Today, we’d like to discuss the giant elephant in the Star Wars room–Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. As it turns out, Rian Johnson gave us a Luke that better than anything we could imagine, and truer to the character than anything we got in the old EU. Shocked, disagree? Spoilers ahead.

Luke Skywalker is and has always been my favorite character, not just in Star Wars but all time. I was more than just excited to see him again in The Last Jedi, so of course I was on top of every spoiler out there in the lead up to the film. Those spoilers concerned me, Luke was unwilling to teach, more than just in exile–he had given up. Then when Mark Hamill said he told Rian that he fundamentally disagreed with everything he had done with Luke…the concern was real. Then I saw the movie and I sort of saw what Mark meant…thank goodness Mark and I weren’t the writers because Rian has actually proven to have understood Luke at a level beyond me, Mark, and most everyone else. I have heard the arguments against TLJ, and I think they don’t hold water. Here’s why.

This list seems to be the problems people seem to be having with Luke’s characterization.

Luke was always the source of Hope

Luke was confident

Luke would never had seen the darkness in Ben and moved to strike him down.

Luke was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends

Luke isn’t the hero I think he should be/I remember from the old EU

While Luke was a source of hope and was confident, that doesn’t mean he was always hopeful and confident. While his character grew throughout the OT, that doesn’t mean he was free of doubts and didn’t question himself. This comes through most clearly in Empire and Return of the Jedi. In Empire he doubts his ability to raise his X-wing from the swamp, and after Yoda lifts the ship up with the Force, Luke responds “I don’t believe it“. This scene showed us that Luke was was unsure of not only what he could do, but what the Force was capable of. “But he grew to be a more confident Jedi” you say… yes he did BUT he still questioned himself. When they arrive at Endor, Luke questions himself about joining the group to Endor. But he really questions and doubts everything in throne room, if he didn’t he never would have attacked the Emperor. Watch the scene again, Luke sees the Emperor was expecting the attack on the Death Star and his friends are in trouble, he doubts them, the plan and the rebellion’s ability along with his choice to turn himself in. That is why he strikes out and attempts to kill the Emperor; his doubt leads him to believe there is only one course left to him, Attack…not very Jedi like (More on that below). While these examples are small they still show a underlying doubt that is a part of who Luke is. In The Last Jedi Luke tells us how he discovered the failures of the Jedi Order and how they allowed the Empire to rise to begin with. He was looking to avoid the mistakes they made and yet he still allowed the next Vader to rise under his tutelage. That is a crushing blow to someone that, despite his growth, still has and always would have doubts.

So I mentioned that attack is not the way of the Jedi. This goes back to Yoda’s quote in Empire.

The Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.

People often forget this aspect. The actions of a true Jedi only involves using the Force as a means of self-defense or the defense of others. We are reminded again and again that the “most Jedi thing” you could do is throw down your saber and not fight. This is actually a key point for interpreting Rian Johnson’s view of the Jedi, which brings us to the next point.

The death of Ben Solo and birth of Kylo Ren also would have shaken Luke to his core because he knows it was ultimately his fault. We see three versions of what happened when Luke went to Ben’s room. In the first, Luke discovers the darkness and lights his blade to protect himself against the attack from Ben. In the second, Luke appears to be about to strike Ben down and Ben reacts to save himself. In the final and TRUE version we see Luke feel the darkness in Ben and light his blade, momentarily thinking of striking Ben down, preventing the next Vader, doing what Obi-wan could not on Mustafar. To interpret Luke’s actions, let’s consider the vision he must have had standing over Ben. He might have seen Ben’s future, and saw all the countless people that would die at the hands of him. He might have seen Kylo Ren kill Lor San Tekka, or seen him kill Han Solo–two of Luke’s closest friends. He might have seen the other Jedi students at Luke’s academy. He might have seen countless others die at the hands of Kylo Ren. It’s not too hard to understand that if Luke saw all this death that the thought–if only for a brief moment–that he could do something to prevent it.

Luke immediately stops himself, because deep down Luke believes that Ben can be redeemed or even prevented from going completely to the Darkside. It is here that Ben wakes, Luke’s saber ignited but loosely held and down. Ben having been already corrupted by the Darkside strikes out at Luke believing Luke is doing what he himself would do. However Ben, now Kylo, was wrong. Luke was not going to strike him down, he was not going to give up on him. Never was going to happen, but his reaction of igniting the blade was pure Luke. In the throne room fight between Luke and Vader Luke was going to kill his father. Vader threatened Leia and did not seem to be coming back to the light. Luke went all out and he only stopped when he heard the Emperor laugh. He was standing over a fallen Vader blade ready and focused on him, then the Emperor laughs and speaks. That is the moment Luke looks at Vader’s hand and realizes what he could become, and threw down his saber. It is at this moment that Luke becomes a Jedi. Luke of course still reacted when he saw that darkness in Ben but this time he corrected himself instead of having the Emperor bring him back to where he needed to be, that is his growth, not the reaction but the self awareness.

For some reason people believe that Luke would and should have gone running to help the resistance the second he knew Leia wanted him back and Han had died. This is based on his actions in Empire and the mistaken idea that Luke gave himself up at Jabba’s and to Vader as a distraction. Jabba’s was all part of a plan that had multiple sub-plans within it. You can read all about that here. The next is the idea that Luke gave himself up on Endor as a distraction, I have NO idea where that thought came from. Its not in any EU book, the novelization, or the movie. Luke was going to save Vader or at least try, and that is his only reason for giving himself up. Luke doesn’t leave Ahch-to because he believes it is the best thing he can do for his friends, the Resistance, and the galaxy at large. In Luke’s lifetime the Jedi order and its failures have been the cause of the biggest threats to peace and prosperity in Galaxy. His birth marked the death of the Republic and 1000s of Jedi to the Sith that they could not stop, and who they unknowingly worked with. Not only that, the Jedi trained two of the three apprentices to Lord Sidious. Then Luke trained Ben who became Kylo Ren, and it is implied that Luke also trained the other Knights of Ren (the Jedi students that weren’t killed by Kylo). In short, what Luke ultimately realized was that the Jedi are the underlying cause of all the pain in the galaxy–by staying out of it and not training Rey he was preventing himself from creating even more of that pain.

The final complaint, that Luke’s actions were not of a hero, let me say two things. First, Luke’s final actions were extremely heroic and extremely Jedi. Luke found a way to help the Resistance and not attack Ben at the same time. Ben may have thought that Luke was there to kill him, but in reality Luke wasn’t even there. Luke pulled probably one of the most difficult Force-moves ever, and sacrificed himself to save others, while not attacking anyone–very Jedi. Second, let’s imagine if Luke was 100% heroic and pure in TLJ. Can’t you imagine the other complaints that Luke was too perfect…a “Gary Stu”? Luke was never a “perfect hero”. He had some weaknesses and some doubts, and this is why he is a more complex and interesting character.

By @mazlow01 and @davestrrr Follow us on twitter, and stay tuned to SpoiledBlueMilk for the best of Star Wars!