I think the most distressing thing to me about some reactions I’ve seen to Luke’s character arc is that it adheres to this idea that optimistic, hopeful people are not allowed to be changed by age, trauma, and tragedy.
Listing all of the choices that Luke made in the past doesn’t change the fact that people can and do have breaking points. That even the most moral people have moments of weakness. That Luke Skywalker’s struggle with the dark side was ongoing because like those before him, he thought it was something that had to be suppressed completely.
I think that Mark had a point when he said the character couldn’t just ne a rehash of Obi Wan. Obi Wan Kenobi was a shining example of unwavering goodness in the face of loss and trauma, but holding other characters up to that standard is a fool’s errand because Obi Wan was extraordinary, and as much as he went through, his burdens were different from Luke’s, and his foundational teachings in the ways of the Force were more thorough.
Luke Skywalker should be allowed his bad decisions. He was never perfect and the burden he undertook was enormous in magnitude. It was like trying to found a university while still getting your undergrad degree.
And I think there’s a lesson in there about heroes and fallibility. About how maybe heroes aren’t timeless. About how we can’t rely on the heroes of our past to swoop in and save us. Luke Skywalker can’t come in alone and save the galaxy. Resistance allies, in the face of the terrifying might and seemingly limitless resources of the First Order, can’t swoop in and save the Resistance, no matter how much good will there is toward Leia. And as we move into a final episode where the old guard has been decimated, the new characters are going to have to figure out how to forge their own path, and understand that the old ways should serve as guidance for what not to do as much as what should be done.
