The Rise of Skywalker Made Luke Even More Unlikable Than The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tried to redeem Luke Skywalker in the eyes of Star Was: The Last Jedi’s detractors, but the movie made him even more unlikeable in the process. Cynical and despondent over the mistakes that he and the Jedi Order had made, Luke’s demeanor and character arc in The Last Jedi were one of the most highly criticized aspects of an already highly controversial film. After all, many die-hard fans had yearned to see a hopeful and capable mentor for Rey (Daisy Ridley) instead of the depressed warrior that appeared onscreen.

In answer to those criticisms, The Rise Of Skywalker brings Luke back as a kindly Force ghost, who gently encourages Rey at her lowest point. Alone this wouldn’t be a problem, but the scene also has to wrangle with another major retcon: Rey’s heritage. These two new elements begin to work against each other and, as a result, the sequence inadvertently doubles down on Luke’s unlikability. Indeed, as Rey alludes to the recent shocking revelation that she is Emperor Sheev Palpatine’s granddaughter, Luke surprisingly discloses that he and Leia already knew of Rey’s heritage, and they both chose not to tell her.

Did Luke fist suspect Rey’s heritage when he first met her? Or did the Jedi Master learn of it when became one with the Force? The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t detail the how or when of his discovery. Regardless, the bottom line is that Luke knew Rey was a Palpatine for an extended period of time prior to her fateful encounter with Kylo Ren aboard his Star Destroyer – but Luke remained quiet about it. In light of Luke’s own experiences, there’s no other way to say it: withholding that information was not a good move.

As Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi demonstrated, Luke learned that his father was Darth Vader in the worst possible way. Not only was he heavily traumatized by this encounter; the knowledge, and the way it was relayed to him almost jeopardized everything. Moreover, Luke angrily questioned the judgment and motives of Jedi Masters Obi-Wan and Yoda since they had not been truthful with him from the start. Certainly, these movies heavily underscore that Luke – and the galaxy’s – destiny was much in doubt after that duel in Cloud City.

Therefore Luke, more than anyone, would have understood that Rey’s secret ancestry was a powder keg for the last living Jedi, threatening to cause untold levels of anguish for her, potentially pushing her away from the Jedi and thereby harming the wider galaxy. Luke should have recognized that the unwitting granddaughter of Darth Sidious needed to be given the knowledge tactfully, and without Sith prejudice. Instead, Luke knowingly made the same mistake as his Jedi Masters, which is ironic and very hypocritical of him, given that he spent a large swathe of The Last Jedi railing against their intransigence and hubris.

At best, fans could chalk this up to the inevitability of failure, which Yoda chided Luke with in The Last Jedi. At worst, it gives the onetime hero of the Star Wars saga a duplicitous and uncaring streak that wasn’t there before. Either way, it is somewhat ironic that the Luke we see in The Rise of Skywalker is emblematic of the movie’s wider problems. By retconning Luke and various parts of The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker strived to deliver a satisfying send-off for him and the saga, yet in doing so it accidentally made it’s one-time hero even more disreputable.

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