Collipso said:
Like Mithrandir said several pages ago, what RJ did with Luke was possibly the best way to go given what was setup in VII. The only thing I still disagree with RJ is that I don’t think Luke would ever even consider murdering Ben in his sleep, nor that it’d be something or some kind of instinct that would pass like a fleeting shadow.I don’t completely agree. Han said in TFA, that Luke went looking for the First Jedi Temple. This in my view implies two things:
- The location of the First Jedi Temple was unknown, and it may have taken Luke quite a while to find it.
- Luke went there for a reason.
Then theres are these lines in the TFA screenplay, which describe my sense of the final scenes of TFA pretty well:
“Older now, white hair, bearded. He looks at Rey. A kindness in his eyes, but there’s something tortured, too. He doesn’t need to ask her who she is, or what she is doing here. His look says it all.”
So, I always assumed Luke went looking for the First Jedi Temple to find some answers for how to deal with his failed attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order. While there he discovers Rey may have an important role to play in the future of the Jedi amongst other things, and knows she will come to find him, when the time is right. This is why Luke stands there in ceremonial Jedi robes. The master is waiting for the student.
I’m convinced JJ had a very different idea in mind, when he filmed that final scene.
I left TFA’s midnight screening with my brother and I remember we had the same exact argument (he was profoundly upset with TLJ and loved TFA). He was talking about how Luke had gone searching for the Jedi temple to learn,and how amazing that was and how he was being patient and amazing.
I said that I don’t think Luke would ever flee, and that I didn’t like how TFA treated his character. I do realize it’s a bit unfair to say that because he had 0 lines in the movie, but the idea that he simply fled and his friend died and the Republic died and all he did was… nothing didn’t resonate well with me.
In my opinion, what Mrebo wrote in the script rewrite section would’ve been perfect.