New Star Wars novel sheds light on one unexplored detail of Luke's training under Yoda

Although the most popular green creature in Star Wars right now is probably Baby Yoda, in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the actual Yoda trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Jedi on the swamp planet Dagobah. As part of his training, Luke goes into a strange cave, where he fights a vision of Darth Vader – which then turns out to have Luke’s face under the helmet.

It’s a mysterious scene that’s not completely explained in the movie, but now a new Star Wars novel called From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back reveals some of the cave’s secrets, as reported by Screen Rant. Officially named the Cave of Evil, it turns out that the cave is occupied by an ancient entity which has been there for a thousand years. The entity learns from every Force user it comes into contact with, which means it can uncover the worst fears of those who enter the cave and make them confront their nightmares.   

Interestingly, this means that one of Luke’s worst fears in The Empire Strikes Back is turning out like Vader – even before the revelation that Vader is his father. This makes sense, considering that Yoda warns Luke that what’s in the cave is “only what you take with you.” It also lays the groundwork for the throne room showdown in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, where Luke realises continuing to fight will only end in him becoming more like Vader. 

With every new Star Wars novel, comic book or video game, even more gets added to the canon – and we get to uncover more of the galaxy far, far away’s secrets. Lately, we even got a good look at George Lucas’ sequel trilogy that never was.

We won’t see another Star Wars movie on the big screen until 2023, but until then you can check out all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows confirmed so far. Plus, we’ve got a guide to The Mandalorian season 2 release schedule to help you get ready for Chapter 11.