Star Wars Day 2020: Luke Skywalker was the worst character in the franchise until the sequels came along
Luke Skywalker may have been the hero of the 'Star Wars' Original Trilogy but if you really think he was the greatest character of the franchise, maybe we haven't been seeing the same movies.
Despite his role as the Chosen One and all that messianic malarkey, Luke was probably the most insipid character in 'Star Wars' until the sequels came along.
Despite how important his role was, there was never much complexity of nuance to Luke's character. Even with the whole burden of being Darth Vader's son, Luke was never more than your average Mary Sue.
Whether it was getting off his home planet or dealing with the fact that his father is space Hitler, Luke was constantly a whiny little baby all the way to 'Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi'.
Even then, though he got much cooler after the loss of his hand (what is it about losing limbs that makes fictional characters become instant badasses?), he was still hardly the hero his father was.
Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) was a much more interesting character both before and after his fall to the dark side. In fact, at the end of the day, it was he who actually defeated Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and brought balance to the Force.
So basically, all Luke ever did was blow stuff up and alternate between crying about everything he's lost and whining about everything he wishes he could have. He probably could have been the worst character of the whole franchise (yes, worse than Jar Jar Binks) if it wasn't for the sequels.
In the sequel trilogy, the franchise finally delivered a bunch of heroes more insipid and boring than Luke, each of them more forgettable than the last.
And in 'Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi', when Luke finally made his return as a wise old Jedi Master, he was finally a cool character with the best elements of Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) and Yoda (Frank Oz).
At least Luke got to go out a well-written character even if he didn't start out as one. All the sequels will be remembered for was the pointless sexual tension, weird Force powers that nobody imagined or wanted, and a kiss more awkward than the time Luke made out with his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher).
