When Del Rey books was planning to publishing 1999, they began a plan to “shake up” the series of sequel tales that had been hitting shelves since the early 1990s.
Key to this plan: Killing off some of the old fan favorites in order to prove that the galaxy was still a dangerous place with high stakes.
They sent an e-mail to Lucasfilm in which they asked whether they could kill off any of the characters that the public knew from what was, at the time, the three-but-soon-to-be-four movies.
Lucasfilm reps responded that they’d have to have a list of who they were thinking about.
The list of possible “death” characters came from Del Rey… with Luke Skywalker at the top of their request list.
The letter that came back from Lucasfilm was dictated by George Lucas himself. Instead of approving which characters on the list could be killed, Lucas opted to list characters who could not be killed until they had lived full lives and reached a ripe old age: Luke Skywalker. Han Solo. Leia Organa. Lando Calrissian. The list, supposedly, went on for a bit.
As the story goes, Chewbacca was not on Lucas’ list of “do not deny anyone below a happy retirement” orders. Del Rey came back with a request to kill off Chewbacca in the first novel (Vector Prime) of their new series, “The New Jedi Order.”
Lucas eventually responded that he approved, “so long as he goes out like a hero.”
To this day, some fans still hate Vector Prime and the entire “New Jedi Order” series for killing off Chewbacca in a heroic sacrifice.
I wonder how those fans feel about these sequels? Because I can probably guess.
TL;DR – In 1999, George Lucas told the creators of the Star Wars EU/”Legends” continuity that Luke, Han, Leia and Lando could not be killed off because they’d earned the right to live full, satisfying lives.
***Information sourced from How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor and The Washington Post’s report on Chewbacca’s death in 1999, among others
@thehungryvortigaunt She survives space with the Force much like Leia did and reunites with Rose THIS IS CANON @ JJ
This big change to Luke happening without anyone around also feels like an invalidation of what he learned and went through in the original trilogy. Really, Luke already ought to know better about the hubris and personal pride of the Jedi, because nobody has been failed by the Jedi like Luke has. His most trusted mentors lied to him and held back key information about him and his family, in order to manipulate him into killing his father. Luke ends “Return of the Jedi” disillusioned by his elders, and spends most of that story in pain. Even after redeeming Vader, Luke seems nearly broken by his loss. The ending of “Return of the Jedi,” with his father’s quiet funeral, is a distinctly downbeat moment, during a party no less, because we see a pained Luke struggling with everything he’s seen and experienced.
Luke Skywalker knows better than anyone the failings of the Jedi, because he lived them. To see him repeat the same mistakes of Yoda and Obi-Wan feels like a backstep. The man we watched Luke become and the man he is in “The Last Jedi” are out of sync. We missed what could have made him this way, and a few short lines of dialogue in which Luke explains a moment of weakness seems insufficient when set against three movies of character development.
…
By the end of “Return of the Jedi,” Luke isn’t a guy who sees darkness in someone and fires up his blade to strike them down; he’s a guy who sees darkness in someone, and reaches out a hand to help them.
listen: luke should have been the one who wants to save kylo ren. there’s no stupid backtory about him wanting to kill his nephew; ben’s solo journey to the dark side is his own. when rey arrives on the island, luke tells her how he failed to save kylo before but how he also still believes there’s good in him. rey is the one to tell him that no, it’s not possible, she saw him kill his own father!
rey’s arrival also awakens something in luke. whether they’re related or not, he cares for her and quickly becomes her guardian, her mentor. training her, he’s reminded of the old times, when he used to scold ben for not focusing during meditation.
and so luke decides that he can be saved. he sneaks off one afternoon, with rey meditating in the temple, flying off into the sunset in his old, trusty x-wing. chewbacca is the one to disturb rey’s meditation session, all distressed roars and arms flailing. rey wants to go immediately after luke but she’s stopped by a strange apparition, a young man engulfed in blue light. “luke has a good heart but he trusts too much. he saved me but i’m afraid my grandson is too far gone. don’t let him destroy luke.”
she takes the falcon and goes after luke. and then it’s simple: they fight alongide each other in snoke’s throne room, a battle of masters and their apprentices. light and dark. and between them?
Au where instead of luke absconding away to the hermit planet he and lando just went on a gay cruise spaceship for like…. ten years. Bc after tht ordeal he needed a vacay
L.J.'s Obsessions 