Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, Luke Skywalker inherited all of his father's power. For all that was the case, though, Master Yoda feared he took after his father in other ways as well. Luke was as reckless and impulsive as Anakin Skywalker, making decisions based on his emotions rather than submitting to the will of the Force.
Yoda and Obi-Wan believed Luke would be a weapon to be brought to bear against Darth Vader and the Emperor. Luke had other ideas, however, and in Darth Vader triumphed because he killed the Emperor in an act of love for his son, not one of hatred.
Lucasfilm has recently published a biography of the Skywalker family by Kristin Baver, Skywalker: A Family At War, and it reveals just why Luke Skywalker should be considered the best of the Jedi – because he had accomplished what they could not.
"By helping his father turn back toward the light, offering him unconditional love, Luke attained what his father, and the entire Jedi Order twisted by the Clone Wars could not achieve. By refusing to fight, to destroy, to let anger eclipse the good in his heart, he had forgiven a monster and revealed a man."
This reinterprets the final scenes in Return of the Jedi, suggesting Luke's confrontation with Darth Vader on the Second Death Star had been engineered as a very clever "Jedi Trap." This idea was introduced in Matt Stover's novelization of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and it was used to describe the Clone Wars themselves. "They were irresistible bait," Stover observed. "They took place in remote locations, on planets that belonged, primarily, to 'someone else.' They were fought by expendable proxies. And they were constructed as a win-win situation. The Clone Wars the perfect Jedi trap. By fighting at all, the Jedi lost." Palpatine intended the duel between Luke and Darth Vader on the Death Star to work in exactly the same way; by fighting at all, Luke would have lost. And, for a few brief moments, it looked as though the Emperor's latest Jedi Trap had succeeded.
And then Luke lowered his blade. He did what the Jedi Order had been unable to do all those long years ago; he resisted the temptation to fight, and instead trusted in the goodness of his father. Had Luke just been the weapon of the Jedi, he would have struck Darth Vader down, before attempting to kill the Emperor as well – and probably winding up becoming the Sith Lord's new host body. But Luke was greater than any of the Jedi of the prequel era, because he believed in the possibility of redeeming love. The Emperor thought Luke's faith in others was his weakness, but in reality, it was his strength and it proved to be Palpatine's undoing.
