Lit SOS: Save Our Skywalker, Luke Skywalker (v3)

The RoTJ novel does hint that the Emperor's been making use of the Dark Side in a similar (maybe more subtle) way - and with his death - it's been diffused:

For the first time, the Death Star rocked. The collision with the exploding destroyer was only the beginning, leading to various systems breakdowns, which led to reactor meltdowns, which led to personnel panic, abandonment of posts, further malfunctions, and general chaos.
Smoke was everywhere, substantial rumblings came from all directions at once, people were running and shouting. Electrical fires, steam explosions, cabin depressurizations, disruption of chain-of-command. Added to this, the continued bombardments by Rebel Cruisers—smelling fear in the enemy—merely heightened the sense of hysteria that was already pervasive.
For the Emperor was dead. The central, powerful evil that had been the cohesive force to the Empire was gone; and when the dark side was this diffused, this nondirected - this was simply where it led.
Confusion.
Desperation.
Damp fear.

 

Yeah but come on if Tarkin is the average representation of a high ranking Moff, then Palps alone is not exactly what is making them evil a**holes.

 

But that quote doesn't argue for such an either-or structure - you can still be an utter git but while the Emperor lived he propelled you, without you even picking up on it, into super-git territory! Now he's dead and you're back to being the standard evil git you always chose to be, which includes working on a planet-killing moon-sized battle station!

 

So because the Emperor is dead instead of carving out a Duchy you are going to instead lay down ur weapons and surrender because now your just a standard evil git, seems unlikely to me.

 

But that didn't happen, did it?

What did happen, albeit now in a legendary manner, is the Imperial Fleet fought on - really, really badly! I mean, an A-wing crashing the Executor command deck should not have been enough to take out the entire ship, were there no secondary control centres for such an eventuality? Thrawn's HTTE critique has a real edge to it.

And, in legendary fashion, as soon as it became clear the Emperor was dead, quite a few warlords did precisely what you said - decided to grab their own piece of the galaxy - Zsinj, Teradoc etc.

 

Matt Skywalker :

I hope Luke doesn't have a beard in the ST.

I heard that picture was from his daughter's graduation. This was a picture of his wife, daughter, one of his sons, and him . Someone edited out the rest of the family, I guess.








Iron_lord :

Well, they tried, and since Zahn wrote that defense for the kids, he should be blaming himself for not coming up with a better plan for Luke to use to guard the kids. AND, I still say that it's primarily the parents job to keep their kids safe.








Alixen :

So, what do you think that Luke was doing for 30 or 35 years if he didn't start the Jedi Order and didn't have a family????? I don't see Luke sitting around meditating for 3 decades! What good would THAT do??? And if Han and Leia had the time to be actively involved in the galaxy and still have a family, why can't the same be true for Luke???

It 's not the 'bloodline' that I care about ; it's LUKE. I want Luke to know the joy of having a family, and I want to be able to follow Luke's kid/kids in future books and films when Luke is no longer around. Just having Solos wouldn't be the same for me at all. I want to see the Skywalker and Solo cousins working together on future problems, and I want to see them involved in adventures together. I don't think it would be the same without having a Skywalker in both name and blood in the future stories.

Did we know everything about Luke and Obi-wan when we met them in A New Hope??? That's part of the fun: wondering about what happened during those 30 to 35 years between RotJ and VotF. The characters obviously didn't just stagnate. Plenty of important events will have transpired. Why not have Luke meet a girl, marry, and have a kid as some of those events? If you graduate from high school at age 18 and then go to a reunion 25 years later, do you expect everyone to be the same and to remain single?

It's not like we would never get to go back and fill in those years between Episodes VI and VII. We know that Disney is planning many more films, spin-offs, and TV shows. I'm sure they are planning books too. I'm fairly certain that we will find out what happened to Luke, Leia, and Han during those years. We can find out how Luke met his wife and see or read about the birth of his kid/kiids. I truly don't see the problem in Luke having married off-camera during those 30 plus years. Life continues. How he met his wife wouldn't be important to Episode VII, but it certainly be something I would want to see in a future film. That could be a "hook" to get folks to go to a spin-off film someday.

We don't know what the new Jedi Order would be like. It might very well be what you describe above. However, I will be VERY disappointed if Luke hasn't started the new Order by the time we meet him in Episode VII. I don't expect it to be big, but I do think that Luke would have followed Yoda's commission to "pass on what you have learned". Plus, Luke is the LAST Jedi. If he dies before the Order is restored, the Jedi will become extinct. I would think that this responsibility would weigh heavily on a duty-driven Luke. I can't imagine that he wouldn't have started to train others, and sooner, rather than later, knowing that his life is precarious in a dangerous galaxy in which he is a primary player.

For a short time, to complete a given mission, yes. For 35 YEARS???? I would certainly hope not! And I would hope that now that he knows he has a sister, that he would tell her where he was. In the other films, he didn't know he had a sister. Notice that when he did find out about Leia, he TOLD her where he was going when he went to try to save their father.








JediMatteus :

Actually, I think I pretty much would be done too if they make Luke someone who has done absolutely nothing for 30 or more years!








DarthJenari :

I agree!







Jedi Ben :

EXACTLY!!!








Matt Skywalker:

That's a good point, MS. Unfortunately, it's sort of like a train wreck. It's hard NOT to look even though you know you shouldn't.








Force Smuggler

yep!

That's the way I feel too. And, I don't think it should just be Han Solo that gets that "substantial" role. Luke, especially, should play a pivotal role, in my opinion. He should have some decent screentime too. He shouldn't just be the "destination" that the other characters are headed to find. I don't want him to show up in the last ten minutes and that's it.








Skaddix :

That's an EXCELLENT point! There won't be much material for books, comics, TV shows, or films between Episodes VI and VII if Luke, Leia, and Han haven't been doing anything for 30 years and have just remained in one place for the duration!








Alixen:

The scrawl doesn't have to include everything that has happened for 30 years. It only needs to include what is important information for Episode VII. As I said, the rest can be filled in with films, books, comics, TV shows, etc., later.

 

Opening scrawl of Ep 7

It is 30 years after the Battle of Endor.
Lots of crap happened that you don't need to know about.
Now shut the hell up and watch the film!

 

LOL! Love it, JB!!!!

Seriously though, I don't think they need to say much more than that it takes place 30 years after Endor. If there is a piece of information that's necessary to the story, then, by all means put that into the crawl too, but we'll find out plenty during the course of the film, and what Episode VII doesn't cover we'll find out later in a film, book, or TV show that takes place between Episode VI and VII, like when Luke started training Jedi; when Han and Leia married; when and how Luke met his future wife (hopefully!), etc.

 

I think Mark would look good with a beard.

 

I prefer him without a beard.

 

No offense, but you seem to have heavily cherry picked my post for these lines you have responded to.

...who says there was ever opportunity to rebuild the Jedi properly? For all we know, the Empire is still going strong under new leadership, and there has never been enough peace to settle down and actually found an academy/temple. We simply don't know.

And

I can very much imagine Luke making it a much more personal and less 'structured' thing, as that was how he learned. From the hermit in the desert and the hermit in the swamps. I can very much see him, in an alternate timeline (which is simply how I perceive the two universes now, same as I always viewed Tales and Infinities) spending time teaching his nice/nephew(or son, since we just don't know yet), and from there onwards it spider-webs outwards. He is first of the new, but that doesn't make him the Yoda of the new Jedi Order. He can be the foundational stone well enough, and the actual task of rebuilding can take as long as it takes, on the shoulders of the youngsters. If it is ever to return to how it was. Luke was always very proactive, and I don't see that changing.To quote Owen... he has too much of his father in him.

These are one potential option for why the order might not have be rebuilt, and what he was doing without being shut away meditating. I never suggested he would do that. In the end, thirty years isn't actually all that long a time, especially not to win a galactic scale war, set up a new government, and then train new Jedi. Remember, Obi-Wan was still a padawan at age 25, and this wasn't especially unusual. Luke became a 'knight' when he had roughly the practical training of an apprentice. He just had the bonus of being forged in war and natural talent like his father, who was akin to a master as a padawan.

That's fair, and i'm not against it myself. I'd very much like to see future Skywalkers. But the reality is we don't know, and (likely) nor do the people throwing out theories on the Ep7 forums.

Upon the theatrical release? Of course not, it was the beginning of Star Wars. Now? Yes, we did/do. Obi-Wan was raised in the Jedi temple, apprenticed to Qui-Gon Jinn, apprentice of Dooku, who was apprenticed to Yoda. On a routine mission, blah blah through to RotS and into ANH. Luke was raised as a moisture farmer, and is a very young character, thus generally excusing not following every detail of his life to that point.

On the second point, thats not really the best analogy. You aren't avidly following the exploits of Tandy Miller, class of '90. These are films that (now) have been woven in such a way they generally show important character events on screen, and when they don't, you get Luke sat down and a quick backstory for the watcher from Obi-Wan. One of the oldest tricks in storytelling; filling in the clueless hero/oine as well as the reader at the same time. I can't think of a single couple from the saga that got together offscreen. Even Owen and Beru were introduced through Anakin's mother, and as boyfriend and girlfriend.

I don't fully disagree with you, they probably could pull it off, but they might just prefer to dodge the potential bullet of doing it badly. And tell me straight out that some of the fanbase wouldn't be against the new wife and child from the start, on behalf of Mara and Ben? Aren't these fans and their own expectations just as important as me and you when it comes to crafting the story? I'm happy either way, personally, and i'm just waiting for the films. I haven't even ventured near the new films forum.

It would also be problematic flow wise to give him a wife and child, I have to admit, looking at it from the angle of a films only view. 'Fade out, Luke has seen his father kill the Emperor, and is a young Jedi hero...!' 'Fade in, Luke is a middle aged man, and here is his middle aged wife, and adult son whom we know nothing about due to the thirty year gap in between films!' It just wouldn't flow well. It would be like jumping from AotC to RotJ. Huh? This Luke is Anakin's son? Leia is his daughter? How did Anakin become Vader and end up in that suit? Wow, what happened to the Palpatine's face?

At best it would be a 'Lando in Han's clothes' moment. It would need a heavy duty flashback or ten to explain, and SW has never been one for flashbacks. For those of us who enjoy the EU? Within the decade i'm sure very one of those years will be meticulously mapped and explored, and his wife and child deeply loved characters. But on their, or the wife at least, introduction it will be a little strange. We saw Anakin and Padme 'grow'. We saw Han and Liea fall in love. Luke? When last we saw him he was a young and unattached Jedi and pilot.

From my previous post. I think such thinks are very important to establish before the film starts, because the last thing a director wants is the viewer puzzling over new additions and changes when he is trying to envelop them into a story. At the end of TPM, you saw Anakin become a padawan, and AotC opens with him as an older padawan, quickly leading into a reintroduction to Padme, an affirmation that Palpatine has kept an eye on Anakin, and that he is having troubling dreams about his mother.

AotC ends with him getting a new hand, the Clone Wars starting and so forth. RotS starts with the closing of the CW, and ends perfectly leading into ANH despite the twenty year timeskip. Luke and Obi-Wan on Tatooine. Vader and the Emperor looking over the beginning construction of the Death Star. And so on. ANH ends with the Alliance actually having struck a blow, and TESB opens with the Empire striking back. It ends with Lando off to look for Han, and Luke and Leia recovering, the Rebellion fleet on the move. It opens with them rescuing Han, and Luke going back to Yoda, and Leia rejoining the Rebel fleet to plan.

The films have always led rather comfortably into one another, while at the same time leaving opportunities for further EU stories to be set. But even without the EU, they still function together fine. The EU is of course the expanded universe, not the structural or supporting universe. Episode 7 to 9 are a continuation of the saga, and as such need to fit in the same way the others do, preferably in a way that the handing of the reigns isn't obvious beyond all the expected lens flare.

I hope for your sake, and others that this is a particularly important point to, that it happens as you hope. From the post you are responding to: wandering the galaxy and teaching students as they went. I certainly expect, at the very least, he has taught his nephew/niece, and they are likely a fully fledged Jedi Knight by this point, because it IS thirty years. Han and Leia are unlikely to be as slow this time around. It would be nice if he has founded an academy, I can just see why they may take a slower and steadier route. A few students, who each take on a few students, and before long the Galaxy has Jedi again.

We are in agreement then, because you will find I never once stated that he would be lost/missing the entire time jump. Him 'telling' Leia might very well be the lead that Han follows to start off with, if things play out as reported.

Bear in mind that in none of this am i actually arguing with you. I really don't care. I'm happy the big 3 are getting a series of send off films, that we will see Luke as a Jedi Master on the big screen rather than just in the EU, that Abrams is directing since I like the new Star Trek films very much, and that we get the first one in less than two years. They can do it however they want, and would have to make some pretty massive mis-steps to turn me away. I loved the prequels, and didn't mind Jar-jar. Thats how hard they have to work to 'ruin' Episode 7-9 for me.



Alixen:

See my above point, about looking at it from the point of view of those who don't follow the expanded universe. And it has to have enough to give a basic explanation, and not drop the watcher in the deep end. ANH had to, of course, but it started gradually, and introduced us to the galaxy with Luke and Leia, and Obi-Wan's story. TPM did so too, but it at least had Obi-Wan's brief history and the other 3 films to work with.

I am in a tabletop gaming group with 6-8 friends. Only two of us have delved into the expanded universe, and the other guy stopped after the Marvel and Bantam books because he no longer had the time or investment into SW to do so. So even amongst SW's target audience, those nerdy enough to play tabletop games, if you take my group as a test case... that's 1 in 6 that care about the EU. That's a hefty amount of ticket sales that won't care about a book that gives a backstory to Luke's new wife, and the early adventures of his son.

This is all just my opinion of course. Nothing i'm taking a particularly firm stance on, that i want to debate back and forth for pages about.

 

Considering who his master was it would be a nice nod to obi-wan.

Slow day at SOS, just saw X-men and one of the big set pieces was seeing Magneto magnetically lift RFK stadium. If we get a portion of that with Luke doing something on that level Ill be pleased.

 

Since the heights we have seen in the films is the throwing of Senate podiums and raising of X-wings, even seeming effortless, from the 'masters' i'd say that would be somewhat unlikely, even from a Skywalker. But you have effectively made me want to go see X-Men.

 

Oh I dunno I say him lifting the Falcon is a given, but a Star Destroyer would be a nice way to point out "the Force IS strong with him." But to keep him from being too powerful, he must be fully concentrate when lifting an object of that mass. Meaning he can't defend himself when holding it.

 

Yeah, i can see a scene like that. If for arguments sake the 'team' is looking for a missing Luke, they land on a planet, but the surface is swamp like... the Falcon starts to sink. Han and Chewie, bantering all the way (or with Leia, even, to show they are an old married couple) fail to do anything but slow the inevitable sinking... until suddenly they are no longer going under, and then, begin to rise. One of the new characters compliments Han, and with a familiar grin he notes it isn't him, and mutters something about hokey religions. Outside the camera pans to a older Luke, deep in focus, the Falcon floating above the ground, dripping with swamp muck.

Would be fun to have his re-introduction call back to Yoda's show of force use.

 

A great way to conclude his training on Dagobah indeed.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Hamill interact with Gleeson, as Luke, and Ben.
I read on Makingstarwars, that Mara jade may return to canon in Tarkin.

 

I hope not I've heard the same about Dalaa.

 

That's what i'm hoping for Mara. But I accept that her destiny is likely apart from the Skywalker clan in the nEU, in the same way that the Vong have likely suffered a catastrophic disaster on the way to invading.

 

Fingers crossed that Luke has a nuclear family.

 

Fission or fusion?

 

Yes

 

Giving the Jedi in general, and Luke in particular, families - would ground them somewhat - help ensure that they understand how ordinary people do things.

To quote Mon Mothma:

"I believe, and believe strongly, that the Republic needs Jedi that get their hands dirty, that are part of the Republic's daily life. Jedi that live in ivory towers might be more dangerous than no Jedi at all. You need look no further than our very recent history to see that it has been the Dark Jedi that have sought isolation. To be a Jedi of the Light, a Jedi must be one with the people. There must be a Jedi on every planet, a Jedi in every city- not a few planets full of Jedi and nothing else. There must be Jedi doing what ordinary folk do. Jedi who are ordinary folk. There must be Jedi doctors and judges and soldiers and pilots-- and politicians."

 

And Luke is of ordinary folk, more so than any jedi we know of.

 

I'd rather have Mara than Daala.