STAR WARS: A CHARACTER STUDY OF LUKE (Part 1)
His truth behind the cynicism.
One of the biggest questions that the Force Awakens yields, one of the biggest mysteries in the two years following the film's premiere, revolves around the disappearance of Luke Skywalker. What is he doing in exile? What is he planning against the First Order? What are his motivations for removing himself from the board? Most importantly, what would it take for him to return?
The ultimate pursuit in the Force Awakens is to find the legendary Jedi master. Both sides race to find him first in the fervent beliefthat his restoration/removal would "shift the tide." Everyone believes one way or another that Luke Skywalker would determine the outcome of the war, hope to the Resistance and a threat to the First Order. Find him first, and the victor wins the war.
It is a belief that Luke is happy to prove wrong. Rey's victory in the Force Awakens in no way determines the outcome of the Last Jedi. The struggle is far from over at the time Leia sends Rey and Chewie to pick him up. What they find is a broken and no doubt exhausted man determined to stay exactly where he settled.
"What did you think would happen here?" (Luke, The Last Jedi)
Of course, he wouldn't come easily. Nothing in life is that simple. Though Rey shares his gifts, she is still a perfect stranger to Luke. He cannot trust her. Yet, Leia expects her to do the hardest and most important task in all of the Resistance: negotiation. Especially when nobody knows the reasons he disappeared in the first place. The task of finding the map pales in comparison.
Legacy is not what makes a hero.
Here lies the entire point of the sequel trilogy, one that is both directly and subtly made throughout the Last Jedi. Even Snoke accepts the error of his pursuit for Luke. Kylo openly rejects the legacy of his family. Luke teaches Rey the insignificance of the Jedi Order in relation to the Force itself. All believe the same concept in their own twisted way. All of them attempt to sway the Force's newest progeny as she struggles to find herself.
The Force is above every wielder and all of their orders. No one determines its path. No one can destroy it. It is no one's tool. It simply is. Luke is not their last hope. Nor Rey. Nor Kylo. They must focus on the Force for hope, not on its wielders. Nobody, not even the infamous Luke Skywalker, can claim that honor, and he doesn't. He is once a hero, but no longer. That responsibility falls to Rey, Leia, and any other force user that comes along.
First, they must understand the intentions of the Force: its purpose, its goal, and its endgame. In Episode IX, a film that J.J. Abrams promises to address and unite all previous episodes, Rey and her counterpart Kylo Ren must discover what that is. Otherwise, the wars will never end. The two sides of dark and light will continue their conflict. The galaxy will never know peace. Let there finally be peace.
