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Luke Skywalker


The Choc
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On 1/20/2021 at 11:25 AM, Filthy Jawa said:

I said this last year in another thread and got shit on by everyone here and told I was wrong. 
 

I have no idea how this assumption of God Luke came from. Luke had a tiny fraction of the training of an actual Jedi. I guess he’s born with a crazy M-count / Godpower because genetics? I’m not sure that’s even really implied in the OT. What they do say is that he’s their last hope - they’re desperate so this kid with some potential will have to do. 

I agree there is a Luke Problem going into the ST if you assume he’s God, but what’s wrong with shocking fan assumptions? I think that’s when Star Wars is at its best and that’s what the team making this last trilogy really didn’t understand. Luke isn’t the most powerful Jedi of all time - he defeated evil because he inspired his father. Love defeated Hate and all that nonsense.

The problem that the old crew’s story was finished is real, but it’s not unsolvable.  

I very much agree with this post with the obvious caveat that Johnson understood the value of shocking assumptions, from the moment Luke throws the saber over his shoulder that is obvious.

I mean really though, the great moments in stories are always when expectations are shattered. No one was like "yeah the Red Wedding was awesome I completely saw that coming so it was great!"

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He gets it and he doesn’t. 
You subvert expectations once, twice, it creates some twists and turns and you surprise your audience it helps the story. You do it over and over and it’s just a lame gimmick that hurts the story. We don’t have to go over this again. He struck the right chord for you, less so for me. 
 

But the Luke thing bugs me. There’s a Luke Problem. Fix it. This is Disney. They have all the money in the world to hire the most gifted filmmakers and writers out there and they can’t fix The Luke Problem?

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Here is the issue with this and with the whole non-existent "Luke Problem". Luke's "power level" is completely irrelevant, it doesn't matter. A character is not important or worthwhile because of his or her power. They are worthwhile because of their actions, choices. Their beliefs and their faith in those beliefs. Luke does not win at the end of ROTJ because he got super good at sword fighting and defeated Vader. He won because he chose to throw down his lightsaber and his belief and faith in his father was rewarded. This is true throughout all fantasy storytelling. Harry Potter doesn't defeat Voldermort because he is better at magic. 

Really the idea that a character's power is so important is an idea that is almost universally held among evil characters. The characters who consider power more important than family, belief, friends, faith. They are all evil. 

Considering Luke is not evil then we can just say how powerful he becomes is basically unimportant to the character. 

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