I do understand it emotionally. I don’t exactly enjoy watching the heroes I grew up with fail either, and that’s actually part of why I think continuing the story at all was probably a mistake on some level. Financially, obviously Disney was never going to leave Star Wars alone, but narratively I’m not convinced there really needed to be an Episode VII.

But once you decide to continue the story, I do expect it to challenge me emotionally. That’s something I want from movies in general, but especially from a story as character driven as Star Wars.

And that’s where I struggle with the idea that the old characters should basically be protected from serious failure or painful change. If Luke has to remain the great Jedi Master we imagined, Han and Leia have to remain happily married, and their accomplishments after ROTJ have to stay mostly intact, then at some point I start wondering what the dramatic purpose of bringing them back actually is.

I completely understand wanting that version of these characters. On an emotional level, part of me wants it too. But as storytelling, I have a hard time justifying treating them with kid gloves simply because we love them.

That doesn’t mean I think the sequels handled their failures well, very often they didn’t. But for me, “they shouldn’t have failed” and “their failures should have been written better” are two very different criticisms.