Entertainment
Star Wars Tries And Fails To Redeem Its Worst Sequel Moment
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Even though Disney put the kibosh on Adam Driver’s proposed Kylo Ren movie (The Hunt for Ben Solo), the character’s lore has been expanding through the extended universe of Star Wars novels and comics. Recently, Legacy of Vader #10 had Kylo Ren communicate with Luke Skywalker’s Force ghost, and the older Jedi told his former mentor that “nobody” had killed him and that he simply sacrificed himself to save his friends. This seems like an attempt to redeem the Star Wars sequels’ worst moment, but it doesn’t change the fact that Luke only died because of awful planning on the part of the Resistance.
Luke Skywalker Gets Defensive
As this comic book’s name implies, Kylo Ren is trying to learn more about his grandfather, Darth Vader. In this issue, he is able to communicate with Luke Skywalker’s spirit and bluntly asks who killed the Jedi Master. Luke replies that he simply sacrificed himself “in service of something greater” and “died for my friends and family and for people I don’t know all across the galaxy,” insisting “that’s what my life is for.”
It’s a sweet sentiment, and this issue shows how much superstar writer Charles Soule understands these iconic sci-fi characters. However, Luke’s outright denial that anyone killed him seems like a transparent attempt to take the heat off Kylo Ren, whom most fans blame (and rightfully so!) for the death of his former master. Furthermore, his emphasizing his desire to sacrifice himself in the name of the greater good seems like an attempt to mollify fans who were upset by the shocking decision to kill the most famous Star Wars character off in the climax of The Last Jedi.
Failed, Your Retcon Has
However, with respect to Soule (a writer I truly admire), I’m just not buying any of this. Luke Skywalker saying that nobody killed him is really splitting hairs because he only died after Force projecting across half the galaxy and fighting his nephew as a big distraction to allow the Resistance to escape. He subsequently died from the sheer exhaustion of distracting Kylo Ren; therefore, the young Sith killed his old master as surely as if he had struck him down with a lightsaber.
None of this really redeems Kylo Ren, nor does Luke Skywalker’s talk about his noble sacrifice redeem the stupidity of his death in The Last Jedi. Personally, I am haunted by the observation from Red Letter Media that when the Resistance was cut down to three ships’ worth of people, they could have gone in three different directions. This would have forced the pursuing First Order ship to only chase a single vessel, sparing the lives of everyone on the other two ships.
The Resistance Failed From a Certain Point of View
As RLM pointed out, the Resistance started out with about 400 people near the beginning of The Last Jedi, all of whom are survivors of the First Order’s sudden attack. Assuming the members were equally distributed, splitting up the ships would have meant that around 267 Resistance members survived the events of the film. But because Leia and Holdo keep the fleet together, the entirety of the Resistance (just a little over a dozen people) could fit within the cozy confines of the Millennium Falcon.
This has always (and, frankly, will always) make Luke Skywalker’s noble sacrifice seem rather meaningless. He didn’t die to save untold millions from the wrath of the First Order; he died to save a baker’s dozen from the awful decisions of their military leaders. Had the people in charge simply made smarter tactical choices, Luke (not to mention more than 250 additional Resistance members) would still be alive!
Sorry, Charles Soule, but this comic doesn’t really do much to rehabilitate Kylo Ren’s character nor redeem the ending of The Last Jedi. In some ways, these pages make things even worse, revealing how smug Luke Skywalker is over dying for no real reason. He says nobody killed him, but he’s wrong: Disney killed the greatest character in Star Wars history, and they’ve spent years since then doing their best to kill the rest of the franchise.
