Star Wars: The best moments from The Empire Strikes Back
By Nik Edlund
The Empire Strikes Back best moments: Battle of Hoth
The Empire Strikes Back featured the first-ever ground battle in Star Wars. After finding out the location of the Rebels’ secret base, the Empire comes out in droves to destroy the Alliance for good.
The coolest thing about this battle has to be the AT-AT Walkers. These are giant lumbering tanks that can get over even the toughest of terrain. They are extremely difficult to destroy and give the Empire a huge advantage in the battle.
As cool as those lumbering mechanical beasts are, the Rebels’ response to taking them down is just as good. They match the strength of the AT-ATs against the speed of their snow speeders. They fly around the blaster fire and use their tow cables to latch onto the giant war tanks’ legs. They then make laps around the AT-AT’s legs until its tight enough to trip and take down the massive weapon.
The highlight of the battle is when Luke narrowly escapes his downed speeder as the foot of an AT-AT comes crashing down on it. He then runs under the mammoth tank and shoots a cable that latches to the underside of the mechanical beast. He propels up the cable and then uses his lightsaber to cut a hole where he proceeds to throw a grenade into. When it goes off, it takes down the entire walker adding another level of badassery to the myth of Luke Skywalker.
The battle of Hoth is a very well-done scene that shows that Star Wars battles don’t just happen in space.