Poll: Did You Like TLJ's Characterization of Luke?

Yes, Luke was great!

 

I can't vote because there's no option I can choose.

It was heartbreaking. I feel sad when I think about it because that's not how I imagined old Luke and his part in TLJ. But it worked well in the movie and removed Luke so that new characters could become main heroes. Luke had his final great moment when he saved the resistance by showing his great power. And he became the force ghost now with new possibilities - and I bet he'll be back in Ep. IX and his role will be more like fans imagined - a powerful, wise mentor who finally found peace. The Luke Mark Hamill deserves.

 

Thanks for pointing out why The Last Jedi ultimately regresses Luke's arc.

 

I agree. Something along the lines of Luke having perceived, in Kylo, a darkness far WORSE than anything he'd ever seen, including Darth Vader & Palpatine, and he could not allow history to repeat itself.

I think that Snoke being only moderately bad made me wonder exactly how evil could he have made Kylo? Palpatine was far worse, a truly evil villain, one of the "best" in all of scifi- a bad guy for the ages. This is where the lack of backstory & the quick death of Snoke made a difference, IMHO. How did he turn Ren? Besides Luke saying so, what evidence was there? What did he do as a young Jedi that made it obvious he would act on these dark impulses? If we had seen the things Luke saw in him, the scene would have gone over a lot better with me.

 

That's what I really don't like about Snoke and Kylo Ren in this trilogy. Their relationship is so underdeveloped than any epic twists that occur can only really be met with a resounding "So what?".

 

I guess Luke could die from any of the force-sensitive abilities.

 

Yes - his experience wthe Vader taught him that no one was beyond saving. He believed in Vader and Vader was a father he never knew and Vader had murdered people, including Luke's mentor. Ben was the son of his sister ad his best friend. He was probably there when Ben was born and had known Ben all his life. And, at that point Ben hadn't even done anything evil yet. Luke would have never thought about killing the unarmed child of his sister in his sleep just because he saw darkness there. I am heartbroken. I feel like the joy of StarWars has been zapped out of me.

 

I wasn't too sure what to think on the first viewing of the film.
I came to grips with it and even embraced after the second viewing.

I wanted to give it a chance and not be a huge jackass, spewing hate all over the internet because Luke wasn't how I imagined he would be.

 

I understand that Luke is human and makes mistakes. And that a Luke failure was important to the story. But the failure should have been in line with Luke's character. It was a fleeting thought, but I don't beieve Luke would have even had that fleeting thought. That was way out of character. Kylo wasn't just some kid. Kylo was the son of his sister and best friend. Luke knew him from a child. And Kylo hadn't even commited any evil acts yet.

 

this is really hard for me to reconcile too. we may yet find out still more about what happened here, so i will sit with it without passing too much judgment, but i am also saddened that Luke's fear of what might happen caused it to actually happen. in that way, he is no better, ultimately, than Anakin.

i am still confident, however, that in the end he will help to make this right.

 

Like.....say....committing the sin that Luke does in the film?

You should be commended for that!!! Others should take note!

It's weird that we've been here before for almost 20 years since "What are midichlorians?" and we still erupt in hatred about something we didn't expect as if the whole fraking franchise isn't built on:

"train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose"
"must unlearn what you have learned"
"Attachment leads to jealousy, the shadow of greed, that is"

 

I think that what made Luke had that fleeting thought is because for a split second he gave in to fear because he foresaw the tremendous evil that Kylo would do--which turned out to be true. The tragic irony is that Luke is the one who opened the floodgates.

 

I’m reeling about Luke’s character in The Last Jedi. I’m fine that he died at the end, but I’m devastated that they tainted his character. Luke didn’t even know his father but didn’t stop believing in him. Yes, there was the moment fear in ROTJ when he attacked Vader but that was when his friends and the rebellion were in real-time danger and then he controlled himself.

Kylo is a boy he knew from birth and would have had a bond with. He was the son of his sister and best friend. He was around as Kylo grew up. Even if he looked into Kylo and saw darkness, I do not believe that the Luke we knew would – even for a second – think about killing him IN HIS SLEEP – especially when Kylo hadn’t even acted on any of these feelings yet. Darth had murdered people and Luke didn’t give up on the father he didn’t even know.

I would have been OK with Luke failing. I think it was important for the story to show his human failings and weaknesses. But it needed to have been in line with his character. Luke was the light of the original trilogy – loyal, faithful, eager to help, seeing the best in people. It breaks my heart that they sent off his character in this way.

And people keep saying that this movie is strikingly different that the Star Wars from before. But how? Obi One Kenobi failed in his teaching of Anakin and then went to live as a hermit after he became Darth. And Yoda became a hermit too. So this is still another version of that story.

Star War has been a part of my life since I was 5 years old and I feel heartbroken.

 

from the moment we knew that Ben had gone to Luke for training.. bad things were surely going to happen. a Jedi training his nephew? it's literally crossing every line in the jedi rule book. A Jedi would not be allowed to train a relative.. it would be as big a risk to the teacher as the student.

add to that, that Ben was already a troubled (and affected by Snoke) boy.. and you've got yourself a one-way ticket to the dark side.

what happened? that dark side corrupting Ben clearly started to affect Luke. the fear of failing in Luke's mind would have run rampant, and i don't care how powerful of 'good' he was.. it was always going to go bad.

in the end.. as Luke does.. he resisted the dark side, but Ben saw him with saber lit, and that was the final nail in the coffin.


in my opinion, Luke made 2 mistakes... taking on Ben as a padawan (probably didn't have a lot of choice), and disappearing to Ach-To instead of trying to get Ben back.
I don't blame him at all.

 

I mean, we all know Luke has that Skywalker blood in him...same as Anakin and Ben. He felt the pull to the darkside in the OT.
Having a moment of weakness to kill shouldn't be that surprising.
Unlike Anakin, he yet again actually resists the weakness.

 

LOL why are the polls on this forum always incredibly biased or leading? Why not just do "Yes" "No" and "Yes/No"?

But he didn't kill any kids, so what are you talking about?

 

It was the kind of characterization that none of us would have thought or wished but It actually worked really well in the movie.

For a Jedi to go dark, there is also responsibility to the teacher. Knowing that the ignorance and the blindness of his teachers sent his father to the Dark Side, Luke decided to take action against Ben doing the same. But his choice was wrong, even it was spontaneous, and Ben was lost.

Just because Luke is powerful in the Force, that doesn't mean he doesn't make mistakes. We saw Mace Windu doing the same mistake with Palpatine, even though he had just killed 3 Jedi. We saw Yoda spending his time simply foreseeing the clouded future of Anakin, but doing nothing... Perhaps this is the true Jedi way, to let things happen as they are meant to be and wait for the turning of the tide...

Watching the film for the first time on Thursday, during the battle of Crait, I kept wishing for the FO technicians to say something like "Sir we have an X-Wing approaching"... It would be enough for me to pee my pants out of joy. Even if Luke fell in the duel with Kylo later... Or maybe to reveal himself as he did, but not as a projection, but his true self...

Watching the film for the second time on Saturday, I couldn't have wished for a better ending to Luke's journey, although I would have wanted it in the next film, so that we could at least have enough of him....

After all, RJ I love what did there, but I hate you at the same time for not giving me want I wanted...

 

Instead of milking beasts and 30 seconds are f Maz. I’d like to see more training with Rey. Luke would not ever consider killing Leia’s Son in his sleep. That completely undoes Luke as redeemer.

I guess Leia will die off screen. Not very Heroic.

Luke did not need to die off.

 

I liked him. Not at all what I expected, sure- but that's kinda the point, isn't it?