I was recently studying the Empire Strikes Back script and realized this line says everything about the Force Awakens and where the new trilogy is going (and where it came from):

YODA: Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.

This line is the key to the whole sequel trilogy.

And really the lynch pin of the entire saga.

Anakin brought balance to the force by resetting the force user population, taking down any underlying corruption of the Jedi Council, starting anew with Luke and Leia, and then finally taking out Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious and redeeming himself. So Light turns to Darkness turns to Light.

Except for one thing: Anakin’s apple has not fallen far enough from his tree.

Notice the light and dark imagery bookending the pronouncement by Yoda: the Dark Side Cave, the lights of the X-wing, even the brightness of Bespin itself.

This is the turning point where Luke strays from the Light Side path and makes a Dark Side decision.

He shows up on Cloud City, Leia and Chewie are distracted, there’s some maneuvering with Boba Fett in the hallways. Maybe if Luke hadn’t have been there, in a Run Lola Run sort of way, Leia and Chewie would have caught up to Fett before he made it into Slave I. They’re both good shots and could maybe have potentially rescued Han. Leia would have been glad to have Han back, but without the lengthened absence the heart may not have grown fonder. And their love child Ben would never have destroyed the new Jedi order Luke began.

Another consequence of timing to look at is that the duel between Luke and Vader led to Luke hanging on the weather vane on the underside of the city. He then called out to Leia which delayed the Falcon from chasing Fett again. Both of these moments could add up to making the difference between getting Han back or not. And it would mean Leia’s desperation to get Han back would not have cultivated an infatuation for him that burned and then flickered out, putting a young force-sensitive related to Darth Vader through the separation of his parents.

Also if Boba Fett comes back or has anything to do with Snoke, then rescuing Han sooner and possibly killing Fett outright, would have prevented him from being accidentally knocked into the sarlacc, experiencing the lamest death to character coolness ratio, and then being set on a sure path to epic revenge.

When we first see Luke in Return of the Jedi, he is dark and foreboding, apparently murdering Gamorrean guards like Vader picks up Rebel troopers. He’s in all black and kinda cocky. He’s made a Dark Side decision. It’s worth noting that Lucas originally wanted to title the film Revenge of the Jedi. That should tell us what he had in mind for Luke’s character and fate of the Force and the Skywalker–Solo family.

It was that one decision that Luke made, in violation of, in rebellion to Yoda’s prophecy, that chose the path for the galaxy for at least 3 more movies and a handful of spinoffs.

Thanks, Luke. Thanks for being a chummy and boyish tragic hero. You’re vapid in every way except to ruin the galaxy for everyone.

But I guess there would be no more Star Wars movies if you hadn’t.