This whole idea that fans can’t handle change. Yeah ok. Before Disney got their hands on Star Wars, the EU was, for all its intents and purposes, the sequel trilogy for a lot of fans. It existed for over 20 years.
Let’s see:
A planet fell on Chewy and he died.
Han and Leia’s youngest son, Anakin Solo, died at 17. He was positioned as the “Luke” of the new generation and they killed him off in a heroic sacrifice.
Han and Leia became estranged.
Jacen Solo took up the mantle of Darth Caedus in his deluded mind to save the world from further war. He murdered his aunt, Mara Jade Skywalker.
He went after both his parents. Han gave up on Jacen.
Jaina Solo, his twin, had to fight and kill her brother to stop him. He doesn’t get “redeemed” but he does show concern for his daughter’s welfare and he still dies. At the end, Han and Leia live and raise Jacen’s daughter. Jaina is traumatized by what she had to do to her twin. Ben Skywalker, Luke’s son, is still alive. Luke is still alive.
As a EU fan, I bitched and complained about some of these plot points, mainly their execution, but I didn’t think it completely ruined character arcs! Did I like all their choices, no. But, even at the lowest point or even the least coherent point, I didn’t feel like the story had given up on these characters.
The Last Jedi made me feel dirty. It made me feel like I had naively fallen for a scam.
I am caught between being amused and wincing at the fact that Han and Leia can’t seem to stay together in any universe. And noooo Chewie…:( But yeah, even in the OT era, remember all the elaborate theories fans had about Vader between ANH and TESB? Fans love dramatic changes to the status quo and having their theories dashed. They just want it to be good.
This is beyond disappointing. Luke/Nakari are Luke’s only canon ship right now. They also had a tragic ending that should be fodder for fix fics as well as the usual AUs and conventions.
@aryainwinterfell I am striving to give fandom the benefit of the doubt, that maybe Nakari is a comics-only character and that makes her less well known. Even that excuse doesn’t hold true for the Lando ships, however, so like… yeah, beyond disappointing.
I think you’re mixing up Nakari and Sana. Nakari isn’t in the comics, she’s only in the novel Heir to the Jedi. (Also I have on good authority that the author was forced to kill her by the story group “to give Luke a chance to emote” because killing a black woman for emotional development of a white man is totally cool *eye roll* So it’s not just the fandom, it’s the company too.
Thank you for that correction, I knew they were different characters but assumed Nakari was a character in a comic I hadn’t seen. And oh ew that blatant fridging… way to respect Finn’s mom, story group. (Yeah I know the timeline doesn’t fit, but all Finn parentage theories are good theories.)
This is beyond disappointing. Luke/Nakari are Luke’s only canon ship right now. They also had a tragic ending that should be fodder for fix fics as well as the usual AUs and conventions.
@aryainwinterfell I am striving to give fandom the benefit of the doubt, that maybe Nakari is a comics-only character and that makes her less well known. Even that excuse doesn’t hold true for the Lando ships, however, so like… yeah, beyond disappointing.
To me Luke Skywalker will always be the young man who rushed to the aid of a girl he’d never even met—whose selfless courage and desire to help defined both the beginning of his journey, and its end.
To me Luke Skywalker will always be the character who was disbelieving and angry to learn that the apparent mercenary he’d met was choosing money and self-preservation over the rebellion—the PEOPLE—who needed him. He’ll always be the character to whom it was unthinkable and inexcusable to abandon those in danger, to refuse to fight for what’s right. He’ll always be, “They could use a good pilot like you. You’re turning your back on them.”
In my eyes Luke Skywalker will always be the man risking his life for the cause—for the galaxy—so that others might one day live in freedom and peace. He will always be the pilot, the rebel, the soldier who would not let tyranny stand unopposed.
And to me Luke Skywalker will always be—indisputably—the character who would never forsake his loved ones. Who would never give them up, and never give up on them. He’ll always be the character whose loyalty—to his friends, to his family—was unfaltering. He will always be, “I’ve got to go to them.” Will always be, “They’re my friends. I’ve got to help them.” Always, “And sacrifice Han and Leia?” Always, “That is why I have to go.”
Luke Skywalker will always be hope. Irrevocably and without question, Luke is the very embodiment of it. To me, Luke Skywalker will always be the character who says, “I can’t kill my own father.” The character whose belief in the Light and in humanity is so true and so strong that he saves the galaxy—so powerful that he saves his father’s soul.
Luke Skywalker is “Never! I’ll never turn to the dark side.” He is, at his heart and in my heart, the man who sees so clearly, who understands so completely, that he casts aside his lightsaber rather than fight to save his own life—not because he’s given up or because he’s weak or a coward, but because of his faith—because Luke Skywalker will die sooner than give into hatred. He will lay down his weapon sooner than turn to darkness.
To me, Luke Skywalker will always be this truth. He will always be the hero that realized the TRUE meaning of the Force, who understood what, for all their wisdom and good intentions, his masters did not: that it is love, not detachment, that saves. It is the strength of love, the belief in love, the power of love that saves us. Luke Skywalker will always be this, for me. He will always be this love, this faith where faith seems impossible, and this enduring hope where it seems that all hope has been lost.
And most importantly of all, to me Luke Skywalker will always be not only the character who loved, who hoped, who had faith, but the character whose story tells us—implores us, promises us—that this love is not in vain. That such faith is not foolish. That GOODNESS like that—because to me, Luke Skywalker is and will always be goodness—is not weakness, but strength that overcomes all else. Luke Skywalker is the Light Side. He is the hero we all need to believe can exist—the hero that reality—that war and violence and maliciousness—so cruelly tries to tell us could never be.
That is Luke Skywalker. He is this beacon. Luke is the hope that prevails. The faith that is rewarded. The journey that tells us that love can and will overcome evil even against the most impossible odds. Luke Skywalker is the story that begs us not to give up, that leads us to take a stand against oppression, and hatred, and hopeless darkness—the character who tells us to believe as we all, as human beings, so desperately want to.
To me, no matter what, Luke Skywalker will always be,
This is a lot more canon than the stuff the anon trolls @lj-writes gets says
He gives great hugs because he wears his father’s armor like a constant embrace. Sometimes, wearing the helmet, Boba thinks he feels Dad’s forehead against his.
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
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