There are a lot of rumors going around about what the fate of Luke Skywalker will be in The Force Awakens. There are many who believe that the Jedi has gone to the dark side and while I don’t buy a word of it, there is some evidence that it may be the case. Actually there’s a lot of evidence that Luke Skywalker is an evil, evil man, and actually he always has been. Don’t believe it? Check out this supercut of every person Luke killed in the original trilogy.
Some of this we have to put up to imperial propaganda. The video makes the automatic assumption that every single person that Luke shoots with a blaster, knocks off a ledge, or dismembers with a lightsaber must end up dead. We can’t know that for sure, can we? Sure, the guys in the tie fighters that blow up are almost certainly dead, and the members of Jabba’s entourage that fall in the Sarlacc pit probably also die, but some random soldier that gets hit in the shoulder with a blaster? And that Stormtrooper was wearing armor. Surely the armor helps protect against the blaster fire, otherwise why would they bother to wear it? I’m not convinced all those characters actually died.
On top of that, we’re taking the videos word for the number of people on board the Death Star, as well as Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge. Where did they get their data? Certainly any staff roster on board the Death Star blew up with the space station. Those numbers are estimates, at best. Although, to be fair, there must have been a whole mess of people on the Death Star regardless of the exact number. It is certainly at that point that Luke goes from arguing self-defense to become a mass murdering sociopath.
All jokes aside, it does put the entire film trilogy into a slightly new perspective. While the Empire was certainly an evil force in the galaxy, many of the followers were just people. We now know that Stormtroopers are fed propaganda that makes the Empire look benevolent in The Force Awakens, and it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that many members of the Empire also don’t realize what they’re part of. For many of them, it was probably just a stable government job with decent benefits. And still, Darth Vader blows up planets, so it’s not like they didn’t have it coming.
So, what’s your verdict? Luke Skywalker, hero of the rebellion or intergalactic terrorist? If Luke Skywalker has turned to the Dark Side in the new film, it’s probably because he came to terms with all the people he murdered, and decided he liked it.
