After the unprecedented and unexpected success of A New Hope, Star Wars creator George Lucas knew that a sequel would have to be a masterpiece. So, he tapped Irvin Kershner as a director, and in short order, The Empire Strikes Back marked its place in history as one of the best sequels (if not best films) of all time. From the AT-AT walkers to the legendary “No, I am your father” twist, the film touts some of the most iconic moments in the Star Wars franchise. Another classic scene was when Luke Skywalker met and trained with Yoda on Dagobah.

As they were training, Luke felt the Dark Side emanating from a cave. So, Yoda sent him in alone to face his inner darkness. Before he sent him in, Yoda was clear that Luke would not need his weapons, but Luke armed himself anyway. Upon entering, he saw a vision of Vader and of himself in the Dark Lord’s helmet. However, it’s worth considering what Luke might have seen had he taken Yoda’s advice and entered the cave without his weapons. Inspired by this Quora thread, there’s a pretty good guess what would have happened.

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Luke Skywalker fights Darth Vader's ghost on Dagobah

The first thing to understand was the purpose behind Luke’s training. Of course, Yoda wanted to train Luke to be a powerful Jedi, but there was a much deeper purpose. At that point in the story, Luke didn’t know that Vader was his father, so Yoda was preparing him for the emotional turmoil of finding out his kinship to the evil Dark Lord. It that moment, Yoda wasn’t concerned with Luke’s ability to conquer Vader in a fight. Rather, Yoda was focused on Luke being able to handle the darkness within himself. Fighting Vader would come later.

That’s what made Yoda’s instructions so poignant. He told Luke that inside the cave was “only what you take with you.” In a literal sense, Luke took his weapons, but that symbolized the anger, fear and conflict that defined Luke’s character. He was afraid of Vader, and he was afraid of becoming like Vader. As such, those were the things that he saw in his vision -- an apparition of Vader and his turning into Vader. Thus, Luke’s choice to take his weapons along proved that he wasn’t ready to know that Vader was his father. In fact, that was why Yoda desperately wanted Luke to stay and finish his training, instead of going to save his friends.

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Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi

On the other hand, if Luke had entered the Dark Side cave without his weapons, it would have proved that he was ready to become a Jedi, regardless of any emotional baggage. At that point, the Force would have trusted him with the knowledge that his father, the heroic Jedi of the Clone Wars, was also the bloodthirsty Sith Lord Darth Vader. In other words, if Luke had left his weapons behind, he would have learned the truth on his own terms. He would have met his father as an apparition and defined his life’s course of a Jedi.

Unfortunately, none of that happened, and Luke ended up leaving Dagobah in a frenzy to save his friends. However, with his emotional training incomplete, he wasn’t ready for the damning knowledge about his personal lineage. Luckily, everything ended up working out, and he did eventually embrace Yoda’s teachings. Though Luke did take his weapons inside the Dagobah cave, he would later throw down his lightsaber rather than fight the Emperor in Return of the Jedi -- a decision that proved Luke had chosen the Light Side of the Force, despite the evil that was assailing him. That’s also why the Emperor decided to kill Luke -- because he'd resolved all of the conflict within himself.

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