Compassion is for those who deserve it

In "Allies", after many sith die, luke responds to Vestara's comment about him not being very compassionate with "Compassion is for those who deserve it". Now for some reason, i can't explain it....but i get the vibe that this quote is an out of character moment for Luke.

Is there any truth to what im saying?

 

It's totally out of character. I mean going by this statement he should have never extended compassion to Darth Vader. He hardly deserved it. That statement is one of Luke's worst moments, really. Luke has always helped whoever was in need so he himself hasn't ever followed that bitter sentiment.

 

I cringed when I read it too. Also, when he told Ben in another FotJ book he had no friends at all.

He has been portrayed pretty well in the series, but those two sentences are just plain wrong.

 

Like others, I remember cringing at that line too.

It was a real "WTK?" moment that forced me to do a double-take as I thought I'd misread at first.

 

Actually, if you think about what happened to Luke IU just two years before that statement, it becomes very in-character. Remember that Luke is addressing the Sith.

Now, what happened two years ago.

A Sith, whom Luke had once loved came back into the galaxy and brought ruin to his family and the galaxy at large. She corrupted his nephew, who joined the Sith. The new Sith Lord killed Luke's wife, tortured his son, and burned several planets, killing billions.

Before this, the only other Sith Luke knew of were Vader and Palpatine. Both of whom committted atrocities that vastly surpassed Caedus. For a long time, Luke thought that anyone could be redeemed, because of what happened with Vader. But he couldn't redeem Kueller, or Brakiss, or any of the Nightsisters or Dark Side Elite. He couldn't redeem Alema, although in that case, he didn't really try.

He did try to take Caedus alive, but Luke hated Caedus for what he had done to him, and in the end he didn't trust himself to go after Jacen without going into a dark side rage.

So, yes, Luke views the Sith as poison. Especially because he has seen first-hand just how corrupting and evil they are. This remark is based on Luke's residual feelings about Darth Caedus and Lumiya, two Sith who nearly destroyed everything he held dear.

So, yes. At this point in his life, Luke no longer feels that the Sith deserve compassion. Can you really blame him.

Ben isn't blinded by his father's feelings, and can see more clearly, particularly in regards to Vestara.

 

Wow, I'm glad I'm not reading these books anymore. The whole point of compassion-particularly in Star Wars-is that everyone deserves it. The freaking ROTJ novel makes that pretty clear when Luke realizes that he doesn't hate Vader, or even Palpatine; it's the darkness within them that he hates, and that the only way to defeat the darkness is to deny it.

Dark Empire makes that even more clear when Luke (again) expresses sympathy for the loneliness and fear he sees within Sidious.

This is maybe the stupidest Luke quote I've seen in awhile; it's right up there with Luke wishing they had a galaxy gun in (I think) one of the new essential guides to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

This happened? Really? Really?

They really want us to hate FotJ don't they?

 

I actually consider it the moment Luke finally grew a brain, so your mileage may vary.

 

EDIT: Oops, accidental double post

 

I like this explanation.

My hope is that Ben and Vestara are able to rekindle that part of Luke. That is to say: I hope Vestara needs Luke to be compassionate, and he realizes that he needs to be, too.

 

This has been Luke's plot line since SACRIFICE.

If anybody wants to go back to Luke's thoughts on feeling Mara's death, it's described as something "breaking" inside of him.

I too hope Ben and Vestara help Luke rediscover his roots and regain that sense of hope, empathy, and will to redeem others.

Anybody who says this is out of character for Luke seems to be forgetting the second half of LOTF and all of FOTJ thus far.

 

That is a good explanation, but it is still a really out of character line from Luke, and I was pretty surprised when he said it. While Luke has been done very well for the most part in FoTJ, it seems that he gets at least one big out of character moment every other book that is very noticable.

 

It was the moment when Luke Skywalker died.

 

I thought this comment was sparked by the dead Sith's impatience/stupidity rather than them being Sith...

 

Regardless, the very idea of being compassionate is incompatible with the idea of desert - if you reserve your compassion for those who "deserve" it, you are not compassionate.

 

This. Everybody else in this post is, imo, taking Luke's statement entirely out of context. My interpretation is that Luke was trying to make a point to Vestara -- he wasn't expressing his personal opinions or beliefs.

 

Meh, let the masses have their fun. Without the witch hunts this place would be a little boring.

 

Was Luke being compassionate in ROTJ? Always thought he just saw where his anger was leading him to and stopped himself from going to the Darkside. The best act of compassion I can remember off the top of my head though was Anakin saving a begging Palpatine from Mace.

 

'Deserve' is poor word choice. In the sense that the remark has any broader relevance (as opposed to being Luke's roundabout way of saying, 'look I'm not Jesus Christ here, I can't save every idiotic dark sider from himself/herself') I would rather it mean that compassion is to be extended only to those capable of understanding it, other wise it's just wasted energy. The Lost Tribe Sith are extremely insular and have developed a parody lifestyle that is so twisted by the Dark side that it is inhuman on several levels, especially in those who embrace it fully (Vestara is not among that group). To them, altruism does not exist, everything is calculated, they're all little machines plugged into the dark side pyramid scheme from now until their, most likely untimely, deaths.

Luke is stating that offering them compassion achieves nothing, because they cannot even recognize the act for what it is, but will perpetually search for some kind of motive, manipulation, and quid pro quo behind it. Even Vestara starts out this way, and it actually takes her time with the witches to realize that her understanding of reality is about as solid as Swiss cheese. This is very different from Vader, who thought compassion made him weak, or Palpatine, who could actually be compassionate, in a twisted self-serving way. They had the full understanding of evil, whereas the Lost Tribe has accepted evil dogmatically, not via motive. That's how they function as stable, they haven't chosen the darkness so much as expunged the very idea of light from their vision of existence.

 

This still is a fairly detestable sentiment, I feel. Compassion should be given for no other reason other the fact that it is owed no matter what. Regardless of it the actions will yield results, the attempt still must be made. It is not something which must be earned, it is inherently merited.

 

The entire reason Luke is there to begin with is compassion, though. When he's in danger of slipping to the dark side, he remembers why he came.

It's the word the author chose and the editors allowed to stay.

See above posts by me and Jello. The only compassionate answer to "Who deserves compassion?" is "Everyone"; that "to them, altruism does not exist" is irrelevant.

Actually, I think the poor word choice is "compassion." Luke doesn't seem to be saying that they're below his compassion, but rather that he can't waste energy mourning their deaths when they dug their own graves. It's not compassion they don't deserve, it's pity.

 

I enjoy Bastila's take on compassion.

"Nobody deserves execution, no matter their crimes.

 

Yeah, it was kind of... out of character. I prefer Luke as a sage character by now, but then if I remember right, Luke was kind of... grumpy for most of Allies, since he had to put up with the Tribe Sith as allies, and keep an eye on his son while they were traveling with a cute young girl.

Its not a good line for Luke of all people to say, but then poor characterization has been the standard for the novels anyway.

In the context, its slightly less... upsetting. As I mentioned, Luke has been somewhat... paranoid and almost overbearing during his alliance with the Sith, since, well, they're Sith, so they are going to backstab him at one point or another. Not to mention having to rein them in while they're in civilized space and put up with their stupidity.

Luke- No, don't jump off that cliff. No, don't get too close to the black hole, that's a bad idea. You're holding that lightsaber the wrong way.
Sith- Ha, Jedi lies/ignorance! We can handle getting that close to a black hole, we are Sith! Boom! You tricked us into doing that!"
Luke- ....

Not to mention Luke is supposed to be there as a role model for Ben, and Ben's all for trying to change Vestara's mind. I sometimes wonder if they're playing up Ben at the expense of Luke (one reason I don't like having Luke and Ben alone for most of the series, since there's so much other stuff Ben could be doing back on Coruscant, but then nobody on Coruscant is actually doing anything either).

Luke tried to save Vader, but then those were different circumstances and Luke wasn't a big part of the battle (or so he thought), not to mention he could sense conflict in his father, while most of these Sith are all mwa-ha-ha evil already, but still. From a Jedi standpoint, they should try and show compassion to everyone, but then its kind of hard to show compassion for Sith who are constantly trying (and failing) to one-up Luke at everything, so maybe pity would be more accurate (its hard to save idiots from themselves), but still, its a bad line from a mediocre book in yet another horrible series. Another reason I haven't bothered to reread this book, even in paperback form, since it came out.