What was Luke about to do?

Obviously he means ascend to force ghost.

Good thread though.

 

Or project himself somewhere?

 

Jump off the cliff. He was about to commit suicide. Truth. That is why he seemed so emotional when he turned around. He had cut himself off from the force. That wasn't going to change. He was done with his life and was going to end it until the Force interrupted him with Rey being there just at the right time.

 

Go fishing ?

 

So we've got

and

Love this forum lmao

 

He was going to die. He came to the island to die, he said so himself. Not sure if he was going to jump or ascend. If he was cut off from the Force, I doubt he could make himself ascend. He did go back into his hut and change clothes immediately. In the Visual Dictionary it talks about the last Jedi rite.

Interesting that they saw him as suicidal. It would make for a emotional conversation in IX if he explains that he was about to kill himself when she approached. “Rey, when you arrived on the island, do you know what I was about to do?”

 

Ah, I wonder if that was his goal in the first place in going to Ahch'to? To find a way to cut himself from the force, so that he could not be puppeted like Ben was and used, and then and only then kill himself so that he would not ascend to a force ghost and therefore completely erase his existence, because he felt so ashamed of himself? You can see it in his eyes of how fearful he his (even fearful of himself) and how ashamed he felt. He even apologize to his sister in the end.

This would help explain why he needed to go to that island so bad and then had to wait until the time was right to commit suicide. Then Rey showed up. Could this work?

 

Take a swim?.

 

He was wearing those robes because his other robes were being washed by the caretakers, those were his only two robes.
I guess he was contemplating his death yes.

 

He cut himself off from the force.
If we take Hidalgo's word as gospel he was literally going to jump and die as a mortal.
Which of course makes Luke's redemption even more touching than I first thought.

 

Luke was moments from willingly joining the Force, believing there was nothing left to be done.

To me, this explains the emotional reaction he had when Rey approached.

I also think this was the Force working through Rey, bringing them together at such a combined hour of desperation (for Luke and for the Resistance, and also for Rey personally).

Rey unknowingly saves him, enabling him, by her very presence and connection to the Force, to begin to understand and complete his purpose as a Jedi.

Rey brings him not only a symbol but information which Luke later acts upon.

Luke also imparts very concise wisdom to Rey and cautions her about the Jedi's past, how darkness rose in spite of them.

Rey's connection with the Force also had a chance to deepen on the island.

Given these experiences, and the new information, Luke was able to reclaim the role of Legendary Hero of the Ages by conducting perhaps the most supreme in-saga Force act of trans-galaxy projection.

Luke also had a chance to redeem himself, confronting his student one last time, accepting responsibility for his half of the failure between him and Ben, and, most importantly he helped what was left of the Resistance escape by buying them just enough time.

Beyond that, he went on, as we see with the children at the end of the film, to inspire the next generation of potential Jedi.

In his final act, he finally returned to being a Jedi, and, more importantly, being himself, the Luke we knew, not the regretful and resigned stranger we witnessed most of the film.

So glad he chose to remain and persist long enough to eventually accept a greater destiny than his earlier state of mind had allowed for.

The Force had far greater things in mind for him than a quick ending, and all he had to do was breathe, listen, let it in, and believe once again in the Force, the good fight, and in himself.

 

So why not explicitly put this in the film? Surely it ‘best serves the character’ which seems to be the excuse for the poor storytelling in this movie.

 

Because not everything needs to explicitly stated. Sometimes, it's better to show not tell.
When you literally explain everything, movies becomes incredibly bogged down and slow.
The pace stops and you don't have any wonder or anything to think about.

 

Most of the character mechanics in this film are handled rather subtly (with the exception of the Finn and Rose arc).
It's the big plot-based proceedings that feel on the nose and almost too cutely wrapped up.
One of the reasons the film feels slightly messy on a casual watch.

 

I can agree with that to an extent.
Though nothing will EVER get more on the nose than the PETA sponsored scene with Finn and Rose

 

Help me out here, what were they showing? What am I supposed to infer about Luke stood overlooking the sea wearing the robes of a Jedi master? That he’s about to jump?

Or am I supposed to look back at the movie and think ‘hmmmm if he’s lost all interest in the force, why did he dress up as a Jedi master?’

‘Why did he then go and get changed into his everyday clothes almost immediately?’

Then I read the art of book and find out Johnson talks about the robes being impractical for walking up and down the steps on the island...

Then I think ‘what difference does what he is wearing make to whatever he is about to do? Perhaps the robes allow the air to flow freely around parts that get hot when using the force?’

When you’ve got the guy from the story group having to explain stuff about the movie on Twitter, there is a problem.

 

You are supposed to look at it and put it together at the end.
The two times you see Luke in his Jedi robes are the very beginning and the very end.
At the end he dies and becomes one with the force.

What do you learn in between:
He openly says he's come to the island to die.
He never wears Jedi robes again.
He has completely cut himself off from the force.

He is done. He's just done. He's been there long enough. He's ready, or at least thinks he is.

Did you want the movie to stop and hold your hand through all this?
No. Because then it's 3+ hours long, ploddy and has the pace of AOTC.

Sometimes, these things need unpacked and multiple viewings.
There's a lot to learn from the visual story telling here.

 

If you accept that what Rian Johnson did with Luke's character is really the best possible story that could have been told and that any other possible variation would have made this, already too long, movie even longer...

The fact that he had to use flashbacks and narration as devices in this film tells me a) he doesn't regard the way the stories are told in any of the previous movies b) they never had a properly developed backstory c) They want to sell books/comics to explain purposefully left gaps d) He's hiding poor storytelling behind narrative gimmicks.

The flashbacks are the very essence of handholding!

 

Luke commiting suicide ? Why now ?