Unconditional love

“Give yourself to the dark side, Luke,” he entreated. “It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you, son. Your feelings for them are strong, especially for—”

Vader stopped. He sensed something.

Luke withdrew further into shadow. He tried to hide, but there was no way to hide what was in his mind—Leia was in pain. Her agony cried to him now, and his spirit cried with her. He tried to shut it out, to shut it up, but the cry was loud, and he couldn’t stifle it, couldn’t leave it alone, had to cradle it openly, to give it solace.

Vader’s consciousness invaded that private place.

“No!” screamed Luke.

Vader was incredulous. “Sister? Sister!” he bellowed. “Your feelings have now betrayed her, too… Twins!” he roared triumphantly. [] His smile was clear to Luke, through the mask, through the shadows, through all the realms of Darkness. “If you will not turn to the Dark Side, perhaps she will.” []

“Never!” he screamed. []

He rushed to his father with a frenzy he’d never known. Nor had Vader. [] Each stroke of Luke’s saber pummeled Vader, like accusations, like screams, like shards of hate. The Dark Lord was driven to his knees. He raised his blade to block yet another onslaught—and Luke slashed Vader’s right hand off at the wrist. [] Luke stared at his father’s twitching, severed, mechanical hand—and then at his own black-gloved artificial part—and realized suddenly just how much he’d become like his father. []

This was Darkness—and it was the Darkness he hated. Not his father, not even the Emperor. But the Darkness in them. In them, and in himself.

And the only way to destroy the Darkness was to renounce it. For good and all.

He stood suddenly erect, and made the decision for which he’d spent his life in preparation.

~

This scene is why.

Why Star Wars became part of who I am.

The fondness, the devotion, the affection in that "Never."

Pure feelings for his found family.

For the sister who could read his heart and mind.

Ever for his twisted father.

No, it could not be part of the Darkness.

Unconditional LOVE.

So intense and beautiful that doubts, selfishness, hate, have no place.

And Luke is there.

Teaching me how to do it.

[Photo: pin by @ritarussiandoll_pins. Art by Azenshelby on Tumblr]