Top FIVE Emotional Moments In The Star Wars Universe
Apologies for my delay in this third part of my series sharing my favorite emotional moments. This time, we look at my FIVE favorite emotional scenes in the Star Wars Universe.
Again, these are in no particular order and, just a warning, there are some spoilers.
1) Death Star plans delivered to Princess Leia in Rogue One I bawl every time I see the plans being handed over to Princess Leia on the Tantive IV and she utters the word "hope." This, of course, leads directly into the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. And it's really nice to watch the ending of Rogue One and A New Hope back to back. When Carrie Fisher died a few days after the release of Rogue One, this scene became even more emotional to me.
2) Ahsoka Tano leaves the Jedi Order in Star Wars: The Clone Wars For those of us who watched the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, we saw Ahsoka Tano grow from youngling to headstrong Padawan to leader in her own right. She always remained loyal to the Jedi Order and fiercely loyal to her master Anakin Skywalker. But, when she was set up for a crime she did not commit and betrayed by a friend, she was expelled from the Order. Although Anakin clears her name and she is invited to return, her faith in the Jedi Order was shaken and she decides to go off on her own. There is a very emotional goodbye between Ahsoka and Anakin who had not only been Apprentice and Master, but friends.
3) Luke stares at the binary suns ready for his journey in Star Wars: A New Hope Even when I was younger and saw Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time, this scene became forever seared into my memory. Here you had this regular kid who was suddenly becomes part of this adventure. Finding that his Uncle Owen and Aunt Baru were viciously murdered by the Empire searching for the droids, Luke has to make a decision to continue this adventure and start his journey. The view of the binary suns is beautiful as the Force theme plays in the background. Something truly special was about to begin.
4) Luke and Leia are reunited in Star Wars: The Last Jedi During Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we looked forward to a reunion with our original heroes. But, this never unfolded and we held up hope that, at least, Luke and Leia would be reunited. By the time The Last Jedi was released, Carrie Fisher had passed away and we didn't know if even that reunion would have been possible. During the earlier part of the film, Luke remained in exile, unconnected from the Force and his sister. While Rey tried in vein to get him to go with her to help the Resistance, Luke remains steadfast in remaining in exile. But, he does "return" and when we see him reunited with Leia, it is very emotional. And when he tells her that nobody is ever really gone, it ended up having a deeper meaning as a goodbye to Leia. I cry every time I see this scene.
5) Han Solo Dies in Star Wars: The Force Awakens I remember when Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) strikes his father Han Solo down, it was like somebody stabbed me as well with a lightsaber. I could not breathe for a moment. It came at such a surprise to me that I burst out crying. First of all, we just witnessed one of our original heroes die. These characters are like our friends who we, especially for those of us who've lived with Star Wars since the 70s, grew up with. It was also a realization that we would never see Luke, Leia and Han together again.
What are your favorite emotional scenes?