Luke Skywalker, NOT a Sith Lord
Luke Skywalker is noticeably absent from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie poster, JJ Abrams recently confirmed that it was no accident — as if there was any doubt. Regardless, this has led to many in the Star Wars community to speculate about the role his character will play in the upcoming movie. A debate I can hardly help from joining in on myself, despite my many promises to myself that I would not get in a lather about this movie the way I did with Phantom. But I have given up on that. I am all in on this one. I am excited, and I can hardly contain it.
I loved reading the recent fan theory that Luke Skywalker is a Sith Lord. Its thoroughness is admirable. And more exciting than that, it hints at a possible future for the Star Wars franchise that I so desperately want to be true: that the franchise will get its edge back. That JJ Abrams will redeem the Star Wars brand by creating movies we can be proud of again, movies we can love to share with our kids, rather then debate the merits about which movies we should skip because they have no merit to the rest of the story, or even whether we should show them to our kids at all.
I believe Rob Conery is onto something, because I too think Luke’s future beyond Return of the Jedi, should not be so happily-ever-after. Reality is never that simple, and the stories I love are ones that embrace that fact rather than try to tie everything up in a nice little bow.
But I also think the idea that Luke is a Sith Lord is ridiculous. Please.
Let’s break it down.
“The cave… remember your failure at the cave…”
Luke’s failure at the cave was ominous. It shows one possible future for Luke, one that could be taken literally (Luke will become Darth Vader), or figuratively (Luke will succumb to the Dark Side). Of course it might also foreshadow that there is already a Skywalker in Vader’s outfit.
The most important thing to remember before we project too much meaning on this test is what Yoda tells Luke, “always in motion is the future.” The future is forever unknown. One’s destiny may exist along a certain path, and may even have associated with it strong imagery and feelings, but they are not prescriptive. At the end of the day Luke has free will, allowing for the smallest of choices he might make to take him down very different paths.
One good example of this in the Star Wars universe is the fate of Mara Jade in the Thrawn Trilogy, who was destined to kneel before Joruus C’Boath, a mad jedi clone. Mara Jade did indeed fulfill her destiny, but not in the way expected: she kneeled before C’Boath on the verge of succumbing to her seething hatred of Luke Skywalker, only to cut C’Boath down with a light saber instead.
But Byrne, the Thrawn Trilogy is not canon. It doesn’t count.
Yes, thank you. That is not entirely the point. The point is that there may exist many paths in fulfilling a single destiny. One may be light. The other dark. We all walk this line, and it is our choices that determine which side we end up on.
The Original Ending
I love learning about what happens in Writers’ Rooms. I have heard of many alternative endings to many movies that I wish would have been. But alas, only one version gets to the screen. The fact that a great writer had suggested a darker more morally ambiguous ending of the Return of the Jedi does not ultimately matter, and its existence does not impart meaning on the ending Lucas ultimately chose: Luke is good.
Think Lucas might have had more sinister plans for Luke? Do you think Lucas was the same writer and director he was when he created American Graffiti, Star Wars, and Empire Strikes Back? No. He wasn’t. Lucas was already on the path towards the Soft Side. He was already lost to us. All we can do is be thankful he didn’t write the screenplay for Return of the Jedi.
Speaking of which, let’s remember that it was called “Return of the Jedi,” not “The Return of the Jedi for a Split Second Before Giving into the Dark Side.”
No, at the end of RotJ, Luke is good. The Jedi have officially returned. Lucas wanted it that way. If he didn’t, he would have changed it in any number of special editions. And you know I am right about that.
Jabba’s Palace
Ok. Luke force choked a Gamorrean guard. Luke lied to Jabba. Yes, those I suppose are very un-jedi-like.
But where some people see Luke being sinister, I see a complex plan playing out. A plan informed by the foresight of a Jedi.
Luke knew Jabba would not hand Han Solo over to him. That doesn’t take a jedi to figure out. Luke, possessing common sense, anticipated this, and orchestrated an elaborate plot that would bring everyone in on the plan together, in one place, so that a get-away could be made. Plain and simple.
“Jabba, this is your last chance. Free us. Or die.”
Does that sound like a Jedi to you? Yes. Yes it does. There is nothing wrong with a Jedi killing someone, or threatening to kill someone. What is ultimately most important is their intent, and their state of mind when they do so.
Luke [Almost] Turned, We All Watched It
Luke was routinely warned: do not give into hate. And there was that moment, when Vader threatens Leia, and he loses it. He gets mad. There is no mistaking it.
He wants to kill Vader.
Yet, I must return ultimately to my first point: we all have free will. And it is our free will that decides whether we are good or bad. To quote Lucas:
This is a world where evil has run amuck. But you have control over your destiny, you have many paths to walk down, and you can choose which destiny is going to be yours.
George Lucas - Time interview (Bill Moyers) 03/05/99
To avoid belaboring the point, before Luke made a choice he could not walk back from, e.g. killing the Emperor or Vader, he ultimately chose not to give in to his anger, and hatred. He ultimately decided that it would be better to be killed as a Jedi, than live as a Sith.
There is zero ambiguity in that decision for him as a character. He threw his lightsaber away, even while he knew that his friends were dying outside and the fate of the Rebel Alliance was in his hands. But still, he chose a path of peace instead.
Now, can one easily dissect the scene into a million ways to read into it? Of course. Classic Star Wars-nerd mistake. We forget sometimes as fans, that this is just a movie, and movies have something we call drama. Drama comes from conflict. Internal and external conflict. And this scene has a ton of both. That is why it is so exciting to watch. Please, let’s not project too much meaning onto every single line, every acting nuance, and every shot. Sometimes decisions are made in the editing room simply to enhance the drama. If we want to project meaning onto every tiny little detail, that’s on us.
Luke’s Future and The Force Awakens
At the end of Return of the Jedi Luke is good. That I believe. However, that does not mean his future from that point forward is not murky and complicated. In fact, I think it would be. It would have to be.
Why? Because balance in the Force has not been restored. The mere existence of Luke has the potential to throw everything out of whack. So, if there is some kind of cosmic need for balance to exist, a yin and yang if you will, then that can only mean a couple of things:
- Somewhere out there a dark force exists in perfect balance to Luke.
- Luke is himself both good and evil, in balance within himself.
Assuming the first is correct, then what should Luke do? Should he go on the hunt for some rogue Sith somewhere in the galaxy? Is that even feasible within a galaxy with billions of stars and billions of planets? Is there even a Sith to hunt, or does the dark side of the force need to slowly coalesce in order to manifest in a person that you can fight? And how long would that take?
Should Luke instead spend his time preparing for the day the Sith will return? And if through his preparation he grows stronger in the Force, does that only increase the potential for evil in the universe as well?
And if the second theory is correct, then perhaps this scares the hell out of Luke. Maybe he knows that within him is not only the potential for good, but also for evil, and as a result he fears for the ones he loves (uh-oh, there is that fear again). At the very least, he understands that he is a magnet for evil, a target, and wherever he is there will be danger. Maybe there is some truth in Rob Conery’s original thesis; maybe Luke is not Sith, but maybe through his experiences on Endor he understands his potential to become Sith through Yoda’s warning, “once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.”
In the books, now “Star Wars Legends,” Luke works to rebuild the Jedi Order. But maybe in JJ Abrams’ universe, Luke understands the inherent risks in training people in the way of the Jedi. That by cultivating this power in others, he will inevitable lose control over it, as Ben did with Anakin. And this will throw whatever delicate balance might exist in the galaxy off again.
No matter how you cut it, I see Luke feeling the need to distance himself from the ones he loves. To seek isolation and solitude. Perhaps to immerse himself in quiet contemplation and meditation, or simply to prepare for the day he will be needed again.
The result of his decision, is that the Jedi and the Force have faded from memory and they have become lore once again.
Enter Episode VII. The Force is awakening, both in the form of an emergent Sith, but also in new, unassuming and innocent characters as well. The quest in Episode VII then becomes to find Luke. To convince him to come back to the fight. To convince him to train new Jedi, and to renew the Jedi Order to fight the forces of evil that threaten the galaxy.
