Lit SOS: Save Our Skywalker, Luke Skywalker (v4)

That's an okay view to have! Works should always be subject to criticism. But I think it's important, now more than ever, to recognize that a legacy is a complicated thing! It very well may die for a time, only to come again later. It's not the fault of the older generation if a new one goes off course, if anything, that's a time to be inspired by the example others have set. And it's hard to get more inspirational than Luke Skywalker!

I also agree with statements that the new canon changes, namely, the removal of Dark Empire's clone Emperor (though I love the first volume still), and the significant buff to Vader's legacy of a walking death machine and the Death Star, has only made the accomplishments of the OT crew even more impressive.

 

re: Thanksgiving

I have to admit, this year I'm amazed any of you had a good time given what 2016 has been like. This sums it up accurately:

 

I'm pretty sure JJ and Driver's lines have been blown out of proportion. Han and Leia are no more to blame than Luke is.

All we know is that by Bloodline, Ben's been gone for seemingly quite a while. And that's four years pre-TFA.

 

Well, we know they're gone in Bloodline but I don't recall much beyond that, including any definitive timespan.

 

True, but it implied, I think, that it had been some time since Leia had seen Ben–but at the same time, not since he was a toddler, or anything; it was recent enough that he was fairly grown, but long enough ago that she hadn't talked to him in quite some time.

 

True, but I still think we're in for a long year of them hedging their bets in this area.

 

There's sort of an ongoing war between new fans who have no attachment to the OT characters who want to blame Han, Leia and Luke and woobify Kylo for his eventual redemption (and marriage to Rey) and fans of the OT who don't want to see their beloved heroes sacrificed for a redemption storyline. I'm hoping for the latter, but honestly I don't have a ton of trust in JJ after his comments.

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It was left deliberately vague, though the impression I got was that it had happened recently (within the last 5 years) given Leia's comments on how much she missed Ben being in her life. But we'll see - I doubt Claudia Gray even knew when she was writing the book.

I find it interesting how Kylo hates Han so much and considers him a disappointment as a father but we know very little of his relationship with Luke. If Ben had been sent away quite young, Luke would have essentially been a second father to him and have just as strong a bond as Ben would have had with his parents.

 

Hey ChildOfWinds, JediBen, unicorn, Revanfan1

My take on the subject of Kylo Ren is that he's actually a pretty good argument for the whole "no-attachments" thing in the context that everything we've heard about him indicates he just wasn't Jedi MaterialTM from more or less birth.

Given the way he's described, I get the impression he was unstable, emotional, full of self-doubts, and angry. Everything we've seen about Kylo Ren indicates he was basically a moody and irresponsible individual much like Anakin Skywalker was at his age but we don't have the excuse of being raised from childhood onward to make up for it.

I get the impression Kylo Ren may have been a person who could have been a great Jedi if he'd had a chance to mature into a responsible young man without the Jedi training and expectations of greatness which got passed down on him by the galaxy as a whole. I don't think Kylo Ren was a child when he was taken by Snoke and the First Order or our heroes would have gone after him to rescue him.

Instead, I get the idea Kylo Ren was a very young adult, probably Luke Skywalker's age (18-19) who happened to join with the First Order and commit his war crimes early. Much like Anakin and Luke, Kylo Ren is on an "Anti-Heroes' Journey" or Villain's Journey which is about him developing into the monster he thinks he should be.
I don't think he's a product of bad parenting but I think he's a guy who desperately wanted to matter and it didn't matter how he mattered as long as he did. To use a perhaps offensive real life analogy, he's like John Walker Lindh.

Which is terrible to happen to our heroes but not their fault.

 

Good post and I agree with a lot of what you said about Kylo Ren - I don't think it was that Han/Leia/Luke were poor parents/guardians, but that he suffered from insecurity being the descendant of heroes and thought Luke was holding him back. He believed his birthright made him superior to all other beings (according to the Visual Dictionary) which I can see Luke having disagreements with him on, and Snoke seduced him with the promise that HE would train him to be the most powerful Force user in the galaxy.

I don't think he went over to the First Order around 18-19 though, since he's around 23 in Bloodline and still training with Luke.

 

Hi, C! Welcome back! Hope all is well with you.

I agree with most of what you said in your post, though i don't think that Ben was sent to Luke all that early in his life. Leia Said in TFA that she sent him to Luke when he started to show some darkish tendencies. So it wasn't early Jedi training that caused his problems. He already had them before he started Jedi training. I think he was definitely far too unstable. But he also seems to like power.

I hope they're not trying to confirm that attachments for Jedi is a bad thing. I still disagree with that concept, and we already saw that the love of a son for his father and a father for his son was what brought Anakin back to the Light and brought down an emperor.

unicorn, it's true that kylo was still with Luke at about 23, but I kind of wonder if maybe he wasn't already somewhat under the sway of Snoke, but was trying to keep that from Luke while looking for an opening to betray him and his Jedi order.

 

http://starwarsreporter.com/2016/04/20/luke-skywalker-hero-time/

 

I had totally missed this, so apologies if this was posted before. But this is a really good webcomic available to read in its entirety for free! Star Wars drawn by Hong Jac Ga tells the story from Luke's perspective, but it has some cool extra details, original moments, and some nice links back to the prequels that aren't too intrusive.

 

Link to the webcomic?

 

My biggest hope for the new Trilogy is this:

* Luke spends all of Episode VIII training her
* Luke and Rey team up yo defeat Snoke, albeit Luke gets incapacitated at some point
* Kylo Ren is redeemed in some way
* Luke survives

I'd also like confirmation Luke had a wife and children at one point plus possibly Jedi student survivors.

I would like to see Luke playing the role of the grumpy old mentor in the Nu Canon. He could teach at the Jedi Academy while Rey can adventure so we don't need her bogged down finding new Jedi or training them while Luke can enjoy his retirement.

 

It comes up right away on Google, but here's the direct link.

http://www.webtoons.com/en/sf/starwars/list?title_no=544&page=4

 

i never meant that the galaxy was better off without Luke. He did great things in his youth. But his LIFE seems wasted now especially compared to his exploits in the eu. His new backstory is freaking sad.

 

Charlemagne19 why would Lue retire at such a young age. His character is only 53 right now.

 

Because he deserves peace and quiet?

 

Charlemagne19 are you a long term member here? or do I know you from Star Wars.com?? anyway I want to see more stories for Luke , considering his past sucks. So peace and quiet isn't fun to read.

 

I've been here for probably....Jesus, 17 years.

As for Luke, I think he should always be a big part of Star Wars but I do think he'd work better as an EMOTIONAL supporting character.

 

Charlemagne19 what do you mean by an emotional character?? Luke is like 20 some years or so younger than Dooku, and he was in the middle of the action. Luke should be too. Luke is Star Wars. He is one of the few true heroes of Star Wars lore.

 

What I mean is that we've seen Luke in hundreds of actual battles and it'd be cool to see him as a figure who is explored as a character primarily rather than an adventurer in Star Wars: The Force Awakens era. There's plenty of time until then for him to be a Jedi Knight.

I think he'd be better as a giver of wisdom then.

And Dooku was a Dark Sider so his slaughtering people left and right isn't really a good thing.

 

no he has been in a few battles. the other hundred battles are no longer canon, and our new canon is epic fail for the big three backstory

 

How do you figure?

Luke in this reality has his own comic book series and is still the guy who brought down the Death Star and other sources. I'm fairly sure we're going to get plenty of new stories too. I think it's good he gets to move on from a life of violence Post-ROJ, though.

 

which stories? stories of a doomed jedi order that is destined to die, or the stories where he was exiled for 6 or 7 years? I don't see lots of stories here, except tragic ones. so we need great stories NOW before his legacy dries up. I get you want to see him go out on in peace, but most of his prime is wasted, and NOT found on film, comic, tv, or novel now.