Luke Week Day 1: Personality Traits
Luke Skywalker’s Mischaracterizations: Whininess & Femininity
Is Luke whiny? The internet seems to think so.
Sure, Luke has a lot of questions in A New Hope, and this is the movie he gets the most “whiny” allegations. At the risk of preaching to the choir, I think the main reason for this is that casual fans fail to look at the bigger picture by ignoring the concepts of narrative structure and character development. They fail to ask critical questions such as, how does his characterization change throughout the original trilogy? What are the in-universe explanations for these changes? What is Luke “whining” about? Why do his ‘complaints’ bother people? What does this behavior say about his character?
Please note that the shot of Luke screaming in two of the above thumbnails are from when Luke witnessed Ben’s murder.
The Progression of Luke Skywalker
In A New Hope, we find him as a naive young farm boy with a dream to leave his home and join his friends at the Imperial Academy to become a pilot. He begs his uncle to change his mind and allow Luke to follow his friends to the Imperial Academy. Naturally, Uncle Owen refuses, and although Luke isn’t happy about it, he ultimately accepts this answer. This Luke lacks confidence and discernment. You could say he’s impatient, but he’s more resigned than impatient.
Below: Luke contemplates his place in the world as he stares at the binary sunset as Smalltown Boy his wistful, lonely theme plays.
Even though Luke takes it upon himself to seek out the Obi-Wan Kenobi that the beautiful woman in his phone wanted to find, when Ben attempts to convince Luke to leave Tatooine and be trained as a Jedi (“you know of the rebellion against the Empire?!”), he declines. (“I can’t get involved, I’ve got work to do. It’s not that I like the empire—I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.”)
It isn’t until he finds his family killed and farm destroyed by the Empire that he accepts this call to adventure. (Or rather…call of duty.) Sure, this gives his character narrative permission to answer the call. It implies that this is what needed to happen in order for Luke to leave Tatooine. (Side note: He doesn’t have a single positive word to say about the place as the trilogy progresses.)
Luke sees himself as someone who does what he should instead of what he wants. He wants to follow his friends to the Academy, not go off alone (again…naturally) to train to be some space wizard. When the only thing keeping him from following his dreams disappears, he still can’t follow that dream. Sure, he does leave Tatooine, but not as a pilot. (He’s not even allowed to fly them himself, they need to hire some other pilot for that. Ouch.)
Pictured above: [in a deleted scene] Biggs Darklighter tells Luke that he might not come back—foreshadowing his death as a Rogue rebel pilot
Naturally, a lot of things go wrong. Han expresses romantic interest in Princess Leia. They all get trapped in the garbage chute. Obi-Wan dies before he can complete his Jedi training. The Empire tracks them to Yavin. Han won’t even stay to help. Through all of this, Luke fights. He figures out how to stop the walls from crushing them all. He gets through to Han. He finds another Jedi master. He blows up the fucking Death Star.
Narratively, his incessant questions and “complaints” serve as tools for the audience to better understand this universe. If done poorly, this can seem unnatural and reflect badly on the character, so some of these world-building questions could possibly just be bad writing. Tell me again, for the cameras, Uncle Owen, why I can’t go to college right now? How am I going to be able to defend against this sphere shooting at me when a helmet is blocking my vision? All of these questions have narrative purpose. They’re also, in my opinion, not unusual questions. Any complaints he makes are reasonable in the same way, and work to show us that he is eager. Eager to prove himself, eager to fight, eager to not be useless!! While one could argue that the golden trio of Star Wars are each in their own right used as a “voice of reason,” each voice of reason is also specific to their character. Leia is tired of everyone’s fear getting in the way of their ability to fight; Han can’t believe all these people are risking their necks for a fight he doesn’t think they can win (especially not with this woo-woo shit); Luke worries that they won’t be able to defeat the Empire if they can’t put away their personal problems.
He is 19 years old and he wants to do something with his life. Anyone who’s ever been 19 knows this feeling all too well. Charged with whininess, I find ANH Luke guilty only of the ‘crime’ of being 19.
See below: Luke “whining” because Han is leaving the rebels with his reward money instead of joining the rebellion.
In The Empire Strikes Back, we are introduced to a Luke In Distress, who saves himself—but still needs to be rescued by his Han in shining armor. ESB Luke has more confidence, more skill, and better discernment. He escapes death by wampa using the Force, showing us that in the three years since we’ve last seen him, he’s been honing his skills. Despite this clear progress, both Luke and the audience can see he still has more to learn.
Soon after Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost tells him to go to Dagobah to be trained by Master Yoda (this is all the instruction he is given), Luke does so. After a not-so-smooth landing, he meets probably the most annoying creature anyone has ever come across who promises Luke he will deliver him to Yoda, and then proceeds to deceive him for hours before revealing that he is, actually, Yoda. Luke gets called out for his whininess here, and maybe he is whiny here—but wouldn’t you be, too? Wouldn’t Han be? Wouldn’t Leia?? (I love those three but none of them are known for their patience.)
This was his first test, and Luke failed miserably. After Yoda reluctantly trains Luke in the ways of the Force, Luke has a vision of his friends in danger. Because of his love for them, his sense of duty, and his if-not-me-then-who attitude, he leaves training early to save them despite Yoda’s insistence that he isn’t ready. He walks right into a trap and loses his dominant hand. While he’s distracted by fighting Vader, he failed to do what he set out to do: save Han. At least he got to met his dad.
“Luke returned to Dagobah, having traded his hand for knowledge he did not want and blood for wisdom he sorely needed, too late to resume his training.”
—from Attachments by @/scarletjedi, a quote I thought summed up his experience in ESB pretty well.
The first appearance of Luke in Return of the Jedi is immediately starkly different to any other Luke we’ve seen. We see him hooded, dressed in all black, and hiding in the darkness. Our first thought is that our heroes’ plan has failed and this stranger is working against them—but no, this hooded figure is revealed to be Luke!
This Luke shows confidence, skill, and discernment. He has patience in situations ANH and ESB Lukes probably wouldn’t. After this, he makes good on his promise to return to Dagobah to complete his training. Unfortunately, he runs into a bit of a snag—Despite not being defeated by Vader as Yoda warned he would be, Luke is still not a Jedi. Even worse, Yoda has decided he’s scheduled to die before he can train Luke again. Well, shit. In order to become a Jedi, he needs to face Vader but for real this time. Luke is resigned to his fate—determined to become a Jedi, he sets out to face his father one last time.
So, is Luke ‘whiny’? Well, Luke has a lot to complain about. His continued complaints in the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope set him up as someone who is unsatisfied, bored, and ambitious. He has this perpetually unfulfilled desire to prove himself, but he’s stuck at home on Tatooine. He is the last one of his friends still on Tatooine, and his uncle has asked him to stay behind again. He protests this, but he does not disobey. It is important to note that even though Luke disagrees with the path set before him, he does have a sense of duty. This shows us not that Luke “whines a lot,” but rather, that he advocates for himself. He is emotional, and for a male character, this is not a good thing to be.
Femininity
Is anyone familiar with fanon gay Luke? The dumb, useless twink who likes to be manhandled? Where does this mischaracterization come from? I argue it comes from the same place the whiny allegations come from: his shameless displays of emotion; his sensitivity, his unashamed longing, and his empathy.
Note that this is also why many young Star Wars fanboys oftentimes prefer Han Solo to Luke Skywalker. Luke is not well-liked among fans, despite being the main character and “Mr. Star Wars” himself.
Luke wears his heart on his sleeve, and in the movies, this is framed as something he should conquer. Attachments, emotions…to a certain extent, letting one’s emotions control one can be disastrous. But it’s a refreshing portrayal of a male main character, especially for the time. Even more so when contrasted with his sister Leia. She is the OG strong female badass, and this characterization was done much better than many female characters that were created today. While Han and Luke hide from the blaster fire, it’s Leia saying “Someone’s gotta save our skins!” and, well, proceeding to save their skins. She’s snippy, diplomatic, and wise—typically “male” characteristics. Luke is emotional, empathetic, and eager—typically “female” characteristics.
Above: After witnessing Ben’s death, a depressed Luke is comforted by Leia, who is written as apparently unaffected by the recent demise of her entire planet.
In the conversation with Leia where he reveals they’re brother and sister, Luke tells her of his plan to turn Vader to the light side. Leia attempts to dissuade him from doing this. “There is good in him. I’ve felt it,” Luke argues. Is it a coincidence that force sensitivity makes one more empathetic? Luke, as he always does, does exactly what he says he would: he successfully turns Vader to the light side. He almost loses himself in the rage of fighting his father—but he is able to tune into his softer emotions to calm himself down, tossing aside his lightsaber and offering his (remaining) hand to Anakin.
So, is Luke feminine? He may not be traditionally masculine (Mark Hamill himself has said that Luke could use some “butching up”…right equation, wrong answer). Luke is shown to be a softer, gentler kind of hero—and just because these traits align with femininity, it doesn’t mean he’s femme. You could just as easily use more masculine-sounding words to describe him. He is temperamental rather than sensitive or emotional, he shows mercy rather than empathy, or he is impatient rather than a dreamer. He is angry, too, and this is where so much of his “whininess” comes from. He is angry at the state of the universe. Angry at his place in it. Angry at his father. Anger is frequently perceived to be a masculine emotion, and one that Luke’s fully-developed self is able to conquer.
Luke goes through so much—he was raised in a small town he hates by an underdeveloped emotionally unavailable aunt & uncle, never knowing his real parents, then discovers it is his fault that his aunt & uncle were killed by Stormtroopers, witnesses his mentor’s death and is left to hone these newfound powers he has alone, narrowly escapes death at the hands of Vader, narrowly escapes death at the hands of a wampa, trains with a deceitful little creature, learns Vader is his father after he cuts off Luke’s hand, fails to save his friend, decides to save his father and buries him. By fans, Luke is expected to go through all of this without complaint, to remain strong and stoic and fierce.
Even as Luke learns to control his own emotions, he still allows himself to feel them. There is strength in this, too.
