Editorial: The difference between poorly written and intentionally flawed characters

This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

When it comes to major franchises, one complaint I see pop up fairly often is “That character wouldn’t do that!” or “That is so out of character for [insert character]!” This was a pretty frequent “criticism” when it came to Star Wars: The Last Jedi in reference to Luke Skywalker.

The legendary Jedi Knight has had a significant fall from grace from when we last saw him 30 years ago. He’s a shell of the optimistic hero determined to restore balance to the galaxy and the force, exiling himself to an island where he milks weird space hybrids of cows and… I don’t even know, I really try not to think about that scene. The point is, Luke isn’t himself, he’s a bitter hermit.

A large portion of The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens stems around what the hell happened to Luke Skywalker and some very vocal fans were not pleased with the answers director Rian Johnson provided them with. Following his attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order, he nearly struck down his nephew turned padawan, Ben Solo AKA Kylo Ren. He sensed the dark side was trying to consume him and while he ultimately didn’t kill the child, Ren witnessed the attempt and in fear of his life and feeling betrayed, he rebelled.

Ren destroys the newly established Jedi Order, possibly abducting several other Jedi trainees to join the dark side with him, and Skywalker feels he has failed tremendously. He was the one who truly set Kylo Ren on his destructive path and felt that because of this, he’s done something unforgivable and set the galaxy’s doom in stone.

When eager beaver Rey comes to Luke at the end of The Force Awakens, she extends his lightsaber out to him, implying the world needs him again. The look on his face is one of both hesitance and perhaps a look that could be described as feeling obligated. When we resume this moment in The Last Jedi, he takes the estranged space sword and chucks it over his shoulder off a cliff.

While the moment is played for laughs and quickly became a moment that angry fans point to as “out of character”, it feels like one that’s fair. Yeah, we spent two years dreaming of how that moment would play out after being left hanging in The Force Awakens so it might be a bit disappointing for some but that’s not the fault of the film given it was written before The Force Awakens even released.

Fans expected Luke to not have changed an inkling in 30 years which is borderline insane given that Luke was roughly 19/20 years old when we met him in A New Hope. He’s seen a lot of shit since then such as the brutal murders of his adoptive parents and mentor, the revelation that his arch-nemesis who chopped off his hand is actually his dad, the chick he had a thing with is his sister, getting nearly electrocuted to death by his dad’s boss, and then ya know, watching his dad die after connecting with him for the first time in his entire life.

Those moments alone were pretty messed up, we don’t really know about the moments in-between outside of the collapse of the society he spent his whole life trying to build which he feels is ultimately caused by him. It’s not a stretch to say that the guy could be a bit troubled and maybe even tormented.

When I watch Return of the Jedi, I see a bit of that sinking into him during the ending ceremony on Endor. Yeah, he flashes some smiles when around people but in the brief moments where he’s by himself at the end, there’s a look that feels like he’s pretty hurt deep down.

Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi is not poorly written just because you don’t agree with how the character is portrayed. Lots of people have said “Luke Skywalker is supposed to be the one beacon of hope in the galaxy no matter what!” or “That’s not what a real Jedi would do!” While Luke is a Jedi, he’s a human who makes mistakes. In real life, people evolve over time and Luke’s arc has him at a very low point and it’s for a reason.

It’s so he can realize that he DOES need to be that beacon of hope. By the time the end of The Last Jedi comes, Luke does what is probably the most Jedi thing anyone could do. He hones all of skills and learnings as a Jedi to defeat evil in a pacifistic way and gives a spark of hope throughout the galaxy.

He goes to the battlefield on Crait as the Resistance is about to be pummeled and keeps the First Order at bay so the Resistance can escape. Using the force, he creates a projection of himself that fights Kylo Ren without ever doing any damage. The Jedi are about peace and Luke managed to find a way to use the force to save the day without ever inflicting pain on anyone.

Once the Resistance is able to escape, Luke lifts the curtain on his magic act and returns to his body back on the island. Using all of strength and energy to fend off Kylo Ren, he allows himself to move on into the afterlife, simultaneously acting as a martyr for the cause of the Resistance. Luke Skywalker finally comes to terms with who he is meant to be but not who he has always been.

The movie doesn’t begin with him as who you want him to be but it ends with who you want him to be and who he needs to be. Rian Johnson didn’t ruin Luke Skywalker, he gave him an arc. He’s an intentionally flawed character who needs to be built up to have a satisfying finale for his character.

Are there examples of fundamentally poorly written characters? Yeah, look at Batman in Justice League. He’s tonally all over the place and his character doesn’t feel like it has naturally evolved since Batman v Superman. It’s jarring and THAT is out of character and poorly handled.

You know what isn’t? Batman in Batman v Superman. While I don’t agree with everything Zack Snyder does in that movie, people got upset about how Batman was a ruthless killer and “that’s not Batman”. They’re right, it’s not Christopher Nolan’s Batman and some other interpretations of the character in TV, comics, and games. This is Snyder’s and to an extent, comic writer Frank Miller’s Batman. It’s different but it’s not poorly written in Batman v Superman (except for maybe the Martha bit).

It’s time that we as an audience leave our pre-conceived thoughts of characters at the door when returning to them. Be open to new interpretations and evolutions of characters. That doesn’t mean you can’t disagree or shouldn’t examine how they’re portrayed because like we have seen, there are examples of poorly written characters. It’s important that we don’t automatically think something is poorly written just because it isn’t something that’s the norm.

Hopefully going forward, we can use a bit more critical thinking and actually thoughtfully deconstruct these characters instead of slapping silly and dare I say, objectively wrong labels on them. Maybe I just expect too much out of internet commenters, though.