What Is George Lucas's Obsession With...

[Rutabaga]

severed limbs????

Holy cow, how many did we see in ROTS?

Dooku loses both hands, as well as his head.

Grievous loses 2 of his 4 hands.

Mace Windu loses a hand before doing his swan dive.

Anakin loses both legs and an arm.

This is on top of all the other severed limbs in all the other movies, so now's the time to ask...

What gives, George? :lol :lol :lol

[Morgan Evanar]

It's really easy to do with a lightsaber.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Every time anyone looses a limb, they look shocked and awed and seem incapable of doing anything (aside from falling - into lava, out of a window, etc). Gives their opponent time for a little dramatic dialouge/posing before they finish them off! The old chopping the head off routine is probably one of the soundest ways of ensuring death, anyway. I'm guessing in the world of Star Wars that would be one of the only injuries that wouldn't allow you to cheat death. They can rebuilt pretty much anything, I would imagine, but giving you a new head would be a step too far!

[JMK]

I'm sure Doc will be by shortly to tell us the metaphoric meanings and symbolisms of each lost limb in the saga. ;)

[Doc Milo]

Sorry to disappoint, JMK, but I got no answers for you.

[Ryan Pode]

Well, in all actually Lightsabers are rather dangerous weapons and as Obi-Wan says, they are civilized. They are shown as just that. They cut through limbs with ease, but aren't messy like blasters. No blood. No guts. Just resaults.

[JMK]

Originally posted by Doc Milo
Sorry to disappoint, JMK, but I got no answers for you.

No worries Doc, I just thought I'd pass the buck on to you! :)

[Doc Milo]

I'm sure I can come up with something if I really put my mind to work :)

[JMK]

I'm sure it's easy enough to talk about the loss of Anakin's and Luke's arms/hands, but as for everyone else, well it gets a little tougher.

[Darth McBain]

How could it be any other way when you're dealing with a slashing weapon like a lightsaber? They're designed for slashing and hacking - it's hardly any wonder that the injuries we see most often with them involve limbs getting severed...

[Darth Decepis]

exactly. When you've got something that can stab through 3 feet of solid durasteel and are swinging it around like a freakin samurai, don't be suprised when there's a little dismembering here & there.

[JMK]

It's always the right hand too. Except for when Anakin lost his second arm and Dooku loses both his hands. Windu lost his right hand, Anakin's first loss was his right arm, Luke lost his right hand, and Vader had his right hand removed.

It's one thing that it's a dangerous weapon, but it could be something else entirely when it happens that often, and to the same body parts. Why not more legs, or more impalement?

[Shawn]

Most of the characters are right handed. Whether deliberately, as a means of disarming their opponent, or simply as a natural part of combat, it's just the most logical limb to lose. If there were some more left-handed characters, we'd probably see more left hands being chopped off.

[JMK]

True, hadn't thought of that reason.

[JediBoricua]

The loss of a hand simbolyses the loss of inocence. The galaxy has gone from a vibrating utopia to a grimmy totalitarian empire.


Riiiiiiiiiiight....:rolleyes


I really wouldn't look much into it, other than the cool factor I can't think of any deeper reasons.

[JMK]

Yeah, other than having Luke get an artificial hand as a symbol of his having the possibility of going down the same path as his father, there probably isn't much to it.

[JediBoricua]

Damn you JMK!!!

;)

[Doc Milo]

Yeah, other than having Luke get an artificial hand as a symbol of his having the possibility of going down the same path as his father, there probably isn't much to it.

That's the obvious one. When Luke looks at his mechanical hand, and at the wired stump of Vader's hand, and seeing just how much like his father he'd already become, and thus stopping him from becoming the thing his father had become, that's not even up to interpretation. That's right out there.

Other than that, I'd say it's not so much the loss of the hand that is the symbol, but the loss of the lightsaber. This symbolizes the loss of power. ("This weapon is your life!") Notice, when Luke, Anakin, Mace, and then Vader lose their hands, their lightsabers are gone, and in each case, they are defeated -- loss of lightsaber, loss of power. When Dooku loses his hands, thus his lightsaber, the weapon is caught by Anakin -- transfer of power...

There, that's my weak attempt at finding symbolism for you...

[JMK]

Sold! :)

[Darth McBain]

Wow Doc - good job... :)

[Doc Milo]

Except ... Palpatine also loses his lightsaber -- but Palpatine's true power is in ... his hands!

[JMK]

Did Palpatine lose his lightsaber?

Either way, you're stretching it now Doc, grasping at straws!
Like Joe Torre in a closed door meeting after a 3-1 loss to the Royals...just grasping at straws! :lol

[Darth McBain]

Yeah, but Palpatine doesn't lose his hand. Mace more or less swiped the lightsaber out of Palpatine's hand without chopping it off... I still like the theory... :)

[JediBoricua]

Damn you Doc!!!!!

;)

I retire in shame...

[Jedieb]

Originally posted by JMK
Either way, you're stretching it now Doc, grasping at straws!
Like Joe Torre in a closed door meeting after a 3-1 loss to the Royals...just grasping at straws! :lol

Obviously this was meant solely to draw me into the fray. Curse your Yankees bashing!!!!!! :shootin

Obviously, lightsabers are symbolic representations of Jedi sexual frustration. Everytime a Jedi loses his lightsaber and limb in combat his initial reaction is one of pain and shock. But also, there is a subconscious reaction. One even more devastating that the physical one; "CRAP, I'VE LOST MY SABER BEFORE I EVEN LEARNED HOW TO USE IT!!!" You've got middle aged virgins losing their symbolic penises at their most vibrant and erect glory. No wonder they're completely devastated at the moment of their "castration."

Sith Red V. Jedi Blue
Can this be any more obvious? The Jedi have a millenia of sexual frustration built into their lightsabers. It's no wonder most of them are blue. They probably looked down at their testicles and chose the appropriate color. Meanwhile, the Sith deny themselves nothing. They are flushed with the afterglow of sexual pleasure, thus they choose red for their lightsabers. Now green lightsabers are obviously the result of Jedi who choose to "ignite" their own sabers. Unlike their blue bal....., I mean blue sabered bretheren, they do not fully deny themselves sexual pleasure. Thus, green means go. In this case, go it alone.

Darth Maul, A two way player.
Do I need to explain why Maul had a double bladed saber? Can it be anymore obvious? Not only was he taunting Obi-Wan after knocking him over into the "shaft," he was obviously coming on to him. Only when Obi-Wan was able to recognize and deal with the sexual torment within him was he able to defeat Maul. He graduated from the "blue bladed" frustration of his own saber to Qui-Gon's self gratifying green saber and used it to defeat Maul. By the time we got to AOTC however, Obi-Wan had obviously succumed to the guilt most blue bladed Jedi suffer through and stopped "using" Qui-Gon's green saber.

Yoda
For the first hundred years of his life it's a safe bet that Yoda used a blue saber. But eventually, enough was enough. His sexual frustration boiled over and he had to go green. Yoda was actually caucasion at birth, but 700 years of Jedi self pleasuring obviously turned not only his saber green, but his skin as well.

Mace
I can only imagine the sexual confusion and perversity that caused Mace to go purple. I strongly suspect that Mace's sexual frustrations were unique in the Jedi Order. Let me put it this way, whenever Mace visited the Coruscant Zoo animals became curiously still. Mynocks, falumpasets, kaadus, massiffs, all of them at one time or another had probably been at the receiving end of Mace's purple bladed Vapaad excesses.

I hope that after reading this no one will ever ask me to "wax" philosophical about Star Wars ever AGAIN. Excuse me, I have to go smoke a cigarette. :smokin

[CMJ]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Genius!!

[James Prent]

>_< LOL!!!!

[Morgan Evanar]

I can only conclude that no good will come of this, and Jedieb will never be asked to wax philosophical about ANYTHING.

Good going, you've scared the kids. That's ok they needed to go to bed anyway.

[Marceloi]

:lol :lol:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol

Damn it, that was brilliant. Unfortunantly, sign me up for one of them blue ba.... errr... sabres.

[JMK]

Good lord that was strong.

Even a Yankees fans can make sense at times! :lol

[Rutabaga]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

[Jedieb]

You people are lucky I didn't get into the Sarlac or Luke and Leia's incestuous relationship. And dont even get me started on the Emperor and Vader tripping over themselves to "feel" Luke in ROTJ. Bottom line, Lucas needs a wife, and SOON.

***Jedieb frantically awaits Doc's disgusted/shocked/and or horrified response. *** :crack

[Darth McBain]

:lol - EB, that was, quite simply, hilarious!!! :lol I love it!!!

[JMK]

Oh no....please.....not the sarlaac....

[Darth McBain]

:lol - Yeah, leave Nien Nunb out of it as well... Those are too easy...

[Doc Milo]

That was hilarious, Jedieb. It makes as much sense as anything.

Symbolism -- gotta love it. :smokin

[Jedi Master Carr]

LOL Jedieb that was great.

[Jedieb]

Doc takes the philosophical high road while I revel in the gutter with cheap, tawdry, symbolism. We each have our own role to play in the galaxy far, far, away. Meanwhile, the baseball gods have punished me even further for writing this. 6 in a row.... :cry