Luke Skywalker (Star Wars: The Last Jedi)

"I at one point had to say to Rian Johnson, 'I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character'."

— Mark Hamill

Luke Skywalker "Go away!" Gender: Male Type: The Dark Side of Luke Skywalker Age: 53 Species: Human Portrayed by: Mark Hamill Status: Deceased Media of origin: Star Wars: The Last Jedi First appearance: Star Wars

Luke Skywalker (born 19 BBY on Polis Massa; dies 34 ABY on Ahch-To) is the staple character of the nine Star Wars films. He is portrayed by Mark Hamill. Ranging from being a newborn at the end of the Prequel trilogy, to the icon everyone knew in the Original Trilogy, to what is effectively a grumpy old man in the Sequel trilogy. He was flanderized to death (quite literally) in the sequel trilogy.

Why He Should Be Renamed to "Jake Skywalker"

Note: This only applies to his character in The Last Jedi.

1. While the idea of turning one of the most heroic characters in a film franchise into a depressed, pessimistic recluse sounds good on paper, it is executed; Luke Skywalker acts way out of character in The Last Jedi, becoming a grumpy, but cowardly, man that rejects all chances of redeeming himself from those who goad him to.
   • This is the main reason Mark Hamill himself criticized his characterization in the film.
   • Him confirming his flawed character as being caused by fear does not help at all, as fear is supposed to be an element of the dark side. This meant that Luke went down a part of the dark side of the Force, the very thing he rejected back in Return of the Jedi.
2. When he was handed his lightsaber by Rey, he foolishly threw it right off the cliff, which is a poor attempt at humor.
3. There was a disturbing moment where he was milking an alien just for something to drink, which is another weak attempt at humor, not to mention gross, which the Luke Skywalker from the original trilogy would never do.
4. Luke Skywalker was supposed to represent hope, and in fact, A New Hope was referring to Luke Skywalker himself, which is an emotion about showing optimism, positivity, and not giving up even when it seems like it's always lost.
   • If there was a reason why Luke was to become this cynical and negative after losing his Jedi Order, there was supposed to be a well-written reason why.
5. Luke Skywalker was flanderized to the point that even Mark Hamill himself criticized this take, which spawned the Jake Skywalker meme.
6. He repeats the mistakes the old Jedi Order had committed, which meant any lessons the Jedi learned are rendered null and void; He let fear consume him to the point of almost killing his nephew, and that same fear kept him in exile at Arch-To. At worst, he had to be lectured by Yoda because of his inability to accept his failures.
7. He interpreted the history of the Jedi quite wrong; the Jedi were past the height of their power by the time Palpatine rose to power.
8. All of the above was done just to prop up Rey, which is just more of the sequels' tendency to sabotage the older characters in favor of the new ones, without discernable reason.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Mark Hamill still put in an outstanding performance.
2. He was a much better character in the first nine films, and he recovered from his flanderization in The Rise of Skywalker, albeit he now appears as a ghost. He's also likable in his appearances on TV shows The Mandalorian, and The Book Of Boba Fett.
3. His cynical speech of the Jedi is true and narrows down his father's views.
4. Although many complain about how Luke became so cynical by the time of the sequel trilogy, we should note that thirty years passed between Return of the Jedi and The Last Jedi. During this time, many things could have happened to Luke and possibly made him lose some of the beliefs he had during the original trilogy. That said, if this is what happened, it would have an intricate explanation of why.
5. He used to represent hope in the original trilogy along with the TV show The Mandalorian.
6. Even the expanded universe now called Legends did a far better job with the character, despite being non-canon.

Trivia

• Disappointed long-time fans of the franchise, as well as detractors of The Last Jedi, have mockingly referred to this particular portrayal of Luke as "Jake Skywalker" after a statement made by Mark Hamill in which he feels this version of Luke is way too different for his liking and says "Maybe he's Jake Skywalker". Since then, the name has been widely used by the Star Wars fandom as a way to express their dislike toward this take on Luke.

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