What If Luke Skywalker JOINED the Imperial Academy (Star Wars What Ifs) 

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Luke: We've been through this. I told you I want to be an Imperial Admiral. Vader: It's just a phase. Luke: It's not a phase, dad!

Love it. Obi-Wan is gonna be so disappointed. All that wasted time looking after Luke and keeping him away from the Empire only for him to join them regardless.

I'm convinced this is the best timeline. Luke has great success in his initial dream of serving the empire, palpatine is dead, Vader can no longer terrorize the galaxy and I'm convinced that especially with Luke's influence seeing that luke is thrawn's right hand, Thrawn would be an at least semi-compassionate ruler as he would likely know that being a dick to the galaxy would just cause uprising.

Obi-Wan: "You were the son of the chosen one! It was said you would destroy the Empire not join them!" Luke: "I'M LARGELY INDIFFERENT TO YOU."

I really like how this turned out. I've heard several What Ifs for Luke joining the Imperial Academy, and while they go differently, they all follow him joining his father's side and becoming Sith. It's quite refreshing to see Luke follow a path of a pilot and wind up under the cunning guidance of Thrawn. As well, your story had the prophecy come true in several different forms. Darth Vader (still Anakin Skywalker) killed Palpatine, leaving one crippling blow to the Dark side, then Leia, a skywalker, killed Vader, bringing an end to the Sith, and finally, Luke Skywalker killed Leia, leaving Obi Wan and Yoda to pass away of old age and end the Jedi, leaving the force entirely neutral and balanced in Luke who was affiliated with neither religion, his only concern being with serving his new Emperor in Thrawn.

Love that Luke doesn’t become a Acolyte and remains a part of the Empire as a mastermind. It’s often forgotten that the Skywalker’s are brilliant and cunning. Really love how the Empire is in a decent or better place with no Sith or Jedi to threaten it. One of the best timelines for the Empire. The Empire could’ve lasted longer with Palpatine and Tarkin and their followers.

What if the Jedi temple wasn’t built on top of the Sith temple? Maybe they would have sensed the dark side in Palpatine quicker, or they wouldn’t have been so arrogant, because I think it’s the darkness inside of the temple that clouded their vision

How would Vader not have realized Luke's identity almost immediately? He would've learned his name was Skywalker right off the bat and immediately put 2 and 2 together.

"Apology accepted, Captain Skywalker."

What if Anakin had visions of order 66 instead of padme dying of childbirth? What if Anakin went undercover instead of Obi-Wan? What if tup was taken to the jedi temple instead of getting the atomic brain scan? What if shmi skywalker had a child with Clegg lars?

Yoda: "One Job, You had Obiwan."

I really love this story. I was very invested with Luke’s side of the story because of how complex and interesting it was. A lot of Leia’s side was, okay heard it before. But there was plenty of interesting things that did happen with Leia. And the ending was great, perfect cherry on top.

Now I've always been an imp loyalist but Luke's rise through the empire was something I didn't know I needed thanks (And just to be clear I love what the empire stood for not what it is)

That was very interesting. Luke was so gifted. He made great strides in the Empire. And in the end got that sick prosthetic arm.

What if Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus was sent back in time to the clone wars time period? What if Valkorian had returned during the Clone Wars?

Loved all of this, save for one thing. Leia was so strong in the force, but could not sense it from Luke, or hear that Vader called him his son, by extension her brother since she knew him as her father. That part just seemed a little off... would have been better if Leia had escaped, giving Luke something to chase while under Thrawns watchful eye.

What if Grievous had been burned, but managed to see though Douku's manipulations and then joined the Republic?

This is one of the best "what If's" ever. Not an ideal solution, but Thron as emporer would not allow his own ego to get in the way of being a most efficient ruler.

Talk about a twist ending, and I LOVE IT! Luke joining the Imperial Academy would have given him a better life as a pilot and vice-admiral in the Imperial Navy. And who knew Luke is good at his job and felt like Luke being a vice admiral would suit him best, and being similar to Thrawn would make him his equal. Not until Darth Vader ( Anakin Skywalker) sabotaged Luke's work to join his side. At least Vader is impressed his son is doing more time focusing on his projects and at least cares about his interests. But Leia being gunned down by Luke is very dark and almost sad, for Luke does not realize he just murdered his long-lost sister in cold blood, and it could be far worse if Bail Organa learned her adopted daughter was murdered, and Obi-Wan might have gone into a deep depression. On the bright side, Thrawn became the new Emperor of the Galatic Empire; at least a galactic empire under Thrawn would be way better than Sidious since he plans to live forever. I imagine Thrawn forming his new political dynasty, Vurawn-Skywalker Dynasty, with Thrawn as Emperor and Luke as his heir. Too evil Vader wouldn't have Luke as his apprentice and would be pissed at Thrawn for becoming the new Emperor and making Luke his heir if he were forced ghost, and Palpatine would have been way angrier if Thrawn is now taking his place as Emperor. What is your personal opinion, Mr. Pente Patrol? My two great what-if ideas are: What if Anakin was taken in by Satine Kyrze, Duchess of Mandalore, when he was kicked out by the Jedi Order for being too emotional as a young padawan? What role would Satine play for Anakin, and what his relationship be with Bo Katan? What if the Clone Wars instead becomes the Mobile Wars with dark force users piloting mechas? Do you prefer the descendants of the siths driving these machines, or do you want new enemies for the Jedi? Anyway, this is great; what if video, my friend, and may the force be with you!!

I loved this ending, it's definitely different because I didn't know how to could of end. It was a amazing story.

My first thought at the title was the awkward situation where Luke C.O. yells "Skywalker!" And Vader answers out of habit 🤣

What if anakin found HK-47 Statement: greetings meatbags (Padme and Qui Gon)

I love these what ifs. It is just like watching Star Wars for the first time all over again.

I don’t know how I feel about Leia beating Vader. I don’t think she could pull of beating a guy who is 80% of The Emperor power.

This makes me wonder if Vader had ever felt any type of connection to Leia. I mean, she is HIS daughter. But there must have been some reason he wrote it off, possibly her connection to Obi-wan. Hell, maybe he was waiting for her to come into contact with Old Ben again. Vader is very patient as seen with Reva.

In the original story, Luke was faced with what many young men in our history were faced with. That joining the army (whatever army was offered) was the only way to get away from the poverty and drudgery of a life in their home towns. In return for service, Luke would have gotten training, an education, room and board and some financial support, gotten away from a planet he hated and gotten a chance to travel and learn to fly. To make some sort of life and future for himself. Plus he would be able to send money back to his family. To his way of thinking, it was a perfect solution. It is an old story, one that has been going on in human history for as long as there has been history. Owen apparently did not have anything much against the Empire, as one would expect from poor subsistence farmers who live far from any city or from any of the depredations of the Empire. He, in turn, did not raise Luke to hate the Empire. To them, like to many people who are just trying to live and get along, who is doing the ruling makes very little difference. What difference did it make if the Republic or the Empire ruled? It was all the same to their lives. To farmers like Owen and Luke, the Empire was very far away, and had very little to do with their lives. They had never suffered from any actions of the Empire. So there was no animosity in Luke toward the Empire-----until the Empire gave him a reason. Actually I never really did understand the bloodlust that the Empire showed. Why did the Stormtroopers leave a trail of death and destruction in their wake in searching for the droids with the stolen plans? What difference would it make if a few farmers and Jawas knew the Empire was looking for a couple of droids? No one could have known why, and the only thing they did was draw attention to their actions. When the Stormtroopers searched the town, they were not slaughtering everyone in sight. So why the massacre of the Jawas and the murder of Owen and Beru? Just for fun? for the hell of it? Just because they're the bad guys? What makes the idea of Luke joining the Empire's army so interesting is how Obi wan would have reacted and what the Empire would have done if they discovered Luke's power in the Force. Because the Empire was going out of their way to eliminate---or pervert---Force users. If they even did discover it. Luke himself did not know, and with no one to teach him, he might only have remained a talented pilot. It seems unlikely that he would ever have come to the attention of Darth Vader or the Emperor. Would Luke, after seeing some of the depredations of the Empires' forces have eventually joined the Rebellion anyway? Would he and Obi-wan ever have met at all? It makes for interesting speculation.

What if Grevious's ship accidentally exploded due to a droid malfunction and took Dooku, Palpatine, and Grevious out before Anakin and Obi-Wan could aboard the ship?

So, in the alternate time line, no more Ewoks.

Missed opportunity for Owen to hit Obi-Wan with that "like you did his father" remark again to humble ben again

What if Vader Actually trained the Inquisitors. Vader as we know, thought the Inquisitors were useless. So Vader would Actually train them properly, while balancing his duties. The Grand Inquisitor would probably kill Reva because she's to much trouble. The Grand Inquisitor would kill Kanan and take Ezra. The other Inquisitor would kill Cal Kestus and the others. Palpatine would be afraid of their powers and would order Vader to kill them. This won't be easy. The Inquisitors would fight back and possibly injured Vader. It would be cool to see them be a threat.

Love your story. But I do have one gripe. Dagobah did not radiate in the lightside of the force. It radiated with the DARK side of the force. That is why Yoda went there to cloak himself from the Empire and its agents. It radiated so strongly with the dark side of the force that (I believe it was a dark side nexus.) That is why Luke in the original trilogy had an easier rime of resisting the Dark side after his training with Master Yoda because he was already used to focusing on the light.

This should be turned into a What If movie 😯

As someone who saw the movie back in 1977... Luke made it pretty clear that he was going to join the academy to learn and go AWOL to join the rebellion. Even Obi Wan shut him down on the topic while handing him his father's lightsaber.

Lol leia was just the party pooper here summarized 💀

I have been thinking about this for a while now. And suddenly, you made a video about it. This was such a great story. I would have liked it if Leia found out that Luke was her brother just before dying but this was still a very solid ending. Good job, brother.

I cannot see Sir Alec Guinness yelling at anyone...he seemed Much more grounded than that

Bruh having Vader run towards you has got to be the worst experience anyone in the empire can have

Wow! Guess Luke brings balance with his boss in an unexpected way!

Surprising that the empire allowed the resources to go to replace tie fighters with much, much better tie fighter and a much more expensive tie fighter

Disney needs this man now.

Amazing theory, I thought it was really interesting how Vader chose not to train him sooner and that Luke never new he had a sister and that leia never new she had a brother. Great work and theory idea : what if Kanan survived

"Hellooo!" "Goodbye!"

This is a brilliant story as usual. You have inspired me to further depths in a Star Wars TTRPG im running.

1:10:07 Endor? NO! Well, I suppose no one would miss the carnivorous Ewoks. Could've used Dantooine or Hoth or maybe Yavin 4 as a test target for the demonstration, though. Anyways, this is a great "What If" story!

What If... 1) The Incom design team had actually turned over the X-Wing designs to the Empire instead of defecting to the Rebels? 2) Anakin had killed Palpatine instead of cutting off Mace Windu's arms? 3) The Separatists had managed to get the Death Star plans and build it?

Leia: this light saber carries to much emotional baggage, I need my own.

Vader after hearing skywalker: now thats a name i have not heard in a long time.., a long time

That was TRULY INSPIRED‼️ CONGRATULATIONS to you and Cameron‼️ Seriously, I’m stunned by the Magnificent of the quality. It is ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE SUPERIOR to the “Sequel Trilogy‼️ BRAVISSIMO‼️ Much L♥️VE to You, Cameron and the Whole of Team Pente Patrol Star Was‼️‼️‼️🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🙆🏻‍♂️🙆🏻‍♂️🙆🏻‍♂️✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼💯💯💯 Ps. This was the First time I’ve watched your channel. At the end of your EPIC Story I had no choice but to Subscribe‼️‼️‼️💯💯💯

What if Thrawn gifted a Tie Defender to Darth Vader before Thrawn's disappearance? It would be possible since Vader was able to test fly a Tie Defender in Canon and even said he supported Thrawn's project.

This is amazing because Luke brought balance to the force WAY more than him siding with the Jedi did

I loved this story, very good storytelling. Vader going out pretty easy was a little disappointing but I can get over it

This is my favourite “What if” on Star Wars thank you for posting this I love the idea of Luke and Thrawn being friends and I completely agree with you that Cameron completely nailed this

Honestly I have to say this is by far one of the best videos you've done so far, I like the creativity imagination and the willingness to separate from the original story. it all fits and it all makes perfect sense. The only thing that didn't make very much sense was the point of getting all of the smaller kyber crystals to function, I thought that working with covered crystals was like the equivalent of working with uranium, and the reason that they went with the larger crystals was because they were more stable then the smaller ones. For example of how unstable the smaller ones are may I respectfully remind you of the lightsaber rifle?

Thank you so much. I love the intro of the Grand Inquisitor saying hello. Luke Skywalker’s my favourite Star Wars character.

*This Is A Really Great What If Story Great Job*

Here’s a crazy one What if Anakin Skywalker was kidnapped, adopted and raised by Tusken Raiders

Next should be What If Han Solo stayed as an Imperial. Then combine these two, with Luke and Han as the two top pilots in the Empire.

It seems more likely that Vader would sense a special power and simply acknowledge that there was potential there if he ever needed more followers. He, in my mind, wouldn't be having an inner dialogue of Sith and Jedi because he hates both and knows that the force isn't that black and white.

Wow. Your "what if" story is impressive!. I have read, watched, and heard almost everything Star Wars since the 70's, and your story is one of my favorites! Really congratulations, and thanks for sharing this wonderful tale. Keep up the amazing work!

LOL - yeah this whole thing makes me think back to Ep4 - seemed like Luke didn't really care if he joined the Imperials or the Rebels. He just didn't want to be on Tatooine.

This, single what if scenario, would make a better movie than all of the Disney sequels combined. Even just as an audio book I would still buy it. Absolutely amazing ❤️‍🔥

I enjoyed that more than 95% of the Star Wars books I’ve read. Good work 😊

That wasn't just Vader who killed that unnamed imperial at 22:22 for his mistakes, it was also remnant of Anakin killing that guy for putting his son in danger! (For one, the Jedi and Sith agree on something violent)

Very solid what if. Really enjoyed the story 🙂 Now a NEW Age of the Empire is born, but under the guidance of Thrawn and Luke. I think it would be less terrorizing with Palpatine.

My heart was always racing when Luke and Darth Vader was together especially in the beginning felt like I was actually watching a movie

I grew up and my father passed when I was 3, so I 100% understand the felling of not knowing who you are, what you came from! It’s is a longing that will never be! I always say I just wish I could remember what he sounded like!

I love the story though i must say im kot a huge fan of vader showing so much emotion, smiling so often and showing outbursts of rage. He had ALOT of rage and hatred but he always held it internally, quietly

what if Palpatine actually cared about Anakin?

Great story but I’ve been wondering the same thing. Luke would have been found when he was in training. Vader would see Luke glowing in the force. There were so little light side force users that Luke would glow in the darkness.

Here are the best Star Wars Stories on RU-vid Loved the more imp Rangs and characters in there

I liked this story. It went in logical reasonable directions, and kept the characters reasonable and consistent. Only change I would make is Vader taking the promising Skywalker under his wing sooner. Farmboys making breakthroughs in super-sophisticated projects is a real thing. Chuck Yeager's teenage farmhand and oil-field experience assisted the X-1 project, and my 2nd cousin, trained in motorcycle repair, is employed as an engineering team member for a big-machine manufacturer.

Fun theory, loved how luke was basicly in Star Wars Top Gun. lol

If I’m correct with thron in charge most of the corruption of the empire would be eliminated, most of the fools removed from power and the most needlessly cruel (to a point that it’s counterproductive) would be placed in positions with no chance of effecting anything.

Also I have a couple good “What ifs” What if Anakin Told Obi-Wan about what Palpatine told him about Darth Plagueis during the Mon Calamari Opera? Or What if General Grevious was still Alive or Dueling Obi-Wan When Order 66 was given? And OR What if Leia joined the Imperials to “Try to rework the Empire from within” like an opposite to what happened here?

27:56 She’s chokin’, how, everybody’s jokin’ now The clock runs out, time’s up, over, PLOW

"Emperor Thrawn" Oh god he sounds terrifying Thrawn as an admiral could decimate entire fleets with just his 1 fleet Just imagine what he could do with the whole empire at his disposal

I can't help but think that Christoph Waltz would be the best actor for Thrawn. Thrawn and Luke would be such a powerhouse.

"HELLO." Perfect intro. I hope this what if scenario gets updated with fan-made concept art and imagery to fit the story as it is being told.

I love the plot twist at the end. I did not see it coming.

God this would be an amazing show or movie. It'd be such a beautiful way to FINALLY have a part of media be Empire POV Empire MC.Alternate universe, like the Kelvin timeline for Star Trek, and yes I know that isn't a popular trilogy, but I only mean in the sense of an alternate universe branching for some reason from the normal timeline. Like Legends I suppose. It's such a beautiful and interesting idea.

Man this was such a good and creative story you are definitely talented I hope you keep makin more stories like this you got a new subscriber

Pente You should do a what if anakin turned to the dark side during the events of obi wan faking his death

I remember that, long long ago, in the Legends/Exp.Univ. there was at least one version of an *ending for the whole series* where “Empire” (or whatever the name was for the similar “nemesis-type” group at that moment) does win over “the *good* protagonist force” but there’s no force sensitive people at all left alive anymore, and the “until that point evil Empire regime” just slowly becomes a nicer type of governance.

Anyone else been super confused by Imperial officer ranks having Commander above Captain? Even wookiepedia gets it wrong but it's described pretty clearly in the first Disney era Thrawn book.

I do enjoy stories that results in Thrawn being in charge.

I absolutely love this channel the what ifs are so professionally done it's obvious you love this franchise just as much as us and you want to see it thrive and that makes me really happy because of how toxic this fandom has become recently keep up the good work and May the force be with you

Fantastic work This goes so in depth for a small change. Honestly couldn't expect any of this

I really liked the dynamic between Leia n Obi-Wan. It felt really good. Really natural.

This was pretty great! I didn't expect that ending. That was a really good twist.

These really do just keep getting better and better. Keep up the incredible work man!

Tank didn't join, He choice to run the family repair shop, & Biggs was a tie fighter pilot. Not a officer.

I prefer the idea of my suit protecting me from space over my ship. Ship is more likely to be damaged.

Attempt number 21: what if Anakin was trained by Master Fay. Also first.

This is the highest quality SW What if I've seen, very excited to check out the others

You inspire me to write my own stories. Thank you

I’m at 32:10. Thrown knew Anakin Skywalker personally. When he heard Luke’s name he would recognize it. Chiss force users are known as Skywalkers.

What if maul and obi wan made peace ? What if Palpatine only cared bout wiping out the jedi but not turning Anakin ? What if kylo ren admired his grandmother?

Endor: gets ordered to be destroyed. Me: Nooo the Ewoks :(

Someone wrote a fanfic with this focusing on how luke made StormTrooper armor badass as a master engineer aboard the Executor.