Theatrical Edition
Luke, R2-D2, and Ben Kenobi (who survived the first film) would travel to the rocky desert planet of Ttaz, a world of red dunes and tall stony outcroppings beneath an eerie green sky. Here Ben would instruct Luke in the ways of the Force, much as Yoda does in the 1980 version of ESB.
At one point, Ben would send Luke into a sinister cave, just as Yoda does in the final film. Luke would take his weapons in, against Ben’s advice.
Inside the cave, Luke would see a Force vision of Han and Leia entwined in a romantic embrace. They would taunt him—and Luke would use his lightsaber to strike down Han. But even as he did so, Han’s face upon his dead body would be changed into Luke’s own.
Meanwhile, Han and Leia, with Chewbacca and C-3PO, would manage to fly the Millennium Falcon to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, a planet of enormous green trees and bronze-hued skies, where Han had grown up as a boy. Han’s parents were settlers, killed by the Wookiees, among whom Han himself spent much of his adolescence.
Eventually, Han was brought back to civilization by Marcus Whitsun, a local trader, who adopted him as a son. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Marcus had risen to become the head of the powerful Guild of Trade—a reclusive figure, whose support could ensure the success of the still-fragile Rebellion.
During his time on Kashyyyk, Marcus had begun to build a gleaming white city above the treetops, a suitable residence for visitors from off-planet. Here Han and Leia would arrive, seeking sanctuary with Han’s old friend, Lando Katarn.
Lando (who was black, and moreover a clone) was, on account of his being a clone, distrusted by the wider galaxy at large. This was, however, precisely why Han hoped he could trust him.
Seeking to conceal her notoriety as a leader of the Rebels, Leia would have cut her long golden hair into a severe crop, and exchanged her trademark white outfits for something else—in black, perhaps. She would also have taken on a pseudonym.
None of this would have availed, for Lando would recognize her instantly.
As in the final film, Lando would reluctantly sell out his guests to the Empire, and Darth Vader would be revealed as being already present on Kashyyyk.
Han and Chewbacca would be subjected to painful torture, while Leia would be turned over to Imperial troops for their “amusement.”
With Darth Vader acting as broker, Han was to be sold to Jabba the Hutt, a crime lord whom he had angered in the first film.
On Ttaz, Luke would hear his friends’ cries of pain through the Force. Despite the pleas of Ben Kenobi not to go, Luke would insist on aiding them. Just as in the final film, his compassion for his friends would play right into Vader’s hands.
On Kashyyyk, Luke and R2-D2 would be captured upon landing by Lando’s guards. However, Lando, knowing why Luke had come, would promptly release the young Jedi and his droid companion.
Together Luke and Lando would free Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3PO from their confinement. Jabba the Hutt, attempting to make good his “purchase” of Han Solo, would be slain for his trouble. During their escape, however, Leia would be shot in the right hand by a blaster bolt.
While Lando shepherded the group back to the Millennium Falcon, Luke would go in search of Darth Vader, for his blood ran hot at the sight of how badly Leia had been mistreated.
Upon the topmost towers of the shining white traders’ palace of Kashyyyk, they dueled.
Luke struggled to control his rage, knowing that he could not hope to use the Dark Side of the Force to defeat Vader. But in the end Vader overpowered him by a ruse, feigning great injury when Luke merely grazed him.
Vader cut off Luke’s left hand, and though Luke still held his father’s lightsaber, he could not hope to win the fight, wounded and bleeding as he was.
Now Luke stood at the edge of a balcony, looking out upon the giant trees far below.
Vader offered Luke half the Empire to rule for his own. Together, he said, they could overthrow that feeble Emperor, Sate Pestage, who after all was no Force user, only a corrupt politician.
Luke refused, whereupon Vader said four words that shocked him to the core…
“I am your brother.”
Rather than join his brother in the Dark Side, Luke opted instead to plunge into the abyss below.
He was rescued by Lando and Leia, riding a flying creature used instead of horses by the Wookiees, who caught him as he fell.
Together the heroes escaped Vader’s pursuing ships, and rendezvoused with the other Rebels at their new base, already being prepared before the loss of Yavin IV. There, Luke received a new golden prosthesis to replace his lost left arm.
In the finale, Han decided to leave. The Rebellion had become too dangerous for him, and their escape on Kashyyyk too narrow for his comfort. He would go back to his old life as a smuggler, and thus avoid the iron hand of the Empire’s executioners.
But as Luke lay in his hospital bed, recovering from his wounds, Leia stopped by to commiserate with him.
Taking off a glove from her right hand, she revealed something unexpected: a thatch of colored wires and mechanical joints, sticking out from beneath burnt and shriveled synth-flesh.
Years ago, as a child on her homeworld of Organa Major, Leia Organa, like all children of the Royal Houses of the Republic, had been instructed in the art of lightsaber combat.
But one day there was a training accident, and Leia lost her arm. Her father had spared no expense in replacing it, obtaining for her a robotic arm covered with synth-flesh. So fine was its workmanship that no one could tell it was a prosthetic.
Since that day, however, Leia had had a fear of lightsabers, and chose instead to use blasters. Now, she admitted, she might as well get over that, and thus help Luke confront his own fears.
Cheered by Leia’s words, Luke would say that he planned to return to Ttaz, there to finish his training under old Ben Kenobi.