactured entrance. There is definitely a concrete-ish doorway structure.

Also, in one of the Zahn books, Luke goes back to the cave and finds a remote thingie, the sort of device one of the other characters had used in a battle. But THIS thingie (it's been a while) is never mentioned again. Mistake or Red Herring? Or is that redundant? :lol

The remote thing in the Zhan trilogy was a (minor) plot point so he can ask Lando later what it was. If I remember it was a remote for 'slaving' ships to be remotely controlled. Sort of Zhan's way of explaining something that will be used later in the story/books. A key-point later revealed as Thrawn was able to slave the Dreadnaught ships together to steal them (Been a while, but I think that's how it went)
 
It wasn't the best use of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey that requires a test of the hero. If he hadn't taken the saber maybe he'd have found out he shouldn't have the hots for his sister lol.


Well given a Campbell take on things, he did enter a cave which is basically a symbolic womb, and found himself inside.
 
This thread is more than 12 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top