by Ian Doescher
The galaxy entire.
LUKE
—I never shall
Join with thee; I would rather be destroy’d.
VADER
[aside:] The boy doth admirably keep his head,
But now I shall unleash the final blow.
[To Luke:] If thou but knewest all the power of
The dark side. Obi-Wan hath never told
Thee of what happen’d to thy father, Luke.
LUKE
O, he hath spoken much. And he hath told
Me of the truth—that thou didst slay him, aye,
And without cause or mercy, murderer
Most vile and wretched!
VADER
—No, I am thy father.
LUKE
Nay, ’tis not true! It is impossible!
VADER
Pray, search thy feelings, Luke. Thou knowest it
Is true.
LUKE
—Nay!
VADER
—Luke, thou mayst the Emperor
Destroy; he hath foreseen what thou wouldst do.
It is thy destiny, come join with me—
Together we shall rule the galaxy
As son and father. Come now, Luke, it is
The only way: the dark side is thy path.
O join with me, and we shall be as one.
[Luke looks down and drops into the cavern.
LUKE
I fall, and yet no death’s upon me yet.
I fall, for ’tis a better path than hate.
VADER
He falls, and welcomes death instead of pow’r.
He falls, but I can sense he liveth still.
LUKE
I have not died—but pass into this shaft.
I have not died—though I may wish it so.
VADER
He hath not died—his heart screams in its fear.
He hath not died—so may he yet be turn’d.
[Luke falls onto a weather vane at the bottom of the shaft.
LUKE
I am held fast by this vane o’er the clouds.
I am held fast by some mirac’lous pow’r.
VADER
He is held fast within the dark side’s grasp.
He is held fast by his own clouded mind.
[Exit Darth Vader.
LUKE
O Ben, I call to thee, but wilt thou hear?
I do remember thou didst say thou couldst
Not interfere in this, but O Ben, hear!
Alas, my mentor’s gone fore’er, and gives
No answer—e’en deserted by the dead.
If he cannot appear and rescue me,
Then I shall try the living: Leia, next
I call to thee. I prithee, Leia, hear!
Enter CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA, and LANDO, aside in the Millennium Falcon.
LEIA
[aside:] What is this voice that echoes in mine ears?
’Tis Luke, I know it is. Yet how is it
That I do hear him when he is not nigh?
No matter—more important ’tis that I
Respond unto his call. [To Lando:] We must go back.
LANDO
What didst thou say?
LEIA
—I know where Luke is!
LANDO
—What
About the fighters drawing near?
CHEWBAC.
—Egh, auugh!
LEIA
I prithee, Chewie: Han we could not save,
But may yet rescue Luke, if we make haste.
LANDO
But what about the fighters, Princess?
CHEWBAC.
—Auugh!
LANDO
Pray, peace, good Wookiee, thou shalt have thy way.
[They approach Luke in the ship. Lando breaks off from the others to let Luke in.
What ties most deep do bind these souls as one!
In all my workings as a bus’nessman,
In all my making deals and earning more,
I have forgotten what doth make life rich:
’Tis friendship, love, and sacrifice that make
A life, and I too long have not liv’d well!
Farewell, the former Lando, lonely man!
Farewell to selfish pride and high ambition!
Farewell to scoundrelhood and avarice!
Farewell to all the things my life has been!
From now, I shall the great Rebellion serve,
And join myself unto this band of friends
Whate’er befall—pain, injury, or death.
[Lando opens the hatch. Luke drops from the weather vane into the ship.
Now come, brave Luke, whose mates to thee are dear,
I have not met thee, but do call thee brother.
Give me your hand, good Sir, if we be friends,
And Lando shall, in time, restore amends.
[To Leia:] Good Princess, let us fly, for all is well!
LEIA
O Luke, my heart doth swell to see thee safe!
Thou hast been caught within Darth Vader’s trap,
But now thou art deliver’d and restor’d.
[Luke and Leia embrace while Lando returns to the cockpit.
Now go with me unto the cot, and rest.
In time, we shall trade tales of grief and woe.
LANDO
The man is sav’d, but now the battle’s on,
For by TIE fighters is our ship pursu’d!
LEIA
The Falcon is attack’d, Luke. Lie thou back,
I shall anon return to give thee aid.
[Leia goes to the cockpit.
[To Lando:] Behold, a Star Destroyer doth approach.
LANDO
Make ready, Chewie, for the lightspeed jump.
LEIA
Aye, if thy people fix’d the hyperdrive,
Coordinates are set—’tis time we flew.
LANDO
Now make it so!
[The Millennium Falcon makes a sound and fails.
CHEWBAC.
—Auugh!
LANDO
—I was told ’twas fix’d!
My trust I gave them, to repair the ship.
Some treachery and villainy lie here.
Forgive me, I know not what hath transpir’d.
’Tis not my fault. In troth, ’tis not my fault!
Enter DARTH VADER and ADMIRAL PIETT on balcony.
PIETT
The ship shall be in tractor beaming range
Before thou canst say “aye.”
VADER
—Thy trusty men
Disab’d the swift Falcon’s hyperdrive?
PIETT
They did, my Lord.
VADER
—’Tis well. Prepare to board
Their ship, and set all weapons onto stun.
They have not made escape for long, and soon
Skywalker shall be in my hand again,
And I shall bring him to the Emperor.
PIETT
Indeed, my Lord, I shall with joy comply.
The rebels shall be in our grasp anon.
[Exit Admiral Piett, while Darth Vader stares into space.
Enter C-3PO and R2-D2, who is repairing C-3PO.
C-3PO
Why have we not to lightspeed flown?
R2-D2
—Beep, squeak!
C-3PO
What dost thou mean that we cannot? How canst
Thou know the hyperdrive disabl’d is?
R2-D2
Beep, meep, meep, beep, squeak, whistle, nee, beep, hoo!
C-3PO
The city’s central processor hath told
Thee so? O, R2-D2, how have I
Oft warnèd thee of talking to a strange
Computer? Now, attend to my repair!
[R2-D2 continues to repair C-3PO.
VADER
[to Luke:] Luke, well I know that thou canst sense my call.
LUKE
My father! Word most strange upon my lips.
VADER
My son.
LUKE
—O Ben, why didst thou tell me not?
[Luke walks to the cockpit.
LANDO
Chewbacca, we must fly or we shall be
Destroy’d!
LUKE
—It is Darth Vader on that ship.
We are in danger here. When shall we fly?
VADER
Luke, come with me, fulfill thy destiny!
LUKE
[aside:] O Ben, I ask, why didst thou tell me not?
What anguish and disorder fill my mind!
[R2-D2 goes to the control panel.
R2-D2
[aside:] It falls to me again to win the day,
And rescue the Rebellion from dire loss.
I shall reactivate the hyperdrive,
Thus we shall fly, to fight another time!
C-3PO
O clever droid, great R2, rescuer!
[R2-D2 adjusts the control panel and the Millennium Falcon flies into lightspeed. Exeunt all but Darth Vader.
VADER
Fie, fie! Yet once again the ship escapes.
I shall devise brave punishments for those
Who put upon our state this grievous blight.
Then shall I seek my son, the Jedi Knight.
[Exit Darth Vader.
SCENE 4.
Aboard a rebel cruiser.
Enter LUKE SKYWALKER.
LUKE
The medic droid hath fix’d my hand with care,
Though never shall it fully be repair’d.
For though I can this hand use as before,
It shall ne’er truly be a hand of mine.
For now I am machine, though partly so,
Now have I ta’en a step toward the man
Who saith he is my father, yet is wires
And bolts. O hand, I find thee yet so dear.
Pray, serve me well, and prick my memory
That I did once the dark side briefly know—
And fac’d, and fought, and ultimately fail’d.
Then rise once more with me, my true right hand—
Thy rightful place thou shalt take at my side
To right the wrongs that we have sufferèd,
And right now thou and I begin to work
T’ward righteousness in great rebellion’s cause.
Enter CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA, and LANDO.
Now Lando, shalt thou go?
LANDO
—Aye, Luke, for all
Hath been prepar’d. When we find Jabba and
The bounty hunter, we shall tell thee all.
LUKE
I’ll meet thee where we plann’d—on Tatooine—
My homeland that is now estrang’d from me.
LANDO
Good princess, now farewell. Apologies
Most earnest I convey again, and with
Them come a vow: we shall find Han, I swear.
LUKE
Dear Chewie, I’ll await thy signal.
CHEWBAC.
—Auugh!
LUKE
Now take thou care—the Force be with ye both.
[They move to separate parts of the stage.
LANDO
Now ends this troubl’d time of Empire’s rise,
Our time of harsh betrayal, painful loss.
Now have we learn’d what friendship truly costs,
And in the learning lost a comrade strong.
LEIA
Along the way, our hearts were movèd much:
By sacred love, most wondrous to behold,
By bravery that shall outlive the times,
By sacrifice of our most precious friends.
LUKE
Encounters unexpected we did meet
With masters wise and persons unforeseen.
These are the star wars, yet they are not done—
For sure, the final chapter’s just begun.
Enter chorus as epilogue.
CHORUS
A glooming peace this morning with it brings,
No shine of starry light or planet’s glow.
For though our heroes ’scape the Empire’s slings,
The great rebellion ne’er has been so low.
Brave Han is for the Empire’s gain betray’d,
Which doth leave Princess Leia’s heart full sore.
Young Luke hath had his hand repair’d, remade—
The man is whole, but shaken to the core.
Forgive us, gentles, for this brutal play,
This tale of sorrow, strife, and deepest woes.
Ye must leave empty, sighing lack-a-day,
Till we, by George, a brighter play compose.
Our story endeth, though your hearts do burn,
And shall until the Jedi doth return.
[Exeunt omnes.
END.
AFTERWORD.
A Winter’s Tale, indeed: William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back. Let me lift the curtain a bit to tell you about four aspects of what you’ve just read.
First of all: what does Yoda sound like in a galaxy filled with Elizabethan speech? This was the question that gnawed at me as I began to write this second Star Wars book. Yoda is famous for his inverted phrase order, but many people who read William Shakespeare’s Star Wars commented that every character in it sounds a little like Yoda. So what to do? Originally, I had four different ideas:
• Do a complete reversal and have Yoda talk like a modern person: “Stop it. Don’t try, just either do it or don’t do it. Seriously.”
• Have Yoda talk in something like Old English, approximating Chaucer: “Nee, do ye nae trie, aber due it oder due it not.” (My Chaucer admittedly isn’t great.)
• Don’t do anything special, and have Yoda talk like the other characters.
• Repeat Yoda’s lines verbatim from the movie, nodding to the fact that Yoda already sounds a little Shakespearean.
In the end, as you’ve read, I had a fifth idea, which I hope was better than any of these. Yoda is a wise teacher, almost like a sensei—he has something of an eastern sensibility about him. Why not express that by making all of his lines haiku? Yes, I know: Shakespeare never wrote in haiku. But he did break from iambic pentameter in certain cases—Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream speaks in iambic tetrameter, songs in several Shakespearean works break meter, and so on. And yes, I know: the five–seven–five syllable pattern I adhere to in Yoda’s haiku is a modern constraint, not part of the original Japanese poetic form. Most haiku are simpler than Yoda’s lines and do not express complete sentences as Yoda’s haiku do—I know, I know! Remember, this isn’t scholarship; it’s fun. For you purists:
If these haiku have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumber’d here
While these haiku did appear…
Second, William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back introduces us to the first character in my Shakespearean adaptations who speaks in prose rather than meter: Boba Fett. Shakespeare often used prose to separate the lower classes from the elite—kings spoke in iambic pentameter while porters and gravediggers spoke in prose. In writing William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, I did not want to be accused of being lazy about writing iambic pentameter, but with this book it was time to introduce some prose. Who better to speak in base prose than the basest of bounty hunters?
Third, one criticism of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars I heard several times—and took to heart—was that I overused the chorus to explain the action sequences. Some argued that I shouldn’t have used a chorus at all, which I disagree with; when I began writing the first book, the chorus seemed like a logical way to “show” the action scenes without actually showing them, and there was precedent in Shakespeare’s Henry V. However, by leaning heavily on the chorus, I neglected another Shakespearean device, of having a character describe action that the audience can’
t see. Here’s an example from Hamlet, Act IV, scene 7, in which Gertrude describes what happened to Ophelia:
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them:
There, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
This device is called on more frequently in William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back, giving the chorus a needed break.
Fourth, Lando. As much as I like Billy Dee Williams, and as smooth as he was in 1980, in my opinion his character isn’t fleshed out very well. We never know what he was thinking when he was forced to betray his friend, or what made him decide to help Leia and Chewbacca in the end. Filling in some of Lando’s story with asides and soliloquies that show how conflicted he feels hopefully gives him some depth and makes him even more compelling than in the movie.
Once again, writing William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back was a delight. Most Star Wars fans agree that Empire is the best of the original trilogy, and I hope I’ve done it justice. I say “most Star Wars fans” because in fact, Empire is not my personal favorite. I prefer Return of the Jedi, thanks in large part to two things. First, it is the first Star Wars movie I saw in the theater (I was six). Second, when I was growing up we owned a VHS tape of From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, and I loved hearing about the seven puppeteers who made Jabba move, seeing how the rancor came to life, learning how the speeder bike sequences were done, and so on.