If you’ve ever rewatched The Empire Strikes Back and found yourself yelling at the screen, “Luke, help your co-pilot!” — you’re not alone. I do it every time.
The moment is quick, chaotic, and brutal, so it’s easy to think Luke just bailed on Dak when their snowspeeder went down during the Battle of Hoth. But here’s the thing: by the time they hit the snow, there was nothing Luke could do.
What Actually Happened to Dak and Why Luke Didn’t Go Back
In the middle of the fight, Luke and Dak swing in low for a strafing run on one of the advancing AT-ATs. Snow whips past the canopy, the walker’s massive legs stomping closer as Dak lines up the rear gun. Over comms, Luke gives the order to fire — but before they can make their pass, a blast from the AT-AT slams into the speeder’s side. The whole cockpit lurches, and Dak is thrown violently back into his seat. His helmet tilts, his head slumps forward, and just like that, he’s gone still.
Luke immediately calls to him over the comm, his voice cutting through the engine noise: “Dak? Dak, do you copy?” There’s nothing. No movement, no response. In that moment, Luke doesn’t need a medscan to know what happened — Dak’s already gone, killed instantly by the impact. The official Star Wars databank even confirms it: Dak was dead right there in the gunner’s chair.
Before Luke can even breathe, another hit tears into the speeder. The controls buck, alarms blare, and the snowspeeder spirals down into the icy ground. It hits hard, skidding through the snow until it comes to rest in the shadow of the walker’s massive foot. Luke shoves the canopy open, grabs the harpoon and tow cable, and hauls himself out into the blizzard. He’s barely clear of the wreck when the AT-AT’s foot slams down, crushing the cockpit where Dak is still strapped in.
If Luke had climbed back into that mangled speeder to pull his co-pilot out, they both would’ve been flattened in seconds.
Empire Strikes Back Novelization Explains How Luke Realized Dak Was Dead
The film moves through the speeder crash quickly, but the Empire Strikes Back novelization slows it down and makes it clear exactly when Luke knew Dak was gone. As they closed in on the AT-AT, Luke called back over the roar of the engines: “Just hang on, Dak… and get ready to fire that tow cable!”
Then another blast hit the speeder. The ship lurched violently, Luke fighting to keep it level while explosions went off all around them. He tried to check on his gunner: “Stand by, Dak. We’re almost there. Are you okay?” No answer. Luke twisted in his seat, saw blood streaming from Dak’s forehead, and realized he was slumped motionless against the controls. The battle wasn’t over, but for Dak, it already was.
This extra detail from the novelization makes Luke’s later actions in the movie easier to understand. By the time the speeder went down, Luke wasn’t choosing to leave his friend behind — he already knew Dak was dead, and an AT-AT foot was seconds away from stomping the wreckage into the snow.