IMO, the power that Vader is referring to is the ability to see into the future. Something both Yoda and Palpatine seems to rely on (Palp especially). Think of how easily you could win wars if you knew the outcome of the battle before committing to it. It also explains why Palp is obsessed with wiping out the Jedi as it seems that people close to the Force can distort these visions (such as how Palp didn't see himself dying).
Interesting idea. It is true in TESB that Palpatine didn't seem to foresee Luke being a threat until he was on his way to Jedi training with Yoda. But when Vader is talking about
the power of the Force, he is not taking about any specific Force power. He is talking about the power of the Force in general...
And the other thing is what Vader could perhaps have meant when he said "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force". What power could he be referring to?
The Force represents nature (which includes humanity) and the Death Star is technology. The message is to not depend on technology too much. Luke turns off his targeting computer and acts on instinct to make the shot.
I don't really buy this nature vs tech argument... I'd need to know when Lucas started talking about this
LOL. It's not an "argument". When George Lucas was a teenager, he got in a bad car accident and was laid up in bed for a long time. He read the classic book
The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Lucas cited that as a major inspiration for Star Wars. That didn't mean much to the author Joseph Campbell because he stopped going to movies many years before Star Wars came out. In the 80s six one-hour discussions between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyer were recorded to make the PBS documentary,
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. George Lucas offered to host the first five discussions at Skywalker Ranch, which was a sly way to meet one of his heroes. Lucas said that would really be honored if he could show Professor Campbell one of the Star Wars films, and Campbell surprised him by saying, "No, we'll watch all three." So in one afternoon, Lucas and his 80-some year-old hero "trilogized", the first movies he had watched in decades and the last movies he would ever watch before he died. Campbell loved them. In multiple hours of the program, Campbell goes on and on about the symbolism of Star Wars. But he wasn't the first one to say these things. Lucas had said a lot along the same lines for from 1977 on, and Joseph Campbell, the world's leading scholar on mythology "confirmed" the valid and rich mythological perspective of Star Wars, agreeing with what Lucas had said but going much deeper into it. If George Lucas and Joseph Campbell say that the Force is nature and the Death Star is technology, they are. Everything I've said here is easily verifiable as documented historical facts. I wasn't stating any argument to sway to any opinion.
You may want to watch
The Power of Myth or read the book of it. I also highly recommend reading the three
Making Of books for the original trilogy. Why did George have the Ewoks in RotJ? He originally planned on Wookiees, but Chewbacca had become a technologically apt being so the intended symbolism wouldn't be powerful enough. That's why he had a truly primitive species help the Rebels defeat the Empire. Why is Vader later said to be "more machine than man, twisted and evil?" Why did Luke looking at Vader's severed hand and his own mechanical hand be the moment that made him realize he was crossing over to the Dark Side? Nature = good, Technology = bad. The message is, technology is not your salvation. It's the same message as Artoo getting damaged and Luke turning off his targeting computer to "act on instinct" to make the one in a million shot to destroy a "technological terror". It's a reoccurring theme in Star Wars.
the Sith don't seem to use tech more than the Jedi (less, perhaps).
The Sith? In 1977, "Sith" wasn't much more than part of the esoteric title of Darth Vader in some of the published material. In 1977 the Sith may not have been much more than an opposing clan to the Jedi as the samurai in the movie
The Hidden Fortress. I highly recommend all Star Wars fans see that movie. You will see that both SW ANH and TPM have many parallels to that movie. But the only "Sith" in SW ANH was Vader who spoke against depending on the technology. So Vader and Obi-Wan are both speaking about the Force being superior to technology in that film. In my quote you replied to, I was replying to an earlier quote about what Vader said where the Force was compared with the most awesome technology ever created.
But if you want to have an expanded look at the whole saga where the nameless Emperor mentioned in SW ANH later turned out to be a Sith Lord, what Sith used technology? Darth Tyranus, who commanded a Separatist movement with a giant army of droids! And Darth Sidious, who ordered the construction of an battle station as big as a moon that could destroy planets! It was all part of the Sith plot to do away with the Senate. Grand Moff Tarkin only had authority in the Death Star because the Emperor gave it to him to carry out his commands. Even without the Death Star, Palpatine's Empire has tons of Star destroyers and AT-ATs and TIE Fighters and such. As mentioned above, after SW ANH Darth Vader himself turned out to be more machine that man! In the films as a whole, the Sith are
extremely more technologically oriented than the Jedi.
I'd need to know when Lucas started talking about this as he seems into have revised his view of the Force significantly from SW to the prequels. Turning the Force from a spiritual, god-like entity to just a by-product of a certain organism in the blood.
Actually proof exists (and has been preserved) that Lucas conceived of m-words in the early-70s. According to Yoda, and Obi-Wan, and Vader, and Luke in the classic trilogy films, Force-aptitude is genetic, and thus there always was a biological aspect in the films. But there was no reason to mention m-words in the classic films. They had two minor plot point purposes in the prequels, one in TPM and one in RotS. (1) Saying "I feel the Force is strong in this one" is subjective. The m-word count is an objective measure for Anakin's potential and specialness. No one could deny the straight fact that Anakin had more m-words than Yoda. What exactly the high m-word count
meant was still subjective and debated among the Jedi. (2) By Palpatine saying the (his) Sith master had the ability to cause the m-words to
create life as he turned to look at Anakin, the suggestion is that Plagueis and/or Palpatine may be Anakin's absent father, from a certain point of view. In a mythological sense, fathers represent the hero's character. It's rich but subtle mythological symbolism. The M-words have existed since the early-70s and they finally being brought into the saga did not in the slightest bit change anything about the Force. It is just a little detail. The Force was still spiritual and godlike as it always had been. If you see the detail of m-words as changing anything the awesome Force, then I think the issue is your original view of the Force or your understanding of Star Wars, not the m-words. M-worlds are such a minor thing they are easily ignored.
Also in the early-70s, there is proof (with the M-word proof) that Threepio's original backstory was that he had been rebuilt from parts on a backwater world by a young scavenger boy. No, there was nothing indicating that boy grew up to be Darth Vader or Luke's father, but its funny how true Lucas stayed to his original concept for Threepio. Despite what Lucas says, there is no evidence that Vader was originally planned to be Luke's father - The earliest evidence is after ANH came out and the story for TESB started to be developed. There certainly are plenty of things about Star Wars that were changed and added along the way. For another example, Leia wasn't originally the "other" - Luke's sister was going to be a new character until preproduction of RotJ when Lucas made it Leia. Before saying Lucas changed The Force, it really helps to know the behind-the-scenes history of Star Wars. See
The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film by J.W. Rinzler for starters. The books for the other two classic films are great too.
I see Luke's destruction of the Death Star as more of him believing in himself as the targeting computers were flawed and couldn't hit the exhaust port if used.
It is flawed to depend on technology over your instincts.
