ST Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) in Episode VII

I just hope that someday people will find BIGGER pictures to post.

 

I really hope Luke isn't this cyborg guy. I'm fine with him being a bit of a kook, yes. But having be a Sith-obsessed cyborg doesn't make narrative sense when you go from the events that transpired in ROTJ into TFA. The last time we saw Luke, he had cremated his father, looked upon his father's ghost with adoration, and rejoiced with his friends as if to say he had finally found solace and peace with his new family. There was closure there. Closure upon Luke's journey to find and then redeem his father. It doesn't make narrative sense for Luke to develop some Vader fanaticism and go back to the gravesite and steal his father's helmet. He's supposed to have moved on!

 

There are varying degrees of "madness." You could be mad like Captain Ahab, or you could be a monkey in a cage throwing your own feces. In this case, I'd lean towards dementia incurred by extensive meditation & isolation. Look up the characters Harold "Ox" Oxley, Ben Gunn, Golem, or Fin Raziel. Don't worry, though. Once he snaps out of it, he'll be ready to whoop some ass:

Yeah, sorry about that. I try to post smaller pics, but for whatever sometimes they don't come through, so I have to post the bigger ones.

 

Who's suggesting he's Sith obsessed?? Darth Luke is a bad rumor too. Cybernetics resulting from battle scars to me would symbolize his continuing struggle with the dark side. You win some, you lose some. For Luke to remain unscathed 30+ years sounds less realistic to me considering his legacy. But full blown Sith? No.

 

Regarding this art, has there been some discussions about what is going on there? Like who is battling who and who is in this art? Looks like one of the key arts to me.

 

This is my first real opinion post in... many, many years. I'm sure something like it's been posted before. Please go easy on me.

I'm just going to come out and say... I'm looking forward to seeing Luke Skywalker back in action more than anything else. I don't think I'm by any means alone in wanting to see my childhood hero remain a hero, train the next generation, and save the day. That is my bias.

I really can't see Luke being a cyborg. I understand the desire to visually portray his fear of turning into his father. I understand that paralleling Anakin's transformation into a cyborg may seem like a good way of doing that... but it's not.

This parallel was already done in ESB and ROTJ. Luke lost his hand in ESB, having it replaced with a mechanical one...just like his father's. Not news to anyone here.. but from then on, much of Luke's design, actions, and personality in ROTJ were designed to explicitly parallel his father's. Luke wears all black in ROTJ. He first appears hooded and mysterious, with a similar profile to Darth Vader. He uses his father's favorite power - Force Choke - within 30 seconds of appear on screen. When his mechanical hand is damaged, he puts on a black Vader-esque glove. As Vader taunts him with his fears, Luke hides in shadow, half his face in blue-tinged darkness. The right side of his face mirror's his father's black helmet. In the end, Luke attacks his father in a fury and cuts off the hand that mirrors his own.

The entire movie has built to this moment. He looks at the smoking wreckage of his father's cyborg arm, then to his own mechanical hand (which hisses and whirrs like his Father's labored breathing). This is the moment when all Luke's fears of becoming his father come to a head. Both the story AND subtext of the film has asked: "Will Luke fail and become his father?", and the symbolism of the cyborg hand has been central to that theme. This is the moment where Luke makes his decision, the decision his Father had and failed. Luke throws away his lightsaber and surrenders.

At this moment Luke's demeanor changes. Up until now he's been frightened, haunted, overshadowed by the truth of his parentage. Now he's confident, fearless. This is the moment when he finally becomes a Jedi, like his father before him. The symbolism of the cyborg hand is complete - Luke will never become more like his father than that. He may have his Father's hand, and perhaps his weaknesses, but Luke will not fall. He has passed his test.

That said, I don't have an issue with Luke being human. I completely understand having his fears return as his powers reach titanic proportions. But the turning-into-a-cyborg storyline has already been done with Luke, subtly and wonderfully. To pick that up again seems like a betrayal of the resolution so carefully crafted in ROTJ. It feels like ham-fisted symbolism to me.

Especially if the cyborg mask covers most of his face, as in some of the concept art. That would just break my 10-year-old heart. That is not the future I want to see for the most iconic sci-fi hero of all.

 

I suspect it's tied to the events of this scene:



In both instances the villain seems to have intimidating height- not to confused with "cyborg" Luke. Notice Kira wielding "Excalibur." There may be an Awakening there. In the above pic, the saber is green. I hope it's Luke.

 

Hamill's not a pretty boy anymore. Might as well make him look bad ass. My hunch is the mechanical mask has been scaled back quite a bit, especially if the artists didn't take Hamill's beard into account prior to finding out. Perhaps just his right eye socket is covered and not much more.

Sorry for the double post- I tried to double quote, but I must have accidentally deleted this one.

 

I could live with that. To be fair, though, Hamill's put a lot of effort into getting lean and mean again!

 

I doubt he had much choice to be honest!

 

Oh, look, this thread is cyclical. We're back to the cyborg portion of the cycle.

Yay.

 

I hate this part of the cycle.

 

Agreed. I'll take beard discussions, hermit speculation, and "who's his kid" musings over this any day.

 

Is it crazier to speculate whether or not Luke's a cyborg than it is to speculate he has a kid? What makes either form of speculation less or more insane than the other? I haven't seen the film and I'm pretty sure no one else on this forum has either, so whats the difference?

 

My apologies. I haven't been on the boards in years, and just wanted to express myself. No intent to cause frustration.

I realize that my points were probably made a long time ago, and better... but be fair, there's over 450 pages to wade through!

 

Sorry, ESB established already that Luke's a cyborg now. XD

 

Mark doesn't like this part of the cycle either.

 

Mark Hamill doing a double-act as Luke Skywalker and Darth Bane would be pretty nice.



Luke talking with an apparition of Bane or perhaps Bane being the main villain albeit played by someone else while Hamill provides the voice would be pretty damn cool.

 

Funny But you know what I meant

 

The reason I'm pushing so hard that this is Luke:



is because the "self-taught Sith collecting cyborg" rumors sound ridiculous. Is Anakin's light saber back? Sure looks that way. Lucas always wanted to pass on "Excalibur" to the next generation. Vader's helmet is back. Who else but Luke should have it, though? Why would he tell anyone (besides maybe Leia) where his final resting place is? That's a private matter. Looks like Driver is rocking an awesome Revan outfit. Does that mean he found Revan's helmet? Not necessarily. Revan is still EU as far as we know. Is the cross light saber a relic? Maybe it's just meant to be intimidating.

Archaeology doesn't belong in Star Wars any more than aliens belong in Indiana Jones.

 

I was just stating that I disliked that particular line of conversation. Not saying I want you to stop, just that I don't really enjoy talking about it.

Oh, you didn't frustrate me. Like I said, it just isn't my favorite thing to talk about, Luke-wise.

 

NIce! I actually had Mark sign a small photo of his Trickster when I interviewed him (a long tine ago....) - I was hoping the CW would figure out some way to get Mark back for the Flash.
And this means an episode of the Flash I'll watch again. First time since he was on the 90s show.

As far as Luke, I am keeping an open mind and know Hamill will knock whatever he does out of the park. I do hope the rumors of him appearing during Act 2 are true because I am impatient enough as it is.

 

Yes, it has always been my first impression when I saw the artwork, that it is Luke and not evil cyborg Luke that most people immediately made out of it. We don't know why he looks like this now, but we will probably find out in the ST.

 

Mark Hamill ‏@HamillHimself 3h3 hours ago
“@grantgust: The news is out. Mark Hamill will be joining the cast of The Flash to reprise his role as The Trickster http://comicbook.com/2014/12/08/mark-hamill-to-play-trickster/ …”

 

Man I think I just found what will make me so mad as to walk out of the theater, and that is Luke being full cyborg.