8 Things You Learn When You Rewatch Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi

3. The Luke Versus Vader Sequence Is Poignant

The lead-up to the actual grudge match is a little tedious, but, once we get there, it's a sight to behold (and an emotional one, too). No longer Jedi vs. Sith, Luke/Vader 2 is father vs. son, the green good of Luke's lightsaber clanging against the blood-red of Vader's in a battle neither really wants to win. It's the most outright vicious lightsaber battle in the original trilogy, and it's capped off by one of the series' great shots: the electric skull scorched onto Vader's mask as he sees the light (pun partially intended) and sends the Emperor to his vertiginous demise (though, again, Lucas' obsession with nearly ruining great moments by having a character scream "NOOO!" is present if you can't access the original cuts, this time added to the scene for the 2011 re-release). It's what comes after this which is most memorable, though, and it lends the scene its poignancy: after saving his son, Vader is embraced by Luke, who is in turn instructed to remove his father's helmet. It will kill him, but, "just for once", Vader wants to look on Luke "with his own eyes". In an instant Darth Vader is no longer; returned, moments before death, to being Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father, a good man corrupted by the Dark side but allowed back into the Light as he acquiesces to the dying of it.