I'm going to start looking at Luke's relationship with his father by examining "Hell" in the Star Wars galaxy. I've been waylaid a little bit by some excellent comments to my previous blog entries. Thank you. I've been forced to lay better ground-work for my upcoming entries. Please keep reading with a critical eye and let me know what you think. If inconsistencies arise, let me know so I can explain them or confront them. This is a big (or, huge) picture type of entry. At the bottom of this entry, there are links to my follow-up explanations on this blog which analyze each sub-part.

Many bloggers point out how Anakin/ Vader's journey mirrors Luke's and/ or how Luke aids in Anakin's redemption. I'm going to suggest that the relationship is deeper than that -- Luke's journey is a microcosm of Anakin's. I'm going to address Hell.

Vader's mask is Hell. In every epic story, the hero descends into Hell and returns to society with a boon. We're going to look at this portion of the Star Wars story.

On Mustafar, Anakin gave into his primal emotions and lost control. He let his primal (earthly) urges take over, forsaking the control necessary to stay on the side of Light. He then descended into Darkness, and Satan (Sidious) trapped him in the mask. When gave up his moral center, he lost his identity and received the appropriate ironic punishment (in classic medieval Dante-esque fashion). He returned to society by killing Sidious, and the boon to society was to bring balance to the Force (at least for the moment -- I'll address this later, but there is no such thing as "happily ever after").

Luke, too, descends into Hell at The Cave on Dagobah. He gets a glimpse into the future (kinda like Ebeneezer Scrooge). His future, if he abandons his moral center and gives into his primal emotions without restraint, is the same Hell as his father -- the mask. We know, though, that "Always in motion is the future." Please go back to an earlier discussion about Luke seeking out his destiny (i.e., his father), and this sinks in a little more. There is interaction between Anakin and Luke in the Hell of Vader's mask. Luke is given a glimpse at one potential destiny. Luke later learns what his failure was (touched on below, but the subject of another entry) and uses this knowledge to bring Anakin back to the galaxy.

There's one line of philosophy that stresses living in the moment, just like the Living Force, and it also demonstrates what is meant by the term "Living Hell." I'm going to get a lot of flack from more educated philosophers, but I'm going to simplify Existentialism so that I can get to my point quickly and show why Vader's mask equates to Hell.

Kierkegaard's Existentialist philosophy is usually demonstrated by the Genesis myth where Abraham is willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. At the last moment, God provides Abraham with a substitute ram. Abraham's faith is rewarded and he fathers, through his descendants, the Jewish nation. Kierkegaard explains how Abraham's ability to put his full faith in God at that moment saved Abraham and Abraham's descendants.

Existentialism also contains the humanist (atheist) branch. A good example for my discussion is Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exist" in which several persons are put into their own form of ironic Hell -- a room with each other and with no way out. Hell exacerbates the choices that these persons made in their lives, and that is why they get grouped together. The manner in which they chose to live each moment on Earth literally created a living Hell. An emphasis in both Kierkegaard's and Sartre's philosophy is placed on humankind's ability to create their own reality; which, in turn, is akin to Plato's Myth of The Cave. This will be discussed in a later blog entry (it's a rich tapestry, isn't it?).

Lucas similarly places importance on the human body and in humankind's power to affect their surroundings. There are two good examples. First, the amount of midichlorians is affected by whether or not your body stays intact; we know that Vader became weaker with the force after the duel on Mustafar. Later, Obi-Wan points out, "He is more machine now than man, twisted and evil." Second, when Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda become immortal their bodies stay with them. In fact, their bodies are how Luke interacts with them at the end of Episode VI. This is important. I'm sure that a Force-sentient person like Luke would be able to recognize the essence of their beings without actually seeing them (remember, they can sense each other over great distances). Therefore, the "assumption" into the Force is a powerful and important metaphor.

Anakin creates his own ironic Hell -- Vader. Luke, too, descends into Hell and spends a little time in Sidious' prison. Both come out stronger, in a Nietzsche-esque manner (Nietzsche was a Humanist Existentialist).

Here, then, we see Luke and Anakin interact through Vader. And we learn that the spiritual nature needs to stay in control of the primal nature. The hierarchical order is commonly referred to as body, mind, then spirit. Without such hierarchy, there is pain.

Here are links to the follow-up entries:

Part 2 -- Vader's Revenge
Part 3 -- Luke's Failure
Part 4 -- The Body
Part 5 -- Living in the Moment
Part 6 -- The Lesson