ST Luke's hand

My thoughts exactly.

 

It was clearly a call back to the PT. Ani had a metal unfleshed robot hand that he later gloved. Now Luke haves an ungloved metal robot hand unfleshed.

I'm sure this is Luke's second robot hand after his first was damaged in ROTJ.

 

What's the big deal about the hand ? It's a prosthetic, Luke can change it as often as he wants. (and we know his former hand already needed repair/replacement at the end of RotJ).

Also, i can understand why Luke would choose a mechanical design over a fleshy one : it serves him as a reminder. During his final confrontation with his father, it's it's thanks to his mechanical hand that realized he was on his way to become a new Vader. That sudden realization made him stop and regain his composure, preventing him from falling to the dark side...

 

Obviously Luke was dropped from the Resistance Health insurance policy when he ran away. Medicare doesn't cover fancy synthetic flesh hands.

Or, ya know, powerful reminder of his father and such...

 

In-story reason-Perhaps he just stopped caring about surface aesthetics like that? Or, as other people have already said, he keeps it uncovered as a reminder of the time that he once flirted with the Dark Side himself and nearly became like his father? OR, he's accepted that he (like everyone) has "darkness" within him and that that'll never go away (which fits into the "shades of grey" idea that's been floated around)?

Out of story reason-It's a visual cue for the audience. If you're familiar with the previous films, then when you see a guy wearing Jedi robes/a cloak, with a cybernetic hand, and touching R2, then you'll likely immediately think Luke. And if you're not familiar with the other films, then you'll see that shot in Rey's visions, wonder who that guy is, and then when Luke shows up at the end, it'll be a "reveal" for you.

 

I remember when I saw the trailer in which Luke put his (mechanical) hand on Artoo, I wasn't sure if it was him or not. But then again, even the tan looking jacket he was wearing in that shot threw me for a loop lol

So I sat down and thought, in my infinite wisdom, that I've never actually seen it without the synthetic skin. It's probably the same hand he's had ever since Vader cut his birth one off heh

 

I think it's because after seclusion he came to the decision not to hide who he really is. To embrace his past and the mistakes (that's a whole other discussion, if he did make mistakes) he made and to accept who he really is.

 

I would tend to agree with this. He felt responsible, just as I would (and probably anyone else here). I definitely like the way you put it "embrace his past mistakes"... there's probably a high degree of truth to that, so it's a good guess.