Lit Luke Skywalker's greatest Student

Luke was never meant to train the next generation of Jedi. He failed, because he overreached in wanting to be the perfect Jedi, the perfect Master and rebirth the Order all by himself. And it failed, students fell, students died, not just because of him, no. But because there was no rush to rebirth the Jedi, no rush to need another class. Just him and one student, trained more personally than an entire class could be.

Luke Skywalker's greatest student was his twin sister, Leia. Not only because a late Lucas idea crowned her his STs Chosen One. Not only because she was the last one standing in TROS of the old guard, despite Carries premature death. She was his greatest student, because of how she lived and how she died.

Princess Leia Skywalker Organa Solo, cared for everyone. She loved and lived not for herself but for the community and the harmony of it. That meant that she nourished it like a mother, guided it as a crone, but also defended it and fought for it when necessary. Was she attached? Yes! Was she in love? Yes! She was all that and more. She was a leader, counselor, healer, friend, lover, and more. She was a symbiont that brought out the connections between people and everything and showed the galaxy the true meaning of hope, harmony and love from the smallest part of the microbiotic world to the largest metaphysical concepts.

Leia could be a trained Jedi and still govern, still have a family, still fight and never loose herself to it like so many others had before her. Where Luke took a step back to not fall, separated himself from love and family or other duties to be a Jedi, she was a Jedi with connections, with attachments and with all life had to offer.

Luke the last Jedi of the old Order. Leia the first Jedi of the new Jedi Order. A contrast between both siblings. Luke's old ways died again all over with his Praxeum. Leia's way lived on to rebirth Jedi, a Dyad and the end of the ST. Leia would accept Rey unbiased of her origin, as others had accepted her regardless of her dark father. Luke would have trouble with accepting her even if trying to.

Luke and Leia's twin dyad was a necessary divide and one not split between light and darkness, but with both on the same side, still separated by how they operated. Like you turned the Mortis concept 90 degrees on the side. Not separation between light and dark, but between the old and the new, between tradition and freedom to explore new ideas. Not being bound by fear and dogma but to be open to accept and take on the challenges of attachement and living with people, not apart from them. In that Luke and Leia were more like Father and Mother of Mortis perhaps, both neider dark but representing different approaches to the Force for their children. And with the Father and the old ways gone... the new ways might be lead by a Mother, or a maiden, or a Crone.


Leia in Legends also was his greatest student as evident in Dark Empire alone which illustrates the same energy and how she saved Luke and they stood together afterwards. And there too, she became to chaperone for a time the hope of the future as per visions: Allana Djo Solo.

 

I like this analysis, especially the idea of Leia being more accepting of Rey due to her own background, and I agree with the overall assessment of Leia as Luke's greatest, or at least most important, student. I do think it can be questioned to what degree Leia functioned as a "trained Jedi" who was still able to devote herself to her family and her work in the government. TROS, and probably other sources, notes that Leia stepped away from her training after a short period of time, going so far as to give Luke her lightsaber and tell him to pass it on to someone else. Later glimpses of Leia's post-Jedi life, such as Bloodline, do not hint at any effort to follow a Jedi-like path until she was left to train Rey after Luke was gone. She didn't balance Jedi, career, and family so much as leave the "Jedi" portion behind - which doesn't disprove the thesis or Leia's ultimate success in saving the galaxy via the Ben-Rey dyad, it should be noted.

Losing Carrie when we did was an absolute tragedy and I think it affected TROS more than we know, even now.

 

"Pass on what you have learned."

"Not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. The first of the new."

I think Luke failing to revive the Jedi Order might be my biggest gripe with the ST overall. More than his poor portrayal in TLJ, more than the lack of a cohesive vision for the trilogy, more than the awful Palpatine plot in TROS. Don't get me wrong, it's okay for a pupil to succeed where a mentor failed, but in this specific regard, reviving the Jedi Order, it's just too much. I hate it on a foundational level. Like, say Rey does revive the Jedi. What, she's a better Master than Luke? Her order flourishes? So, now she gets to do everything we wanted to see Luke do? It's either that or the Jedi get wiped out yet again.

 

Corran Horn, Kyp Durron or Kyle Katarn