Playlist:

❶ "Jedi Master Revealed"—The Empire Strikes Back Extended ST

⊘ Silence

After Luke escorted his sister back to her new lodgings, he took an early morning run in the woods.

Deciduous thundu trees shadowed the trail, and golden sunlight streamed through their twisting branches high above the spongy soil. Purple-feathered woodland birds chirped, and black-and-tan striped rodents chittered. His heavy breathing and hurried footsteps disturbed the sylvan serenity.

Moving through the brisk air while the birds greeted the morning refreshed him. The tendrils of the Force surged through him. The fragrant air of crushed leaves warmed by the sunlight energized him. His feet picked up their pace.

After a few clicks, the Jedi stopped in a clearing to catch his breath when he sensed a movement in the Force.

❶ "Luke." Obi-Wan's voice echoed as the blue-tinged, ghostly form shimmered into existence. Kenobi's ghost appeared just as he had seen him the last time on Endor.

Luke remembered when the Jedi had sacrificed his life to save him. Now, the Force gave him an insight that Kenobi had sacrificed himself to save Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker.

His old mentor's steel-gray hair and scruffy beard belied the man's true age of fifty-seven. The stresses of the Clone Wars and the harsh climate of Tatooine had changed the once-vital warrior into a shriveled old man in just nineteen years. Yet, the Jedi Master's blue-gray eyes still twinkled with merriment.

Luke panted in the middle of a glade. "Obi-Wan."

"The first of the new Jedi will come to you soon. You will teach her in the ways of the Force, and she will rise to become your comrade-in-arms."

"I know. I've already started training Leia. I thought it best to let her get past the morning sickness before we continue." Luke winked at his old master.

When the ghost of Yoda apparated into the clearing, Luke sucked in his breath. With a slight bow in reverence to the small green figure with wispy white hair and large, pointed ears, Luke greeted, "Master Yoda."

The ancient Jedi Master raised his gnarled cane in his hand, making a slow motion in the air. "Expecting is she? Unexpected this is and unfortunate. Leia must not become a Jedi. Forbidden attachment is."

"Why? Leia loves Han more than herself. Truly, that is the good in this world," Luke pleaded, sitting on the moist soil and matted leaves in the pose of the apprentice.

Obi-Wan moved beside the younger man. "When a Jedi adheres to someone, the dark side can exploit that weakness."

Luke sneered at the thought. How could something good be a weakness?

After a pause, as if Obi-Wan had heard his question, the Jedi said, "That is how the Emperor seduced your father to the dark side. When he was my Padawan ..."

Squishing his eyebrows together, Luke scratched his head.

Obi-Wan gestured with his hand. "A Jedi Apprentice—the Jedi Council had assigned us to protect the senator from Naboo. Unknown to me, they fell in love. They married in secret, violating the Jedi Code."

The older man paused before he said in an ominous tone, "Unfortunately, the Emperor knew of Anakin's love and used it to manipulate him to the dark side. Fearing for his wife's life and that of his unborn child, your father turned, believing the Emperor's lie that only the Sith could save her."

Tears glistened in Obi-Wan's eyes. "Luke, that is why we live a monastic life. Not because we are holy, not because we don't have physical and emotional desires, but because it is the only way we can do our duty."

"I've started training her already." Luke bit his lip and lowered his head. Oh, I've messed it all up again.

Master Yoda hobbled forward with his gimer stick. "Not too late to stop the training. Much like you she is."

"Yoda is right."

"You spoke of another." Luke lifted his head to his masters again. "Who is she?"

"When she comes, know you will. Your first Padawan will she be." Master Yoda gestured with his fingers. "Teach these three—control, endurance, and defense."

⊘ "Luke, you will find, as I did with your father, that the master is as much of a student as the Padawan," Obi-Wan said.

Yoda said, "Remember what you have learned. The Force will be with you, always." 

The two figures blended with the light of the glade.

Luke pondered everything his masters had told him, realizing everything he had hoped for in life had just slipped through his fingers.

"Wait! I'm a monk?" he shouted to the empty air. You lied to me. We had a deal.

With a sigh, he murmured and clenched his fist by his side. "Ben, why didn't you tell me?" 

A hideous cackle echoed in the grove. "Foolish Jedi."

Did you know ...

● Obi-Wan deliberately withheld from Luke the fact that the Jedi Knights are celibate monks. When recruiting Luke during A New Hope, Obi-Wan used Luke's obvious romantic interest in Princess Leia to persuade Luke to join him.

● In addition, when Obi-Wan mentioned Luke's father, he alluded to the fact that marriage was permissible in the Jedi Order. Let's not even go into the fact that he encouraged Luke's romantic interest in Leia for his own purposes while knowing that they were twins ...

● Oh, and let's not forget that little lie that Vader hunted down Anakin and killed him instead of the truth that Vader was Anakin.

● The Jedi are not so upstanding as we thought, huh? Who did more manipulating in the end, the Sith or the Jedi?

Tell me what you think ...

● What would you have done had you just lost your only student and found out you had unwittingly signed up for a life of celibacy? Quit the Order? Gone on? Gone dark?

● Do you agree with this policy? Why or why not?

● I mentioned multiple lies that Obi-Wan told Luke. Yoda also concealed information about Vader, although he never actually lied to Luke. How will the fact that they concealed vital information affect Luke's decisions when establishing the New Jedi Order? Will he be inclined to follow all the old paths, or will he branch out into new directions? Why?

● At this point in his life, do you think Luke is ready to lead the Jedi Order? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to make him ready?