so the film is upon us! I've seen one news thing praising it already. I haven't seen it yet. I remember what Mark Hamill said about them ruining the character of Luke Skywalker. So I'm gonna throw out what I thought was going down by the end of the last film, before the movie has had time to be out in a normal release.
so the big thing with Luke is why he hid himself away on a planet in the middle of nowhere while all of this bad shit is happening when he is the one most equipped to try and put a stop to it. to put it simply, I think it's because he's Rei's father. he failed with Kylo, who is now gone darkside. that must be pretty painful. Luke was the one who was supposed to make sure nothing happened to Kylo in this regard and he failed. so, you think about Luke Skywalker the person. why was he not trying to put that right? why was he not trying to redeem or at least stop Kylo? Kylo was after all leading a damn army against the political infrastructure of his own parents. on top of being family, being the son of Luke's sister and his best friend. it's because Luke chose his daughter over everything else. after watching what happened to Kylo he wouldn't dare take the chance with his own daughter. so he sent her away to Tatooine to keep her out of it just like Obi-Wan and Yoda did with him. this time though, he wanted her to stay out of it. he was terrified of what a life with the force might actually end up doing to her. and then he hid.
he knew that people would try to find him. if he returned, he would be famous. it might draw her out. she has the force after all. now, you could say that he could just do everything in secret. and while that might be possible, maybe he didn't trust himself. maybe he felt that if he wasn't truly isolated with no way back, he wouldn't be able to avoid her. so he marooned himself on the planet with no way off and no way for anyone to find him.
now, luke is a force sensitive guy. so as Kylo is doing all this shit, he must be feeling it. he must be sensing echoes in the force. so he's entirely alone on this planet, constantly hounded by the ever darkening echo of the actions of this monster he probably blames himself for playing a part in creating. time passes, Kylo gets worse, what he does gets worse, but Luke won't leave. or maybe he can't leave. maybe he would have left if he could. maybe he's happy he can't and maybe that makes him miserable. maybe he can leave if he really wants but he won't and that makes him miserable. basically, this is not a happy guy. then Kylo does what he does at the end of VII. Luke must have felt that in the force. so, basically, Luke is probably miserable. maybe even half crazy.
now, this planet he is on. maybe it's just isolated, maybe he chose it because it masks the force or something. so his sister wouldn't be able to find him that way. maybe this means he doesn't sense Rei coming during her journey. in his half crazed woodsman state maybe he doesn't even know what the hell he is sensing when he does start to sense her coming. the point his, he doesn't sense Rei until she is right on top of him. so then she gets on the planet and he feels her coming and she makes her way to him. and he can no doubt feel her there, but there's something else.
he turns around, and what does he see? his father's lightsaber. the infernal thing. the symbol of the start of the fall of his father. the start of his own tumult. now in the outstretched arm of his daughter, representing a request to start the same thing all over with her. if a lightsaber could look smug or have a shit eating grin this one would have it right now. hey pal, type of thing. and he can't just tell her he can't help her with her training. she's already got the lightsaber, she showed up in the falcon. she's already involved in all of it. if he leaves it to her, it's his fault if something bad happens to her. but worse, when he trains her, it will be his fault if she turns. the stakes for him are very high. given what's at stake for him, he could pretty much go down any path from here.
and this is what I think the setup is for the next movie, and probably Luke's eventual tear-jerking death scene. I got all this from Mark Hamill's reaction at the end of VII, and I'm pretty keen on finding out which way they go with it, and why Hamill had a problem with what they'd done with the character.
edit: as I read this back as I do some edits for grammar and readability, I realized that the age thing screws this up. the only way it makes sense is if someone else other than Luke set Rei's isolation in motion without Luke knowing, and Luke only found out about her later and only then dropped everything and left. or, if his decision to put her on Tatooine in her young years predated his decision to isolate himself.
Post edited December 15, 2017 by johnnygoging