Cloud City Duel

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The Cloud City Duel was a fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader depicted in the 1980 movie The Empire Strikes Back. It was during this time that Darth Vader made his stunning revelation to Luke Skywalker revealing that he was his father. Luke also had his hand severed during this battle.

Contents 1 Prologue 2 The duel 3 The Aftermath 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources

[edit] Prologue

After Han Solo, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and C-3PO were captured by the Galactic Empire after trying to seek refuge in Lando Calrissian's Cloud City, Luke disobeyed Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi and set off to rescue them. Vader was tracking Luke once he entered Cloud City. As Luke entered, he was looking around with R2-D2 when all of a sudden Boba Fett fired around a corner to hold him off.

Luke fired back and advanced a little but soon he saw Leia's head stick from around a corner desperately trying to hold off an Imperial soldier to warn him. She claimed it was all a trap.

[edit] The duel

Skywalker followed and walked into a carbon-freezing chamber. The door slammed shut behind him and R2-D2 was unable to follow. He walked in and there stood Darth Vader at the top of a stairway. He calmly walked up the stairs and ignited his lightsaber. The battle had begun. They fought for several minutes. Darth Vader was greatly surprised by how skilled his son actually was, considering the fact that Luke could not have been classically trained as a Jedi of the old Order.

Vader eventually overwhelmed Skywalker and knocked his lightsaber out of his hand. Luke tumbled back and stood at the edge of the chamber. Vader pushed forward and Luke staggered back, losing his balance and falling into the chamber. Vader used the Force to activate the chamber and didn't notice when Luke sprung out just in time.

Vader walked up to the chamber saying Luke was far more easy to defeat than he had thought. Then, he noticed Luke trying to climb some pipes and he cut through one of them in his attempt to kill Skywalker. Luke then jumped down and sprayed tibanna gas through the severed pipe, blinding Vader momentarily. They fought on. Vader taunted Luke, but Luke pressed on until Vader fell off the carbon freezing platform and Luke followed, searching for Vader. Luke walked down a passage into a processing vane, and was immediately assaulted by Vader, who used Dun Möch to hurl objects at Luke. A misguided piece of piping hit an observation port, and Luke was sucked out into the air shaft, but managed to cling onto a balcony on the outside of the vane several floors below. Vader followed him down. Luke trying to get out of the air shaft, entered a small room where the Dark Lord ambushed him and the fight continued. Vader drove Luke back, but Luke was able to wound Vader's shoulder. Vader continued his assault, then spun Luke's lightsaber out of his grip, and cut Luke's hand off.

Vader tried to sway Luke to the dark side by revealing the fact that he was indeed Luke's father. Luke chose death rather than joining Vader and gained the moral courage to throw himself off the ledge. He was sucked into a gas port, and ended up clinging to a weather vane on the underside of Cloud City. He reached out to Leia through the Force, and was rescued by her, Calrissian, and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon.

Though Vader made another attempt to capture Luke, as the Falcon departed Bespin, using the Executor, the astromech R2-D2 was able to reactivate the ship's hyperdrive and allow the heroes to escape.

[edit] The Aftermath

Cloud City was captured by the Galactic Empire, which turned the gas mines into Ugnaught slaving camps. It is known that Vader recovered Luke's hand and took it to the Mount Tantiss storehouse, where it was used to grow a clone of Luke Skywalker.

Though annexed by the Empire, holo's of the duel between the two Skywalkers later found their way into the market. Though they only captured the first twenty seconds of the duel, they sold for 15 credits each in Port Town.

[edit] Behind the scenes

• The duel between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker is remembered by many Star Wars fans as the most memorable lightsaber duel in Star Wars history.
• As Lucas wanted the lightsaber fights to gradually become "faster and more intense" as Luke was becoming more apt with lightsaber usage, a shift in fighting style began to show itself, with some one-handed forms making their first appearance -- a precursor to what lightsaber fights of old would be revealed to look like.

[edit] Appearances

• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / novel 1^st
• Marvel Star Wars 44: The Empire Strikes Back: Duel a Dark Lord
• The Emperor's Trophy
• Shadows of the Empire comic
• The Lost Lightsaber
• LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

[edit] Sources

• InQuest Gamer 26 Am