The Empire Wanted Luke Skywalker To Help Overthrow The Sith

This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #14.

Star Wars has revealed that high-ranking Imperials hoped to use Luke Skywalker to overthrow the Sith. When Palpatine established the Empire, he intended it to embody the ways of the Sith. To that end, he deliberately created a political system that encouraged every citizen to become complicit in the Empire’s corruption; he understood that by doing so he would tilt the entire galaxy towards the dark side.

But tie-in comics have revealed high-ranking members of the Empire conspired against the Sith, with Sly Moore – once numbered among Palpatine’s closest confidants, even aware of the existence of the Sith redoubt of Exegol – a major figure in this conspiracy. Moore even managed to steal the command codes for Darth Vader’s cybernetic systems, and gave them to the bounty hunter IG-88 in the hopes the assassin droid could kill the Dark Lord of the Sith. The attempt on Vader’s life failed, of course, and in Darth Vader #14, by Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco, it proved to be a big mistake – when Darth Vader tracked IG-88 to the people who had hired him.

But Darth Vader #14 further reveals what these Imperial traitors believed to be their greatest hope for overthrowing the Sith; Luke Skywalker. They knew the lengths the Emperor had gone to in order to wipe out the Jedi, and – though they do not seem to have known Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker – they noted how Vader had focused on the boy. Confronted by Vader, Sly Moore encouraged the Sith to confront the Jedi face-to-face, hoping Luke would kill him.

This adds another level of complexity to Return of the Jedi, when Luke was brought before Darth Vader and his master, Palpatine. The fate of the entire galaxy rested upon his shoulders, the hopes and fears of countless people – with even Imperials, traitors to the Emperor, hoping he would strike down the Sith. But, of course, it was Luke’s personal connection to Anakin Skywalker that proved to be the galaxy’s salvation; Vader killed the Emperor out of love, redeeming himself and fulfilling his destiny by bringing balance to the Force. Any other outcome would have been of the dark side, and Darth Sidious could not be deposed by the darkness.

There is a certain degree of irony to the fact these Imperials turned against the Empire, and considered Luke Skywalker their last hope. But when Luke triumphed in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, he did so in such a way that the Empire’s hold on the galaxy was broken – so by turning on their master, Sly Moore and her ilk had unknowingly been longing for the Empire’s end.