Had a few people ask me recently why I loved the portrayal of Luke Skywalker in #TheLastJedi. So, here we go! #StarWars 
Before I dive in, I want to be clear that I understand why people, especially people who love Luke, might be bothered by this portrayal. To be honest, I think that was partially @rianjohnson’s point.
For me personally though, I loved Luke in this movie because it actually answered in a very logical and practical way something I’ve been wondering about since the prequels came out.
Before I saw the prequels, I had a lot of ideas about what I expected the Jedi Order to be at their height. At first, I was actually really bothered by the prequels because they didn’t line up with my expectations at all.
Over time though, I realized this as George Lucas being a genius. Sure, the dialogue in the prequels isn’t great and little can redeem Attack of the Clones for me. However, conceptually I think the Jedi Order we see in the prequels is exactly what he envisioned all along.
The trick was that the Jedi Order I imagined we would get in the prequels was similar to the one I thought Luke would build, based on the teachings he received from Obi and Yoda.
If you step back and think about it though, the Jedi failed. Obi and Yoda have had decades in the wilderness to consider all the things the Jedi order had wrong. They also very clearly aren’t shooting straight with Luke.
Everyone focuses on the fact that they didn’t tell him Vader was his dad or that he had a sister early on, but their biggest failure to me is Yoda telling Luke that he must confront Vader.
We see Luke at the first of ROTJ with his new black outfit and green lightsaber. We also see him Force Choke a guard and call himself a Jedi.
For me though, he truly became a Jedi at the end of the movie. When he looks down on his hand after mauling Vader and realizes this isn’t what a Jedi should do. He tosses aside his saber and becomes a Jedi.
So, in my head the Jedi of old had to be monk like sages who maintained balance. What the story clearly shows us, though, is anything but. Luke grew beyond Obi and Yoda in that moment and became something more than they ever were.
Before the sequels, this was my question for Luke. How would he handle discovering the same truth I discovered about the Jedi from the prequels? The Order that takes kids from parents, doesn’t allow them to fall in love, and forces them to be dependent on the order for survival.
I’ll use my own lens for example. I imagine Christianity crumbling over the next few hundred years and then someone discovering a bible. They read it and think, wow. This Jesus character is incredible. Love thy neighbor as thy self? Turn the other cheek?
They decide to become a Christian and start telling people these stories. As time goes on though, more and more documents are uncovered. Then they make some serious discoveries.
At one point, Christianity was the worlds most popular religion. At its height, it’s leaders committed some of the most heinous and unimaginable crimes and abused the faith of their people. This ultimately led to the disillusionment of the religion and it’s crumbling.
So, now we go back to Luke. As he says in the movie, at their height of power the Jedi allowed the rise of Palpatine and were responsible for the creation of Darth Vader. What’s even the point? If Yoda and Obi couldn’t succeed with thousands of Jedi, how could he?
He couldn’t even stop his own nephew from being drawn to the dark. If he continues down the path of establishing the Jedi, what waits at the end of it? Failure.
So Luke does EXACTLY what he does in ROTJ, only this time instead of throwing down his Lightsaber he decides to exit the game.
He understands that if he trains a new generation of Jedi it will just continue the cycle, in the same way that striking Vader or Palpatine down in anger would.
And this is where Yoda comes in!
Luke was right to toss his saber down against the Emperor, because he would have just been repeating the cycle. When it comes to training a new generation of Jedi though, he is only bound to fail if he doesn’t learn from the failure of those who came before him.
Repeating a cycle of hate never wins. Repeating a cycle of learning though, that is how we “grow beyond”.
In a sense, I love TLJ Luke because he faces the same dilemma I faced watching the prequels and finds a way to forge a path forward after he comes to terms with it. It seemed like a beautiful way to weave the reality of the universe into a strong arc for Luke.
I also never assumed the Luke hiding on an island in TFA would be the “super saiyan” Jedi I feel like a lot of Luke fans desired. If he were really an enlightened god among men, I find it hard to believe he’d pull a Dr. Manhattan and run to “mars”.
