You guys are acting as if Dre considered Luke to be some sort of legend in the OT. I share his opinion on several aspects regarding TLJ, and even though I can’t speak for him, I believe you guys are wrong.
Luke in the OT is not a legend, but a hero that you can clearly see that is as flawed as we regular people are, but he still managed to achieve greatness. Not by overthrowing the empire, not by literally being a hero to the rest of the galaxy, but by being a loving son and redeeming his father. He was Vader’s hero, not the alliance or the republic. The hero of his father and of the Jedi.
In A New Hope yes, he’s the big hero, he saved everyone, destroyed the big Death Star, he was the hero of the Rebels. But in the other two movies his victories (or defeats in the case of ESB (and even RotJ)) are so much smaller and yet so much bigger than the one in ANH.
Luke is far from perfect in the OT. Far from legend. At least that’s what I had always thought.
I’m not entirely sure about the comparison to drunk Santa Claus, but comparing it to a dad you admired a lot (and already knew he was flawed and that’s why you admired him) until you find out he’s a drunk farce who basically says he didn’t learn anything from the past because who cares if the future is always in motion or if he redeemed Vader, he’ll just ignite his laser sword to his own blood because he’s insane now because plot.
Right on. Maybe the EU made Luke out to be a legend/myth (and told stories that justified that view) but that wasn’t who he was at the end of ROTJ.
And IMO there’s your problem right there. The Luke of TLJ is 30 years removed from the end of ROTJ but you still want him to be in the exact same place for some reason.
You’re right, he wasn’t a legend at the ROTJ. The Battle of Endor had just ended. Why are you so sure he wouldn’t become a legend as the years passed, especially after he disappeared?
Nope. Didn’t want Luke to be in the exact same place.
I expected him to be a more learned and powerful Jedi, as I imagine anyone did. Maybe he would start his own Jedi order, maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he would isolate himself, maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he got married, or not. So many things could have happened. And depending on how big a change something was, I would expect the story to explain it. Good storytelling involves characterization, not merely saying, “well a lot of time passed and anything could have happened.” That’s a cop-out.
In terms of becoming a myth or legend, if you brought that expectation in with you then it worked for you. But based on how private most of his actions and beliefs were, and how large the universe was, the idea he was to become a legend/myth was very far from what we saw.
I also was disappointed with Han’s and Leia’s characterizations in TFA where both were exactly where they were 40 years ago.