As I stated in my last post I seem to have a habit of picking the most controversial parts of Star Wars to be my favorite and I don’t think anyone should be ashamed of any part of Star Wars being their favorite because Star Wars is a big mash up of concepts, themes, and story telling. So enjoy what you want. Last time I talked about the controversial character DJ from The Last Jedi. In this post I’ll be talking about Luke Skywalker and more particularly his story arc in The Last Jedi. Which I think is the single best and realized storyline in all of Star Wars.Defending DJBefore we can look at Luke in his twilight years we have to look at Luke as the hero that changed cinema forever. The Luke who followed the traditional heroes journey from A New Hope all the way to Return of the Jedi. I will only be discussing things that happened in the films (though I love the novels and comics I don’t feel like the filmmakers give them much thought when writing the films and this is a film franchise).Luke went from a moisture farmer to a Rebel hero in a matter of days. Good thing he got in all that practice with the wamp rats because the rest was a quick adventure. Luke was trained (briefly) by Obi-Wan Kenobi before being thrust headlong into an adventure that led him to the Death Star. After destroying the Death Star with a little help from his friends the midichlorians (just kidding). He journeyed to find out more about the force and the Jedi. His victory obviously thrust him up the rebel chain of command in Empire Strikes Back where he is a general. The use of the force and his journey since A New Hope has set him on a collision course with Darth Vader, the Emperors right hand. Yes Darth, you are the father... yada yada yodaThat leads us to the movie that has the most impact on Luke in Last Jedi, Return of the Jedi. While I think Return of the Jedi is the least perfect of the OT, the throne room is absolutely perfect. If you truly look at the throne room scene, TLJ storyline is the only logical conclusion for Luke that could’ve happened. Luke is brought to the Emperor not to be executed but to be turned to the dark side. He was brought to replace Vader not join him. The Emperor sensed someone of great potential in Luke and he was right... just not for his side. The Emperor tries to draw the darkness out of Luke by taunting him and goading him to strike him down. Clearly violence is the first choice of a Sith not a Jedi, so the Emperor wants him to take this path. Luke takes the bait, he strikes at Palpatine and is intercepted by Vader, a battle ensues. Luke is doing exactly what Palpy wants, giving in to hatred. Luke was advised earlier in the movie by both Yoda and Ben that Vader was beyond redemption, he needed to be killed. Luke lashed out with hatred when Vader mentioned Leia. This gave Luke the momentary advantage that he needed to defeat Vader and have him at his mercy. It also almost led Luke down a path that he couldn’t come back from. Seeing his fathers severed limb made him look down and see his own. He was perpetuating this cycle of violence that led them to this point. The Empire was built on this. This leads to the best moment in all of Star Wars... Luke throws his lightsaber away and says “Never.” The first true act of a Jedi in the entire saga to this point. The Jedi of the republic lost their way, that’s why they were overthrown in their arrogance, that’s why Yoda and Ben’s first thought was to destroy Vader not redeem him. Luke ended that cycle of violence by throwing away his lightsaber and going to path of a true Jedi.... peace, redemption. This act led to the redemption of Darth Vader and the Empire’s End. For the time being, bringing balance to the force.Now let’s look at the “Rashomon” sequences. Rashomon is a Kurosawa (heavy influence on Star Wars as a whole) film, about points of view. Luke looks into Ben’s future and sees destruction, darkness, and the death of all of his OT work. The first POV shown is Luke’s “first” telling of the events. Luke claims to have confronted Ben Solo with no violence and was lashed out at and then Ben turned on him and destroys the temple and Luke’s “Padawans.” This is clearly how Luke wants Rey to see him. He wants to be remembered as the Luke who redeemed Vader through non-violence and pacifism. He wants it to appear that Ben was the only one to blame in the incident. Rey buys this, because why wouldn’t she? He’s Luke Skywalker! Just like Rey says he turned the most hated man in the galaxy into his ally (oh those pesky legends about Luke...).Later in the film when Rey and Kylo Ren are Skyping, Kylo Ren reveals his version of the story. Luke came into his room at night and tried to kill him with his lightsaber (GREEN!) in his sleep. Luke is given a very dark look in this sequence. His eyes are almost blacked out. He looks demented. This is clearly how Kylo remembers the situation because why wouldn’t he? He woke up with the lightsaber in his face with the intent to kill. His uncle his master his pseudo parent is trying to kill him because he sees something he hasn’t done yet (Minority Report anyone?) So he defends himself. He follows the only path left to him, Snoke...Now the true one (or so we think...) After this reveal Rey confronts Luke for the final time demanding the true story. Luke tells a story that combines elements of both Ben and Luke’s stories. Luke looks into Ben’s mind and sees darkness. Darkness like he’s never seen before. Luke doesn’t want to have to face another Vader he sees Ben as irredeemable. So he gives in he doesn’t want to put in the leg work with redemption again. He reignites the cycle of violence that ceased in the throne room thirty years earlier. He ignited his lightsaber. He looks down just like he did years ago and sees this cycle. He immediately regrets turning on his lightsaber. That lightsaber that he threw away years ago in his act as a true Jedi is being used again out of fear just like the Sith he hates so much. But it’s too late. Ben sees Luke standing over him with his weapon. Luke unintentionally created the future he feared. This is why as Yoda said in RoS it is dangerous to view the future. The future Luke tried to avoid and stop with violence was created by violence that he stopped all those years ago. If Luke didn’t turn on his lightsaber would everything have been normal would Kylo be Ben? Probably.The Force Awakens! Throughout the entire movie Luke is nothing more than a myth (or legend, this is very important later). Come on people, it’s only been like 6 years... Luke went to the first Jedi temple to hide or live with his mistakes (or seek out knowledge but we all know that’s not true). Kylo always feared Luke after that night and Snoke sees Skywalker as the only possible end to his reign. Snoke sees Ben as the strongest force user in the galaxy and when one rises so does another. He assumes this will be Skywalker but Skywalker is out of the game, so enter Rey’s force powers. So they both need his destruction to be free. So the race for the map. I honestly thought Luke was going to appear at multiple parts during my first viewing. I thought I wanted it to be him who caught the saber at the end. But the story I wanted is not the one I needed. The storyline in TFA was perfectly set up to build towards TLJ. People that think that it came out of nowhere? Really? Why was he hiding when his best friend died if he wasn’t “in hiding?” So Rey goes to to the island of Ahch-To to find Luke. The longest marathon baton pass occurs...Luke is less than thrilled to see someone on his island but even more so that they are holding a lightsaber, an item that caused his greatest failure. The very lightsaber that was used to destroy the republic during the prequels. So Luke does exactly what he did in Return of the Jedi... he threw it away. He is not part of the cycle of violence, he just wants no part of anything anymore. This scene is pivotal. I know this really pissed some people off. But what did you want him to do? Take it and run aboard the falcon and go kill the entire first order? Dumb. He needed to be resigned to his fate. When a character becomes too powerful like everyone “beloved ‘Legends’ Luke” it becomes a problem similar to Superman. When your so powerful nothing has stakes anymore...Luke rejects the notion of training Rey. He has found the closest thing to death, exile. He doesn’t want to let the Jedi way rule the galaxy and create more problems. With the rise of the Jedi comes the lust for power from the Sith. With the Sith comes destruction and death. It’s time for them to end. Their way was wrong! Or so he thinks. Luke is content with his new place drinking green milk and fishing. Rey needs him! But he doesn’t want to contribute to anymore destruction and death. He is the cause of the current war, all because of a split-second decision that he will live with forever.Rey’s persistence keeps up. Luke becomes curious about her. So he offers to teach her why the Jedi need to end why he has resigned to this place.Lesson 1: He teaches her to commune with the force. She sees nature. She sees the force flowing through everything. The Jedi thought that they were in control of the force. This is why they failed. The force was around them it, guided them, and it was there to be called not used. They lost sight of this. Their main temple was on a giant city planet for Siths sake! You can’t be one with nature on a planet that’s only natural part is the tip of a mountain from billions of years ago. They should be one with nature not involved in government and wars! (Qui-Gon and Dooku anyone?). They lost their way. They lost their ability to use the force to its fullest, as stated in AotC and RoS. The force was diminishing. The force was sort of punishing them for their arrogance. It was fixing to reset itself and bring balance through anakin.Lesson 2: the Jedi got too big to fail. They were arrogant. They thought that they were in complete control of the force and nothing could undermine them. Enter the Sith rule of 2. Since the Jedi were so up their own asses in dogma, Palpatine was able to sneak in and gain control of the government and destroy the Jedi. All because they thought that nothing could stop them.(Regrettably a Deleted Scene) Lesson 3: Jedi were unable to truly act. When people truly needed them it is taught to not become attached or involved. This leads to Luke saying that the resistance needs Rey to be a hero not a Jedi. A Jedi can’t act, while a hero can make the call and also care for others without fearing attachment as the Jedi of the republic did.The revelations of the Rashomon sequences.Rey confronts Luke and tries to give him the lightsaber. He can’t be part of this anymore... he started this conflict, he created Kylo Ren, he can’t become involved with it again.They leave him. He has to destroy the Jedi before it takes root in the galaxy again. He goes to destroy the tree library. Which leads to the best scene in the entire saga. Yoda communes with Luke once again. The theme of the movie is literally stated in this part. Failure. Luke has to live with his failure. But no, he has to learn from it. Become better from it. Teach others his mistakes so they don’t repeat them, as the Star Wars saga has shown us that it is a ring repeating over and over again. If one of these Skywalkers will just learn from their mistakes then the galaxy can maybe find peace.Luke can’t live with the legend he has become. Everyone thinks he can do anything, they think he can be the Luke from “Legends.” But Rey’s time with him and Yodas words teach Luke it’s time to be a hero again. But he doesn’t need to go back to the fight and perpetuate violence with the first order. He needs to stand for more. He needs to return to the ways of a true Jedi. The way that destroyed the empire. Peace. If Luke can’t fight them he has to become more than a warrior he has to become a symbol of hope. He force projects himself onto Crait where he confronts Kylo. When it is revealed that he wasn’t there, the Resistance has already escaped. They escaped with a story of a man who faced the first order alone and prevailed, this story traveled through the galaxy and reignited hope for all of the galaxy that the First Order isn’t immortal. They aren’t impossible to resist. They got beat down by one man,or so the story says... Luke became more powerful than they could possibly imagine. He died in the force projection but he projected hope. He was much more effective inspiring more fighters than he would have been running around killing a couple of storm troopers and Kylo Ren. Kylos story isn’t over. Neither is Luke’s. Lukes life ended in non-violence, repeating his great act as the last true Jedi! via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/2Xq3Vgg
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