Why did Luke leave his landspeeder when Sandpeople were coming?

Question

When Luke and C3PO find R2D2 in the canyon area, R2D2 informs them of several life forms headed their way. Luke concludes they must be sandpeople, so he...

Leaves the landspeeder and heads for a nearby cliff a few hundred feet away?

If the three of them had just gotten into the landspeeder when R2D2 told them about the approaching sandpeople, they could've been out of there before the sandpeople had a time to walk up to the speeder, slowly investigate it, and follow Luke up to the cliff for their ambush.

Why did Luke feel the need to lead the two droids away from their only mode of transportation, and an easy means of escape?

Answer 1

Like many males his age, young Luke Skywalker is rather brash and reckless - often rushing into action without thought. When faced with a threat, he would much rather confront it than avoid it. This can be seen throughout his character arc, and ultimately led to the disastrous events at Cloud City three years later when he

ignored the advice of both Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi, choosing to confront Vader instead of waiting to see how things turned out.

When informed of the approaching Sand People, Luke grabs his rifle and climbs the nearby ridge, hiding in a place from which he can ambush the Sand People as they approach the speeder. He underestimates the Sand People, however, who know exactly where he is and end up ambushing HIM instead. He was extremely lucky that the raiders left him fairly unharmed. In fact, had Ben Kenobi not showed up and scared them away, it's possible that Luke may not have survived.

This aggressive, gung-ho attitude becomes his primary obstacle in learning the ways of the Jedi. He must learn to put aside his desire to confront threats, and instead learn to avoid conflict whenever possible, or at least minimize his aggression in doing so.

Answer 2

The George Lucas novelisation of "A New Hope" explicitly addresses this issue. Luke recognised the threat but was tempted by the possibility of discovering something new in an area he'd never visited before:

“Oh my, sir. Artoo claims there are several creatures of unknown type approaching from the southeast.”

That could be another attempt by Artoo to distract them, but Luke couldn’t take the chance. Instantly he had his rifle off his shoulder and had activated the energy cell. He examined the horizon in the indicated direction and saw nothing. But then, sandpeople were experts at making themselves unseeable.

Luke suddenly realized exactly how far out they were, how much ground the landspeeder had covered that morning. “I’ve never been out in this direction this far from the farm before,” he informed Threepio. “There are some awfully strange things living out here. Not all of them have been classified. It’s better to treat anything as dangerous until determined otherwise. Of course, if it’s something utterly new …”

His curiosity prodded him. In any case, this was probably just another ruse of Artoo Detoo’s. “Let’s take a look,” he decided.