Another reason TROS sucks
Alternate title: Never Not Back On My Bullsh*t
Not sure if y’all know but this was the original title of Episode VI:
And at the very last possible minute, after the posters had already been printed, George Lucas changed it to Return of the Jedi, saying (paraphrased) that Jedi didn’t take revenge. This was of course supported by Luke’s final act of victory, the REFUSAL to kill his father even if it meant that he and therefore the Jedi (since Yoda had already told him “the last of the Jedi will you be”) would die. Even with all the edits George made to the original trilogy films in later years, this penultimate scene stayed the same, making it his final word on the ethics of the heroes of the galaxy far, far away. It was clear that though the Jedi might die in body, their spirit would survive because Luke refused to compromise, to act in hate and call it love.
Another moment in the Skywalker Saga that *almost happened* and would have changed the moral of the story if it had was this famous scene:
That’s Padme approaching Anakin on Mustafar with a dagger, with which she intends to kill him. This was a proposal by one of the concept artists, a thought that George apparently briefly entertained before rejecting it for the scene which finally appeared in Revenge of the Sith:
“The moment Padmé realizes Anakin can’t be saved, she should do the thing that she needs to do - out of love. She should kill him.”
- concept artist Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
I see a lot of people lamenting that this scene did not appear in the film (especially men claiming Padme “didn’t do much” in Episode III, as if GROWING TWO HUMAN BEINGS is nothing!), but it’s pretty telling that it didn’t. George Lucas had already made it very clear before this with Luke’s refusal to kill his father that violence does not express love. There is no way that Padme could or would kill her husband “out of love.” Killing is the product of hate, not love. The idea that she would think she *needs* to kill Anakin is twisted and absurd. Even Obi-Wan, who says “I will do what I must” before trying to kill Anakin eventually chooses to leave him alive rather than finish him off.
It is for this reason that many of the events in TROS, from Rey mortally stabbing Ben to her violently defeating Palpatine, to Finn gleefully killing his former comrades (and fellow child-soldiers) and the final defeat of the First/Final Order depending on the slaughter of their adherents instead of the creation of a lasting peace - for all these reasons, TROS stands directly opposed to the ethic George Lucas espoused in the first six episodes of the Skywalker Saga.
YES. TROS rings hollow in the SW universe and so much of it is dissonant because it emphasizes physical strength and power as the ultimate expression of rightness, as opposed to spiritual strength as manifested through denying baser urges of anger and domination. In the Death Star fight, Kylo/Ben shows more strength in stopping himself from attacking Rey in anger when she’s been knocked down than she does in the next moment by stabbing him. You can almost see them exploring this concept—the groundwork is there as she cries and realizes what she did—but they never do. It’s just all so lazy, relying on nostalgia to try to patch up the holes.
Yes. YES. In fact, I’ll elaborate on your point about physical strength and power expressing rightness in TROS by pointing out that those who ultimately choose the Light in the first six films are NOT in fact rewarded with material success. Padme tries to retrieve Anakin from the Dark Side and she fails, dying tragically and being separated from her family. Obi-Wan effectively surrenders to Darth Vader and dies. Luke refuses to kill his father and would have been tortured to death if Anakin had not intervened. But none of these heroes are framed as foolish or wrong in their nonviolent acts of love. The narrative does not declare them weak despite the fact that their final acts are no display of strength or power. Indeed, it is simply that right is right and needs no validation.
Qui-Gon’s words in Master and Apprentice express this concept best:
“It matters which side we choose. Even if there will never be more light than darkness. Even if there can be no more joy in the galaxy than there is pain. For every action we undertake, for every word we speak, for every life we touch - it matters. I don’t turn toward the light because it means someday I’ll ‘win’ some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the light.”
Of course, TROS determined that “winning the cosmic game” was the purpose of the saga. Rey had to “win” through being the most powerful, rewarded with all the material trappings of success, while it was Ben Solo who made the nonviolent act of love and was rewarded with nothing. It’s just astoundingly bleak.
