Obi Wan didn’t send Luke to Dagobah so he could become a Jedi knight, he sent him so he wouldn’t become Darth Vader.

Darth Vader may seem somewhat benign by the advanced standards of evil doing we have today, but make no mistake, Darth was a bad, bad guy.

One of the lesser appreciated things about Darth Vader was his over-inflated, insatiable ego. He was an incredibly self-centered person who gave himself over to the accumulation of power, the climbing of the galactic ladder, and the abuse of those who very reasonably challenged him. In short, his sense of entitlement bled into every project and work relationship he touched. But Darth deeply believed he was a good person who only wanted to bring order back to a galaxy fallen into chaos, waste, and inefficiency.

Earlier in his life Darth may have suspected that “the Dark Side” was not good for anyone, but as his heart grew colder and more filled with delusion and self-justification he came to replace the truth for lies, until his lies became the truth.

This is always the final step in the transformation to pure evil - no one will really know what’s true anymore, as those who’ve committed to darkness zealously pursue their goals without a shred of self-doubt.

This is why Darth wore the mask. It prevented him from having to look at his true face in the mirror each morning. Instead he could gaze at the black helmet and see what he wanted to see: a warrior, a crusader, a black knight for the sake of the universe. Better to see a ferocious mask than the face of a wheezing, pathetic, socially isolated and bitter old man underneath.

And so Obi Wan Kenobi, in his infinite wisdom sent Luke to the remote and geographically unimportant swamp world of Dagobah to find Master Yoda.

He could clearly see that Luke was on a similar trajectory as his notorious father. Luke was talented, handsome, young, and popular. He was adored and celebrated by all in the Rebel Alliance. Before the tender age of twenty five, he had already traveled to many worlds, fought numerous successful battles, and most recently delivered the fatal blow to the Empire’s newest weapon, The Death Star.

Luke was a somebody. He was on the radar of every general working that interstellar war. A promising young prospect, a man destined for greatness if only given the time.

But Ben saw beyond all that. He knew Luke had a rapidly growing dark side. Luke was arrogant, over confident, given to tantrums and arguments. He didn’t take feedback well, because he figured he knew better than everybody else. And there was trauma. The death of his parents, the murder of his adoptive parents, the loss of home and protection. When the war was on, it was easy to push these deeper issues aside, yet if given time, they too would appear at an undisclosed time in the future to push his heart towards darkness and hate.

So Obi sent him to Dagobah. A festering swamp.

He didn’t send him to train though, that part was made up. Honestly, you can learn to telepathically move rocks, deeply meditate, and fight with a lightsaber just about anywhere. You could do it on Hoth or Tatooine, or flying around on a ship. There’s even decent online options for Jedi training these days.

No, he sent him away to confront his cancerous ego. The telling of his time on Dagobah was deeply altered for the benefit of cinema viewers, because the way the movie presented it would never ultimately work. In the film version he met Yoda exactly five minutes after crash landing and could immediately see a glimmer of purpose for his visit to the alien planet.

But that’s very unrealistic.

Rather, what more likely occurred is Luke crash landed on Dagobah and spent weeks trying to get his ship out of the water so he could immediately turn around and go back to his old life. Clearly, thought the young man, Dagobah was a terrible mistake. Maybe he misheard or made the whole thing up. Maybe he wasn’t getting enough sleep, but THIS place could NOT be it.

Eventually though, after much pleading from R2D2 he’d give up on the idea of pulling his ship free. Then it would get really hard.

At first he'd wander around the swampy planet, mostly concerned about his immediate needs. What would he eat? Where would he sleep? What kind of employment could he find on Dagobah?

But things would settle down a bit eventually.

The local swamp people would probably not be super friendly to Luke since he’d be so different from them. Maybe Luke would find a job cutting wood or picking flowers for the local grocer. It’d be quite a long ways away from his old life in the Rebellion, where people trusted him with expensive military equipment and asked for his input on complex strategic issues.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he’d forget about his dream to become a Jedi Knight. He wouldn’t do the exercises, his old saber would get packed away in some boxes above the garage. Luke would find a nice Dagobah girlfriend, have some Dagobah kids and become ok with life as it is rather than as he wished it to be.

Unbeknownst to him, it would be at this point of apparent resignation and letting go that his Jedi training was nearing completion. After many years he’d meet another NDBL (non-Dagobah Born Local) named Ken Yoda. Old Kenny is about two and a half feet tall and green. Word is that at one point Yoda was a Jedi master and trained the entire Jedi order. Luke mentions he’d always wanted to get into that sort of thing, and would Yoda have any time on Saturday mornings to train him?

“But of course!” Kenny Yoda says.

By this point, Luke is not too terribly hard to train. Sure, he’s a little thick around the waist and doesn’t move like he used to, but he also follows the training plan to a tee. He does what he’s told and trusts the process. It’s crazy to think, but within a few years Luke receives his fully accredited Certificate of Advanced Jedi Knight Training. Yoda even hires some guys to tow his X-Wing Fighter out of the swamp.

Rather than what the movie tells us, the time on Dagobah was not so brief. But now is the point when he can finally choose whether to be a Jedi or not. Though he’d probably rather just stay on Dagobah and enjoy a nice retirement, Luke is being sent back to where he came from to save the galaxy from the Evil Empire.

And oh man, Darth Vader is in for a real ass whoopin now. Because crotchety old, world-wise Luke can’t really fight anymore, but he can talk sense into Vader and expose the hypocrisy of The Empire in a way no one will know what to do with.