Continuity mistake: When Han tells Lando that he can fly the Millennium Falcon during the battle, when Lando says, "Would you get going, you pirate", his entire outfit is reversed - his shoulder holster strap goes the other way, and his rank insignia changes side too. (00:50:00)
Continuity mistake: On the forest moon of Endor when Princess Leia first meets the Ewok, she takes her helmet off and is holding it in her hand (which frightens the Ewok) in the very next shot she is removing it again to show it to him.
Continuity mistake: When Leia offers the Ewok food, she holds it out in her left hand, but from a different angle it's in her right. (01:01:15)
Continuity mistake: When Luke is prodded out to 'walk the plank', into the Sarlaac pit, he jumps off the board and springs himself back up. If you watch this carefully, you can see that only one hand catches the board and that just by the fingertips, but in the next shot both hands are springing him upwards. (00:31:20)
Continuity mistake: When Leia gets shoved on Jabba's belly upon her capture, watch carefully - in the side shot of her being pressed against him, we see her arching back from her master-to-be as he talks. Their faces are a good foot or so apart. However, in the next shot of her, we see her face is mere inches away from him as he licks his lips in horny anticipation. (00:19:54)
Continuity mistake: When the guards take Chewie to his cell, you can plainly see that when the guard closes the door you only hear it close. You can see that it is still open. (00:17:15)
Continuity mistake: When Vader is driven to his knees during the duel, his elbow is over the handrail, but when Luke cuts off his hand, Vader's wrist is lying over the handrail instead.
Continuity mistake: When Lando is hanging over the pit, he has gloves on, then he has no gloves, then they're back and so on.
Continuity mistake: When Jabba pulls Leia's chain, there is a long shot as she leaps up onto his throne, and he is holding his wine goblet in his left hand, and pulling her chain with his right. However, in the very next shot (in which he says "Soon you will learn to appreciate me"), the entire frame is reversed. This is evident in Jabba's holding the wine in his "right" hand, his higher-placed nostril (which is normally on the left on his face) is now on the "right," Leia's reversal of her armlet, etc. (00:29:20)
Continuity mistake: Widescreen version: When Darth Vader dies, the chin part of his helmet is missing in the last shot. (02:01:30)
Continuity mistake: When Vader ignites Luke's lightsaber, Luke is standing next to a column. When Vader extinguishes the lightsaber, Luke is standing further away from the column. In the next shot, he is standing next to it again. This is best seen in the widescreen version. (01:21:10)
Continuity mistake: When Wicket wakes up Leia in the woods, the hooded garment he is wearing changes length between shots.
Continuity mistake: In the Rancor pit, watch as the Rancor starts to pick up the pig guard. The Rancor starts to grab the pig guard with its left hand. But while being eaten the pig guard is held in the Rancor's right hand. (00:25:40)
Continuity mistake: Before Chewbacca and two Ewoks swing on a vine to the roof of one of the AT-ST walkers, in a shot of them running, Chewie's bandolier is on the wrong side.
Continuity mistake: When Boussh (Leia in disguise) is about to enter Jabba's throne room, there's a shot of Jabba where his arm is down by his side. In the next shot, on the left side of the screen, his arm is up by his head. (00:13:50)
Continuity mistake: In the sequence of the Emperor torturing Luke, there are several close-ups of Vader. Look at his helmet - it goes back and forth between being clean and being dusty.
Continuity mistake: The birthmark on Leia's back keeps changing sides during the 'Jabba' scenes. This seems to happen when Jabba's tail changes sides. I guess the model of him only went one way, so they flipped the negative.
Continuity mistake: When Vader's shuttle has landed inside the Death Star, behind the stormtroopers on the left side, there is a large structure. But when Vader and Jerjerrod, the Death Star commander, pass these stormtroopers, the structure is no longer there. (00:03:20 - 00:04:05)
Continuity mistake: On Endor, when the stormtroopers come to take Luke away, the door of the lift is heard opening, the stormtroopers are heard walking, and then they appear behind Luke three seconds after the door opened. But in the next shot, we can see that Luke and Vader are too far away from the lift for the stormtroopers to reach them that quickly.
Continuity mistake: When Luke confronts Jabba the Hutt, Jabba says to Bib Fortuna, "You weak-minded fool." In the next shot, Jabba's tail has switched position. (00:22:55)
Answer: The Jedi are shown to have something of a blind spot in regards to matters of the heart. Note that when Luke confronts Obi-Wan over lying to him about his father's fate, Obi-Wan's response is haughty and defensive, and gives Luke nothing in terms of regret or apology. They're focused on their mission, not on how Luke feels. Why waste time, in their eyes, telling Luke about his mother? If they had their way, he wouldn't even know about his father. The prequels would make this more explicit, showing that the Jedi are conditioned from the beginning to let go of all "passions" because they could so easily be corrupted, and their inability to understand Anakin's emotions just contributes to his downfall.
TonyPH