I’ve always found describing Luke as ‘trying to kill Ben’ to be a misrepresentation. Luke tried to kill Vader in ROTJ after being goaded into it, and backed down shortly after. Luke merely considered killing Ben in TLJ, after experiencing a harrowing vision of the destruction the boy would cause, and only for a moment before coming to his senses. These instances seem pretty consistent to me, the latter event being a more extreme but logical extension of the struggle Luke (and jedi generally) had to face. If Luke had actually tried to kill Ben, then Ben would be dead.
OWK puts Ben in similar positions but I’m not sure it knows exactly what to do with him. At the opening of the show, Ben himself is weary and has allowed his abilities to diminish, which is understandable emotionally yet at the same time seems dedicated to protect and train Luke at the earlist convenience. These seem highly contradictory. Once Ben has gotten his groove back, he’s able to defeat Vader and accept Anakin is gone, but will still not put him out of his misery, and is no longer concerned with Luke’s training. Probably a symptom of finding an arc between III and IV when there didn’t need to be one.
He considered it by turning on a very bright, loud energy weapon over him while he slept. Which is either really foolish, or shows it was premeditated. Why is he going in the middle of the night while he’s sleeping anyway? Why not just ask Ben about it or have a mind probe vision while he’s awake? What exactly was the mechanism of Snoke corrupting Ben from a bajillion miles away? What made him turn, and what did Luke know or not know about it? Why is there this very specific level of suspicion where he knew something about it but the moment he knows more about it he needs to draw his weapon and not use it?
There’s so much about that moment that was completely unexplained or just nonsensical. And that’s if you even like the idea of the story.
How on earth does the volume and brightness of Luke’s lightsaber prove something is premeditated? We see clearly the process, handily narrated by Luke to boot. He is overwhelmed by the darkness in Ben, reaches for his weapon, and by the time he ignites the blade the emotion has passed. It’s slowed down for the audience but it is still just a moment. Totally understandable considering how potent and vivid jedi visions have always been.
Luke suspected the worst about Ben. It had built over time. That’s why he looked into the kid’s mind while he slept. If you thought someone was a potential disaster, would you try to confirm it discreetly or just prod at him to see if he explodes? The ability to read someone’s mind is an ethical question mark. I don’t think Luke is 100% right to do what he did, and I don’t think he’s presented that way. Once again though, it’s an understandable decision to make for someone in that position. It’s interesting and tragic how Luke’s mind reading will inform Kylo’s own aggrassive mind probing later on.
What mechanism did you expect for Snoke’s contact with Ben? It was the force. We’ve seen how it allows people to sense things across the galaxy, and even communicate over distance. Snoke will later link Rey and Kylo’s minds with his power. He’s got game. And he worked on seducing Ben before Luke’s mistake ultimately triggered Ben to start killing. The classic Star Wars situation of a character acting on their vision of the future and unknowingly helping it come to pass.
I’d agree there’s some things unexplained but I’d disagree it’s nonsensical. I shall leave it here though. I draw the line at two seperate off topic debates in a thread, ha. We’re not going to agree, or break any new grounds of understanding.