Novus_Opiate said:
He says the temptation came over him but for a brief moment. He wasn’t going to actually do it.Yeah I get that; what I don’t get is why it even came to that point to begin with? I mean we have to consider, it wasn’t simply a tempting thought, but those thoughts actually compelled Luke to pull out his lightsaber and ignite it! That’s so irrational of Luke. Sure, I bet killing Kylo is a thought would had crossed anyone’s mind if they learned Kylo’s taint of the darkside, but this is Luke here. I’d buy Luke was outside of Kylo’s hut, stewing back and forth of what to do and how to confront him; however again, it’s beyond me to think this temptation compelled Luke to pull out his lightsaber and stop himself from committing the murder at the last second.
dahmage said:
Luke’s final version and what is generally accepted as the true version has Luke go in to read kylo Ren’s mind. After seeing kylo rens darkness he has what he describes as a very brief moment of thinking that it would be better to kill him. And without thinking ignited his lightsaber and immediately, immediately regretted that decision.
No, again, it makes no sense. Luke in ROTJ was struggling between whether to kill Vader or redeem him, and yes, it came to that point where he was tempted to really finish Vader off, but he came to senses to not fall for the bait. So all these years later, that lesson he learned was for nothing…?I don’t get all these complaints that boil down to “Luke would never do that” (including disappearing in the first place) when we basically saw nothing that happened between the end of ROTJ and TFA/TLJ. People change, especially those that have suffered trauma. It’s the same complaint about Han that makes no sense either.
See the thing is, I was totally on board that Luke fled; being deeply ashamed of failing Ben Solo, and also perhaps realizing he wasn’t knowledgeable about the Force as he thought; as Han presumed, Luke went in search for ancient Jedi temples, as one would assume to acquire more wisdom and hopefully a plan of action to redeem Kylo. I realize that Luke had to do the whole rebuild the Jedi Order by himself and mentoring was a new thing to him, so of course he would face some conflict due his inexperience in actually teaching others. However, the whole trigger point for the current state of affairs started due to an error that we would think Luke learned from years prior. Yes people change, but there’s certainly fundamental, inner values and instincts that don’t change. Personality can change some, such as Luke’s manic old hermit personality, sure I can buy that. Now though, a moment of triumph at the end of the OT, a completed arc for Luke’s character, is destroyed here.
I can again, completely forgive and chew on the theme that legends aren’t perfect people, in fact I loved that angle. It’s why I loved TFA’s Han because I could totally bite into the fact this war hero just wasn’t father material and had no indication of being a great husband or father to begin with. I just don’t buy Luke messing up so badly like that when that experience from ROTJ was such a defining moment that proved and validated to himself that a more peaceful approach wins the heart.
This isn’t the only issue I have with Luke either. Okay even if we conclude it was primal instinct in that very moment, I do not buy Luke choosing to do nothing. He always proactive to save his friends.