ST Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) in the ST

I find myself in a very strange place, when it comes to TLJ. I don't hate it as some do, but that positivity, to the degree it exists, is mostly a gut level, intuitive thing, hard to rationally explain. I can point to some specifics - Rey telling Luke that, if anything, Kylo failed HIM; the Luke/Yoda talk that to me was almost aimed at the portion of fandom which seems to think the first six movies are "the story of how the Jedi screwed everything up"; Luke saying he's NOT there at the end to "rescue" Kylo; Luke's clever way of delaying the entire First Order- but they don't really justify my grudging affection.

When it comes to Luke, I guess what bothers me most is the jarring disconnect from the first movie. In TFA, we're never told WHY Luke "vanished", but it seems unlikely the First Order was ascendant at the time, because I can't imagine even a guilt ridden, self-doubting Luke leaving his friends in mortal danger. There's the issue of the map - did Luke leave it, or was it somehow assembled from trace evidence? Why, if Luke is done with himself, the Force and the Jedi, was he wandering around in Jedi robes when Rey finds him? And don't we deserve a robust examination of why Luke is so mired in ... however you define what he's mired in... that even news of Han's death (at the hands of Kylo, no less), news that Leia is in mortal danger, doesn't snap him out of it (for quite a while)?

Kind of echoing what's above... if you want to convince us that Luke is a "broken man", or alternately, a man deeply committed to a radical change in direction, don't you both have to "earn it" AND make it fit with TFA?

 

This is what makes the character all but unrecognizable, ultimately.

 

Yes, Anakins reaction after watching TLJ was similar

 

Since Luke is now one with the Force the only thing he can do is appear as an apparition to Rey or Ben. What I am hoping they do not do is have Luke's essence fight Sidious's essence. What would be even worse is if they have Anakin's essence fight Darth Sidious essence hence the title "Rise of Skywalker". Don't do it JJ!

 

What would be even worse would be to have Luke's essence show up to fight Darth Sidious in the flesh.

What would be the ultimate cringe would be to have Luke's essence (and any other force ghost from the past) show up to team up with Rey and/or Kylo to fight Dath Sidious in the flesh i.e. Harry Potter's Parents showing up in Goblet of Fire to bail out Harry.

 

'You opened yourself to the dark side for a pair of pretty eyes'. That was Luke talking about himself; much like Kylo's 'your parents threw you away like garbage' is not about Rey, but about himself. Rian Johnson, March 2017:


In TLJ we see Luke looking inside Ben's head. A screaming woman is heard then. Luke draws back his hand, shocked. Then he ignites his lightsaber.

His 'I was weak, unwise' to Yoda is maybe him alluding to the event and to this woman. In any case it's similar to Han being 'weak and foolish', according to his son (and theres also the allusion, from Ben/Kylo POV, to Han 'cheating days')

 

Well, this is some really dry answer.

 

I wonder if it's good to ask someone that hates the portrayal of his favorite character if he agrees that the new version is better than the one he loved.

 

Jake Skywalker is sure sarcastic and crotchety.

 

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There's something beautifully poetic to me about Luke saving the Rebellion in ANH with the ultimate act of violence and then saving the Resistance in TLJ with the ultimate act of nonviolence.

 

Wouldn't his act of compassion in sparing Vader on the second Death Star be the ultimate act of non-violence? I don't know if opening a Skype chat and snarkily taunting your nephew who you previously tried to murder and were partially responsible for driving to the dark side really compares.

 

Saving thousands of star systems within the galaxy by destroying the Empire's ultimate weapon with violence is not even close to being poetic to saving a handful of people through non-violence.

Unless you're one of those handful of people I suppose.

 

Luke succumbed to the dark side at the threat of losing his sister and then came to his senses after cutting off Vader's hand. Yes, Luke ultimately arrived at an act of compassion, but it was Anakin that saved the Rebellion by killing the Emperor. Luke saves the Resistance in TLJ without laying a literal finger on anyone.

 

Yes, the Star Wars films have never been opposed to any and all violence. What they're opposed to is unjust violence. There was nothing immoral about Luke's destruction of the Death Star. It's hardly "the ultimate act of violence." In order for something to be the ultimate act of violence, it would have to be violence for violence's sake--like the Death Star's destruction of Alderaan. The destruction of the Death Star was an act of justified violence directed towards destroying a massive weapon built for the sole purpose of inflicting violence on a defenseless populace.

In ROTJ, Luke saves the galaxy by recognizing the darkness within himself, rejecting hate, and instead showing Vader compassion, which in turn inspires Vader to return to the light and destroy the Emperor. In TLJ, Luke saves a handful of Rebel Alliance cosplayers by taunting the nephew he drove to the dark side from a remote location while his holographic avatar smirks through his dyed beard and does slow-motion Matrix dodges.

I'm going with the first one for mythic resonance.

 

Luke's act of compassion in ROTJ is meaningful and cathartic no doubt, but to me his actions on Crait are no less impressive: reminding his misguided nephew that he will never escape his family's legacy, stopping an entire army in its tracks, thus saving his sister and the next generation of heroes from certain destruction, and pointing the path towards their new hope. All while pulling off the most astonishing display of Force power ever seen.

 

Agreed.

 

So basically, telling Ben "You're stuck with who and what you are and now I'm going to haunt your ass and Han probably will too" is at the same level as "Search your feelings father, you can't do this! I feel the conflict within you let go of your hate!!"

One is being used as a method to torment the nephew that he blamed himself for an entire film for driving away when he could have provided him with the care he needed to become a better man. The other is a man who, although he recognizes and acknowledges that his father has committed monstrous injustices across the stars for over 2 decades, is willing to let the past die and focus on saving the good soul still crying out in agony beneath a villainous exterior. These are 2 very different narratives for the same guy, the second one coming AFTER he was much more open and compassionate to a dark soul in need of his help. Something's not lining up here. Luke isn't trying to reach Kylo. To forgive or convince him to let go of hate. He's willing to not only let him sink himself deeper, but mock him for it as well. That's something Snoke or Palpatine would do. It's hardly the most flattering picture that LFL has painted for the Jedi in recent years.

 

I mean, people who disagree with you would call this development but then you realize that Luke is more of an unrepentant douchebag in old age than as a young man and it suddenly falls through.

 

He doesn't try and save Kylo in that moment because he knows he can't. Kylo even mocks the very idea of Luke trying to save him. He's not even remotely open to Luke's help in that moment. He just says he's sorry. Obi-Wan likewise 'mocks' Vader in the same way.

 

Leia resurrecting herself in space was a far more impressive display. I`d even give Kylo Ren and his first scene freeze power the egde over the trolling little projection.

 

Luke channeling himself light years away and then becoming invisible is indeed, powahful

 

It’s not very impressive when it kills him. If he would have survived, then it might have been something to write home about.