So I just watched The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises back to back, and I think that if TLJ treated Luke the same way TDKR treats Batman, TLJ Luke would be much more acceptable to me.
For example, at the end of both TLJ and TDKR, the older hero passes on the torch to the pupil, but while in TDKR Batman wins the war and finally provides peace a second time, Luke… just passes on the torch and says “hey boyos, now that I’ve given you guys hope please clean it up!!”
No.
I actually really liked the idea. Too bad you didn’t. Care to explain?
By the way, I know it’s extremely different because Batman is the protagonist of TDKR while Luke isn’t the protagonist of TLJ, but I think that approach was still viable if they wanted to.
The other big obvious difference is that we’re talking about a part 3 vs. a part 2.
Most importantly, though, Batman doesn’t “win the war” and “finally provide peace.” He just defeated this specific threat (with the help of others). There’s no suggestion whatsoever that there will be peace in Gotham from here on out. In fact, it’s made quite clear there won’t be, otherwise what’s the point of him passing the torch to JGL?
What I mean is, Luke could’ve done something more concrete as opposed to just giving hope. For him to have a great and ultimate concrete victory would not only give his death scene a lot more weight when it came (and I’m not saying to change that, it could stay just the same in the exact same spot in the film), but it could make the FO the guys on the run instead of the Resistance in IX, shaking things up a bit, and it would’ve been really cool too.
The comparison between TDKR and TLJ was drawn because I remembered Bruce coming out of the pit after failing miserably and winning a battle while sacrificing himself without sacrificing himself, as opposed to Luke doing the exact same thing except he doesn’t concretely win the battle. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. Luke did everything Batman did, but he didn’t win. He still went out as a loser. Sure it was an amazing scene where he beat Kylo mentally in one of the most extraordinary and beautiful moments of the saga, and he might have philosophically won, but it’d be like if at the end of TDKR, even though Batman sacrificed himself and saved Gotham, Bane just came back and continued being the overwhelming powerful force that controls the city. So what Batman did technically didn’t affect anything, but it shook everyone’s spirit.
But yeah, I guess it’d impossible. Glad I’m not a screenwriter for Lucasfilm I suppose.