After Hoth, why did Vader pursue the Millennium Falcon instead of Luke's X-Wing?

Question

In The Empire Strikes Back film, the opening crawl says:

The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space....

It has also been established in Return of the Jedi that Force users can sense each other:

Chewie whines nervously. Luke stares at the Huge Super Star Destroyer that looms ever larger before them.

LUKE: Vader's on that ship.

If Darth Vader is obsessed with finding Luke and he can sense his presence, the obvious thing to do would be to follow Luke's X-Wing after the battle of Hoth rather than the Millennium Falcon. Why didn't he?

Answer 1

Because Luke escapes Hoth undetected while the Falcon does not

At the risk of answering the question with the question, it seems that Luke just got lucky. After talking to Wedge on the planet, Luke is seen alone in space leisurely setting a new course to Dagobah:

EXTERIOR: SPACE -- LUKE'S X-WING

Luke's fighter, its wings closed, speeds away from the icy planet. Soon it disappears into the stars.

INTERIOR: LUKE'S X-WING -- COCKPIT

Luke, looking thoughtful, suddenly makes a decision. He flips several switches. The stars shift as he takes his fighter into a steep turn. The X-wing banks sharply and flies away in a new direction. The monitor screen on Luke's control panel prints out a question from the concerned Artoo.

LUKE: (into comlink) There's nothing wrong, Artoo. I'm just setting a new course.

Han on the other hand is instantly in trouble:

EXTERIOR: SPACE -- MILLENNIUM FALCON

The Millennium Falcon speeds away from Hoth, closely followed by one huge Star Destroyer and four tiny TIE fighters. As it is pursued, the Falcon races toward two very bright star-sized objects.

INTERIOR: MILLENNIUM FALCON -- COCKPIT

Inside the cockpit, Chewie lets out a loud howl. Han checks as the ship is buffeted by exploding flak. He appears to be doing six things at once.

HAN: (harried) I saw them! I saw them!

LEIA: Saw what?

HAN: Star Destroyers, two of them, coming right at us.

If Luke had left with Solo, then it is quite reasonable to assume that Vader would have had the ability to sense him eventually (this becomes more apparent in ROTJ) and pursue him specifically (whether he was in the Falcon or his own X-Wing). As it is, The Empire isn't even aware there is an X-Wing alone in deep space headed off to a remote planet inhabited by the galaxy's last Jedi Master. Vader's ability to sense Luke is not omniscient. In fact, it is outlined in ESB as very limited. He reaches out to Luke only when he already knows generally where Luke is and while he still close by ... and even then it seems a "loose" connection:

INTERIOR: VADER'S STAR DESTROYER -- BRIDGE

Vader stands on the bridge, watching as the Millennium Falcon is chased by the TIE fighters. As his Destroyer draws nearer, Vader's breathing gets slightly faster.

VADER: Luke.

INTERIOR: MILLENNIUM FALCON -- SLEEPING QUARTERS

Luke realizes that Vader's ship is very near. He feels resigned to his fate. He senses that he is beaten, more emotionally than physically.

LUKE: Father.

Answer 2

Sensing one's presence with the force is an inexact science - if he could pinpoint Luke that easily, he would have found him long ago when he was kicking around on Tatooine.

More importantly, you have to remember that the two forces were separated, and that Luke was heading off to Dagobah while the Millenium Falcon, which was delayed from joining the rest of the fleet, was caught trying to evade the Imperial Fleet. They were right there, and it stands to reason that the Princess of Alderaan and the Rogue Trader right in front of them is a better catch than a 'hunch' given by Vader, especially when there was no indication Vader even knew Luke was on Hoth in the first place.

But, if that's not enough, then consider exactly where Luke DID go after abandoning the Hoth base - Dagobah, to train with Yoda. Not only is Yoda a very powerful Jedi who could probably mask Luke's presence with just a little effort, but Dagobah itself is a planet with a great amount of Force Presence that would cloud Vader's ability to sense Luke there.

And, you will note, it was very hard for Vader to seek Luke out - and Luke up to that point had specifically gone to great lengths, along with the rest of the Rebel Alliance, to avoid being found, but capturing his friends the way he did gave him a unique and advantageous position - Luke had a reason to come to him. In fact, he planned on it, performing a test-run on the Carbonite Freezing Chamber to make sure he could secure Luke once he came to rescue his friends.

So, not only was it easier for Vader to secure Luke's friends, not only was it far more difficult to try to secure Luke in the first place, but securing his friends allowed him to use them as a very effective bait (And it worked!).

Answer 3

Another perspective is that even if the Empire tracked most, or all, of the ships fleeing Hoth, they would have to pick which one(s) they could follow in the time available before the ships all escaped. Luke's X-Wing was just one of numerous X-Wings to flee Hoth. Even if Vader knew Luke would leave on an X-Wing, determining which to follow would be difficult.

The Millennium Falcon, however, was a highly recognizable ship. By that point, it's association with the Rebellion and the probability that at least one of their high value targets (Han) would be on board made it a primary target for pursuit. Yes, Corellian freighters were common. However, Han had made several distinctive alterations, such as the addition of a belly turret, that would make it easier to identify and track.

Answer 4

Luke's X-wing was able to engage its hyperdrive while the Millenium Falcon was not.

Answer 5

It is fully possible the Emperor and Vader knew where Luke went and simply let Yoda do the heavy lifting of training him knowing they could drop the hammer of Vader's identity after he was trained; then sell him on joining the Empire. Best case scenario: he joins them. Worst case scenario: they kill him later. I don't think up until they very end that either of them believed Luke, who'd been a Jedi for all of five minutes, would be able to beat both of them. And, really, if Vader hadn't had a change of heart at the last minute it would have worked.

Answer 6

Wouldn't Vader let Luke slide by to Dagobah to train with Yoda, and pursue an easier target like the falcon, capture his friends ensuring that Luke would seek them out (in his/Vader's possession) but as a fully trained Jedi like Vader was prior to his turn to the dark side. So could the Emperors/Vader's thinking be, you are so similar to your father and he made the switch to the dark side why wouldn't you, and so if successful, if Luke had turned they would get a full jedi who would make a greater prize for the emperor and a formidable ally for the dark side not to mention they would then have Yoda's location (though they wouldn't know that he had passed away).

Answer 7

Directly pursuing the X-Wing is difficult and poses risks because Vader is interested in capturing Luke, not obliterating him. After all, the X-Wing is presumably much smaller and more fragile than the Falcon. And unless Vader can wield a tractor beam, it would not be easy to disable and capture Luke's fighter. A lot can go wrong here.

On the other hand, Vader cares very little about the Millenium Falcon's passengers compared to Luke, and their destruction would not necessarily make it impossible to use them as a lure for Luke. We all know that such a plan would have worked out very well. After all, it can be much easier to make the prey willingly come to its demise than hunting for it.