After 12 years, there is still only one Disney Star Wars story that I think “gets” Luke Skywalker

More than a decade after Disney bought Star Wars and partially rebooted the franchise, I feel like only one property has truly gotten it Luke Skywalker. THE Star Wars The franchise initially had a primary continuity, previously known as the Expanded Universe (which included the six films in the saga and most of the spin-off properties) and currently known as Legends, but April 2014 saw the beginning of a new timeline, which included the six original films in the saga, Star Wars: The Clone Warsand most materials going forward. With the reboot of the franchise, new properties emerged that reinterpreted the Star Wars galaxy, including a divisive new portrait of Luke Skywalker.

Luke Skywalker is not a difficult character to understand, let alone portray correctly. Node Star Wars original trilogy, Luke’s journey from simple farmer to renowned Rebel pilot to Jedi Knight is compelling and complex, resulting in Luke becoming one of cinema’s most beloved protagonists. Of course, while the continuations of Luke’s story in the Legends continuity are nowhere near as popular as the original trilogy films themselves, no one, myself included, has questioned their authenticity in Luke’s characterization and trajectory in the original trilogy, even if they do. continued to grow and change in the following decades Return of the Jedi.

Battlefront’s Luke Skywalker is the perfect sequel to RotJ

After his reboot, the modern canon has always seemed reluctant to portray Lucas after the events of Return of the Jedi – with most of the stories taking place between the original trilogy films or making it a living MacGuffin, like Star Wars: The Force Awakens he did. Star Wars: The Last Jedi finally delved into the post-original trilogy characterization of Luke, and the film was met with widespread criticism from several viewers and even Mark Hamill himself. From then on, Luke’s authenticity in future properties would be heavily scrutinized by viewers hoping for a more authentic portrayal of Luke.

Although Star Wars: Battlefront II came out shortly before The Last Jedi, majority Star Wars Viewers who have seen or played Luke Skywalker’s brief section of its story mode agree that the game portrayed Luke perfectly. The mission begins rather predictably, with Luke traveling to Pillio to find an artifact from the apparently deceased Emperor Palpatine and eliminating a huge contingent of Imperial troops along the way. Everything changes, however, when Luke discovers Del Meeko – an Imperial Special Forces commando who is trapped and defenseless. Luke chooses to save Meeko’s life, and the two briefly become allies.

On her journey to the Emperor’s observatory, Meeko questions Luke’s kindness and why he eliminated the other Imperial troops. Luke explains that Meeko gave him the option not to kill, while the other Imperials did not. The most resonant element of Luke’s work Battlefront II portrait is not your ability to defeat a small army of enemies, but rather your choice to show humanity to another person in need – even an enemy in a way. I believe that Battlefront II Luke’s accurate depiction is partially due to the game being written before the release of The Last Jedi.

What Battlefront’s Luke Skywalker Shows That Disney Star Wars Forgot

Luke is portrayed as a humble and kind person, more than an ultra-powerful Jedi in Battlefront II. His choice to spare Meeko, fight alongside him, and ask for permission to keep an artifact reminds me of characters like Peter Parker and Clark Kent. Node Spider-Man 3 video game, Spider-Man also rescues one of Luke Carlyle’s henchmen when he becomes trapped under rubble. In Man of SteelSuperman surrenders to the US military and allows himself to be handcuffed. Much like Spider-Man and Superman, Luke’s humanity is a much more defining characteristic than his powers, especially in the Legends continuity.

One of the main problems with portrayals of Luke Skywalker in the modern Disney canon is that properties see Luke as a legend much more than a person. Luke Skywalker didn’t attract viewers because of his larger-than-life presence or impressive displays of Force power. It was his humanity and relative naturalism that made him so beloved. Of course, a common criticism of Luke’s portrayal in the Legends continuity – a criticism that became especially popular after The Last Jedi – is that he became “dominated” and over-idealized afterwards Return of the Jedi.

Having read many of the stories from the Luke Legends era, I think this is a reductive and oversimplified misinterpretation at best. Luke continues to grow in the Legends continuity – often through failure, as he has throughout The Empire Strikes Back – and your humanity never takes a backseat to your incredible feats. I see what The Last Jedi could have tried to do – deconstruct Lucas as a character and a “legend” – and feel that Matthew Stover’s role Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor accomplished this much better, largely due to the fact that Stover actually understands Lucas’ characterization.

Is it too late for Disney to “fix” Luke?

I believe It’s too late for Disney to undo the damage to Luke Skywalker. Viewers were delighted with Luke’s appearance in The Mandalorianbut this was little more than an action scene. The Book of Boba Fett portrayed Luke as being on the right path to becoming the iteration seen in The Last Jedi – with Luke abandoning healthy attachments and forcing Grogu to choose between Din Djarin and the Jedi Knighthood. Future representations of Luke must necessarily align with The Last Jediseparating Lucas from his characterization in the original Star Wars trilogy and its authentic continuations in Legends.