Why Luke Skywalker is the Greatest hero in Star Wars

there's nothing for me here now i want to learn the ways of the force and become a jedi like my father why would you become jedi mostly because of my father i am a jedi like my father before me is not here to save you oh i am my daddy come again wait what i don't think there's any character in the history of star wars as impactful to the franchise as luke skywalker is luke is the blueprint where it all started no matter where the protagonists and star wars have gone they all relate back to luke skywalker from rey anakin every single protagonist in star wars relates back to luke skywalker because he's where it all started all the tropes the iconic imagery the concepts they all relate back to his journey in the original trilogy in some way shape or form yet even though luke skywalker is iconic and beloved it's becoming clear to me that very few star wars fans actually understand luke skywalker as a character he's either seen these days as the boring every man that just exists to be self-inserted into by white guys or he's jedi rambo who can eat star destroyers into the sun and i hate to burst the bubble of those people but luke was never either of those two interpretations it is i the princess princess yes yes i have just escaped from an evil fiend who held me prisoner well the evil fiend must feed his prisoners well what luke skywalker started the original trilogy as a naive farmer dreaming of the galaxy beyond his little world i think those new joys are going to work out fine in fact i uh also thinking about our agreement about me staying on another season and if these new droids do work out i want to transmit my application to the academy this year this year we'll make enough on the harvest that i'll be able to hire some more hands and then you can go to the academy next year but it's a whole other year look it's only one more season yeah that's what she said when big's in tank left where are you going looks like i'm going nowhere luke's just not a farmer he has too much of his father in him then and there was the only time luke skywalker was actually the every man then everything changed when the fire nation attacked wait wait no wrong show wrong show okay let's just uh back that back up then everything changed when he was given the call to adventure with the murder of his aunt and uncle what lots of people seem to forget is that after losing the last known family members that he had luke skywalker stopped being every man he no longer was the relatable teen looking for adventure now he was the orphan who had nothing left to lose all he had was a scarce understanding of who his father anakin skywalker was i was once a jedi knight the same as your father i wish i'd known him he was the best star pilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior i understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself and he was a good friend don't [ __ ] with the jedi master son so he leaves the place that he called his home that is now in ruins for the chance of doing something bigger than himself bigger than he's ever known and the events that proceed luke taking his first steps into a larger world change everything about his character we see luke get tested time and time again always taking a few steps forward but ultimately losing something in the process he helps save the princess but he loses his mentor ben kenobi he blows up the death star with the help of han solo and the other rebels yet the war isn't over yet and it's here where i think everyone sometimes just forgets that luke's journey wasn't even over they just cap it off right here right as he blows up the death zone they're like okay that's it he's just a boring character who never changes he's always changing fear is their greatest defense here i doubt if the actual security there is much greater than on apple eye or solace and what there is most likely directed towards you years pass by luke skywalker is now a commander in the rebellion yet he's not the naive farmer anymore he's reckless headstrong and still chasing the image of anakin skywalker that obi-wan put inside his mind back in a new hope he hero worships anakin he wants to be just like anakin because that's the only thing he has of his father it's the only family he has left in his mind this is the driving force in a greater sense for luke than just fighting in the rebellion because it's the right thing to do or because it's his new home what many overlook in the empire strikes back is that luke isn't looking to be trained by yoda because it's the jedi way luke is looking to be trained on the yoda to become a strong warrior like his father why wish you become jedi mostly because of my father i guess huh father alfred was he powerful jedi oh come on his father the one that obi-wan drilled into his mind was a great pilot a great warrior and a great friend and if you see luke skywalker in the original trilogy even though he was always a kind person he is trying to emulate the person he thought his father was he wants to be the great warrior the best pilot a good friend he is always trying to prove himself because he feels this is the only way to become closer to his father not only is luke going to yoda to become more like his father but he's going there to become stronger so he can avenge the murders of obi-wan kenobi and his father that he believes darth vader committed when he goes into the dark side cave luke doesn't hesitate he does what thor should have done in infinity war and he goes straight for vader's head straight up decapitation he went all french guillotine on his ass that's my head shot up there next to the pepper stick and don't you forget it you're all talk hamil you never even finished jedi school this isn't just about right or wrong this is about luke personally wanting to stop the man that he feels took everything from him his father that he never got to know and then obi-wan the last connection he had to his father so luke stays he stays to learn more about the force he stays to be a good student until he learns [Music] and once again luke shows what really matters to him not power not even becoming a jedi but his loved ones his friends yoda is willing to let leia and han die if that's what needs to happen for luke to have a future but that's not the future luke is willing to let him to pass because that's not the person luke skywalker is and that's the person yoda is because they are two different forms of jedi this is where we see luke is building his own philosophy while yoda he's still stuck in his ways from the prequel trilogy will they die difficult to see always in motion is the future the fear of loss is a path to the dark side i won't let these visions come true master yoda death is a natural part of life rejoice for those around you who transform into the force mourn them do not miss them do not the shadow of greed that is so luke leaves knowing that even if vader is stronger than he thinks he is he might still be able to take him the thing is luke didn't realize just how over his head he was don't make me destroy you vader is in a league of his own and destroys luke completely not just physically no vader destroys luke in ways no one ever saw coming at the time not even just brutalizing him if you only knew the power of the dark side we'll obi-wan never told you what happened to your father he told me you killed me no i am your father vader reveals to luke that the truth he thought was reality was a lie for years and that obi-wan had lied to him vader didn't kill his father vader was his father luke's reality his sense of self is gone after that and obi-wan no longer speaks to luke for the rest of the empire strikes back and well into return of the jedi it's only thanks to luke's friends that he even escapes bespin with his life and he went to save them but he failed he failed to save han and he didn't make a difference in leia escaping and we at the end of the story are left with a broken and battered luke yet still luke puts on a brave face for leia who's hurting herself and he refuses to give up because again that's not the person luke is it doesn't matter if his reality has been shattered he knows he just can't lay down and die that people need him so even if he has to go away for a while because he made a mistake he knows that it's not over that he can't stop trying no matter what he does he'll grow stronger he'll figure out a way to save han he'll figure out what to do with his father but he's not gonna give up put this into perspective luke has now lost everything all over again yet he's still pushing forward not because what just happened to him didn't change him but because he doesn't have the luxury of laying down to die people need him and death isn't an option your overconfidence is your weakness your faith in your friends is yours faith in your mama what was that so when we get to return of the jedi we are introduced to a much different luke a luke who is even far more different than who he was in empire strikes back why because the luke skywalker we knew is gone luke lost his sense of self when vader revealed that obi-wan had lied to him so that person he was constructing in his head the great warrior the great friend the best pilot in the galaxy that all falls into question because he can't build himself from who he thought anger was because anakin is darth vader something luke does not want to be and we see how that reality destruction has changed luke he's even a bit darker look at him he's choking the [ __ ] out of that guy and not in the kinky way at least i don't think that's in the kinky way it might be in the kinky way uh wait what are we talking about oh yeah star wars luke in return of the jedi is constantly trying to put the air of the wise jedi around him yet it's a mask a mask that slips off from time to time because that's just not who luke is he isn't this stoic jedi that can hide his emotions and we see this mask slip off most nobly when he's around his father or his friends even if it's just gently helping a tired yoda into bed despite the fact that yoda was lying to him softly asking obi-wan to tell him the truth about his father and refusing to kill anakin no matter what i can't do it ben you cannot escape your destiny you must face darth vader again i can't kill my own father then the emperor has already won then you have the moment when luke skywalker is just being playful when he's giggling while han solo and threepio are having at each other and then we get to see the vulnerable side of luke when he tells leia that she is his sister and if anything happens to him she has to take up his lightsaber and do what he couldn't do god damn it sweet home alderaan then when speaking to vader we see what's beneath the jedi mask even more and beneath the mask is still a 19 year old boy from tatooine who wants to learn more about his father to be like his father trying to reach out to this broken man and wake him the [ __ ] up from the dark side luke knows he did wrong he's not excusing it he's just trying to help his father because he knows what's at the end of this journey for his dad if he doesn't turn around one of the biggest takeaways from all this is just how different luke is when it comes to action you're gravely mistaken [Music] you won't convert me as you did my father you're wrong soon i'll be dead and you with me knowing that at best he can use himself as bait for his father and take the emperor with him on the second death star the true test of luke's character comes when darth sidious tries to turn him to the dark side with his father trying to pull him into temptation as well yet despite being in a duel to the death despite the multiple threats the corrupt leia that vader is throwing luke's way and despite the fact that the second death star could blow up at any time because that was the mission lando han and leia were all working towards luke looks within himself and resists the pull to the dark side his anger his hatred and even the dogmatic instructions of obi-wan and yoda to murder his father and the sinister temptation of palpatine telling him to do the same thing luke skywalker resist them all let me restate that for those who missed it yoda obi-wan and palpatine are all telling luke to do the same thing kill his father it may be for different reasons but the request is the same the jedi and the sith are both telling luke to kill his father for their own intentions for their own plans for their own beliefs and they're ignoring what this could do to luke because it doesn't matter what it could do to luke it matters what they want yet luke rejects them all because he realizes that he doesn't have to be what any of them want him to be he can choose his own future he can be whatever jedi he wants to be and i want to remind you guys he also picked up his lightsaber you can see it on his belt when he goes back to endor it's right there it's just right there with him okay you know back back to the video darth sidious then almost kills luke right there realizing that if he can't turn luke to the dark side then he's going to destroy the only conflict vader has left in him to ensure he doesn't lose the only apprentice he [Music] has your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side you have paid the price for your lack of vision now young skywalker you will die [Music] yet luke choosing to not give up on anna again to not let the jedi or the sith control his beliefs is what ultimately helps anakin turn back to the light and kill darth sidious it wasn't the chosen one prophecy it wasn't the need to restore balance that brought anakin back to light what saved the galaxy was luke skywalker's kindness and the love for his friends and the father that he never knew but he didn't want to give up on that kept him from falling to the dark side and helping even anakin someone who thought lost even to himself see the good that he didn't believe was there anymore that doesn't erase what darth vader did what again did even george lucas said anakin could never truly be redeemed but it's the love that the son had for the father that saved them both luke skywalker was being pulled between what the jedi wanted and what the sith wanted and instead of letting either force him into a choice he would regret he chose his own path and it was that of love and determination that in the end saved his life and against soul and helped once and for all defeat the emperor george has talked to me marginally about doing something at the turn of the century in the last trilogy but it wouldn't be on the same plane of existence if you know what i mean what it sounds like is that he offered you a job to play a father and luke jr around the year 2000 a very clever man this takes us to the ending of luke's journey in the original trilogy where he's completed the hero's journey buried his father and returned to his friends luke skywalker didn't end the original trilogy happy because he didn't change no he ended it happy because despite changing in ways that made him almost unrecognizable to the person he was in a new hope despite everything luke was the luke the boy from the desert with a kind heart who wanted to help others so many years later when a stranger calls to luke for help across an ocean of stars it makes complete sense that luke would jump in an x-wing fight his way through hordes of unknown enemies just to offer this stranger a new life and to help them survive why because at luke skywalker's core once you strip away the black glove the lightsaber and even the force luke skywalker is the hero of kindness whose main concern was always trying to see the good in even the most lost souls helping an enemy just because they asked or traveling half across the galaxy just to offer a fouling a chance to understand who they are and how to defend themselves because that's luke skywalker people have this interpretation that luke is this dogmatic jedi that he'll hurt people because that's the jedi way or that's what the jedi taught him that's literally the exact opposite of what he was and what he learned in the original trilogy luke skywalker learned he could be his own man his own jedi that he didn't have to conform to the ways of the dogmatic jedi of the prequel trilogy he didn't have to feed into the temptation of the sith luke realized that no matter what imperial rebel jedi sith what mattered was who you loved and who you were on the inside and that you can't forget that that's the one thing that never changed about luke his desire to help others his desire to be kind no matter the cost to himself and i don't think that makes luke a flat character no i think that makes him one of the strongest characters in star wars because it doesn't matter what happens to him it matters what happens to others because he doesn't want to see that he doesn't want people getting hurt if he can help it if he can change it i think we could all use a friend like luke skywalker someone who will try their best to have the kindness of their heart someone who will look inside us and see a better person even if we don't see that and someone who will never give up no matter how broken they are not because they're not damaged and not because they're not hurting but because they want to keep helping others no matter the cost to themselves because they know what it's like to be broken and alone and calling out to someone for help i think luke skywalker's journey in the original trilogy being an honest and genuine kind person i think that makes luke skywalker the greatest hero in star wars luke was my first hero he's always gonna be my hero and i'm proud to say that [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The First Okiro

Views: 18,659

Rating: 4.9243498 out of 5

Keywords: luke skywalker, star wars, luke skywalker mandalorian, mandalorian luke skywalker, darth vader, greatest of all time, return of the jedi, empire strikes back, a new hope, darth sidious, princess leia, han solo, Luke vs Vader, Why Luke Skywalker is the greatest hero in star wars, mark hamill, original trilogy, George Lucas, Anakin Skywalker, why, luke, skywalker, is, the, greatest, hero, in

Id: ceSsWOUEZgw

Length: 23min 5sec (1385 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 22 2021