Why Doesn't Luke Shoot Back?

[StarSword]

Oddball question sparked by an exchange between D13 and Vympel during their war in the Hall of Shame. During the gunbattle on Cloud City, Luke shows up with blaster in hand. Why the heck doesn't he use it?

[Darksider]

The first time is probably because he doesn't want to risk hitting Leia or Han's carbonite prison, the second is because when he pokes his head out from cover, Boba Fett has disappeared, so there's nothing to shoot at.

[Stark]

He probably means in combat with Vader; obviously because it would be useless or dangerous to do so.

[Darksider]

He said "gunbattle" and that Luke had his "blaster in hand," so I assume he's talking about the scene where he shows up and Leia tries to warn him.

[Stark]

Oh. I guess he thought the scene needed more missing.

[Batman]

The first time is probably because he doesn't want to risk hitting Leia or Han's carbonite prison, the second is because when he pokes his head out from cover, Boba Fett has disappeared, so there's nothing to shoot at.

Um-Luke doesn't know about Han being carbonited and there's plenty of Stormtroopers for him to shoot at even when Boba's gone.

He probably means in combat with Vader; obviously because it would be useless or dangerous to do so.

How would Luke know that? Leia and co witnessed Vader effortlessly deflecting hand blaster bolts, Luke never did, and at this point, his knowledge of what the Force can and can't do was more than a little spotty.

[Stark]

Cause he has a laser sword? Is that a serious question?

[Batman]

Cause he has a laser sword? Is that a serious question?

Um-yes? As of TESB Luke knows neither that Vader can casually ignore blaster bolts nor that he can actually use his lightsabre as a ranged weapon. Luke ditching the blaster in favour of the lightsabre once the blaster turns out to not work makes sense. Him never even trying to shoot Vader does not.

[Stark]

Luke's very first training exercise was reflecting blaster bolts with a laser sword. Arguably the would only be augmented by meeting Yoda and realising just how strong some people (ie Vader) are in their magic powers. Regardless, I think he lost his gun by then anyway, and the OP was talking about Luke being a ninja and trying to work out the situation before engaging.

[Connor MacLeod]

We dont even see the full extent of Yoda's training in TESB as far as what he may or may not have told Luke. For all you know he got the same song and dance from Yoda regarding blasters that Obi-Wan gave him in ANH. Jedi have always been pretty arrogant about blasters vs lightsabers.

[StarSword]

He probably means in combat with Vader; obviously because it would be useless or dangerous to do so.

As Batman guessed, I was referring to the scene where Leia is yelling "It's a trap!" to him.

[Stravo]

We dont even see the full extent of Yoda's training in TESB as far as what he may or may not have told Luke. For all you know he got the same song and dance from Yoda regarding blasters that Obi-Wan gave him in ANH. Jedi have always been pretty arrogant about blasters vs lightsabers.

The ESB novelization has a scene where Yoda has Luke fighting multiple drone balls like the ones from ANH at the same time using just his saber to deflect multiple bolts from all angles so at least in the novelization Luke got plenty of training on blaster bolt deflection and we can see by ROTJ he is quite adept at it even though he presumably did not receive any additonal training from Yoda between ESB and ROTJ.

[Connor MacLeod]

For one thing, Luke isn't thinking quite ratioanlly when he interrupts his training to rush off to Cloud City to help his friends, so I expect he's probably not going to act rationally. I mean fuck, he went off, ALONE, to rescue his friends? Why not contact the alliance for some sort of support?

Secondly, he has no idea if the Imperials will hurt or kill his friends if he tries shooting back at them - it's not just the risk of his shots hitting his friends, they are literally at the Empire's mercy. Or at least he will probably think that way in his "I have to save them" mindset - he may simply not tkae the risk of shooting back whether or not that decision is right or wrong. It's easy to judge someone in hindsight, but in that situation it is much harder to make those sorts of decisions.

The ESB novelization has a scene where Yoda has Luke fighting multiple drone balls like the ones from ANH at the same time using just his saber to deflect multiple bolts from all angles so at least in the novelization Luke got plenty of training on blaster bolt deflection and we can see by ROTJ he is quite adept at it even though he presumably did not receive any additonal training from Yoda between ESB and ROTJ.

Good point. I even remember it showing up in the comic.

[Anacronian]

Because Luke is aspiring to become a Jedi Knight - not Indiana Jones

[StarSword]

Because Luke is aspiring to become a Jedi Knight - not Indiana Jones

I know you were being facetious, but he's quite willing to use a blaster instead of a lightsaber in later EU storylines. Children of the Jedi, for instance.

[Havok]

Because Luke is aspiring to become a Jedi Knight - not Indiana Jones

I know you were being facetious, but he's quite willing to use a blaster instead of a lightsaber in later EU storylines. Children of the Jedi, for instance.

Oh for fucks sake.