#river.talks

[burning-river]

Luke Skywalker IS underrated for what you would expect of a protagonist of three movies, several comics, several novels and and if you count the sequels, he's also important secondary character for other two movies.

Luke's popularity these few last years comes specifically from DinLuke and Grogu. With the general audiences, Han was more liked.

In TCW, when they tried to reshape Anakin's personality they went with Han.

And decades after, Luke is still mostly seen as "weak whiny twink baby who needs rescuing". As if his first big win didn't involve blowing up an evil space station with billions of people.

And all of this is mostly misogyny of course, because Luke (and Anakin) are seen as very unmanly very emotional protagonists and therefore they're annoying, whiny, weak little bitches. Cause what, they feel love?

[rivashi]

wanna come home to my naga bf/husband as he beckons me to his arms. he doesn’t make a sound nor movements as i carelessly and tiredly plop onto him, doesn’t care how hard i fall into him. his only thought is to wrap me both in his arms and tail protectively, his cool scales providing comfort to my aching muscles, his clawed hands massaging my scalp as he hums a hypnotic lullaby luring me to sleep <3

[burning-river]

"Let Vader know the suffering he caused Padmé", he knows , he tortures himself for it.

"Let Vader know he murdered her" It's literally on screen, it's a meme at this point.

"Let Vader suffer with guilt" In the comics he can't take a step without getting a Padmé flashback

"Let Padmé not be as forgiving" Vader would rather prefer thiss, me thinks, and we don't want what Vader wants, me thinks

"Let Padmé-"

-what about we let Padmé be the character she's on screen.

[burning-river]

Hot take but Anakin does, in fact, actually cares about rules.

I would say one of his issues is that he cares and frets and gets too neurotic about rules and what's right and wrong. Yes, he broke the code to marry Padmé but that's meant to show how deep they're into this, they're willing to break rules and willing to have to keep things secret as much as a pain it is. lmao

Luke Skywalker though, doesn't care about rules as long as it doesn't fit his own moral code. Anakin got a following orders and the code as best as i can or i'm Evil.

Because the Jedi religious dogma indicates this, btw.

"I'm not the Jedi I should be" / "This is not the Jedi way" etc

Anakin's problem, is that he decides to ignore his moral compass in order to follow his orders and what he's asked to do. He never stands his ground or stands up for himself, he's undecisive and insecure as hell

TCW Anakin's carefree actitude and played for laughs doesn't align well with this because Filoni is either afraid or doesn't like to show Anakin's vulnerability and indecisiveness because he Needs To be Macho and Commanding and Evil, cause Filoni is more of a misogynist than Lucas.

Luke breaks rules and goes against what he's told because unlike Anakin, his strong idealistic sense wasn't crumbled and stomped to dust and he had an healthier environment.

And also he had friends and comrades who were equals and supported him, Luke had a strong sense of who he was, and even though there's conflict and he has doubts, Luke is clearly more self reassured and resilient, his moral convictions are similar to Anakin's, but Anakin learned to shut up and keep his head low

Luke was didn't.

[burning-river]

in any possible obikin scenario i think Obi-Wan would be jealous of Luke

like Luke would fight with Obi-Wan for Anakin's attention and Obi-Wan, known also as "i had a beef with a 9yo because of my Master" would, absolutely, follow suit and throw hands with Luke, who just wants to play with dad.

Anakin always will prioritize his children, so Obi-Wan is always destined to lose and be weird over it (in silence, forever).

[burning-river]

when it comes to obi-wan and luke's 'relationship' , I'm one to disagree with most of the fandom because, honestly, I think Obi-Wan doesn't even see Luke much as a person, at all. Ok, sounds harsh, but listen. I don't think Obi-Wan humanizes Luke, Leia or Padmé, because that's a way for him to remain separated and distance himself from the Feelings.

Feelings he doesn't want to have, he compartimentalizes and represses too much to care on a personal level.

He had a level of codependency with Anakin that ended in a burst of flames (literally) and as result, now he's stuck there having to separate Anakin and Vader in his mind in order to get some peace of mind.

But at the same time, he doesn't bring himself to care beyond a surface level about Padme, or Luke, or Leia. They're just poor victims, they're just some poor lifeforms wronged by the monster that killed Anakin. Padme is just some silly gal blinded by womanly frelings. The twins are just tools to end Vader. Luke is Plan A and Leia is Plan B, and that's as far as he goes.

He had two meaningful relationships through his entire life (three, if you count Satine). Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin. And Obi-Wan compared the both of them just as much, and both of these relationships turned meaningful in the context of being a Jedi and serving the force. Obi-Wan can't quite escape state of mind that everything he does must, in some way, serve the order and the force.

Luke is just his ex-padawan and brother's child, from some affair he doesn't care about. I'm not one to believe Obi-Wan saw Padme as a friend, at all. Just a means, just some silly thing that keeps Anakin happy (and he would rather Anakin find happiness somewhere else).

Now Luke....Luke's relationship with Obi-Wan is based solely on his desire to know his father. He believes him dead, so the next big thing might as well be the person to claim was his friend. He wants to honour his father and wants to be like him, Luke only wants to be a Jedi because he's told his father was a Jedi

He's distressed when he loses Obi-Wan because he lost the only connection he had to his father (or so, that's what Luke believes), and also because boy just lost his home and family, Obi-Wan was the only familiarity he had keft. Luke's lightsaber is a copy of Obi-Wan's because it's pretty much made out of bit and pieces of Obi-Wan's spare lightsaber. There's no much Luke really does that is for Obi-Wan's sake, it always comes back to Anakin.

So, in summary, Obi-Wan and Luke's relationship is, quite literally, just based on Anakin and it never evolves beyond Anakin. Is like two satellites accidentally crossing paths as they orbite the same planet. And after some mild disturbance, they just continue their orbit

They might cross paths again, but is brief and surface level.

[burning-river]

Imagine connecting your entire life to someone you never knew, filling up the absence with hopes and dreams and fantasies and then you met the person and they're a monster and the shock is so terrible, the truth is so bleak, you literally rather throw yourself onto a very probable death....

And 5 minutes later you're answering their psychic phone call with "father? 🥺"

Luke really went "on one hand...-has no hand-, on the other, he's still alive! Maybe isn't too late to play catch...oh and the dark side thing, yeah that too, maybe isn't too late for that either."

[burning-river]

tapping the mic, what if I said that during the OT era, Obi-Wan was the one obsessed with Anakin / Vader, holding onto the memory of Anakin and the plans to end Vader like it's only motivation in life.

And Vader didn't give a single fuck beyond apathetic acknowledgement.

Obi-Wan is the one that needed Anakin. By ROTS Anakin was already moving away from him (because of Padmé and Palpatine).

And is more tragic that way, the dynamic has turned 180 degrees.