Rian Johnson has a big hole to dig Luke Skywalker out of.....

So are we assuming that Luke is omnipotent and could see all of this coming? Because perhaps the movie was operating on the logic that he just didn't know what was going on.

 

I am more positive.

Not only did his nephew go "nuts", but apparently many younglings and padawans that he was training and responsible for were killed in the destruction of the Jedi academy.

Assuming that Rey is his daughter, we also do not know what happened to his wife (i.e., Rey's mother). That event could have also scarred him. Perhaps he felt that his presence represented a danger to his loved ones.

You are right that in the past he faced threats directly. Because it is suggested that Snoke has been around for a long time, maybe Luke is trying to learn more about the origins of Snoke and the Knights of Ren in order to defeat them.

 

Why? His Force visions were unreliable at best, and he only had them once. In canon few Jedi are able to sense terribly far, and Luke is a long way from where the main action takes place if memory serves. Because really, that would be the best reason for him not to help.

 

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

 

Considering this entire film was based around a missing Luke Skywalker, I'm convinced the reason would have been conceived of already, by JJ, Kasden, and input from RJ.

 

I agree with you. In fact, when I first heard of the MSW rumors of Luke being absent and Kylo being Han's son, I was afraid that this would be the storyline that JJ and LK would go with. However, I am still hopeful that there is more to the reasons for Luke's absence, since there are still the mysteries of Rey being on Jakku and of Maz having possession of Luke's light sabre. I suspect that these mysteries were connected with why Luke was in hiding, and that Han didn't know the whole story.

 

LMAO! This hit home with me! Thanks for the laugh I needed it

 

I hope Luke is more humorous by the way, they could really go to town on his character as he progressed a lot between episodes.

 

While I'm sure they have an explanation behind it in the movies. I read where JJ (or maybe one of the screen writers) was talking about trying to fit Luke much earlier in TFA, but that having him earlier just immediately made the story about Luke.

So Luke was left out for a meta reason, to give the new characters a chance for audiences to invest in them. So when Luke is finally introduced, they aren't *completely* overshadowed by him from then on.

I just hope the explanation they eventually give is a *good* explanation that fits with Luke's character from the previous films. I agree the reason given so far seems against his character in a lot of ways.

 

Luke abandoned his friends all the time and his character growth was pretty much becoming less rash and hot headed. More than anyone else Luke is someone who is unsure in their abilities. Just look at how he acts on Dagobah in V and VI, there is always doubt and hesitance when it comes to his ability as a Jedi. People have let the heroic qualities of Luke cloud the very human character he is.

To me the answer is simple, he feels like he failed and he retreated to this temple seeking inspiration, obviously he hasn't found what he hoped to find otherwise he would've returned. Rey's appearance is going to remind Luke of his duty and to look beyond his own self doubt

 

Yeah Luke is going to need to be saved...JJ was smooth he dumped all the justifying off on Rian...cause a Luke who gets depressed and sits around in self pity why the galaxy burns aint my Luke

 

For me it made sense...
He tried to rebuild the Jedi order, pass on what he learnt like Yoda told him, trained Ben, failed and that ended up coming back to bite him in the a$$... He felt responsible for all those deaths and had a break down.

What I'm not sure is why we (as fandom) are ok with Kenobi and Yoda be hiding for whatever number of years with the empire doing all those empire things, but take issue when it's Luke that lets the FO run wild..
Why do we consider it out of character for Luke but condone it with Kenobi and Yoda?
(Really curious on your thoughts about it, not trying to say that people are wrong for saying it is out of character)

 

If episode 8 is what I hyped it up to be, we'll be seeing Luke face off against someone. I just hope he's got some really good fights though.. not just standing there throwing rocks at people but we at least have to see him punch someone...... please Rian, like even in a flashback I wouldn't mind this. They need to show how powerful Luke was following Return of the Jedi.

I wouldn't even mind a more prequel-esque feel to episode 8, but not too many CG effects. Also I wouldn't mind waiting until December 2017 if they did all the space battles with models

 

TFA was not focused on explanations, it was focused on impressions and emotions. It is clear that Luke's exile is tied to an emotional response of remorse when Kylo betrayed him. But the movie never tries to give complete explanations for anything, so it is a very safe assumption that there is much more to the story. The movie assumes an intelligent audience. They don't need to tell us that it was a complex decision, because we know it was.

This is following in the footsteps of the OT, which never fully explained questions such as the reasons for Yoda's exile, Obi-Wan's self-sacrifice, Luke and Leia's separation, etc. etc.

So don't worry, I am sure that there is more to the story. Although I strongly suspect that we will not hear a simple, calculated, strategic reason. It will always remain a complex, highly emotional decision, but one that was also influenced by his wisdom in the force.

 

Luke needs to be wiser than Yoda.