Star Wars Reveals What Palpatine Thought Of Luke’s Death In The Last Jedi

Luke Skywalker, the hero of the original Star Wars trilogy, died in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and his old nemesis, Palpatine, had a fascinating reaction to it. Luke Skywalker was instrumental to Palpatine’s first death during the Battle of Endor. The Rebel Jedi’s belief in the inner goodness of his father, Anakin Skywalker (at the time, Darth Vader) and Luke’s impeccably strong will allowed him to resist the allure of the dark side and motivate his father to turn against The Emperor. Luke’s attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order following the fall of the Empire failed, however, and he ended up in self-imposed exile on Ahch-To, where he remained for the rest of his life.

As shown throughout The Last Jedi, the fall of Ben Solo led Luke down a melancholic path. While Luke believed in helping others throughout most of his life, he’d become a shadow of his former self, severing himself from the Force and removing himself from galactic affairs. By doing nothing, Luke allowed evil to succeed, as the First Order, whose leaders he could have defeated, destroyed the Hosnian system, killing countless innocents. Han Solo, one of Luke’s closest friends, died by Kylo Ren’s hand. While Yoda and Obi-Wan went into hiding as part of a long-term plan to defeat the Sith, Luke turned his back on his ideals and his loved ones, something that should have been unthinkable, given his characterization in the original trilogy.

The 2021 sourcebook Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith includes a passage in which Palpatine reminisces on his old enemy and his death in The Last Jedi. Palpatine acknowledges Luke’s participation in the Battle of Yavin, in which Luke helped to destroy the Death Star. He also reminisces on Luke’s incredible willpower, as shown in Return of the Jedi. Although Luke was an extremely powerful Force user and was incredibly skilled with a lightsaber, he won the day with his sentiment, not with fighting prowess or strength. Palpatine makes sure to mock his baffling behavior in The Last Jedi and describes Luke’s death as fitting, given that he, who turned Vader against The Emperor, died trying to save the one person who he couldn’t redeem: Ben Solo.

Luke’s Last Jedi death occurred when Luke projected an image of himself across the galaxy, distracting Kylo Ren and his First Order forces so that the few remnants of the Resistance could escape, but dying of exhaustion in the process. Luke, unfortunately, failed in The Last Jedi. In addition to failing to redeem his nephew, Luke failed to learn his lessons from the original trilogy and failed to protect the people of the galaxy, despite being one of the few beings who could defeat Snoke and Kylo Ren. Luke’s characterization in The Last Jedi was controversial among viewers, with many feeling that his behavior was incompatible with his original trilogy character development, especially when compared to Legends-era non-movie material.

Until Rey completed her Jedi training, Luke presented the greatest threat to Palpatine and his schemes of oppressing the galaxy under fascist rule once more. Luke’s behavior and, ultimately, his death in The Last Jedi is understandably amusing to his old nemesis. If Luke acted as Palpatine (and many viewers) remembered him, he might have lost his proxy leader, Snoke, far sooner than expected, and Kylo Ren, who Palpatine hoped to make his new apprentice, might have redeemed or captured before Palpatine had a chance to properly recruit him. Instead, Luke died saving the remnants of the Resistance, whose numbers would have been far greater if Luke had taken action instead of allowing evil to succeed.

As Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker revealed, however, Luke had the last laugh, not Palpatine. Although Luke didn’t meaningfully train her in The Last Jedi, Rey, Palpatine’s granddaughter, was encouraged by Luke to avoid repeating his errors from before. Rey resisted the dark side like Luke once did, and she defeated Palpatine on Exegol, backed by the spirits of past Jedi, including Luke, concluding the Star Wars saga.

About The Author

David Miller
(628 Articles Published)

David Miller is a staff writer for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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