Anyone who has been following our blog knows that Andrew and I are reading all of the Star Wars novels in a particular order and writing reviews of each book. This is a process that will take several years to complete, but it is great fun. However, I have become more and more bewildered lately by Luke Skywalker’s state of mind and his inability or unwillingness to help out when things go badly for his friends in the Republic.
Currently I am about halfway through Michael Kube-McDowell’s book The Black Fleet Crisis I: Before the Storm, and once again Luke is having problems. He abandons Han, Leia, and their kids to spend all of his time in a hermit-like existence communing with the Force or something like that. He apparently doesn’t eat, doesn’t really need clothing, sees no one, and is completely out of contact with the rest of civilization. He gets a surprise visit from a mysterious woman and agrees to go with her to try to learn something about his mother. Just like that. Sure, I’ll go. What else do I have to do? But first let me tell my sister Leia what I am planning to do. I was pleased to see that this visit to Leia did not go well. She was not understanding and could not grasp the importance of why Luke needed to go off searching for ghosts while she was busy in Coruscant being married to Han Solo, trying to raise three kids with Force powers, and, oh yeah, serving as Chief of State for the Republic. No, I don’t need any help, Luke. It’s just your niece and nephews we’re talking about here. Anybody should be able to teach them about the Force. We don’t need the top Force guy anywhere around to help us. You go ahead.
My opinion of Leia soared with that outburst. I think she has become the real hero figure in the Star Wars Universe. She runs the government, raises her kids, and still has time to physically help with various battles that come along. Luke, on the other hand, is so conscious of the dark side that he is almost paralyzed. He has to analyze everything. He is reluctant to fight, and he always seems to be in situations where his powers are severely restricted. Plus he whines a lot. Of course, he whined about going into town to look at some power converters or something in the first film, but now he is older and wiser or should be. Stop all the whining.
I want the old Luke Skywalker back. I want to see him decisive, skilled in the Force, and not afraid to use it to kick some tail all around the Universe. Maybe he is coming back in future books. I hope so.
2 comments:
Unfortunately when you're dealing with heroes who have fairly incredible powers you really have two options a) hamstring them completely either mentally or physically or b) introduce tough new opponents who are invulnerable to the heroes previous powers.
We can quite clearly see in the new jedi order the second route (and to a lesser extent the introduction of yslamiri and cortosis) but unfortunately the EU made a habit during a lot of the books that rather than come up with credible plots they simply reduced Luke to essentially a whiny idiot who is totally unable to react for himself. This is probably due to trauma in some part but most of the time it is simply down to poor writing and coming up with a reason why the bloke who took down Darth Vader and the Death Star can't handle much simpler situations.
It's very rare to see Luke in full swing in the EU books- particularly as we get further on and see him arguing consistently with the other Jedi's about pacifism. Whilst we can usually see his viewpoint from what I recall I increasingly found myself going along with whoever was arguing with him at the time be it Corran, Kyp Durron or the Solo twins.
Leia on the otherhand blossoms with the challenges of statehood (even the most talented hero struggles with politics!) and her force powers. Han becomes less important I feel but you can still occasionally see him struggling to come to terms with now being a respectable member of society and occasional general.
That's why I find the novels with mostly EU characters superior in some ways- it actually lets them develop their own characters rather than play down the skills of the original ones.
Luke really suffers in the EU and it's a pity as well crafted stories could have taken him down a very different path.
You are further along in the EU books than I am, and I gather from your comment that my unhappiness with the way Luke is presented will continue for a while. Oh well, maybe I will just focus on Han or Leia or Chewie for a while. Or maybe R2. I have always thought highly of R2.
Thanks for the comment.
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