Characters You Can Take the Farmboy Off The Farm... (Luke Skywalker Characterization)

::sneaks in::

I personally think that Luke had a great childhood...or as great as someone living on Tatooine could have. Most likely the youngest of the group of kids...the one who was teased, picked on, but still well treated because of who his best friend was. I don't think Owen was...abusive...maybe a little more harsher than we would be used to, but they did live in the middle of a hostile desert, and he was afraid that Luke would turn out to be just like his father, which is in all reality, not a good thing. Probably not the most exciting life...I bet his most exciting moment up until leaving with Han and Ben was...getting to go to Tosche Station to pick up those power converters.

 

Yeah, why else do you think he whined so passionately about it?

 

I think Owen loved Luke a lot, so much so that he was scared kriffless that if he didn't protect Luke from Obi-Wan and from Luke's own longing for adventure that he would lose him.

Owen wanted Luke to stay on the farm where it was safe, not go on some damn fool idealistic crusade where he'd run the risk of getting killed, and especially not to become a Jedi and be hunted by the Empire.

Whatever the reason why Owen and Beru did not have any children of their own it meant that Luke was the closest thing to a son they had and after losing his step-mother to Tuskens and his step-brother to his adventuring (assuming Owen doesn't know Anakin's fate) Owen would have good reason to be harsh on Luke to try to instill the same dedication to working on the farm as he had. Owen would rather break Luke's spirit a little than risk someone else breaking Luke's bones and body.

The problem is that Owen just doesn't understand Luke's dreaming and restlessness, which happens sometimes even where it is a parent and child rather than adopted.

 

ThePariah: YES! Exactly. I mean...come on, if there was something better out there, wouldn't he whine about that?

 

I could not ever see Owen as an abusive, mostly for Pariah's reasons, but remember that he also spent a considerable amount of his formative years in the care of Shmi. So I'd say that there's a good chance that he and Anakin would have been very similar in their ways of coping if Anakin hadn't had such anger issues. I could definitely see a bit of what might have been in the way Anakin/Owen related in AOTC. Apart from that, I would be stern if I had the son of a Sith having adolescent angst around my hard work. I think Luke learned discipline very well, but compassion from Aunt Beru.

 

Owen and Luke were like Red and Eric Foreman.


"How'd you like to wear your ass for a hat?"

"Dad, I don't think that's possible..."

"Well, we'll find out together, won't we?"

 

I think Owen loved Luke a lot, so much so that he was scared kriffless that if he didn't protect Luke from Obi-Wan and from Luke's own longing for adventure that he would lose him.

Exactly. I agree with _JM_'s entire post word for word, but most especially that part. Couldn't have said it better myself, _JM_. I think it's more than obvious that Owen cares. Remember Owen and Beru's conversation in ANH?

"Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He's got too much of his father in him."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

What has Owen to be afraid of unless he deeply loves Luke and wants to protect him from Anakin's fate - whatever he believes that to be?

 

I kinda see their relationship kinda like my mom's and mine,

Owen is worried about the money issues and I'm sure Luke heard from the age of 6 that if he wanted to go to college or anything after highschool he's have to pay for it himself, but that the farm came first and that he had better do his chores or there'd be hell to pay.

I'm sure that Luke got trained to the point where a harsh word, or a word spoken in a slightly lower tone was the same as being yelled at to him.

Beru took more of my dad's spot, Luke could talk to her, confide in her and just go on walks or work on the vaporators with her and let out all his frustration with Owen to a sypethetic ear. All the while knowing the Owen did love and care for him, just that his overbearing nature was the way he showed it.

And Yes I do thing that Owen and Beru knew about Anakin. Obviously they told Luke that he was a Pilot on a Spice freighter (Spice??? Anakin smuggling drugs? how's that better than a Jedi???? but then this is Tattoine. . .) so they knew enough to cover up and try to divert his attention away from his father. I'm sure growing up in a house and having all questions about your parents diverted would cause some animosity. . .

 

I thought it was space. It always made me want to go "hello, if they weren't in space..."

 

I agree Luke's childhood would have been relatively happy and that Owen and Beru cared for him a great deal, but I do think that Luke would have suffered quite a lot due to the differences between him and his guardians. Also there is the whole aspect of wondering about his parents, and never really having his questions answered...

I think too that Owen and Beru were fearful both for him and to a degree of him -- i.e. that he had the same potential as Anakin for good or for evil. And kids tend to pick up things like that in the atmosphere around them, even (especially?) if they're things that are never actually spoken. So that would have had an effect on Luke as well.

I loved those challenge fics, btw.

 

Actually I expect there are non-space freighters as well, I think there would be commodities that would need to be transported between places on the same planet in enough bulk to make it worth having ships, which to Luke would be even more boring.

Checking the ANH novelisation DarthIshtar is correct, it is SPACE rather than SPICE which is fortunate as Han has proved being a drugs smuggler is exciting.

I was going to say that I?m not sure that Owen and Beru did know Anakin?s fate as if you were trying to dissuade an adventure seeking Luke from wanting to emulate his father it would be better to say his father had been a freighter navigator, which sounds more boring, than to say he was a Jedi Knight who led troops and starfighters into battle.

When I checked the ANH novelisation I found that was actually what it implied, so either I was thinking along the same lines or I just remembered:

- - - - - - - - - - - -

?...I was a Jedi Knight once. Like,? he added watching the youth appraisingly, ?your father.?

?A Jedi Knight,? Luke echoed. Then he looked confused. ?But my father didn?t fight in the Clone Wars. He was no knight - just a navigator on a space freighter.?

Kenobi?s smile enfolded the pipe?s mouthpiece. ?Or so your uncle has told you.? His attention was suddenly focussed elsewhere. ?Owen Lars didn?t agree with your father?s ideas, opinions, or with his philosophy of life. He believed that your father should have stayed here on Tatooine and not gotten involved in...? Again the seemingly indifferent shrug. ?Well he thought he should have remained here and minded his farming.?

Luke said nothing, his body tense as the old man related bits and pieces of a personal history Luke had viewed only though his uncle?s distortions.

?Owen was always afraid that your father?s adventurous life might influence you, might pull you away from Anchorhead.? He shook his head slowly, regretfully at the remembrance. ?I?m afraid there wasn?t much of the farmer in your father.?

 

Owen was definitely overprotective. I always saw him as a worried guardian. He cared deeply for Luke, but would never allow himself to get too close. He had to be aloof (in his opinion) to remain objective. I don't imagine he and Luke were very close, but I doubt there was anything less than loving between them.

Whether Owen and Beru knew about Anakin is debateable, they may have just thought he died, but either way that isn't a fate they would have wanted for their nephew.

 

eh I heard it wrong early on and let that view stay. . either that or I just remembered it wrong for a momment. . sorry

 

I see Owen as a very reserved man who cared deeply for Beru and Luke but didn't know how to express himself very well. I think he and Beru did their best to give Luke a good upbringing, but I'm sure there was plenty of friction between him and Luke just because their personalities were so different and perhaps Luke's wanderlust and love of adventure was just too hard for Owen to understand.

 

Thanks for upping this, LP...I thought this nice thread had tragically gone and died in its youth.

 

As I see it, Owen and Beru where trying to be the best guardians they could be. They knew what happened to Anakin and Padmé and so I think Owen wanted to guard Luke from that knowlegde. Therefore he had a very happy childhood which makes it hard for me to write fiction based on his childhood because, frankly, I can't write very good "happy" stories. They just don't go anywhere.

Or at least that's what I think.

 

*bumps thread* If I may suggest a challenge?

A scene in which Owen and Beru take care of a young Luke Skywalker. I'd be curious to see the various antics a Force-strong little boy would come up with and the measures his guardians would have to take to keep things under control.

 

Thanks a lot vader_incarnate. A vicious plot bunny just bit me... HARD!

 

Nice one, Elli!

 

*laughs* If it's any consolation, that one's been bugging me for a while. I have this image of a little boy tricking his guardian(s) with the classic Jedi mindtrick that just won't go away.


I think Beru and Owen must have done a really good job bringing up the boy, especially in dealing with a Force-sensitive child. I mean whoa -- even if Luke was a relatively demure child, there's something that has to be said for being able to deal with objects randomly floating around the house during a Force-sensitive temper tantrum or whatever. *off the top of my head example*

 

Hey, guys, there's still a challenge going on! Write a vignette in which Owen and Beru take care of a baby/very young Luke.

 

Darn plot bunnies. And you guys are just making them multiply....

 

I had been writing a young Luke story (he's four in my story). Hmmm... Wonder if I should keep going? It would be more than one post, probably three or so. I guess that doesn't meet the criteria, though.

Very cool thread. I'm in a Luke kinda mood.

 

Hee! I'm always in a Lukie mood.

As long as it's got Owen and Beru taking care of Luke, I don't see why it wouldn't meet the criteria.