CT Did Luke fulfill his destiny, or should have done more?

I have been a Star Wars fan since 1977, though I have never taken part in this kind of forum or read any of the extra books, fanfiction, etc. I’m just an ordinary movie goer who would like to respectfully solicit opinions about something that has always bothered me since I first saw TESB in 1980. Of course there was no Internet at the time, and I couldn’t talk to anyone but my friends – they didn’t seem to care very much, I recall. But the question returned to my mind recently when reading all the criticism of plotholes in TLJ.

Since you all are more knowledgeable than I am, and have thought more about the intricacies of the Star Wars universe, I would love to hear your opinions on what seems, at least to me, like a major inconsistency (you could call it a plothole) in the older films. Believe me, there’s nothing I would like better than to have it cleared up or explained, and to be given further reason to admire the original movies even more than I already do.

Here it is: It seems to me that Luke fails to live up to all the hype about his “destiny,” especially in TESB and ROTJ.

Throughout TESB (which has always been my favorite, especially because of the relationship between Luke and Yoda), I kept thinking all that training was going to result in Luke saving the Rebellion, if not the universe. But his friends ended up doing everything, and all he did was search his soul. It seemed to me he didn’t really accomplish anything – though the movie was very exciting, and I loved the Big Reveal that Darth Vader was his father. I also loved the end, when he hung helpless from that aerial thingy, and Leia felt his presence (“WTF, she can use the Force, too??”) and rescued him.

“Ah,” I said to myself, “In the next movie, he’ll show why all the fuss has been made about him. In the next movie, he’ll save the universe.” But in the next movie, his friends did everything again! Again, all he did was navel-gaze. It seemed they almost didn’t even need the Force, because Han Solo and Leia were doing a pretty good job of destroying the Empire without the Force.

I told myself there must be some use in Luke’s tortured navel-gazing. For example, 1) maybe he DISTRACTED the Emperor at the crucial moment -- otherwise the Emperor would have been more on top of things and would have foiled Han's strike team. 2) Also, the Emperor might have evacuated, had he not been distracted. 3) Luke did his part in resisting the Dark Side. If he’d turned to the Dark Side, he himself would have been smart enough to foil Han’s strike team and keep the Empire from being destroyed, right? . . . or at the very least, he and his father would have escaped together and ultimately been unstoppable, much stronger than the Emperor ever was.

Okay, all of this makes sense, but I expected Luke to exhibit more POSITIVE power – to do big good things, not just to resist doing big bad things. I thought he was going to be THE ONE. The movies constantly gave the message that he was some kind of special guy, almost a messiah figure.

“Well,” I told myself, “They say there are going to be more movies. Maybe after these prequels, they’ll go back to making movies about Luke, and eventually he’ll end up saving the universe . . . ”

Do you think the movies made a mistake to put such an emphasis on Luke’s “destiny”? It seems he should have done at least one very obvious crucial thing to bring the bad guys crashing down. I wouldn’t have wanted him to do it all by himself, certainly, but shouldn’t he at least have contributed more, after all the build-up?

Please let me know your thoughts! I have always loved Star Wars and consider Luke to be the heart and soul of the stories, and not just because I had a teenage crush on him. I saw the first movie (we just called it “Star Wars”) at age 10 on the massive screen of the old Cooper Theater in Denver. I still remember how the line wrapped all the way around the theater. I saw it four times there.

 

Luke's arc was more spiritual and bigger than the Empire v Rebellion. It was about the Force and his place in the prophecy of the chosen one. By seeing the conflict within Vader, he was able to ultimately bring Anakin back to the light, who then destroyed the Sith.

Had the throne room confrontation not occurred, the Emperor and Vader would've been more engaged in the battle of Endor. You could also look at it from a spiritual point of view and suggest that once Vader was defeated and the Emperor was over-excited at the prospect of a new apprentice, the Imperial forces started to lose their mojo, giving the Rebels the opening they needed to win the battle.

 

Luke's destiny is determined by his actions, whether the Force is interfering or not, so no matter what he does he fulfills his destiny.

If Luke hadn't tried to reason with Vader, Vader would have been far less likely to openly turn against Palpatine at that stage. Like the Beast in the Disney film, his will to live was re-sparked by the presence of one he loved, in this case his son. Hope that's a more direct answer to OP's question, though I hold true to my sentence at the top of my post.

 

Welcome to the Jedi Council Forums, Amy.

I rather think Lucas deliberately misled our expectations, so that we all got the great opportunity to be surprised and thrilled by the final outcome (I for one love story twists and unexpected story turns).

Now, originally the subtitle of the OT (before the prequels) was "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker" and the way I see it that adventure mostly consisted of Luke growing from an irresponsible, naive moisture farm teenager to a responsible adult, who ultimately won't do what he is being told but what he believes to be the right thing to do.

He screws up in ESB - being no match for Vader, yet - but ultimately resumes responsibility for his own actions, i.e. he will rather kill himself than to join Vader (no matter how tempting that is) and "destroy all for which his friends have fought and suffered" (Yoda's prediction).

Then we got ROJ. Despite what Yoda and Obi-Wan said, Luke tried to reason with his father and made an honest attempt to save him, but accepted the alternative that he'd keep Vader and the Emperor busy and distracted long enough for them to perish in the destruction of the second Death Star.
Again he put the greater good and what his friends had fought for before his own interests and his personal well-being, and ultimately that turned out what truly saved the day, his father and - of course - himself.

I for one lack the imagination to picture a better or more satisfying conclusion than the one we got. I also believe it appeals strongly to our own subconsciousness and has ultimately contributed to the cult status the Original Trilogy still enjoys after all that time.

 

Blowing up the Death Star...
Leading Rogue Squadron...so the Rebels can escape Hoth.
Redeeming his father... (Who in turn assassinates the worst guy in the galaxy)
Becoming a Jedi...
Being a lead figure in the destruction of the Empire and Restoration of the Republic...

 

Yeah, I think being the only person in the galaxy willing to take on Darth Vader is pretty badass lol. And, he defeated him, could have killed him but instead had mercy. Which turned the tide of the Empire because by doing that, Vader in turn killed the Emperor. That right there changed the destiny of the whole galaxy. He also of course as stated above, destroyed the Death Star (using the Force) which no doubt saved billions of people right there and set the Empire back hugely in weapons capabality and technology. He saved both Han and Leia, had he not done that they wouldn't have been around to help the rebels and that would have been a unrecoverable blow. He was also a fearless fighter pilot, figuring out the way to bring down the walkers for example, he lead by being right out front, not behind the scenes. He also, against all odds, became a freakin' Jedi.

And did it all while being the kindest, gentlest soul in the galaxy, one who was even kind to droids before it was cool lol.

I admit it is disappointing to have never had movies where we see him in his prime as a Jedi, as that all would have taken place between ROTJ and TFA. But that's okay, I guess that's what imagination is for lol.

 

Bingo. Our past actions are usually the what we’re known for. It’s pretty hard for musicians, for example, to recapture the iconic quality of their original works. They’re ingrained into our psyche and have become legends. Paul McCartney has done many albums as a solo artist but he’s always going to be a Beatle. After ROTJ it seems Luke was adored by the Rebels, as he should have been. But peace time also equaled fewer opportunities for him to strut his stuff, as it were. The Ben Solo incident was a failure, but his legend endures.

 

To respond to this we need to go back a bit and look at the life of Lukes father Anakin Skywalker and why the Force created him.

Over time, both the Jedi and the Sith had defied the will of the Force. The sith by using it for personal gain and power and the Jedi by defining their actions in the context of Republic politics and an allegiance to the will of a government and its people as opposed to the will of the Force. The Jedi interpreted balance as the destruction of darkness and Evil. The Sith version of the prophesy of the Chosen One is a bit less clear as we see things mainly thru the lens of the Jedi but it is clear that it involved the complete annihilation of the Jedi Order and the rise of he Sith to control the galaxy.

In order to return to a state of true balance, not perceived balance as seen by one side or the other, Anakin was created. In his twenties Anakin was the catalyst that wiped out virtually the entire Jedi Order. Later, because of the connection between he and Luke as father and son, Anakin, freed from the bubble of self loathing sadness and fear that was Darth Vader killed Palpatine and then himself died. With Yoda and Obi Wan also having died, there was a period of true balance as both Jedi and Sith had both been annihilated.

If Luke had simply walked away at that point one could make the case that he had fulfilled his destiny.

But -

In listening to Yodas request to pass on what he had learned, Luke set a chain of events in motion that would lead to his nephew turning to darkness , the rise of the First Order and the conflict between the N O and the Resistance. So, as once Luke had help create balance, he then wound up upsetting that balance. and causing the Force to create Rey to again bring balance to the galaxy.

As of now I would argue that Luke did not fufil his destiny, but perhaps, now as a Force Ghost, this could very well change.

On a side note - could this be why Rey is a bit "supercharged" in her abilities. From the time he was a child Anakin was manipulated by both sides to take advantage of his powers. In part, this was done thru constant exposure to a specific set of Teachings on one side and a fatherly mentor like presence from the other side. To short circuit this occurring again I think that Obi Wan, Qui Gon, Yoda and Anakin directly intervened in Reys birth by implanting her abilities directly into her DNA.

 

He was still young at the end of ROTJ.