When Luke enters Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, two Gamorrean guards block his path. Luke raises his hand, and both guards suddenly reach toward their throats before collapsing backward. The movement looks almost identical to Darth Vader’s signature Force choke.
Luke had returned wearing black, speaking more aggressively and displaying abilities he had never used before. But did he really use a dark-side power against Jabba’s guards?
The Novelization Confirms That Luke Choked Them
The movie itself never names the ability Luke uses. In the screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, the scene is described more simply:
“Luke raises his hand and points at the puzzled guards, who immediately lower their spears and fall back.”
The script does not mention choking or the guards grabbing their throats. Luke immediately uses a Jedi mind trick on Bib Fortuna afterward, which has led some viewers to believe that he may have influenced the Gamorreans’ minds or simply pushed them aside.
However, James Kahn’s 1983 Return of the Jedi novelization gives a much more direct description. When Luke points toward the guards, they begin clutching their throats, choking and gasping before falling to their knees. Once Luke lowers his hand and walks away, they can breathe again.
That version confirms two important details. Luke really did constrict their throats with the Force, but he did not kill them. He released the guards as soon as they were no longer preventing him from entering the palace. The novelization now belongs to the Legends continuity, but it clearly interprets the scene as a Force choke.
The official StarWars.com Databank also lists Return of the Jedi among the appearances of Force choke. The page does not directly name Luke or the Gamorreans, but because Luke’s palace entrance is the film’s apparent example of the technique, the listing strongly suggests that Lucasfilm also classifies the moment as a Force choke. That connection is an inference rather than an explicit statement on the page.
Luke Used a Dark-Side Technique, but He Had Not Fallen
The official Databank describes Force choke as an ability used by the Sith to intimidate or kill their enemies by strangling them through the dark side. Under that definition, Luke was using a dark-side technique against the Gamorreans.
However, using it once did not automatically make him a Sith or mean that he had fully turned. Luke was not choking the guards out of hatred or attempting to kill them. They blocked his path, he briefly incapacitated them and released them once they stopped resisting.
The moment instead contributes to the uncertainty surrounding Luke throughout Return of the Jedi. He enters Jabba’s palace dressed in black, uses an ability associated with Vader and later warns Jabba that he can either release his friends or be destroyed. Even Mark Hamill believed Luke’s dark clothing might be pointing toward his eventual fall while the movie was being made.
Luke’s real surrender to the dark side comes later aboard the second Death Star. After Vader threatens Leia, Luke attacks him with hatred and nearly kills him. The screenplay explicitly states that “Luke’s hatred forces Vader to retreat.” Luke only stops after cutting off Vader’s mechanical hand and recognizing that he is becoming like his father. He then throws away his weapon and refuses to turn.
Therefore, Luke most likely did use Force choke against Jabba’s guards, and the technique itself was associated with the dark side. But it was an early warning of how close Luke could come to his father’s path, not proof that he had already fallen.