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In Return of the Jedi Luke doesn't really seem to be prepared when Jabba drops him into the Rancor pit. Jabba appears to get the better of Luke and trigger the trap door before Luke can fire on Jabba. In that fight with the Rancor, Luke seems to improvise a means of killing the Rancor in what appears to be a desperate fight.

In contrast, Luke seems to have been totally prepared to defeat Jabba at the Sarlacc Pit. R2-D2 is ready with his lightsaber, Lando has successfully infiltrated the guards, and even Leia appears to be poised to personally execute Jabba herself. The skirmish doesn't go 100% smoothly but with 0 casualties while facing a cadre of galactic underworld soldiers, it doesn't really go badly either. Luke appears to be fairly confident before the battle begins, pointlessly insisting on Jabba to surrender, even though Luke probably knows Jabba will not.

Sarlacc Did Luke use his Force prescience to predict what would happen at the Sarlacc pit?

Or it is just luck and preparation that allowed the protagonists to pull off the operation?

Null
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Mark Rogers
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    That, or he read the script. – void_ptr Nov 29 '17 at 00:33
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    In my experience, there's no such thing as luck. – Buzz Nov 29 '17 at 00:37
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    I've edited your tags to make them more relevant to what the question is about and not merely points that the question mentions, I've also ensured the franchise tag (which you probably know is a must, considering it is stated on two of the tags you used that is is a must) is included. – Edlothiad Nov 29 '17 at 06:41
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    Possible duplicate of How did Luke know that R2D2 would be on Jabba's barge? – jeroen_de_schutter Nov 29 '17 at 11:07
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    -1 for using the "enhanced" Sarlacc as your picture example – DCOPTimDowd Nov 29 '17 at 19:56
  • It is never "pointless" to offer your foes a chance to surrender and avoid destruction. It may even be ethically imperative. – M. A. Golding Dec 02 '17 at 18:54
  • @M.A.Golding - The idea that Jabba will surrender at this point, seems a forgone conclusion. If one offers an opportunity to surrender knowing full well that they won't take it, does that really satisfy any moral code? It seems like all your doing at this point is pretense rather than truly being ethical. If Luke was so concerned about the ethics Luke might have waited for an opportunity to retake Han without killing Jabba or looked for another solution. Offering something that your certain will be rejected seems like only a false formality than any real ethical concern. – Mark Rogers Dec 02 '17 at 19:53
  • @MarkRogers - Why would he have been certain? Jabba’s a bounty hunter (likes money, not dying), not an ideologue or a ruler. – Adamant Apr 22 '18 at 02:57
  • He's a crime boss who doesn't want to look weak after setting up an elaborate execution. I can't imagine many crime bosses, if any, in the history of criminality have not followed through on an elaborate intended execution after having set the whole thing up, simply because the person about to be executed offered mercy. – Mark Rogers Apr 22 '18 at 03:11

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  Luke probably knew about Sarlacc pit. After all, Sarlacc tend not to move :) , and they also have long lifespan. This particular Sarlacc was used by Jabba for executions before, and he did that in public, making a spectacle out of it. Luke did send R2-D2 as a gift to Jabba, but he hid lightsaber inside of it, he also had Lando inside Jabba's retinue, therefore Luke did entertain possibility that he would be captured and maybe executed by Sarlacc.

  As for Rancor trapdoor, I suspected it was not such a common knowledge. After all, trapdoors work only if you stand on them, this particular trapdoor is not that large, and if everyone knows about them they would simply avoid them. Luke was not able to use precognition in this case, therefore his skills in this regard were most likely not great. After all, he was barely at the level of Padawan in pre-Imperial era.

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rs.29
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