Summary

• Luke Skywalker’s iconic handstand in
  Star Wars
  was due to Yoda finding him annoying.
• Yoda used the training exercise to teach balance in the Force while also messing with Luke for annoying him.
• This revelation changes how we view Luke’s training of Rey in
  The Last Jedi
  , since he regularly messed with her the same way Yoda messed with him.

When considering Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training in Star Wars canon, one would more than likely think of the iconic image of him doing a handstand on Dagobah in Episode V, while Yoda is off to the side watching his progress. While that is, indeed, one of the most widely recognized frames from the movie, most fans may not know that Luke was only doing this particular training exercise for the opposite reason they would think.

In Legends’ Star Wars Adventures: Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes by Tom Taylor and Daxiong, readers are shown Luke Skywalker’s training on Dagobah from another’s point of view: King Dragonsnake. Dragonsnakes are seemingly the apex predators on Dagobah, with King Dragonsnake being the baddest of the bad. The King witnesses Luke’s arrival on Dagobah, and watches as he trains with Yoda, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Within that time, Luke undergoes much of the same training fans saw him do in The Empire Strikes Back, including and especially the iconic headstand. As Luke is doing this training exercise – for two hours – Yoda makes a comment about how he’s always complaining, and that standing on his head will ‘soften’ it. To that, Luke responds by asking if the only reason he was doing the handstand was to ‘soften’ his head, which basically means Yoda made him do that because Luke was annoying him. Yoda answers with a cryptic ‘yes’, but a ‘yes’ all the same.

Luke Skywalker’s Iconic Training Image Only Exists Because Yoda Finds Him Annoying

Upon seeing Luke doing this training exercise for the first time, Star Wars fans assuredly assumed that Yoda was teaching Luke how to find balance in the Force, and that the cosmic balance would help him balance his body in that position for a long period of time. But, as confirmed by this story, Yoda’s motives weren’t purely based in teaching Luke the ways of the Force, but effectively punishing him for being annoying.

Of course, it’s safe to assume that Yoda – being a Jedi Master who’s been training Jedi for centuries – was killing two birds with one stone by forcing Luke to do a handstand: messing with him for being annoying and teaching him balance in the Force. However, that doesn’t detract from the fact that Yoda finding Luke annoying played any part in his Jedi training at all, which makes the image of Luke standing on his head impossible to see the same way again.

The Truth of How Yoda Trained Luke Redefines How Luke Trained Rey

Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi

Knowing that Yoda made Luke stand on his head as a way to mess with him for being annoying utterly redefines how Luke trained Rey in The Last Jedi. Luke messed with Rey constantly during her training, and while many assumed that was due to the fact that Luke had all but lost faith in the mission of the Jedi, it was actually because that’s exactly how Yoda trained him. Luke was simply using the training methods of his master while training Rey, which is a hilarious twist that many fans would not know without this wacky Star Wars comic.

There was so much riding on Luke’s Jedi training during the events of the original trilogy – given that he needed to be trained as quickly as possible to defeat the Empire and save the galaxy – that it’s hard to imagine that Yoda would waste any time messing with him, even if he was being annoying. But, Yoda has always played by his own rules, so while unexpected, it’s not too shocking that the iconic image of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training means the opposite of what Star Wars fans think.