Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #48 ahead!The debate surrounding the quality of theStar Warssequels has largely been in the context of the original trilogy itself. However, the latest issue ofStar Wars: Darth Vaderreveals that the creative choices made in the sequels can also negatively impact the quality of the original trilogy’s stories. These choices have made it more difficult to understand the original trilogy’s meaning and legacy.
In Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco’sStar Wars: Darth Vader(2020) #48, after being lured to Caranthamax B by Warba Calip,Luke Skywalkeris attacked byDarth Vader’s erstwhile partner Sabé, who is determined to find out if he is a Sith in Jedi clothing.
Luke easily repulses Sabé’s attacks, although he’s only able to accomplish this with a fair amount of aggression. Sabé interprets this aggression as a sign of Luke’s latent Sith tendencies. However, Luke disagrees, arguing that Jedi require some flexibility — “wiggle room” — in their emotional expression. He believes that Jedi can experience emotions, including anger, without compromising their values.
Luke Skywalker Contemplated A New Way To Create An Enlightened Jedi
Luke’s response to Sabé seems reasonable. As a human, Luke is an imperfect creature. It’s only natural for him to experience some suffering, pain, and even hatred. But just because he experiences these feelings on occasion does not mean he will lose himself and turn to thedark side of the Force. Luke’s reply implies that he views the pursuit of perfection as impractical, suggesting that a more valuable endeavor is to develop the ability to handle emotions positively, just like he does when he overcomes Sabé’s challenge.
While Luke’s philosophy is certainly worth deeper exploration,theStar Warssequel trilogy undermines the intriguing idea of him discovering a smarter, more compassionate approach to Jedi development— one that contrasts with the rigid,unflexible methods that led to the Jedi Order’s fallunder Yoda. The sequels show that Luke is unable or unwilling to follow his own advice. InStar Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, the “wiggle room” he argues for proves disastrous, as it reveals how his inability to control his fear and anger leads him to momentarily think about striking down Ben Solo while he’s asleep. Indeed,that one moment of anger that Skywalker allows himself to experience unleashes the disaster he fears mostand has spent a lifetime fighting against.
TheStar WarsSequel Trilogy Limited The Franchise’s Potential
The choice to have Luke, inThe Last Jedi, return to the well-worn story of the righteous Jedi losing it all in a moment of sudden intense emotion delegitimizes an idea that he’s been working on for years.This creative choice exemplifies how the sequel trilogy limits the meaningful and interesting expansion of the lore for Luke and other characters from the original trilogy. Consequently,the fresh aspects of theStar Warsgalaxy that are open to exploration betweenThe Return of the JediandThe Force Awakenscan only go so far before fans and critics find them incompatible with the sequel trilogy canon.
The sequel trilogy’s focus on nostalgia, rather than on forging a new path, effectively kills stories like Skywalker’s above efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order with a more flexible ethos. Instead of a rich and diverse universe full of unlimited storytelling potential, the sequel trilogy has unfortunately tainted the legal legacy of the originalStar Warstrilogy by limiting potentially groundbreaking storylines that could have further cemented the franchise’s status as the greatest epic of all time.
Star Wars: Darth Vader#48is available now from Marvel Comics.
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.
