Editing The Empire Strikes Back (section)

=== Duality and evil ===
Anne Lancashire contrasted the first ''Star Wars'' film's message of idealism, heroics, and friendship with the more complex tone of ''Empire''.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=39}} The latter challenges the former's notions, primarily because Luke loses his innocence in coming to perceive people as neither entirely good nor evil.<ref name="StarWarsThemes" />{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|pp=40,42}} The scene in which Luke enters the dark side cave on Dagobah represents where his anger will lead him and forces him to move beyond his belief that he is completely on the light side of the Force.{{sfn|ClarkeB|1980|p=66}}{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=40}} Kershner said the cave tests Luke against his greatest fear, but because the fear is in his mind, and he brought his weapon with him, it creates a scenario where he is forced to use it.{{sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=258}} After defeating the avatar of Vader, the mask splits open to reveal Luke's face, suggesting he will succumb to the temptations of the dark side unless he learns patience and to abandon his anger.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|pp=40–41}}

The darkness is similarly presented in Han, a self-interested smuggler struggling with his growing feelings for Leia and the responsibility associated with her cause. The film represents his two sides in Leia and Lando, a representative of his smuggler life.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|pp=43–44}} ''Empire'' questions the cost of friendship. Where ''Star Wars'' presents traditional friendship, ''Empire'' presents friendship as requiring sacrifice. Han sacrifices himself in the frigid cold of Hoth to save Luke's life.<ref name="StarWarsThemes" />{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=42}} Similarly, Luke abandons his Jedi training, something he has longed for, to rescue his friends. This can be seen as a selfish choice, as he does so against Yoda and Obi-Wan's instructions, potentially sacrificing himself for his friends instead of training to defeat the Empire, a cause his friends support.<ref name="StarWarsThemes" />{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=42}} According to Lancashire, characters are shown to be heroic through sacrificing for others instead of fighting battles.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=48}}

Lancashire believed that Luke's impatience to leave for Bespin exemplifies his lack of growth from his training.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|pp=40–41}} There, Vader tempts him with the power of the dark side and the revelation that he is Luke's father.{{sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=344}}{{sfn|ClarkeB|1980|p=66}} Vader wants Luke's help to destroy the Emperor, not for good, but so that Vader can impose his own order over the galaxy.{{sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=344}} This admission robs Luke of the idealized image of his Jedi father, reveals Obi-Wan's deception in hiding his parentage, and takes the last of his innocence.<ref name="StarWarsThemes" /><ref name="StarWarsThemes2" /><ref name="ScreenRantThemesObi" /> Gerald Clarke suggests Luke is not strong or virtuous enough to resist Vader during this confrontation, and so allows himself to fall into the airshaft below, showing the antagonist does sometimes win.{{sfn|ClarkeB|1980|p=66}}<ref name="StarWarsThemes" /> The concept of a character having a good father and an evil father is a common story trope because of its simple representations of good and evil.{{sfn|Rinzler|2010|p=344}} At the film's finale, Luke has a greater understanding of the relationship between good and evil, and the [[dualism in cosmology|dual nature]] of people.{{sfn|Lancashire|1981|p=41}}