Psychology of a Hero: LUKE SKYWALKER 

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This is the first time I've seen someone knowledgeable in Star Wars actually defend Cynical Luke in a way that actually makes sense.

I just think it's funny that in Empire, R2 and Yoda are both FULLY AWARE of who the other is. These are both DECORATED WAR HEROES of the Clone Wars, squabbling like children over a flashlight. And I love that for them.

I always felt that Luke's greatest flaw was his fear. Fear drove him to attack Vader mercilessly, consider killing his nephew, isolating himself from the galaxy, and to initially destroy the jedi texts. Also I like how when he said "like my father before me" he tilted his head towards Anakin as if to say "You not only failed to turn me, but you failed to extinguish the light in Anakin."

Luke leaving to save his friends isn't because he's arrogant or overconfident or even believes that he can succeed, it's because his friends are in danger and if he doesn't at least *try* to help them he won't be able to forgive himself for leaving them to face it alone especially since it's because of him that they are in trouble in the first place

When Vader says “sister,” I get chills every time. The absolute glee in that realization he has, like “ohhh, shit, some new crack I can exploit to get under your armor. Watch me dive right in.”

The ending of Return of the Jedi left such an impact on me. I went in fully expecting Luke to kill Vader and save the day, but instead I got Luke INSISTING there was still good in Anakin, refusing to fight his father, and then throwing down his weapon. Luke didn't fight to the death; he refused to give up hope on someone, and so his heart saved the galaxy. It's a masterpiece, and so profound. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." One of my favorite lines in cinema besides "You bow to no one" from Lord of the Rings. 🤧

The greatest teacher, failure is. This is such a good motto. You can only fail if you are trying. Making mistakes using them to learn and grow as a person is extremely important.

"We are what they grow beyond . . ." This is a great line, and a great scene, even for all the things I didn't like, I love this part.

One of my favorite things about Luke were his last words to his father "I can't leave you, I got to save you." "Father, I won't leave you." That really struck deep after your Borderline diagnosis for Annikin. The last words and action Annikin heard and witnessed in his physical life were the words and guesture he always needed to heal. To not be abandoned.

May the 4th be with you

This video really shows how awesome a mentor Kanan Jarrus is to Ezra. He let's him grow and make mistakes. And he admits that he isn't perfect and still needs to grow to!

"If you won't turn to the Dark Side...then perhaps.. she will" Damn dude. It Doesn't matter how many times I've seen this movie or even just this particular scene. That part of the scene sends shivers down my spine every. Damn. time. It's SO GOOD!

The shame and slight tremble when he says "Leia trusted me with her son." always gets me teary eyed.

I'm sad you guys didn't talk about the incredible acting of Mark Hamil in The Last Jedi. No matter what his thought on what the character should have been, he gave it 110% and boy was it poignant.

I won't deny that cynical old Luke was a natural progression from optimistic and naive youth. The problem is we did not take that path with him. We were told in sloppy flashbacks, we were not shown with carefully crafted scenes. Fast Telling instead of Careful Showing doesn't make for a satisfying narrative. Yes, Abrams gave crap to Johnson. Then Johnson gave crap to Abrams. No one person at Disney apparently stopped to think "Hey this is the last 3 movies of a super trilogy, maybe we should have a storyline mapped out..." instead of letting the directors be the writers and ad lib through the damn thing. There were two decades and tens of thousands of pages of great story ideas that were thrown out by Disney because they thought anything with the Star Wars name stamped on it was pure gold.

All the insight, film making expertise, and wisdom aside, you gotta love and respect how HARD Jono goes with the end quotes EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

When I watch RTOJ, and it gets to Luke's triumphant declaration "...I am a Jedi, like my father before me..." I can see under Vader's mask in my mind. I see him shedding a tear. The love of Shimei, the love of Qui Gon, The love of Obi Wahn, most of all the love of Padme, finding him again, all embodied in the courageous love of his son. For the first time, he is a proud father, in awe that Luke could stand up to The Emperor. He loves again. In that moment he realizes he can be Anakin again. He owes it to all those who have ever loved him.

Truly remarkable that, despite sharing the screen with two of the greatest villains in film history, LUKE SKYWALKER still emerges as an iconic, unforgettable hero and a household name. Luke is a great hero because he embodies compassion. Most male heroes embody violence. Star Wars is not about killing the bad guy but ultimately about why overcoming yourself is more important.

“Life is going to beat it out of you” True story! Thank you for this reminder that it’s about grounding your optimism so you can still have it

Yeah...I never had a problem with "Cynical Luke" and I haven't heard many people criticize the idea that he could become older and more jaded with the old Jedi Order. I do think there is just a tiny bit of a divergence from "Heroic Luke" to "Kill-my-nephew-in-his-sleep Luke" that doesn't seem much like a natural progression of his character. I get the idea that fear motivated Luke to ignite the lightsaber and that he stopped himself from attacking, but the idea that his first instinct upon learning that Ben was falling to the dark side was to chop his kid nephew's defenseless head off is ridiculous to me and frankly an insult to anything the character had ever stood for. Even the most fleeting consideration of killing his SISTER'S SON should be abominable to him, even if he hadn't been raising him as a student and known him as a nephew for (presumably) many years. This is even crazier when you consider his attitude towards Vader, who he never even knew personally and was already far along in his commitment to the dark side. It's also not as if there was a significant and terrible event that occurred in this timeline that would have traumatized Luke to such a degree he couldn't risk it happening again, even if that meant killing a kid he'd known since birth. Maybe if another student of his had gone rogue and ended up killing someone Luke really cared about or something, we could see how Luke could go to any lengths to avoid something similar reoccurring. But there's nothing like that. From what I know about the timeline, everything goes perfectly and peacefully for Luke and his little school and he doesn't even lose any friends or family after ROTJ, until he gets ready to execute his student who then defends himself by destroying the school. I also don't see a straight line connection between the end of the Return of the Jedi fight and this particular scene with Ben. Even when he was attacking Vader in ROTJ he still didn't go for the killing blow. He halted his attack as soon as he'd won the battle, before the Emperor ever started laughing at him. His motivation may have been anger and fear but it seems clear that his intent was never murder, even when in a seemingly blind rage. All that being said, different perspectives on a story are totally fine and I certainly don't begrudge anyone who genuinely enjoyed the sequels, but saying that anyone who shares this same very common perspective with me is "bad at stories" I think is a little close minded and strangely antagonistic. Mark Hamill, who arguably knows the character better than anyone, has also expressed his discontentment with how Luke was treated as a character in the sequel trilogy. Anyway, I just wanted to explain my own perspective since both you guys seemed genuinely confused as to where this criticism of the Last Jedi comes from. I tried to word this carefully not to be too biased or judgmental because I do love this channel and this is just a story, no matter how passionate people get about it, so the last thing I want is to be abrasive. Hopefully this is helpful and not in any way offensive to anyone!

One day you’ll have to do Obi Wan, as his arc is an interesting one. The fall of Qui-Gon had a big impact on how he trained Anakin, how he deals with his survivors guilt and becomes optimistic up to his death, because he knew it was coming. Luke has a similar arc without getting to the bubbly optimism Obi Wan had in New Hope. Death shapes their perspective, optimism is a difficult thing to hold onto, and surrender is a powerful weapon to those who cannot understand.

Alan and Johnathan, Just lost my dad to cancer and my role in the family has been the "Rock", meaning I am not to cry infront of Family, his work colleagues, friends, etc. Watching your videos and this in particular has shown me that for all our bickering and disagreements, he was a mentor that helped me grow beyond his shortcomings and his "failures" enough to be that rock when everyone needs it. So even of you don't end up seeing this, or maybe you will, I want to say thank you for what you do and for helping me see that through this tough time.

Last Jedi came out at a time in my life where I had failed in life drastically after having a “hero’s journey” type life. And I had always seen myself in Luke, in his anger and in his heroism and loyalty, and seeing him grappling with maturity and failure helped me realize that life wasn’t over. I really loved his arc in the sequel series and I’m glad you guys put it much better than I could when I was originally defending the choices this movie made. ❤

I never thought of Lukes character in this light. Thanks you so much for the new perspective!

As a formerly optimistic, committed man in his 40s, who has been through career failures, and both divorce AND cancer… Yeah, life beats the hope out of you. I truly hope to find my optimism again someday! Keep up the good work, guys!

I just wanted to add something about the shows between OT and sequels: it feels to me that in The Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fett Luke has already re-evaluated some of the Jedi teachings, or at least he's getting there. When he comes to murder the Dark Troopers to death, he comes there to protect Grogu, not to proactively hunt Gideon. And in the Book of Boba Fett he does to Grogu what I've never seen other Jedi do: he actually gives him a choice. He doesn't just say "let go of your attachments", he acts more like "okay, I understand where you coming from, you can choose your own path and future, what do you really want in life?", and not only lets him go back to Din Djarin no strings attached, but sends R2 to escort him

I’m glad you guys touched on the sequels and addressed Luke. I’ve personally been on an anti-sequels binge recently, so watching this makes me(and likely others) feel better about Luke’s journey in the sequels. I’ve noticed how people say “Luke wouldn’t do that,” or “He’s already done this in the originals.” But, like you said him, he’s aged. Not everyone is the same person they were when the were in their 20s, especially after a failure that you worked so hard to prevent or let happen. Could he’ve done more? Probably. Will this be a satisfying conclusion? Probably not. But the sequels aren’t perfect and if you pitch Luke like this, then you can somewhat forgive the writers. May the Fourth be with you. -Some guy on the internet

I have a problem with the whole “it’s human nature” explanation. Luke never seemed to be someone who was characterized as a person who never learns from his mistakes and frequently regresses. His journey was pretty linear and that’s what makes it so compelling. He grew steadily throughout the OG trilogy until we see him at the point of ROTJ. Tracking that progression, he wouldn’t be a perfect character, granted, but he’d be much wiser, and logically, based off of his characterization as we’ve seen it thus far, he wouldn’t be prone to making the same mistakes with age. This sudden pivot to Luke’s regression in LJ and him seemingly forgetting the lesson he learned over the years is very odd, and I think the take of “well it’s human nature” doesn’t really hold up with this character. That concept CAN work, I just don’t think it’s applicable here imo.

I gotta admit what called my attention most was the observation that Luke, in spite of being the hero, needed to be saved at the ending of each movie. That's really a great insight, while it helps him to resist hubris, it also shows how important it is that he's not alone. Luke has an underrated quality that is simplicity. Many consider it to be a writing flaw, but simplicity is present in a lot of heroes and this is what saves them from falling (like Frodo resisted the Ring for so long because of his hobbit simplicty and when he fell because the ring was just that unbearable, he was helped by his pity and Sam who's an even simpler character).

I feel like the best way to accept everything here in a positive light, is to see Luke as a person, rather than a character. It takes out the underlying perfectionism and expectation, and opens us up to see and understand imperfection, regression, and failure. Then who we end up as on the other side of it. For better or worse.

I think some of the biggest failures of the sequel trilogy can be summed up in Alan's frequent line of "show, don't tell." I think a lot of people don't accept the lost Luke because we didn't see it happen to him. That being said, Luke's arc really does make sense and I love what you guys have said about it.

Gentle but deeply-rooted disagreement: Yes, JJ Abrams gave Rian Johnson an expert-level storytelling problem. JJ Abrams reverted the narrative status quo established at the end of Return of the Jedi, and chose to give almost no explanations. So Rian Johnson was confronted with not only telling a story, but somehow making what just came before feel sensible. That was a *huge* weight to put on his shoulders. And I say that, still really enjoying Force Awakens (especially for the brilliantly developed character arc of Finn in that first installment). And! There’s a lot of details about The Last Jedi that I really like. I was totally going along with the movie for its first half. Luke’s despondency after Kylo Ren’s collapse into darkness is a strong direction to take the character. But the narrative bubble just completely popped for me once the explanation was given that Luke was prepared (even momentarily) to murder Kylo Ren in his sleep. I understand the defense you’ve both given here: comparing it to Luke’s anger against Darth Vader in episode VI. Though I do think that Darth Vader had taken away Luke’s option for non-violence once he suggested that he’d simply move on to turning Leia to the dark side. That’s not the main point though: In The Last Jedi-for me-Luke’s murderous intent is hard to believe. I think it’s a narrative problem. We’ve seen zero back-story about Kylo Ren’s fall to the dark side. How it came to be. Except, and only, for that final moment where it all falls apart. The… show-don’t-tell rule is sorely flaunted here. Outside of the story, it feels like someone wants to conveniently put the responsibility for Kylo Ren’s actions on to Luke instead of on to Kylo Ren, himself. The movie shows us this horrible moment of moral failure on Luke’s part, but it doesn’t take the time to show us how we got there. To be fair-how could the movie have done so? There was so much worldbuilding catch-up to do after Episode VII. Most of that catching-up, then, was done by dialogue, or rather pointedly rejected altogether. Rian Johnson’s voice in the story feels pretty strong-JJ Abrams wants me to play the mystery box game, and I am *not* playing. Having acknowledged that much, Luke’s moral failure was, for me, too much to take in without proper narrative structure around. As a result, it felt hard to believe-and because it felt hard to believe, well, frankly it felt spiteful. Or at least dismissive of the character. Final point: so much of that could have been worked out by giving Luke’s arc with Kylo Ren more time to resolve yet. Luke’s death-from-exhaustion on the island felt just about as sudden as the explanation of his intended murder-and narratively, it sealed Luke’s arc as being completed. That was the final moment for me in the theater when I realized the movie just didn’t feel fulfilling to me.

David Prowse doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves (outside intimate circles) for how much he was able to convey physically. The voiceover meshes so perfectly with his performance that we sometimes forget that the physical acting came first.

I just love that “I am a Jedi, like my father before me” gets me every time

You guys are great: authentic, vulnerable, and heartfelt. Thank you. ❤

You mean the scene where he tries to murder his nephew that he believes is going to the Darkside even though he tried to redeem his father that was already in the Darkside. No, it doesn’t seem like Luke. Maybe if that scene was built up in a different trilogy prior to that and that would’ve worked but otherwise no, it doesn’t. Defending the scene actually is hard to do because it actually separated an entire Fanbase which is proof enough that that scene did not work.

Something that makes Luke unique as a protagonist is his vulnerability. When his most iconic moment, "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." requires him to sacrifice his physical strength, it demonstrates how he embodies a strong will and conviction.

I would argue that Luke in ROTJ was actually acting as a Jedi is supposed to, fully committing to the action but being able to rein in the darkness, acting in defense of others without committing to full murder. I think they're setting up the future Star Wars products to show this was the norm before the dogma of the last Jedi Order took over and stepped the Jedi of their compassion and conviction to do good as they tied themselves to the Republic and politics.

“You wanted Luke doing badass things…” yeah, and that “battle” with Kylo was the epitome of badass. Demonstrating mastery of the force like we hadn’t seen before AND giving his friends time to escape. That’s a hero moment.

I have been saying something vaguely like this about the portrayal of Luke in The Last Jedi for awhile now, but as always, you two explain and break down and analyze things like this so very well!

Luke was never a character who should have "gone out with a bang." I do wish there had been a lot of different choices made in the sequels, but Luke standing by himself in front of Kylo Ren, stopping the whole of the First Order without any aggression on his part, then peacefully transcending is the perfect way for him to pass on.

You know...that conversation about how Luke and Obi-wan recognized that they couldn't save the people that have turned to the dark side really had me thinking...it's such a statement about life. I think in our darkest moments when we see terrible events or even people we know just doing horrible things, it seems very hopeless. I think what that also says is that sometimes, we have to accept that pushing people towards things we want to see or happen may not happen/end with our involvement. Sometimes we might not be the savior of a situation and that's not failure - it's recognizing that we have limitations. And I think the thing is not to lose hope or shut down necessarily, but to realize that maybe it's us that's the blocker and that things can change for the better with/for another person. Kinda tying back to Yoda, we hope those that come after us can be better than we were for that person or for the situation. Just a lot of good lessons.

Finding your optimism again but having it be real is one of the greatest treasures in this life. I feel like this last year I had it beat out of me more than ever in my life and I almost lost it. But I’m through the worst part of finding it again and have begun building it. “For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

I remember I was super confused why Luke's character was so grumpy when TLJ came out but over the years I've come to appreciate how this movie gives the best possible send-off to Luke's character. This video perfectly describes how great Luke is in TLJ, despite its flaws, so thanks for making this great video.

Hey, guys! I’m a therapist, and I love watching your channel and Mended Light. I occasionally recommend videos to my clients if they’re looking for supplemental content. Love your work! ❤️

Lukes journey through Failure is very reminiscent of "Gifted Children" All through their lives they are told and taught they are normal until they realize their Gifted. Then they are propped up, given all this weight and responsibility and they over come it. They think they are unstoppable. Then comes the adult world. The Real world. And they will fail. Alot. That triggers EXACTLY what we saw Luke go through. Depression, Isolation, Low Self Esteem.

That makes two of us in crying for a week whenever John Williams passes. He is one of the reasons why I start follow and listening to many other music composers including John William. And thank goodness you guys did this video to Luke Skywalker. I felt like his story in Star Wars 7-9 was a better fit for his character. At first I was upset in the route they took but in looking back, it completely makes sense for Luke. Love your channel and I cannot wait to see more of your future reactions. Thanks for sharing.

I've been saying for years that last jedi wasn't a bad film but an actually great one with some humanity and soul... thank you for this!

I love watching Alan make Jono laugh. I love it for Alan, I love it for Jonathan, I love it for me. More laughter for everyone!

I always felt like the Jedi would have been much better off learning to embrace their own inner darkness in a constructive way, than just supressing it. Like Bruce Banner learning to aim the Hulk, and eventually coming to be in harmony with him. The greatest irony of the whole Jedi Order was they always restrained their power by fear of what could be done, rather than tempering their power with the wisdom of when and how much of it to use.

This was exactly how I felt about his character. My first thoughts were that he was on the top of his game as a young man, but time wears you down. It doesn't mean you lose everything, but that youthful shine fades and we are left with trying to achieve wisdom. We don't just stop being or growing, nor failing.

Thank you, you really helped me understand Luke from the sequel so much better. It is hard to let go of our heroes from our childhood (and our parents) and see them as just human and flawed and fallible. We want the happily ever after... but that is not life... that continues. That is a fairytale that has ended and has nowhere else to go.

About four different times during this video, I was reminded of Neil Gaiman‘s poem “boys and girls together“. The latter half of the poem says, “ none of them know that one day, in their turn, boys and girls will find themselves become bad kings or wicked stepmothers, aged woodcutters, ancient shepherds, mad crones and wise women…” I always loved that poem, because it does make you think about what comes after the happy ending in a fairy tale. I love the take you guys have on this story- it can feel disappointing to see a hero stumble, but it really does make for compelling storytelling!

I love how Jolee Bindo, a Jedi from the Knights of the Old Republic games, put it when he said that love will never condemn you, love will redeem you.

I honestly disagree that the sequel Luke was well written. It becomes clear through dialogue in Return of the Jedi that Obi-Wan and Yoda still cling onto an incorrect idea of hiding the truth. Yoda seems to realize it on his death bed and seems to see the final act of Luke confronting Vader and the directions it could go. Hence the words about not giving into hate and anger. On the other spectrum as Luke leaves he talks with Obi-Wan who unlike Yoda thinks that Luke must kill Vader and if he doesn't the emporer wins. Because of what they both said and off his greenness Luke seems to misunderstand Yoda and thinks both of his masters are telling him to destroy Vader / his father. On Endor when talking with Leia he specifically says that he sees the good in Vader and will save him, literally setting his character in a position to realize that maybe these Jedi were flawed and wrong. Yeah he thought that before when he went to save his friends, but that attempt was through intent to kill and with conflict, resulting in failure. This time he is going in with the intent of defence and generally "peace" as he is trying to save his father and not destroy him. If I remember he doesn't even mention destroying the emporer. I feel this shows a huge increase in his character growth. When we finally get to the big "fight" we see the emporer taunting and pushing using Luke's fear of losing his friends and family to compel him to fight. Literally the same reason he fought Vader before. Vader intercedes on behalf of the emporer and we get the duel, in which Vader gets Luke riled enough to tap into his emotions and channel the power of the dark side. Vader's hand gets cut. In that moment of pause Luke thinks to his previous duel his Father stopping at just cutting of Luke's own hand, but then sparing his life. He sees the machine Obi-Wan said was there. He remembers what a dying Yoda told him about his emotions and "confronting" Vader but never saying killing. In that moment Luke shows how he is different from his father and different from Obi-Wan. He sees the good and human left in his father, he sees what happened and how it felt when his emotions got the better of him. The emporer tries to taunt him, and instead of caving in or attacking the emporer he learns the lessons of Yoda he casts his saber to the side showing that he will not use violence. While on the brink of death, Vader shows Luke he was right to trust his feelings and the force, as he destroys the emporer. He even later tells Luke that Luke saved him. Mandalorian Luke seems to follow the trilogy well. Luke seems to have grasped the balance of his personal flaw of when and when not to pull out a saber and how to use it. From his own experience we see him being honest with Grogu about his feelings towards the Mandalorian. This is not a misled Luke. He let's Grogu make the choice, he even allows Grogu to leave knowing that Grogu will gain strength in the force regardless, even if Grogu would ultimately weild the dark side, Luke let's him go. Based on that and his lessons learned the sequel Luke doesn't seem to fit. Yeah being a hermit and dicouraged because your temple and padawans were destroyed could make sense. Also the desire to take Ben in and train him to be a Jedi, despite the Jedi not wanting to have such heavy attachments. What doesn't fit is the looming over Ben with a lightsaber to destroy him. It resets his learning and conflict as if he hadn't spents years of his life learning that lesson with his own father. Sure we can all make mistakes and make them multiple times, but when we have such a pivotal and long lesson it would rarely happen in the same way. An example is a side story in the Back to the Future series. Marty has a problem with people calling him chicken (and other variations of weak) and acts on impulse often to negative results. At the end of the third movie he finally learns to self control and ignore the taunts, being confident in who he is without the need to prove anything. He might still make rash decisions under emotions, but is unlikely to forget such a hard learned lesson, and if any sequel existed it would feel like bad writing to have him act rashly to someone calling him chicken. Basically having Luke almost destroy Ben, is literally having him cut Vader's hand again. Luke literally ignored what Obi-Wan said to fight for the good in Vader. In addition Vader had killed probably millions of innocent people, and Ben was a kid being taunted by a sith, not even steeped fully into the dark side. It doesn't make sense for him to be so hung up on the future as to turn to violence. Honestly him failing to see the darkness rising in Ben and not working hard enough to sever the tie of Snoke and protect his other pupils would make much more sense as a flaw and would still leave him to be a Hermit on a planet hidden away. He doesn't need to reset his personal journey and attack Ben to make it happen. Eh whatever, maybe I'm just a rambling fool who doesn't know what I'm talking about and dislikes the sequel trilogy the more I see it. TL;DR: Luke ain't perfect but his character journey shouldn't reset over a similar struggle that is less dangerous.

Thank you for highlighting the burning tree scene in TLJ. So many people just gloss over that scene and it is (imo) the best scene in the entire Star Wars saga, it is at least the most important scene thematically. It outlines exactly what Star Wars is about.

The music in the X-wing scene is pretty awesome, but I've always LOVED the music where Luke loses it on Darth. The deep choir and how the piece crescendos, Williams is giving us a glimpse of what a Dark Side Luke theme would potentially sound like. A combination of the Emperor's and Luke's themes, it's such a great musical reflection of what's happening in the scene.

My personal opinion is that if the Emperor would've just kept his mouth shut then Luke would've succumbed completely to his rage and went full dark side. But because he had to basically taunt Luke, it gave him the chance to stop and think and see what the Emperor was trying to do and so Luke stopped

Some of this is spot on and you make some wonderful points about Luke's character arc in the sequels. However, I have to heavily disagree with your defense of the scene where he tries to kill Ben. The only thing about this that makes it even vaguely like something Luke would do, is the fact that Mark Hamil is an amazing actor, capable of making the most nonsense script a bit more believable. But how is it comparable to Return of the Jedi? In that movie we had an entire 3 movies of building up Luke's relationship with Leia to explain his momentary channeling the dark side. We knew how much he loved her, and how afraid he was that the emperor was winning and she was in deadly peril. Why did he try to kill Ben? Who was he protecting? Where did the love and fear come from there? We have no idea. We're just expected to accept that the dark side was "rising" in Ben and that Luke had some sort of insight to let him see the danger, and yet be unable to do anything about it. Worse, we're expected to believe that this dark side was just rising in him for no apparent reason. With Anakin/Vader we had once again an entire three movies to understand why he turned to the dark side. We watched a young boy forced to leave his loving mother; then almost immediately lose his adopted father figure to violence; become essentially a child soldier; lose his mother to violence that he could have prevented with his visions; and then see visions of losing the woman he loves. So why did the dark side rise in Ben again? Just cos? Ben had Han and Leia for parents and Luke as a mentor. But apparently the dark side just popped up in him like a daisy. And then apparently Luke who never gave up on a mass murdering Vader (literally complicit in killing an entire planet worth of people), decided that Ben should die because he had a bad feeling? The entire thing is nonsense and Mark's acting is the only redeeming feature. Please don't criticise those of us who want to call it nonsense by saying we don't know how to story. I'm no writer, but I know the basic premise: "show don't tell". Luke TOLD us that the dark side was rising in Ben so he felt like he should try to kill him. We didn't get to SEE any of this. We had zero context for what was happening with Ben and therefore zero context for why our beloved hero Luke went from zero to villain in the space of a monologue. I hate it, I think it's nonsense, and I don't think that makes me bad at story. I think it makes the writers of the sequels bad at story.

I remember being shocked as a kid to see Luke almost die in "The Empire Strikes Back". I guess that I was so used to the main characters being almost invincible. Not to mention that Luke had already done a lot of cool things before his first confrontation with Vader.

You're doing this? You're actually doing this? Respect, you're tackling the Ultimate Hero 👍💪

This turned out to be just the video I needed to see today. I've been dealing with a lot in the past year, from a close friend kicking me to the curb, to a major medical event, to losing one cat unexpectedly a few days before Christmas and then also losing his brother just a couple weeks ago to an incredibly aggressive cancer (and they'd been my family for over 13 years). I've been feeling a lot of that "life will beat your optimism out of you" lately, obviously none of these are things I would have put on my "happy ending" bingo card. Life's not feeling super good lately, as you might imagine, but it was helpful to hear the comment about "find your optimism again, but have it be ground and real". That feels like some solid perspective. I'm gonna run with that and see what I can make of it.

I had harbored bad feelings for what had happened to my childhood heroes in both the sequel trilogy and the obi wan series. And while i still think some of my criticisms of poor writing are justified, this has helped me come to terms with and let go of the anger I have felt over the treatment of some of my favourite star wars characters. I had never considered the inflation of pride that Obi wan and Luke had developed over the course of their classic hero journeys and how the deconstruction of which would have changed them so much into broken people. Thank you for fostering this place of healing.

My favorite personal quote that I tell young people think I judge and look down on them when they make poor choices, Before I was old, I was stupid.

As someone who has been a Last Jedi fan since it premiered, and actually liked how this movie handled an impossible question that Force Awakens asked but never answer (Why did Luke Skywalker abandon his friends when they needed him most?), I'm so hyped for this video. I was recovering from depression when this movie came out, struggling with self-doubt and a fear of failure. Seeing Luke Skywalker, my childhood hero, go through similar struggles as I was, was a huge comfort and something I could rally behind to actually value failure and the lessons it teaches instead of fearing it. After all, if Luke Skywalker, the legend, could stumble and fall, but then find his way back to the light, we all can follow his example and learn from him in our own lives.

Definitely my confidence was broken as I got older. I have autism, and for me I was very happy in my mind and able to think things through in my own way, then when I learned about reality was I felt like I couldn’t trust my own thoughts and how I perceived things. And even now as a 30 something-year-old adult I feel like there’s times where it’s so hard for me to envision myself happy because I’ve just permanently had my viewpoint scarred because of what happened to me when I was younger.

As a relatively young person (25), I do kind of miss the youthful optimism of Luke in the original trilogy. When I expressed how much I disliked Luke's character in 'The Last Jedi', my dad, like you both, explained how he has become cynical as he has got older. Though I completely take the points made in this video and agree with them, I feel this is something I will not truly understand until I get older. Thank you both again for a thoughtful and engaging video 🙂

Best scene in my opinion is "Do or do not, there is no try" Took me forever to realize the wisdom to that, that an unsuccessful attempt is training on the path to doing. Giving up is the do not. Like he said there is no try. And failure is definitely the greatest teacher, for that is where the wisdom to help comes from.

You got me this time Alan. When you talked about your kids growing up to be better than you I teared up right along with you.

Guys, I found your channel this past Thursday and I have felt a change in my behaviors, and thus a change in the reactions I get from the people in my life. Thank you for what you’re doing and I hope you realize the positive impacts you’ve had on a lot of people out here. We need more of these types of male role models in our society

You guys are helpful and genuinely delightful to listen to. Thank you for being you!🙂

I truly wish everyone who criticizes his arc in TLJ would watch this. You guys literally touched on every aspect that I’ve argued 1000 times over, even verbatim at times with phrases like “beating Vader within an inch of his life.” I think what it boils down to for most people that crap on the sequels version of Luke is that their perception of him all their lives was that he was an idealistic, infallible hero that went on to rebuild the order and live happily ever. That perception was destroyed in TLJ with a humanized, grounded/realist take on the character. Just like how Luke realized that the Jedi weren’t perfect, many fans went through that same realization with Luke himself and it’s hard to accept. But from a story telling perspective, it’s much more compelling and I’m glad to see such a prominent channel echo the exact same sentiments. Great video as always guys!

Probably the best analysis of Luke Skywalker from the Sequel Trilogy I've seen. I'm not a huge fan of the overall sequel trilogy but this helped shed new light on how I view TLJ.

1] The thing about Obi-Wan's teaching abilities is that he was only about 21 years old in "The Phantom Menace", and he was suddenly given responsibility of the guardianship and training of a boy, who wasn't young enough to be his son. While that's the same age group as Luke and Leia in the original trilogy, he lived in a completely different galaxy than they did. He wasn't part of a wartime generation, which meant he missed the crucial experiences and lessons that shaped the Skywalker twins. If Qui-Gon had survived that battle, I firmly believe that time would've allowed Obi-Wan to become a much better, more mature teacher to another padawan down the line. Instead, he became Anakin's big brother, his buddy, and that's not what the dude needed. Someone, who is only a hairs-inch away from still being a kid, themselves, is not going to be able to be a good mentor to another kid. Time did pass, but those two were, basically, growing up together. 2] As I watched "The Last Jedi", I immediately saw parallels between that movie's Luke, and war veterans that return with PTSD. A lot of people that enlist in the military do so, as soon as they graduate high-school. They go into the situation, to use a famous phrase, "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed". But when they come home, their families and friends see how they've changed. They often become cynical and jaded by what they encountered on the battlefield. It's a reality that I feel is at the root of why certain people hated the perceived change to Luke. It touched a nerve that they don't want to admit is there. 3] Faith is a running theme throughout the sequel trilogy, and, as you guys pointed out, the seeds for this were planted in the original one. When Yoda told Luke that not believing was why he failed, that was all about faith. If you don't have a healthy amount of faith in yourself, then you'll never accomplish anything huge in a positive way. The Jedi in the prequel trilogy went in both extreme directions. They had too much faith in themselves, hubristic pride as opposed to healthy self-belief, but most of them didn't have a whole lot of faith in other people, including those in their own ranks like Anakin and Ahsoka. This is what led to their downfall. In "The Last Jedi", when Luke looked into the sleeping Ben's mind and saw the darkness to come, I feel like 90% of that could've been avoided, if Luke had waited for Ben to wake up. They could've had a deep, lengthy discussion about what he'd seen, and Ben would've been better able to fight against the poison that was being distantly poured into his ears. That "moment of pure instinct" came from a lack of faith, which Rey calls Luke out for, during their confrontation in the rain: "You thought his choice was made." (5/2/2023)

17:01 Really though? I get taking desperate measures for desperate times- -but attempted murder for your own nephew "makes sense given human nature"? Sheesh, Uncle Owen and Beru must be chilly down there knowing that Luke felt NOTHING when they got incinerated

For me, the Last Jedi was the movie that made the sequels unwatchable for me. Until now. That’s how good this video you have made truly is. The way it brings insight to Luke’s journey in a simpler way as it relates to life. Well done.

I think, along with Jonathan our household will go into deep deep mourning when John Williams leaves us. When the time comes, I expect a tribute from Alan showcasing how those fantastic scores support and lift all the best scenes from all our favourite movies.

This made me realize something. I've long felt that a major reason that some people dislike Luke in TLJ is that he didn't meet their expectations - whatever it was they had built in their mind. This video made me realize that those viewers fell into the same trap that Luke did in deifying someone, and having things broken when that image was shattered.

I am definitely not upset about something happening to cause Luke's world view to get shattered. Ultimately TLJ needed better writing, and to not kill him off in the second film. I feel for the fans who, let's be honest, did not wait 40 years for Luke to just give up.

I recently discovered your channel and have been binge watching while I do chores and such. I'm super excited to find content creators who are my age! But you keep hitting me right in the feels with all your assessments. I'm 42 now, and I absolutely identify with so much of what you said. Life does beat the optimism out of you, and it is absolutely a journey to figure out how to balance the jadedness with hope and optimism. And then all you said about your hopes for your kids - same. I often say that all I want is for my daughter to become who she is, and I hope that person is better than I am (not that I'm awful, but I hope she has fewer of the issues I have. ;) ). Thanks for sharing your wisdom and humor in this medium. :)

Comment section is gonna be wild on this one.

After two hours of watching a broken man, seeing Luke hold himself accountable and inspire people again before the sunset brought tears to my eyes.

Thx guys. Sincerely. I'm a 49 year old man who idolized Luke Skywalker as a child. I strongly dislike the sequels and I felt myself cringe when I first heard you defend Luke in The Last Jedi. Expectations, though, are like guilt and anger. You can set them down and move beyond them, and once I set down my expectation and really listened to you, you gave me a new perspective.

What I do love about the Last Jedi is Luke confronting the hypocrisy and pride of the Jedi nature

Sending this to ALL my friends/family that had issues with Luke's characterization. You guys took ALL my thoughts and put them into PERFECT words. No notes. Well said!

I feel like Luke's arc is an analogy for growing up. That might be me being way too simple, but I think it matters. The older I get, the more difficult certain aspects of life become. Whether or not I'm being a good family member or friend, all the mistakes I've made...and will inevitably make again. So I never had trouble with Luke's portrayal in The Last Jedi, because for one thing-it's space fantasy, so in a real-world context we can separate the exact actions...but the messages remain the same. "The greatest teacher failure is."

I don't want to be negative in the comments but there is a huge difference between angry luke attempting to kill vader who just threatened his family and has virtually no personal ties to versus homicidal luke who is about to kill his nephew, who he has a close relationship with, in his sleep because of thought crime...I don't know how you can say this nails his character at all or that this is good story telling.

Luke isn’t a legend because of his power but in spite of it because at the end of the day it’s his compassion that wins the day that’s why he will always the greatest Jedi of all time

Thank you for this. I genuinely love this take on Luke's character arc.

This is probably the best character study of Luke Skywalker! Brilliantly done!!

This video made me feel so emotional. I had exactly the same feelings about Luke in 2017 and I got ripped apart for arguing that his characterisation in TLJ is consistent with the original trilogy. To hear such a nuanced, emotive and introspective take from you guys is like a balm. I wasn't crazy after all!

I love this very mature commentary on the hero's journey. There is always the time when the fight is over, the war is won, the wedding is done. But there is still peace to maintain and life to give. There's still the democracy to maintain in spite of politics, the relationships to nurture in spite of quarrels and differences, and growth and learning until the end of our lives in spite of comfort, stagnation, and times of pain and struggle. And if that growth and learning ended with us, and didn't get passed on to children, to students, to those we mentor--if they didn't come out better than we did, we have failed. Maybe that's part of why our country feels in such turmoil now. There have always been rich and poor, corrupt politicians, cruelty and lack of opportunity for those who are different, and international conflict. But each generation has been wealthier, healthier, longer lived, and better educated than the one before. For the first time, that's no longer the case. What's different now is that it's much harder to get an education--and possibly detrimental to a person's financial future (and the jobs available for those with little education pay much less, comparatively), buy a home, and access medical and mental health care. We're also shining a light on the rotten spots in our past. But that's hard to deal with, hard to admit they existed and are still affecting us to this day, hard to admit that our grandparents, great-grandparents, and heroes of the past allowed them to exist. Digging out the rotten spots is painful. But it's crucial to keep the society and structure sound, and that includes admitting that our predecessors were flawed, in spite of the great work they did. It also requires being willing to do that necessary and painful work of digging out the bad spots, rather than just throwing up our hand in despair and hate, or trying to burn down the good with the bad, or simply refusing to admit the existence of the rotten spots, and allowing the rot to spread.

A great line in a Doctor Who novel was "he had the look of an optimist who had been proven wrong too many times"

What is frequently missed in all of these videos and debates is that Luke's vision of Ben turning to the dark side was ALWAYS going to come true regardless of the lighting of the lightsaber. Ben not only attacked Luke, but proceeded to kill 12 other students and burn down the new temple, leads Stormtroopers massacring villagers, and plays a pivotal role in destroying plenty of core worlds with Starkiller Base.

Many of us fans don't get pissed about Luke changing or the fact that he wasn't chilling with Ewoks. I can recognize the good that was attempted in the Sequels, but the way they went about it was poorly executed. Luke is impulsive, yes. The original Legends lore did it better when showing Luke's "flying off the handle" moments. I really do not understand when people think it's Luke who actually planned to murder a SLEEPING boy. Vader was different, he was taunting Luke. Ben was helpless. I appreciate the video, though. Incredibly insightful and positive.

The Last Jedi made Luke into my favorite character. He wasn't the character i expected when i went to watch in theaters, but he was the character I needed.

gotta be honest, i was one of the people that were like: "This is not Luke!", but your take on his behavior actually made a lot os sense. thanks for showing me your point of view.

Luke is one of my favorite characters ever, so happy you did him! ❤

Same for me with John Williams!! I'll be hiding under blankets, listening to all his movie scores and in a funk.