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Killing off the original heroes

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Did it upset anyone that they killed off one of the original trio in the three sequel films?

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It upset people, but it’s not a bad writing decision. Beloved characters shouldn’t have unlimited shelf lives just because they’re popular. They should go through struggles again, and development, and die if that’s what’s best for the story.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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Two of the deaths served the ST stories well, and also had an impact on an emotional level. So, “upset” in that they chose to kill these two beloved characters off, with Luke always likely to come as a Force Ghost? Not really. Han appearing in TROS was a beautiful scene. I wish Luke’s scenes in TROS were stronger, though his appearance, story and death in TLJ was the highlight of TLJ for me.

I agree with jedi_bendu above.

Obviously Carrie Fisher’s dying meant any scenes in TROS were restricted to previous unused or re-used and adapted footage, and that made sense to attempt to give her a fitting death onscreen too. YMMV on how they executed it in TROS.

Were you upset at the deaths of the original trio, humanracer? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

The Secret History of Star Wars | Star Wars Visual Comparisons | George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time-Travelling Revisionist

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I was not expecting Han to survive the Sequels before seeing TFA, given Ford’s desire to have the character die previous. But I thought he contributed to TFA and TROS very well.

For Luke in TLJ, his death had a purpose to the story, it was cleverly and memorably executed, and like ken-obi said above it was likely he would come back as a force ghost for the final film.

With Leia and TROS, I think they did the best they could with the little they had to work with, given the circumstances. I would like to one day see the scenes with Leia and Rose in TROS that did not make it into the final cut of the film.

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

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Well of course Luke was hero figure to me and I think it was a bit hurtful to kill him off. Han was enough. At the end of ROTJ, you kind of imagined them all to live happy ever after. Seems it wasn’t the case and our heroes are now replaced with ones I cannot relate to at all.

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On paper, I don’t have a problem with the OT heroes being killed off. I expected it to happen. But I think their deaths weren’t executed well. None of the characters’ death scenes really “landed” for me. I saw Han’s death coming from a mile away, and I thought having his lifeless, CGI corpse fall down a bottomless pit was in poor taste. And Luke and Leia’s deaths were just confusing and weird. They died from using the Force too hard? Just odd. None of the deaths got to me emotionally.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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The problem with the Sequels we got is that it regresses the trio and doesn’t let them be the heroes of the stories alongside the new generation of characters. They can only be carbon copies of what we knew them as or be completely different while going through character development they already overcame. They weren’t able to grow and evolve. Instead it was about re-capturing exactly what we remembered them as in the Original Trilogy.

For more context, Luke and Han were both meant to die in George’s Sequel Trilogy too. To be fair we don’t know how he would’ve handled Han’s death but do know it was going to happen in Episode VII according to Harrison Ford. However with Luke it was in Episode IX after he rebuilt the Jedi Order throughout the trilogy. Naturally I think this implies the Solowalker Daughter in his story would be given the Jedi Order before he does die. He passed on what he knew to continue off of the plot thread in Return of the Jedi. He always needed help in the Original Trilogy. So it’s great in my opinion to see Luke have a material victory more of his own outside of everyone else’s shadow.

Leia was meant to become Supreme Chancellor to echo storybeats from The Phantom Menace and bring full circle the idea of democracy returning.

In the end, it’s a lie to think you need to reduce your characters to prop up new ones. Luke only overshadows the Solowalker daughter if you let him and besides in Star Wars no character is more important than the other except maybe Anakin but even he needed help from Luke to find redemption and defeat Palpatine. It’s all about symbiote relationships.

“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas

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humanracer said:

Well of course Luke was hero figure to me and I think it was a bit hurtful to kill him off. Han was enough. At the end of ROTJ, you kind of imagined them all to live happy ever after. Seems it wasn’t the case and our heroes are now replaced with ones I cannot relate to at all.

What would you have done with Leia for IX?

I admit I compartmentalize the Star Wars films outside of the Original Trilogy. Pick and choose the films (or parts of them I like) and ignore the rest, a “head-canon” of sorts. For me the three of them still live on too!

The Secret History of Star Wars | Star Wars Visual Comparisons | George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time-Travelling Revisionist

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I’m only upset they so poorly used Mark Hamill and the character of Luke. They had him lose fifty pounds for what, to milk a sea cow?

At best the sequels we have are a what if? alternate timeline kind of thing. They can’t be canon because they don’t respect Lucas characters or his universe. Last Jedi is the most interesting of the lot and at the same time the most insulting.

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JadedSkywalker said:

I’m only upset they so poorly used Mark Hamill and the character of Luke. They had him lose fifty pounds for what, to milk a sea cow?

This scene lasts like twenty seconds

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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jedi_bendu said:

JadedSkywalker said:

I’m only upset they so poorly used Mark Hamill and the character of Luke. They had him lose fifty pounds for what, to milk a sea cow?

This scene lasts like twenty seconds

They still put it in the movie, instead of the scene of Luke mourning Han Solo.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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Servii said:

They still put it in the movie, instead of the scene of Luke mourning Han Solo.

Arguably the scene where he wanders through the Millennium Falcon is also a scene of him mourning Han, but this is valid. The point I was making is that the milking scene was brought up as an example as if that’s all that Luke does in the movie, implying he doesn’t have a major part or something, which is far from the truth.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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I sort of wanted a Lightsaber duel for Mark Hamill a fight scene. But i respect Rian for doing the opposite of expected. At least he did away with the mystery box nonsense and Luke being a worthless maguffin. JJ doesn’t get Luke or Star Wars. He did well with Star Trek, but he messed up Star Wars. Episode 9 is the worst film in the Saga. Am i as disappointed in it as Episode II, no. The OT heroes had to pass the torch, i’m not sure they all had to die except Lando. Is a heroic death better than going to the Star Wars equivalent of being put out to pasture or the old folks home, i’m not sure.

Basically these films never tried to assert their own identity and that upsets me more than killing off the trio.

Corporate film making. Not art.

This is Lucas legacy sadly, and he was a great film maker. Disney is a mega corporation selling junk food.

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Not everything put out by Disney is automatically soulless corporate trash, though. Once in a while Disney employs creators who really know what they’re doing and put their own vision into their work. Take Dave Filoni for example. Is everything he does perfect in my eyes (Bad Batch, Book of Boba Fett chapter 6…)? No. Am I worried he might be pressured to compromise on and change up his story ideas by the big Disney suits, since his work is suddenly the forefront of the Star Wars franchise? Yes. But there’s pretty consistent iconography in his work, and we know for a fact he’s a huge fan of the Star Wars galaxy and knows it very well - as well as what outside influences to use, such as Princess Mononoke, Lord of the Rings, even Godzilla.

This isn’t even to mention the many writers working in the publishing side of things who get to deliver their visions for a Star Wars story, pretty free of Disney meddling. Take Timothy Zahn’s new Ascendancy trilogy. From what I hear that has so much of its own lore and is so separate from other Star Wars stories that it barely feels like the same galaxy.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”