Where would we be in today’s world without Twitter. It would be such a boring place. Rian Johnson tweeted out his defense of his version of Luke in The Last Jedi. The twitter feud danced back and forth between Tweeters when Rian jumped in with the following:
And then the venom and bile flew once more. Of course Rian is going to defend his Luke. Who would expect Rian to come out and say “Yeah i screwed it all up and did a horrible job.”Why don’t we take a look at Luke from the OT and see if he was close.
The OT Luke
Luke fell right off the same carbonite block as his father. Both whined non stop. Every other line to Uncle Owen is whining about not getting his way. He whines to Ben the whole trip. I swear there should have been a scene where Ben says “I swear, Luke, if you whine one more time I’m turning this speeder around.” Granted Ben wasn’t driving.
He whines to Han at least 3-5 times through out episode IV. Like Anakin before him, he whined! In Episode V he whines to Yoda. Luke sees all of this miraculous stuff and is being taught how to do it, yet his first thought is to whine when his X-wing sinks.
Where ever Luke is, his attention isn’t. Yoda calls Luke out on it – “All your life have you looked away – to the future – to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was – what he was doing.” Luke was impetuous, head strong and impulsive. Yoda and Ben are attempting to teach Luke the evil he will face, but what’s he do? He runs off half-cocked to face he knows not what.
While he did a good job controlling himself in Cloud City, before the emperor he was manipulated like a child. I will grant Sidious is the greatest manipulator to have lived, but even Vader gets him with the line about his sister. No resolve. No determination or focus. He gives into raw rage. The only thing that snaps him out of it is Sidious’ goading him. Then of course he does the stupidest thing in the history of the galaxy and throws his lightsaber away, underestimating the Emperor just as Yoda had told him not too. Fry ya later son.
Finally, He was over-protective. A shattered droid comes out of his X-Wing and he freaks out. Would you freak out if your toaster gave out? In Ep V he runs off to save Han and Leia. In Ep VI he burst into rage to protect his sister.
Somehow because he beat the Empire, fans forget all his faults and think him a God. Let us not forget he really didn’t beat anybody. He was a shiny that distracted the Emperor while the Rebellion did its work. Could he have held his own against Vader at this point? I think that is a comfortable yes. Facing Vader should have been a toe-to-toe slug fest. Let’s not forget though. He didn’t face Darth Vader. What he faced was essentially Darth Anakin. He fought a being that had no sense of itself anymore, and at no time fought hard enough to actually try and kill Luke. The better Luke did the more Anakin came out.
As for Sidious, Luke did nothing. He was brash and stupid, throwing his saber away. After that we can just call him bacon-boy. Anakin defeated Sidious (Hence he being the chosen one (*cough* Ro! *cough*)).
Now the books and comics of Legend would detain the future of Luke Skywalker and with the exception of the comic series Dark Empire, Luke would always do the right thing and never be tempted or do anything wrong. Although, 8/10 someone else was bailing his ass out of trouble. Not until the late Vong saga does Luke stand as some great master with powers beyond comprehension.
