Star Wars: ‘Darth Vader was actually PROTECTING Luke Skywalker’ in THIS famous moment?

In the final part of the original trilogy, Luke has his ultimate showdown with his father, Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker), and Emperor Palpatine.

There’s a moment when Luke ignites his lightsaber and Vader uses his own to protect his boss, starting a fight between father and son.

Reddit user AscAnsio has been 93% Upvoted by more than 16,000 users for putting a new spin on it, with the added knowledge of the prequel trilogy – which came out two decades later.

In those films, there’s a moment where a pre-Vader Anakin brutally kills Count Dooku, after being encouraged by Palpatine.

The Redditor suggested: “A different perspective: Vader wasn’t protecting Palpatine [in Return of the Jedi], but protecting Luke from making the same mistake he did with Dooku?”

There’s even some striking similarities in the visual imagery, with the lightsabers crossing: in front of Dooku in the prequels (both held by Anakin), and in front of Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.

The consensus among fans in the comments section of the Reddit post seems to be that it’s a fun and enjoyable theory – but unlikely to be true, given that the prequels were made far later.

One person said: “Very cool interpretation, but ROTJ was 22 years before ROTS, so I doubt that’s the original intention.

“I might be wrong, but I think Lucas had other ideas for the Prequels before actually making them.”

Palpatine is believed to be involved in some way in the upcoming Star Wars movie; the saga finale Rise of Skywalker.

The film – the ninth in the main series – will tie up the sequel trilogy, as well as the whole multi-decade-spanning series.

Ian McDiarmid, who plays Palpatine, can be heard delivering his iconic villainous laugh in the trailer, and director JJ Abrams has confirmed that he was on set.

However, given that the antagonist was seen being killed at the end of Return of the Jedi, it remains to be seen how exactly he can factor into this upcoming plot.

Empire’s James Dyer tweeted following Star Wars Celebration: “In case there’s any lingering ambiguity from the trailer (and McDiarmid’s appearance at the panel!), I can 100% confirm that Palptatine is back in The Rise of Skywalker as I just asked JJ.

“He’s thrilled – and slightly incredulous – that McDiarmid’s presence on set didn’t leak.”

The new film is out on December 19 in the UK.