“Do or do not. There is no try.”
The Empire Strikes Back introduces viewers of the Star Wars saga (when viewed by release date rather than chronologically) to Yoda. Yoda is set up at the beginning as extraordinarily wise and a Jedi fighting master. Therefore it comes as quite a shock when his diminutive physique is first revealed. It does not take long to prove himself worthy of all that Luke Skywalker has been told as he becomes an apprentice to the master. Luke—who is every bit as whiny as his father in his youth—bucks against the pressure placed upon Yoda to master the Force and ultimately this bit of advice he dispenses is the fundamental lesson which Luke must learn because it attacks the essential quality he is lacking: belief.
“Never tell me the odds.”
Jedi Master Yoda and profiteering pilot Han Solo are juxtaposed throughout the film at oppositional influences upon Luke Skywalker. Yoda is reserved and logical, guided by foresight and patience while Han is reckless and impulsive. Ultimately, however, they are both espousing pretty much the same philosophy. This above quote is Han’s response to C-3PO having calculated that the possibility of the Millennium Falcon successfully outmaneuvering asteroids all around them is 3720 to 1. Han’s impulsivity is here put on display and his machismo is unquestionably putting the lives of his passengers at risk. Nevertheless, Han’s dismissal of the truly impressive odds favoring the Falcon being completely destroyed is an—admittedly irrational—demonstration of Yoda’s directive. If Han’s impulsive recklessness breaks down for just a few seconds and he gives in to more rational decision to consider the odds before making his decision, he will probably only serve to increase the odds against him.
Luke: “I don’t believe it.”
Yoda: “That is why you fail.”
Luke’s spaceship has sunk to the bottom of the Dagobah swamp and he is overcome with misery. At Yoda’s insistence, he tries to retrieve the truly massively weighty craft from the muck using the power of the Force and fails in stupendous fashion. His misery turns to desolation and then little, puppet-like Yoda who seems to be equipped with about a thousand times more wrinkles than muscles closes his eyes, concentrates the power of Force and elevates the ship from the swamp completely before a stunned Luke who can barely muster the power to express his doubt over what he’s just witnessed.
The story of Yoda’s mentorship of Luke is not really about learning to harness the power of the Force. In reality, that story will be told off-screen, resulting from the three year gap in chronological time between this film and the next. What the story of Yoda and Luke on Dagobah is really about is Luke’s coming to the faith. It is a spiritual journey long before it becomes a lesson in the martial arts and manipulating the laws of physics.
“I am your father.”
The most famous quote associated with The Empire Strikes Back is also—no big surprise—the most misquoted line from the movie. It can’t be determined just how many people will recite this line by adding the name Luke in front of it, but suffice to say it is many. And, of course, it makes perfect sense to do so. But the reality is that in the film, Darth Vader delivers what is arguably the single greatest plot twist in Hollywood history by responding to Luke’s assertion that Obi-Wan Kenobi told him that Vader had killed his father with a simple, “No” before divulging the truth.
The significance at this moment must be juxtaposed against that just described above. Luke starts the film filled with doubt and, at least to Yoda, as an unbeliever. It is Yoda who pounds into Luke that the path to mastering the Force must run through removing all doubt and embracing belief. The stark reality is that Luke the doubter is far more resistant to believing what he’s just seen Yoda do in the swamp than he is to what by all rights should seem to him some kind of cruelly manipulative lie. And yet he goes on all-in on Vader’s shocking assertion within mere seconds. He is ready to stop trying and start doing. In a sense, he is ready to become more like Han, who never tries anything, but seems always to begin right in the middle of already doing it.
