What's Up With the Ending?
The end of Return of the Jedi is a little problematic if you've only seen Return of the Jedi… and a lot problematic if you've seen any or all of the Star Wars films that precede it. Let's break this sucker down:
The final moments of Jedi feature the Rebels' victory party on Endor. The whole gang is there, dancing their butts off and hugging everyone in sight. Good times. Then, Luke steps away for a moment, and he's visited by the silent, grinning ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda, who are promptly joined by the spirit of young Anakin.
One way to look at the ending is to surmise that the spirits are silently telling Luke they're proud of him. After all, these three characters were all mentors to Luke in one way or another. When Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin stop by the party, it's them saying to Luke, "Good job, kid. Now, go teach the Ewoks how to do the chicken dance." That makes sense, right?
What makes less sense is the fact that Anakin is there in the first place, standing side-by-side with Yoda and Obi-Wan. His inclusion in the spectral trio suggests that he's found peace. Seeing Anakin team up with Yoda and Obi-Wan in the afterlife may make Luke rest a little easier, but it makes us scratch our heads.
Here's why: In Return of the Jedi, before Anakin saves Luke, he tries to kill him. Not cool. Across the trilogy's five earlier films, Anakin, as Darth Vader, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of people—including Jedi and children—and even destroyed an entire planet. A whole planet full of innocent civilians, guys. Also, just for good measure, he personally tried to kill Obi-Wan, too. Twice. He succeeded.
Our point is, if the ending of Return of the Jedi is supposed to show Anakin's total redemption, that was a super-fast rehabilitation and a crazy-quick show of solidarity from the Jedi. Don't get us wrong: We're glad to see Luke is comforted by seeing Anakin reunited with Obi-Wan and Yoda, but if we were Obi-Wan or Yoda, we'd need a longer cooling off period before we welcomed back our genocidal old friend.
What do you think, Shmooper? Is our skepticism justified, or is the Force just not very strong in us? Either way, the ending of Return of the Jedi not only ties up the original trilogy with a satisfying victory for the Rebel Alliance, but also gives Luke some well-earned closure.