I find the argument that Luke was made too pathetic for this movie to be totally unconvincing. Sure, he’s pretty pathetic in the first part of the movie, but his final act is his finest hour. He does exactly what he does in ROTJ. He refuses to fight. Luke’s a pacifist, and that’s how he manages to win both times. He wins by letting himself die. Ruminate on that for a second.
If in WWII the Nazis were to have managed to beat the Allies so badly, they all could fit in a single military transport aircraft, who then managed to escape, I would not call it a victory for the Allies. The Nazis win the war. Ruminate on that for a second. 😉