Not My Luke Skywalker: A Love Letter to the Sequels 

Just as the writers and directors of films get their opinions turned into major motion pictures, I believe everyone is entitled to an opinion. Here's mine.

Vader: kills possibly billions of people Luke: there’s still good in him Kylo: has bad dream Luke: he must die

When Luke Skywalker himself doesn't think he's playing Luke, that should be a red flag

When Luke said “my sister” you can really tell how personally invested he is. Mark Hamill really is Luke and he was trying to tell them “this ain’t me”

Luke Skywalker has been my hero since I was 5 years old. I'm 27 now, and I felt nothing watching him die in TLJ. Yet I cried watching him in the Mandalorian. What does that tell you

Honestly Mark Hamill the actor feels more like Luke than “Luke” from The Last Jedi.

FACTS: Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni should have been in charge of the sequel trilogy. It would have been BRILLIANT!

Wait even Mark Hamill wasn’t happy with his portrayal? Man now I understand his tweet after killing it in the Mandalorian

I suffer from combat related PTSD... I look at Luke as him having PTSD, however, even with PTSD we wouldn't cower & hide from conflict... especially when it comes to protecting our family....

That was one of the things I was most excited for in the sequels, seeing Luke in action as a Jedi Master. It sucked...

How to retcon the sequels: Luke wakes up looks around and sees the bottle of green milk he just drank. "Luke, what are you doing?" Luke looks back and sees Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker with several of his students looking incredibly worried. "What happened?" Luke asks "You drank that weird green milk uncle Han sent us then collapsed" Ben answers. "Oh, throw all that shit out. Han got us a bad batch" Luke said "You look terrible what did you see?" Mara asks "Something terrifying but its over now" Luke answers and goes to continue teaching his students.

I feel the sequels were disrespectful to George Lucas's Luke Skywalker character. I was so stoked when Luke as WE knew him appeared in the Mandolorian. The sequels had so much potential, but they completely dropped the ball. Luke was my hero growing up, and then he was just this wimpy old man.

“Many fans love the sequels...” Where? Who are these people??

“Luke had a personality disorder in these films”. That’s definitely the understatement of the millennium.

And then he walked in on The Mandalorian season two finale AND TOTALLY REDEEMED HIMSELF!

I don't see anyone talking about this: From everything we know about being a jedi is that it's a discipline, an intense one. As you face trials and overcome them you build skills within yourself. That's what makes it possible for you to become a master. For Luke to have faced the trial by combat that was facing Vader and Sidious in Return, he had to either win or lose. Learn the lesson, or fall. Here's my main thing; when you learn a skill you don't just up and forget it. When Luke looked down at his mechanical hand and felt the fear and anger that was pulling him to the dark side and said No anyway, THAT was a new skill he learned *Achievement Unlocked*. He knew what the dark side was and rejected it. There is no way that same Luke, would feel the fear of seeing Ben's future and react the way he did, essentially giving into the dark side, even for a moment. Rian Johnson did not respect what Luke learned in Return.

Damn, just revisiting this video reminds me how much I feel for Hamill, Luke ment more to him than we could possible imagine😪

I agree young padawan

Vader: Literally slaughters millions of people and brought about the darkest era in Jedi history. Luke: I feel the good in you. Kylo Ren: Has some darkside dreams. Luke: Your free trial of life™ has expired.

When the rise of Skywalker trailer came out and the emperor was confirmed...I thought this was going to explain Luke's hermit behavior...he said the feeling of needing to kill kylo passed in an instant...I took that as: the emperor knew Luke was a bigger threat now then he was the last time they met so he needed to immobilize the strongest part of Luke Skywalker...his heart and soul...I had believed that the emperor waited years for the right moment and found it when Luke had read kylos mind...i figured the emperor had used all his power to break through Luke's impenetrable force barrier to implant a single seed of hate in his mind, which manifested as Luke needing to kill kylo...the emperors efforts paid off because Luke now believed this hateful feeling occured of his own free will, sending him into a spiral of self doubt and later his hermit behavior...I had thought that this deceitful act by the emperor would all he revealed in the last movie, Luke would realized he was duped...come out of his tizzy and re-emerge to face the emperor for the last time...hence the name "The Rise of Skywalker"

Rian: I want them half and half Reality: 90% of fans hate the sequels and 90% of the fans that like the sequels are commoners that have only seen the movies, maybe not even all of them.

I don’t understand how Anakin was a force ghost, but never told Ben to stop worshiping his skull helmet?

Luke Skywalker saved my life. Seven years ago, I went through an event that put me in a very dark place. I was losing myself to the anger and depression. I didn't care about anything or anyone, especially not myself. I knew I needed to get better. In an effort to find myself, I went back to the things I enjoyed in childhood. Chief among them, Star Wars, and my childhood hero. Luke Skywalker. Luke wouldn't run from his problems, he'd face them head on like a Jedi would. He wouldn't abandon his friends or family. If he made a mistake, he'd do whatever he could to fix it. So, I followed Luke's example. I faced my darkness, and overcame. Luke Skywalker saved my life. You can guess how I feel about Sequel Luke.

I love this channel so much. I'm a lifelong SW fan and really enjoyed the bold changes of TLJ. Kylo in particular was fascinating, and his growth from TFA was refreshing. I also liked Luke, the galactic Boy Scout, ran into hard times and then lost his optimism for a time. As a grown adult, that's relatable. But our galactic Boy Scout wouldn't have been held down for so long. Maybe he'd be disconnected from it all for a time, I choose to think he'd have a crisis of conscience and realize he's throwing himself a pity party and jump right back in the action. Even if he died to save the remnant of the Rebels, he'd die fighting. And would he REALLY have been ready to kill his padawan because he had the dark side influencing him? Even momentarily?! Luke Skywalker can be a more mature figure, like Yoda or Mace. It's okay to move enthusiastic optimism into regal optimism, especially when he's so wise and experienced. The grumpy curmudgeon didn't have to last as long as it did in order to get the story of failure and teachable moments across. I still like TLJ for what it was, but I see where you're coming from. Great points, Theory! 💜

How can a guy who believed in literally the 2nd most evil man in the world(and convince him to do one last good thing in his life), fail to try to help a kid who’s going through a rough time(and is prob depressed cuz that’s what teenagers do), and instead immediately try to kill him? I mean darth Vader was a man who was living a life of darkness for years on end and still decides to help him, but then his own nephew who’s still a kid and is literally unable to have so much darkness in his life becomes a little angry or sad(whatever was causing him to dip into the dark side), Luke’s mind suddenly goes Macbeth(excluding the part where the killer gains something out of it), and tries to kill him in his sleep

Imagine being the manifestation of a character for most of your prime acting career and someone telling you "its not ur character, you just rented it". Can you imagine how Mark felt? Thats the equivalent of someone taking your only child and saying "this isnt your child anymore" and ripping it away from you.

I know what happened to Grogu in the sequel trilogy, guys. Luke murdered him in his sleep for getting out of line. Directed by Rian Johnson.

Whenever I hear Dave Filoni talk, I feel like crying tears of joy. You can tell he really really cares about Star Wars, and continuing what George Lucas has left him

Me: sees a Star Wars Theory video about liking the sequels Also me: It's treason, then

The biggest problem with the sequels for me personally is the fact that they feel more like reboots than actual expansions of the universe that justify their own existence

Luke was bad in the sequels, but a lot of people don't realise that Han was also bad in the sequels. His character arc in the OT was he was a smuggler only in it for the money, but then he became a resistance hero and fought with the rebellion. Then, in the Force awakens, he's back to being a smuggler. J.J. Abrams ruined Star Wars as much as Ryan in my opinion.

I must say thank you for making this video. Hearing your perspective on Luke and what he means to you is something I can relate to. Luke is someone who exemplifies hope and I look up to that, however the place that separates me from you and most Star Wars fans is that I love Luke’s arc in the Last Jedi and through it all I still see him as one of the greatest heroes in all of film. The way I view Luke in the film is someone who was so enthralled in the Jedi beliefs that he failed to see the issues the Jedi had. It was the Jedi way and teachings that saved Vader but it was also the Jedi way that alienated Luke from Ben. Similarly to Anakin in the prequels, Ben felt like he didn’t fit in, it was said that he spent lots of time away from his parents while he was training and he felt the draw to the power of the Sith as a way to feel. Luke was teaching that Jedi must keep their emotions in otherwise they would go to the dark side, this is what sealed Luke’s fate he fell to the same mistakes that the Jedi during the prequels fell to with Anakin. When Luke sensed what was going on in Ben he for a split second thought of killing Ben, he was afraid of losing all that he worked for and everything he loves. The thing I find many fans forget is that this was only for a second as Luke instantly stopped himself. It is likely that if Ben didn’t wake up, Luke would have handled the situation better and in a similar way to how he helped Vader. It was simply the fact that Luke feared losing everything, that made him almost strike his nephew down, during the original trilogy he didn’t have as much to lose as he did after the fall of the Empire. When Luke failed he realized that the Jedi were heavily flawed, it wasn’t until Luke met Rey and talked to Yoda once again that he realized that he can work through his and the Jedi’s failure and come out stronger and be the Luke Skywalker of old. I was personally fine with the force projection because he was just trying to buy the Resistance time and trying to get to Kylo. It would have been cool for him to be there but I liked that he died peacefully on Ahch To looking at the twin suns that bookend his journey. When I see Luke I see the hopeful optimistic hero that saw the good in Vader and who learned from his mistakes to see the good in Kylo and in the Jedi. I get why Luke in Last Jedi angers so many people, but I see an amazing character arc that made me love this character even more. Last Jedi isn’t perfect, for example I wish we got more flashbacks to flesh out why Kylo turned. I just hope you can see where I am coming from and sorry for how long this comment is.

You know, about the part of him exiling for 2-3 decades and cutting off force communication with his sister, I think this COULD have made sense, had what I’m about to say been the story line: After Kylo’s destruction of Luke’s academy, and learning new knowledge that there were new forces of evil at hand like snoke - Luke realizes in his old and weary age that he isn’t strong enough to take them, so he spends 30 years discovering more secrets of the force, digging deeper as to how he can defeat the dark side, advancing his training through lightsaber combat and meditation. He speaks to Yoda and Obi Wan, pleading for their knowledge and guidance. So yeah. All in all, Luke is spending this crazy amount of time, trying to become as strong as he possibly can, knowing that he is “the only hope.”

the problem was that the people who wrote the sequels weren't star war fans.

The campaign mission with Luke Skywalker in Battlefront 2 was the best post-ROTJ Luke we saw

Who creates a film where you wreck a giant character who is as big as Luke. Then, you want to literally SPLIT the fandom of Star Wars in One film.

That "I want half of the viewers loving the movie and half hating it" simply sounds like a child tantrum and trolling for the sake of it. I really can't respect that kind of mentality.

I was born in late 1999. I clearly remember watching episode 1 as my first star wars movie, but I didn't really get into it because I was still pretty young. It was really revenge of the Sith that really brought me into star wars, I watched ever other movie with my dad before watching that one. ROTS was incredible from the first beat of the war druma to the funeral of Padme. I read every book I could get my hands on. I had no idea there was so many at the time so I bounced all over the place. I liked the Force Awakens. I hated that Disney had erased the Republic commando and X-wing series. Even fate of the Jedi was a fun read for me. I replayed knight of the old Republic when I was old enough to grasp the little details I had missed as an eight year old. So I walked into theatres brimming with excitement, I noticed the little details, like Finn using the wrong switch on Anakin's lightsaber, the square dish on the Falcon. I really liked it, yeah there were some things I disagreed with, but I have those gripes with AOTC and ROTJ too. That is, until the New Republic got annihilated. A weight settled into my gut, how could Wedge's starfighter squadrons not act against the First Order? Where was Page and his commandos? How could Han abandon his wife and son for smuggling? Kylo Ren took off his helmet. It got worse. I didn't see a dangerous darkside warrior, I saw a kid who was scared, who knew he wasnt doing the right thing. He killed his father. It took me a few days to get back to normalcy. I went through the canon books that were coming out to understand, but that just upset me more because it seemed the New Republic was neutered by Mon Mothma, a cool character in the EU. I was quick to hop on everything I could up until the last jedi came out. I went to see it in theaters of course. I lived and breathed star wars. I saw Luke toss his father's lightsaber off a cliff. I saw the woman-no- the girl (it wasnt till Empire that I think Leia really became who she was, and that briefing she gives on hoth is what every commander should sound like in my mind) who stood up to Vader give up and let her son kill her. It was visually impressive of course, the best visual effects money could get. Why did it feel empty? Why doesn't The Last Jedi feel like star wars? I had been a mando fanboy since Hard Contact, Karen Traviss made me look at the Jedi in a whole new light. But Luke Skywalker, easily the best Jedi of all time, giving up? I hated it. I walked out of the theater confused. I didn't start hating it till weeks later. I haven't finished the last of the neo Thrawn trilogy. I haven't picked up the books that explained what happened to Iden Versio's daughter even though I loved the inferno squadron book. I used to read star wars fanfic all the time, I barely look at it now. I went to The Rise of Skywalker, ready to bury the New Canon. To never talk about it, never read it. I saw the disgrace Rey called jedi training. A jedi shouldn't have to pick up a lightsaber to be known as a jedi. Not by someone who loves the series. Rey never seems like a Jedi. She never seems to get the weight of responsibility a jedi has. She doesn't listen to the force, she never seems to regret killing the people underneath the first order armor she's fighting. The sequels could have been great. I thought my problem with TFA would make the whole story more complex, leading to TLJ reassuring me that the guardians of the light might get old and pass the torch, but they'd still be beacons we aspire to be like. As someone who once wanted with all my being to be a jedi, why does the title feel less than ever? I once wrote an essay. A essay on the importance of cartoons, anime, and comics in a world where parents are absent. Not for school but personally. It was probably awful. We can mess up like Zuko and Anakin; but if we sit down, remember what we were taught we could come back to the right path. Ahsoka teaches us that yes, young people can be annoying, but we should endeavor to let them keep their drive and sense of idealism so that they will try to change the world. Aang was reckless with his powers and burned his friend, he was a coward that ran from his people when they needed him. He became a good man, a good person. Luke was a naive farm boy in the middle of a war, but he never compromised his sense of right and wrong. He saw something horrible and he set himself a goal to fix it. Naruto was a loser. A loudmouthed brat who at the beginning brought nothing to the table but arrogance and noise. Look at the young man the faces down Pein, who he shows mercy to despite the closest thing he had to family had been killed by Pein's hand. There were and are real consequences to the media we consume. The Heros and Villains children see today will show in the adults they become tomorrow. And I think Lucasfilm failed in that solemn duty in regards to the star wars content we've gotten in Episodes 8 and 9. To any who read this, thank you. And may the force be with you.

A+ This is why I cried when Luke, the real Luke, showed up and kicked ass in the Mandalorian.

I just watched “The Last Jedi” and I agree with your video! Thank you for making it and for being so diplomatic about it as well. Star Wars debates can become so cruel without needing to be. Luke Skywalker is my absolute favorite character in the saga, and so seeing him destroyed in “The Last Jedi” was NOT fun. It’s like you say: writing a character (especially such an iconic one) needs to come from a place of truly considering what the character themselves would have actually done. Luke is, and always has been, a beacon of hope, persistence, courage, and compassion. This film subverts every single one of those traits and tries to make up for it by making him attempt a weird and lame last stand. It’s just not Luke. I get that they were trying to say that all the previous orders had it wrong-but that was something Luke already discovered when he tossed aside the advice he got from Yoda and Obi-Wan regarding Darth Vader. He found that compassion, “attachments” as the prequels call it, is actually something good and beautiful. He knew that previous Jedi ways were wrong. I also understand that they were trying to make the new characters shine. That’s great-but not at the cost of a classic character. There could’ve been another way to remind the galaxy that Luke is a hero without setting him up as the main one. As for the whole “flawed hero” portrait, many people seem to forget how flawed Luke already was. He was overly loyal to people, which often set him off against an enemy he couldn’t defeat. He believed in his cause with his whole heart, something that often lead to him being reckless. His flaws were his strengths taken too far, since his heart was good. Not everyone loses hope as they age or as they experience trouble. That is not everyone’s downfall. They could’ve explored more interesting ways for Luke’s unique character to fail (if they really wanted to go that direction) without giving him an almost completely selfish attitude that went against his very grain. We’ve seen the “depressed and flawed” hero too often now, and Star Wars was meant to have that ethereal and poetic quality of good vs. evil. This idea might be more “modern,” but it’s less Star Wars. Luke is a genuinely good person, and years of peace and training wouldn’t transform him into someone different, but it would make him more of who he was. Thanks again!

2017 was a bad year for me. I lost my mom late November and to get over my grief I turned to what I loved the most which was Star Wars and The Last Jedi kicked me at was the saddest part of my life. I can't bare to watch it again.

A huge inconsistency for me is the fact that Luke struggled with dark thoughts himself. After finding out that Darth Vader was his father, Luke legitimately feared that one day he might follow in his fathers footsteps down the path of the dark side. During his final duel against Vader, he nearly struck him down in anger just as the emperor hoped he would. He ultimately chose the path of the light though, and was willing to sacrifice himself in his devotion to the light. You would think that someone who went through that would understand another person struggling with dark thoughts, especially if the person was part of his own family. For Luke to decide that the only course of action was to murder Ben in his sleep completely contradicts everything previously established about the character of Luke, and I hate that Ryan Johnson wrote that into his story.

Luke was an idealist. He always saw the good in people, even the most evil, like his father, Darth Vader. This is why it made absolutely NO SENSE for him to attempt to kill Kylo Ren in this sleep. It went against Luke's character. Luke wants to bring bad people back into the light, not kill them. If he did it for Vader, he definitely should have done it for Kylo Ren. I mean it's not like Kylo Ren slaughtered a bunch of unarmed younglings. Totally out of character for Luke.

Been following you for atleast 5 years at this point and somehow only just came across this video. You summed up exactly how I feel about it all. Much love my man

I still remember fondly when I was little, recieving a random book from my mother, seeing it was a Star Wars book, not really knowing there was a book about the series. But I read it, and it was with Han, Leia and Chewies kids, learning the force, and Luke showing up quickly at a scene, those key details remained with me for years. Graned memory is vague, and still is, but I so wish they had done the books, because this didn't feel like Star Wars, the sequals, they at most for me, felt like a fanfic, or maybe set in the Star Wars universe, but not the original Star Wars movies.

After episode 9 was out for a while, I decided that I was trying to trick myself into liking the sequels because it was the end of the Skywalker story and I wanted it to end off on a great note because of how much I truly love the original trilogy, the prequels, and especially the clone wars animated series but watching the Mandalorian and the clone wars season 7 shows me how much I truly hated the sequel story. I have a lot of problems with the sequels but a big one for me was that they just uncreatively hit the reset button and decided to retell the original trilogy story with characters I honestly didn’t care about instead of expanding the universe and telling a more interesting story. For example, I know the prequels aren’t perfect but episode 2 laid out the groundwork for the clone wars series to expand in so many different directions in such an amazing way that didn’t just focus on a single handful of characters but would keep expanding into new characters, new locations, new situations, and more. In short, the movie writers need to stop focusing on trying to just get raw reactions out of their audience and they need to take a huge page from the show writers on the direction they have been heading in.

I agree with everything but I wouldn't be able to say it as nice.

I could get with the idea of luke being a broken man. Maybe he's sick of the endless cycle of war. Showing the galaxy that their greatest hero has given up. The sequels should have explored the idea of luke being right about endless cycle of war with the first order and about how the galaxy should find its motivation with out him

14:45 Dude, seriously, after realizing Johnson’s thinking process, I was like “how the hell they put this guy in charge of Star Wars???” He disrupts the arc of a legendary character, for intentionally splitting the audience and in turn making a movie controversial. That is the part I could hardly understand his logic.

interesting to see that hamill is more a fan of star wars than disney.

Rian Johnson saying, "that's Luke" says everything. His view of Luke is so weird, twisted, and specific. He acts like Luke never progressed beyond A New Hope. He totally ignores his character arc. Rian Johnson wanted to tell a very specific story and valued that over honering the characters. He broke them so that he could do whatever he wanted.

@9:27 "That's Luke" (Rian Johnson) I think this is one of the problems -- Johnson saw Luke as a fundamentally confused and inconsistent character. I couldn't disagree more. Luke has a classic Hero's Journey arc and is a strong, stable character not only at the end, but throughout. He never exhibits this bipolar stuff to which Johnson says "That's Luke." No, it isn't.

Your opinions are 100% valid! Up front, thank you for stating that us as Star Wars fans must learn to discuss these matters without animosity. We (at the very least) have one thing in common - our love of Star Wars - and that one thing should not divide us. Now, for my opinions. I was shocked right through the Last Jedi. I enjoyed it, but I was shocked. I remember sitting in the cinema, being soooo hyped up for this film, and feeling that excitement sink when Luke outright refuses to help Leia and then proceeds to say the jedi must end. As you said, he spent just over half his life trying to rebuild what Palps and Vader broke down. I will be honest: I was never the biggest Luke Skywalker fan, BUT he rose above being an average farm boy on Tatooine. He summoned the courage to leave behind everything that was familiar, to help people who he didn't even know. His father was one of the most evil (presumably) figures in the galaxy, yet he refused to believe that Anakin was 100% lost. He refused to kill Vader (like Yoda and Obi-Wan implied he'd have to) JUST BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. That was the Luke Skywalker I knew: Luke I-have-to-do-the-right-thing Skywalker. For this reason, I have a very deep respect for Luke (and I find that as time goes on, I like him more and more). I recently read books like the Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig, and Bloodline by Claudia Gray, and I feel like, if they incorporated some of the info in these novels into the books, it would feel less random and disjointed. So while I do not detest the sequels, I dislike the disjointedness. I dislike that some characters' arcs were neglected. I dislike that our understanding of how the Force works, built up through Episodes I-VI, Clone Wars and Rebels, was basically discarded. But, I absolutely get where you are coming from. Thank you for taking the time to make such a tactful, respectful video. May the Force be with you too.

RotJ Luke: my father killed countless innocent people but I know there is good in him and I will never give up TLJ Luke: No nephews no problems

Not seeing Luke’ use his master like abilities still hurts

Vader: slaughters millions of men, women and children across the galaxy for 30 years "I see the good in you father" Kylo: thinks of the dark side in his sleep "He's too far gone! He must die!" I don't know what you're talking about, clearly the same character

Love your channel, loved your reaction to Mando S2 finale, and i love what you had to say about the the ST!!!!!

I just want to appreciate how wholesome SWTheory is, he isn't toxic, he doesn't hate on people because they have an opinion, everyone has an opinion! Personally I enjoyed last jedi but I understand if somebody didn't. Love you SWTheory ❤️ Side note: I think they should make a Disney plus show about Luke Skywalker from episode 6-7 so we can see actual character development instead of his personality jumping from one film to the other.

I loved Sam Witwer's explanation about Luke. I thought he nailed it pretty well. I agree this wasn't Luke, at all.

14:50 just proves that Rian Johnson just wanted to watch the world burn.

Luke in the originals: I can feel the good in you Luke in the sequels: *Gru holding a gun*

The comment Rian Johnson said about how he wants his movies to go to opposite extremes is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. That does not belong in any movie, let alone on such an important story as Star wars. What he did was disrespectful to the characters, to the storyline, to George Lucas and his vision, and to the fans. Especially to the new fans that are now growing up with the new trilogy. They now have a concept that is not right of not only Luke but of what Star Wars is supposed to be in general: a story of true Hope as Filoni said.

Ashoka: "Master Kenobi, what do you think the Height of Stupidity is?" Obi-Wan: "Rian, how tall are you?"

Well done video, Luke was my first hero. I hated what happened to him in the sequels, but given recent events (Mandalorian season 2 finale) I'm happy to have gotten to see the return of the Jedi who meant so much to me and others.

Thanks a lot for sharing this! I totally understand your points. I'm probably not an as huge fan as you are but....still pretty big fan born in the 80s and grown up with the movies and lore. I neither love nor hate the sequels. I see a lot of issues in them but I can still enjoy them. I want to show you my perspective about Lukes behavior (and not dive into the other plotholes): I agree that it was not an expected behavior from Luke given how the character was framed in the original movies. But when the hell are people always behaving as expected? Or rational? Or predictive? Every character in every story should have the freedom to also make unexpected or off-character choices as this is life. You never know 100% what is going on in the head of the others. In general, I see that Luke started to repeat the mistakes or at least mirror the behavior of former Jedi masters as soon as he archived a similar position. About ending evil before it spreads: Mace Windou wanted to kill Palpatine. Obi Wan wanted to kill Anakin (or at least leave him for dead). You could argue that Mace always had this side and that Palpatine was truly evil. But Obi-Wan? With his 'brother'? About being a hermit: What about Yoda? Well, not 30 years but definitely longer than a few months. He punished himself for the mistakes he made that led to the downfall of the Jedi order. Not the same but quite similar to what Luke did. He mirrored his former master. He mimicked it. And he did not change his mind about burning the Jedi books. He never wanted to do that. He just thought that he should do it. And it was shouting for help. Yoda, please tell me that I should keep the books and the lessons in there are valuable! At some point of time he just realized that he does not know what to do and that he had nobody to ask for help. No Ben. No Yoda. He was alone and had to make decisions like the old masters would have made them. That was a glimpse of the character that we got in Episode IV. 'I just wished Ben was here'. And the end of Lukes story still provides hope. Hope that it is never too late to do the right thing. Neither was it for Anakin too late. Nor for Luke. Just my 5 cents here. I hope, you enjoy it.

Lucas's saga ended with ROTJ. Can you imagine if Warner Bros got some random director to make a sequel to The Lord of the Rings? No-one would accept them as canon because it is not Tolkien's story anymore. People accepted the Force Awakens because it was enjoyable, and then felt like they had to accept the Last Jedi because it was part of the same story. But none of it is Lucas's story, so it is not part of the original 6 movie saga.

I grew up with the original Star Wars Trilogy... I was only a toddler when A New Hope came out. Star Wars is my favorite movie franchise, and Luke is my favorite character of all time. To see him go from this amazing, hopeful, strong and brave person to what he became in the sequels made me sad. I know people change as they age - I'm not the same person I was in my teens or twenties by a long shot - but have Luke try to kill his own nephew after thinking Ben "might" turn to the dark side was so way out of character for him that it felt like someone else. Especially - as you put it so well - that Luke was the only one who believed there was still good in his father despite the evidence saying he was pure evil. I couldn't (and still can't) connect the Luke we saw for the majority of the film with the Luke from the original trilogy until he did the force projection thing. *THEN* it felt like we were seeing him finally, not someone else. It was so disappointing to me, I was almost in tears watching TLJ in the theater. My favorite character of all time was a shell of himself. Sure, the scene with Yoda setting the tree on fire was cute, and the best part of TLJ (in my humble opinion) but otherwise, TLJ was a huge disappointment overall to me. It's not a "bad" movie, but it doesn't feel like Star Wars in my opinion. Thank you so much for this video. You broke things down and explained your point perfectly, and in an extremely professional and classy manner. Well done.

Ever since I started really digging in and researching comics did I realize that these stories truly are current-day mythology, much like the religions of past civilizations. It was awesome to hear someone else say the exact same thing, and rather eloquently, I might add. I'd also like to say I felt you did a great job presenting your thesis and explaining it in this video, in a very non-confrontational yet incisive manner. Thanks for sharing!

It wasn’t just Luke’s character Disney changed, but they changed Han’s character too.

My daughter recently watched the entire saga starting in Episode 1. By Episode 3 she was depressed to see Anakin fall. By episode 6 she was elated to see his redemption and the hero Luke. By episode 8 she was sad and wanted to boycott Disney. It is interesting to see how some one who wasn't alive when prequels and original came out, watch them enjoy them, only to feel betrayed by the sequels.

Thank you for promoting convocation and saying the can talk not fight, I enjoy hearing lots of opinions and perspectives on those

I grew up with star wars, I was about ten when they re-released the OT in theaters before the launch of the prequels. I never gravitated towards any one character but the universe and story itself. The OT was magical, a space opera about a boy farmer whisked away on a galactic sized quest. Even the prequels retained and even expanded on much of those magical feelings. Lucas was able to create entire mythos and fantastic lore by giving you enough information and allowing the audience to infer and theory-craft. Despite Lucas running much of everything in a top down way, he inspired the actors by creating such a hopeful and inspiring setting it really shows when you watch his movies. When I watch the sequels I don't get the same sense of wonder and magic. Trying to rekindle a flame that was never out is what the sequels feel like. In order to do so you must snuff out the original flame. All of what was old is revised in a way to favor the new. This is not always bad, but you must build a solid foundation for what is new or it will feel like you are using the prestige and success of what came before to artificially raise yourself up. And that is what I feel is Disney's Star Wars problem. They take the fans for granted. That they need not do their homework, just slap to brand name on it and push it out the door. I was hopeful when I heard Disney was taking over Star Wars, now I'm just sad to see the state of my childhood franchise. Not everything they produce it bad, they just have a lot of people in charge of things they have no business running. Creative Disney people, not Star Wars fans... Help is Dave Filoni you're out only hope...

The Last Jedi made me feel like Luke turned to the dark side. This guy went from being the most hopeful person in the galaxy to legitimately trying to assassinate his nephew. Gave me flashbacks of Anakin killing younglings. Rian Johnson turned Luke, the guy who saved Vader from the darkness into a little version of Vader himself. Sad to see

Theory: “maybe you’ll be able to at least see my point of view...” Me: From my point of view the Jedi are evil

Comprehensive & multi-faceted breakdown. Well done. RJ should have listened to Mark Hammil. The ineptitude of KK, RJ & JarJar Abrahms....they couldn’t have screwed up the storyline more if they tried to.

SW Theory.... I 100% agree with you and frankly can't argue with anything you said especially what you said at the end about needing that character to give you hope. I was 11 years old when the original trilogy came out, and needed that escaped because I grew up in an extremely abusive home with a violently abusive alcoholic father. The hope that I got from those movies as a child and then as a teenager is what got me through, I was able to escape into that. No exact but I was able to find a way to do good in my life as a way to offset everything that has happened to me. I became a paramedic for 20 some years because I was trying to right the wrongs of my childhood. And whether I knew it at the time Luke was that Idol I was looking to please. And like you to have him ripped away and basically have his Legacy spit on with soul-crushing to me I've never re-watched episode 8 and I never will. I've watched seven and nine both, and I can find good in those movies but everything they did 1/8 just gut-wrenching to try to watch ever again

I feel you man, they did Luke dirty in the sequels. He was nothing like we remembered.

Sadly, we may never see Luke's Jedi Order in films.

I am now watching this a year later and Me and my brother the person that got me in to Star Wars at a young age to be specific the prequel‘s something that I love and cherished in my young memories it was truly amazing for me because of the extensive lore and knowledge of what the universe was. But the way I look at these movies or the story in a hole was different then the original trilogy it wasn’t the story any true Star Wars enthusiast would have predicted in the end . and now with ever thing coming out I do Believe the future of Star Wars is better but when I walked out of the Theater of the last movie i thought we’ll ever good story has a end a good or bad and it was a bad end for Luke a character I would say any one can look up to it was a shame that we got two writers with two different out looks at the characters behavior and actions. But hopefully with the new things out Luke can get redemption in the end.

I recently discoverd your chanel and I have got to say that I really like your content. Keep up the amazing work!

Luke Skywalker is and will always be my hero. For me, the “true” Star Wars story ends with the Ewok celebration in Return of the Jedi - which is the perfect title for Star Wars and our hero - Luke Skywalker.

Honestly, I see the duology of 7 and 9 as a fun what-if story. Past that, Star Wars ends on Endor as far as I'm concerned for all kinds of reasons.

To me Star Wars has that strong feel of story, a sense where you can feel with the characters which happened with all episodes 1-3, 4-6. When disney took over and TRIED to live the whole feeling on, they failed in my opinion.. It doesn't have that same feel when you look at the storyline, it feels really different. It almsot feels like Fast & Furious with Lightsabers and blasters. Not much story, just fighting. no conflicts, just arguments. In my "Star Wars Universe" There is only 6 movies, and forever will only be 6. The newer movies are still well made, but they're still not in same catergory in my head.

This was very well put. I’m sorry if I have ever been negative. I know now from my reaction to Luke’s scene in The Mandalorian that I was a hurt child trying to protect my feelings of love regardless of if they were bad or not....It wasn’t until episode nine that I truly realize that Disney had given true fans the middle finger. I do still enjoy them but I have to admit, I did need Luke to have the heroes journey. The shade thrown on the character they built of Luke in a broken state made me feel like I had to defend my own brokenness....not really coming to grips that it was the storytelling that was under fire. Thanks for the time you put behind this. Truly appreciated.

So based on that snippet, Johnson basically intentionally pissed off or upset half of the Star Wars audience?

Rian Johnson with that attitude,should never had neen allowed to touch Star Wars....

A bit late to the party here. Loved this video. I absolutely hated TLJ when I walked out of the theater the first, second and third time. But now, it’s my favorite, second only to Empire. For a couple reasons. To me one of the primary themes throughout the saga is “balance”. The issue at the end of return of the Jedi is that Luke would go on to build a Jedi order that was of all the same beliefs as the previous one, inevitably that would lead to the dark side rising again and striking where the light was weak, which is what happened. To deny the darkness in all of us will never bring balance. (And I do understand legends were different in this regard as to what Luke did after ROTJ). With this in mind there is no other way that the character of Luke would’ve gone. His final lesson to learn was that failure is okay, it leads to growth. It would’ve been out of character to kill Ben in his sleep, which is why he didn’t, it was as he said “a fleeting moment”. To me, seeing that even our heroes have moments of weakness, only to again overcome them and save everyone is inspiring. Sometimes we feel like we can’t be the legend we need to be. But even amidst that, we can still against all odds, decide to be. To me, the sequels are about learning from all the mistakes of the past, family is more than blood, and bringing true balance. ROS definitely didn’t do the best job concluding this, but I think it still stuck with the theme of “anyone can make the right choice, at any time, no matter who you are, where you’ve come from, or where you feel you failed”. Are there things I would change about the sequels? Yes. Can I? No, so I choose to enjoy them and see the wonderful character choices made for what they are :). Would love to talk more about it. and I’m glad to have heard your opinion, theory 👍🏻.

Since when did fandom quite being about loving debating about characters. Friendly argument. I loved this version of Luke; but I think I love debating it with my friends even more. Thanks for you great work in bringing that energy back! Fandom should be fun!!

I completely agree. I find the documentary of The Last Jedi: The Director and the Jedi, really interesting but frustrating. It's interesting seeing how Rian Johnson made the choices that he did, but the fact that he really didn't listen to Mark Hamill is just insane. He is the character, he has lived that character for 40 years! Also, I can't understand the intention to create a story which some people love and other hate... that seem like more an excuse to cover your back when people do end up being split on it. I suppose it could be him thinking about the marketing or legacy of a movie, as he's really succeeded there, everyone still talks and debates about The Last Jedi, but that feels like more of his ego coming through rather than his love for storytelling. Avengers Endgame was pretty much universally adored, why would that not be the kind of film someone would love to make, that film is what happens when you put the story and the fans first, not your own legacy of rocking the boat.

It's like Superman getting attacked by doomsday and then being afraid to ever be Superman again.

The Luke we meet in the original movies would never: -Exile himself and leave his sister to fight alone. -Try to kill his nephew because of a dark though. (Luke tried to talk to his father who was already in the dark side.) It's just not how Luke is, and the people who wrote the new movies didn't really understand what kind of character Luke is, same with the others.

@Star Wars Theory - I feel lucky I found your channel here ...just wanna say, I am thankful that what you say here is now imprinted in history for everyone to hear ...cause what you say is exactly how I feel and how many (if not all) true Star Wars fans feel. So, just...thank you! A comforting thought is that in the end of the day, no one can take away what Lucas' Saga gave us and will continue to give us. I personally don't consider 7-9 being Star Wars at all ...it's just some sci-fi movie, not even a good one. I can write a lot on this but you've said it perfectly, so again ...thank you!

If I were Mark Hamill, I would have turned down the part.

"To explain our views on things without hatred" people these days get offended far too easily and it's ridiculous. People need to stop being so damn sensitive

he gave us all hope.That's why Luke s appearance in the mandalorian was so powerful.

How memorable it could’ve been if you get a third party telling of the rise of the new republic, perhaps using a character from the first film mozz for the joy filled beginning and hint of Kylos fall while you get more context from Luke later: leia and Han marrying, having Ben, Luke meets Mara, gets married. And then the story tellers voice cracks, they start to tremble as they tell of Han and leías separation, discovery, and conflict with the first order and imperial remnants, later Luke tells us the immense anger in young Ben at the trauma of his parents falling out of love, a story so relatable to many people who would watch this film. The believed to be dead-disappearance of Mara. Then For the first time in his life, with his old enemy allowed to rebuild in peace, feeling the anger in his nephew every day, and the loss of his love, Luke for the very first time in his life feels the pull of the dark side and it terrifies him. To the point he tries to right his wrongs and undo his mistakes mainly himself, and kylo. Going to strike down ben out of fear kylos transformation is complete, and he with the knights destroy the temple, that’s when Luke would fail, Over the course of decades, many losses, and critical mistakes that take his own humble nature and optimism and turn them against him. He blames himself so much for everything he takes responsibility for everything, inaction due to optimism leads to drastic action in the end when the realization is made. that’s why he would’ve lost all hope and abandoned everyone he loves if that’s really what they wanted to tell. out of FEAR of the damage he caused or may cause, because of his mishandling of kylo, and the failure he feels at making the same mistakes his father and obi wan did. The once hopeful and brave hero, hitting rock bottom. In The last Jedi, he actually shows with his X-Wing and we get a cool nostalgia scene with Luke glancing at his X-Wing in the water as the music swells and the scene cuts. he actually gives leia hans real dice, he sees chewy and R2 and C3Po before heading out. We see his X-Wing parked next to the falcon as they go out the back exit with Rey, instead of foxes. He stands alone against the walkers and holds his own with the most spectacular Jedi display ever seen, I’m talking lets keep the walkers shooting at him scene but then have a second volley of shots, however the camera in this volley is angled up to the walkers from ground level behind Luke, showing Luke dodging ducking dipping diving and dodging every round showing how he manipulates his body with the force, how insane his connection is to perceive such powerful blasts to dodge them, idc how much CGI is necessary you pump millions into showing this character OFF. The smoke clears this time and he uses the force to crush the walker in front of him to the ground. Meanwhile Rey leads his sister and the resistance remnants onto the Falcon, Leia holding the dice is worried.. we cut back, the crumpled walker was the one kylo was in, as he walks across the field we see the now smoking wreckage in the distance behind him with a trail of footsteps in the haze. We go to luke, sighing with the fortress behind him. They have their taunt session like in the movie, luke is actually using Anakins lightsaber in this scene, giving HIS green saber (which never appears for some reason) to Rey on the island. He battles kylo, Luke is an expert at defending, even using incredible force powers such as manipulating salt towards kylos face like walls of dust, doing his limbo move in the film, and even force sprinting so fast around kylo it’s like he’s teleporting putting kylo off balance all the while trying to talk to kylo, rarely striking, still just defending against kylos strikes. Finally out of frustration kylo goes to force push Luke, Luke pushes back to defend, and at first Luke’s power pushes kylo back in the salt a bit with a closeup of his boots dragging away revealing the red dirt beneath as kylo, sweat beading down, yells and pushes forth with all his anger causing the energy between them to burst but with MORE force than when Vader and obi wan did it, causing both to go flying backwards in a huge puff of salt and dirt. As the falcon begins to lift up leia says to wait as she turns back feeling the huge burst of force energy… Luke pulls himself up through the dust and in that moment he feels leia reach out trying to connect through the force and tell him to get out of there, he remembers the love he feels for his family the beautiful moments they shared when things were better, his friends, the people he’s lost, and he knows there’s no running, or hiding for him anymore, just like obi wan realizes in a new hope, he denies the connection for leias safety, feeling the relief of Rey and co as they lift off wash over him as he focuses within himself, deepening his connection further into the force, preparing himself. he rises to his feet looking into the sunset at the silhouette before him… soon there is a flash and a buzzing, as he’s stabbed through, as Han was stabbed, just like Vader striking down obi wan, his saber is unlit… he knows the choice he’s made, both of them tearing up as Luke reaches out mirroring Han and His own father and says “Im sorry Ben”, before fading away and his robes falling to the salt, singed in half on the way down, kylo left holding his saber out, sweating, hair draped in front of his eyes that are now completely red and bloodshot, straining to hold in the tears that are pooling and dripping, disappearing InThe salt just as fast… I not only hopefully fan fictioned my way to recognition and a better more respectable final battle and death for my favorite Jedi and film character of all time, but also set up proper foreshadowing for Leías death, provided proper storytelling techniques that invoke a lot of the messages and and feelings we look for. Though i still have Luke fall obviously this is aiming for a more symbolic motif for letting go of the past, and looking to the future, not blaming yourself or anyone else for past shortcomings and happenings and instead accepting it and moving on and focusing on the choices now. All things these writers clearly wanted to go for but for some reason can’t pull off. I did it in a fraction of the time as Hollywood, set up a spin-off film or series following Mara jade and potential child of the two, and did it all for free. Someone like me could’ve saved all three movies by changing one scene in each and this is proof. Anyways I hope you see this comment man, consider it a job application wink wink. You’re the Master Fan in my book, great takes, really encompass and represent the thoughts feelings and expectations that most fans hold especially myself. It’s a shame to see what happened to the sequel trilogy, and it fractured the fan base. More people like you behind the scenes would’ve literally led to far more profits for Disney in the long run. As a consumer I still can’t wrap my head around the fact all these degree holding profiteers can’t get it through their heads that preaching and cutting córneres doesn’t work. They just make a film that checks boxes, take the money, run make the next movie and then grandstand like “why didn’t we make money on this movie? You “fans” must be Racists and bigots” it’s annoying, I’m glad I can still get all the Star Wars content that matters from you, here’s to many years subscribed and many more

“I want to make half of Star Wars fans hate Star Wars”-rian johnson “That’s just what we were thinking your hired!”-Disney Well guys all I can say is mission accomplished!

I apologize for swearing. But I f***ing LOVE you for voicing what I've felt throughout the sequels. You NAILED exactly how this made me feel. He would've trained several in exile, learning the lessons of the past and NOT leave his sister. Hamill was dead on. Luke's journey ended in bullshit. But I don't watch Star Wars for "realism". It's fantasy!! Where heroes can still be heroes. I would LOVE to write this fan fiction with you, as Anakin was your hero, Luke was mine brother. Always a fan, cheers

I've been preaching this for years! 👏 👏 👏 Imagine going through exactly what he went through. Born into slavery, not being able to do anything about it. You're angry at the world and no one takes you seriously because you're just a kid.. But you have hopes and dreams of becoming something great. Fate happens along and you win you're freedom as it is the will of the force to do it now as a jedi discovers you and believes in you like no one else has. You're given the opportunity of a lifetime but you have to leave your mother behind. You make her a promise to come back and free her but you're restricted to do so. The guy that believed in you the most dies and the guy that didn't really believe in you becomes your new master... You grow a bond with him though, but you start to butt heads with him and become angry and frustrated because you know you're destined to be greater, do more with your power... You have all this weight and pressure on you because you're believed to be this chosen one the jedi ha e spoken of... You have constant nightmares about your mother dying and when you're finally given your own assignment you use this opportunity to take off in order to save her... You find her but too late... She dies in your arms and you just let out pure rage and destruction upon those responsible... Anakin takes his first huge step towards the dark side... So much so that Qui-Gon feels it in the netherworld of the force. Okay back to it... You're so vulnerable and open to your feelings that you admit what you did to the woman that you fell in love with and it's such an honest love that she feels the same towards you but you both know it could destroy you... Your code forbids it. So after your mother dies you vow to never let this sort of thing happen again you make the promise upon your mother's grave and so after fighting a war for 3 years you begin to have the same nightmares only this time it is your wife that is in danger of dying and so all these feelings of resentment fear anger and suffering over the course of years comes forth... You vow to save your wife. You get rejected the path to gain access to such secrets and get treated like a child again... Your explosive anger worries the jedi and so they want to test you and send you to spy on someone who has appeared to be a close friend for many years.... This man of course is using you but your promises and feelings coax you to trust him because you believe him to be the only way to save your wife. You betray your brethren and let the darks side flood your system and it corrupts you... Corrupts you to the point where your best friend/former mentor and wife don't even recognize you anymore... This would obviously infuriate you. You're trying to justify it by showing you did it for good... After all you basically ended the clone wars but at what cost as Padme said. You turn on your wife the woman you did all this to save and you fight your best friend to whom you lose to... You're forever trapped in a suit of painful armor until one day your son sparks the bit of good that your wife believed to be inside you. You kill the man that tricked and used you from the start and save your son and the galaxy... Anakin's journey is one of tragedy yet it's profoundly poetic. Turned to the dark side for love and back to the light for love.

...I've NEVER have thought that Luke could be such an inspiration, and hope for peoples... And now, i gonna take my world-forging passion very seriously, to build universes and characters in them not just for you to enjoy - but to be inspired and motivated from. To become someone bad life's situation hope and foundation. Thats actually driving.