Wow. I never would have guessed we’d be debating whether or not Luke choked the guards. It always seemed completely obvious to me that he was choking them. Funny how that works.
As for the comparison of Luke versus Ben and Yoda… honestly, the way we ultimately see it presented in the prequels makes it very difficult to swallow what they did, and I find it very difficult to defend it outside of, “We need to tie up loose ends and get everyone to where they are in the first movie.” Honestly, the concept would have worked much better with the earlier interpretations of the Sith as a large organization of anti-Jedi. Then, with Obi-Wan and Yoda being the only two against a huge force of Sith, it makes sense for them to flee for their lives. But with the whole rule of two, it makes no sense. I mean, from Ben’s point of view, he just killed one of the two, leaving only the Emperor, and yet right then is the moment he decides he has to get away? I mean, in the original trilogy, Obi-Wan has to use obfuscation just to get past the stormtroopers on the Death Star. But in the prequel context, the Emperor’s clone troopers, the only other means of enforcement he has besides Vader, are cut down like butter by Obi-Wan and Yoda. They’re no threat at all. So rather than team up against the Emperor or leading a rebellion… they just go into hiding, leaving everyone to suffer at the hands of Imperial tyranny.
Honestly, Luke’s motivations seem extremely plausible by comparison.
I agree. It’s also worth noting that at the time of ANH there was no ‘20 year plan’ to wait for the ‘Jedi twins’. There was no Yoda, no ‘sister’, no ‘rule of two’, and Vader was just a nasty guy who had killed Luke’s father. Luke wasn’t in hiding, and Obi Wan was simply a retired war veteran. So I don’t think it’s a worthy comparison given how ‘on the fly’ the whole thing was mapped out.
Personally I think the whole 20 year plan presented in ROTS was stupid. Vader should have been aware he had a son (with the second child born without his knowledge and taken by Bail Organa - maybe Mrs Organa’s own child died around the same time giving cover/validity to the ruse) and Owen Lars should’ve been the one to stubbornly insist Luke be raised as a Skywalker on Tatooine. Obi Wan would then retire nearby on the off chance that Vader may come to claim his son one day, and Yoda would wash his hands of the whole thing and head to Dagobah to live out his final days. You could have a scene where Yoda insists that Leia be trained as a potential Jedi and is at odds with Bail and Anakin’s wife who want her raised as a princess - thus giving credence to Yoda’s sudden ‘there is another’ brainwave in TESB which Kenobi doesn’t seem to be so privy to.
Sorry about the rambling reply…