"Way of the Jedi" is the sixth episode of The Empire Strikes Back radio drama. It aired on National Public Radio on March 21, 1983. The episode adapts events from centering on the beginning of Luke Skywalker's Jedi training on the planet Dagobah.
Luke Skywalker and Artoo-Detoo approach Dagobah in their X-wing fighter. While passing through dense cloud cover, the ship's scopes go dead and Luke has to fly blind. Luke tells Artoo to brace himself as the ship crashes.
Aboard Darth Vader's flagship, Captain Needa informs Vader that the Millennium Falcon has been lost in the Hoth asteroid field and presumed destroyed. Vader insists that the ship is intact and its crew alive. The search must continue. Admiral Piett next approaches to say that the Emperor has commanded Vader to make contact with him. Vader goes to his communications vault, where the Emperor says that Luke Skywalker has created a disturbance in the Force and now poses a great danger. Vader explains his plan to capture the Falcon and use it as bait to lure Luke to him. Then Vader will either turn him into an ally—or kill him.
On Dagobah, Luke and Artoo have crash-landed in a shallow marsh. Artoo falls in the water, where an unseen creature tries to eat him. Fortunately, the droid does not make a very good meal and is spat out onto solid ground. Luke makes camp and wonders if he has made a terrible mistake. While eating some rations, he and Artoo are startled by a "green gnome" who asks prying questions, samples Luke's food, and rifles through his gear. Luke tries to send him away, but then the stranger names Yoda as the Jedi Master who Luke is seeking. He invites Luke back to his hut for some better food.
Yoda offers Luke some rootleaf.
In the hut, Luke rebuffs the stranger's efforts to be hospitable. He asks how to find Yoda and when they can leave. He mentions chasing down the man who killed his father. Finally, the exasperated creature says, "I cannot teach this one. The boy has no patience, Obi-Wan." To Luke's shock, the spirit of Ben Kenobi responds that he will learn. Luke, suddenly realizing that the creature is Yoda himself, begs to be trained, insisting that he is ready. After some prompting by Kenobi, and a solemn commitment from Luke, Yoda agrees to begin the training.
The next morning, Yoda cooks breakfast and greets Artoo, who is outside the window because he cannot fit inside the hut. Luke wakes up and begins his first round of training. To begin, Luke runs a long distance with Yoda riding on his back. Yoda teaches Luke about the nature of the Force and its sides of Light and Dark. The Dark Side offers power more quickly and easily, but it will ultimately consume a Jedi. Luke starts to ask why he can't take advantage of the Dark Side sometimes; Yoda ends the lesson abruptly and tells Luke to clear his mind. But Luke senses death and evil in a nearby cave. Yoda tells him to enter it without weapons; Luke takes his weapons anyway. A vision of Vader appears, lightsaber in hand. Luke greets him aggressively and subdues him—but under the mask, Luke sees his own face. He realizes that Light and Dark are clashing within him.
"Way of the Jedi" names and prominently features rootleaf, the stew that Yoda cooks for Luke. A promotional campaign for The Empire Strikes Back radio drama featured a recipe for rootleaf by food writer Craig Claiborne. The recipe was published in newspapers and magazines around the United States just before the drama aired on NPR.
For the radio episode, some additional lines of dialogue fill out scenes that otherwise come entirely from the film . Three times Luke alludes to feelings of revenge that he is harboring against Vader: once in the hut before he knows who Yoda is, once during his training, and finally upon seeing the image of Darth Vader. The new lines show the presence of the Dark Side in Luke's thoughts and set the stage for the vision of his own face inside Vader's mask.
- The Empire Strikes Back: The National Public Radio Dramatization