Tuesday, November 26, 2013

My Favorite Star Wars Character

I didn't really feel like going outside tonight but I wanted to do a post.  I was looking through some of my older posts where I talk about different aspects of Star Wars.  Tonight I'm going to talk about my favorite character.
 Pretty much like everyone else of my age, Han Solo was my favorite character of the movies.  He was the handsome rogue with a heart of gold.  He had the cool ship, awesome partner and at the end of the series, he gets the girl.  He was also pretty darned cool.  In the first Star Wars movie, he faces down an incompetent bounty hunter, kills him and then flips a coin to the bartender while saying, "Sorry about the mess".  When you think he's going to bail on the Rebellion, he comes back and saves Luke.
In Empire, he's pretty much the same character but a little more grown up.  You don't see a ton of change in him.  Even in Jedi, after he's faced a near death experience, he hasn't really changed that much other than his commitment to Leia.  He's still pretty much the handsome cocky rogue.
 As I've got older, I started to have a greater appreciation for Luke.  In the Original Trilogy, he is the character that grows the most.  When you first meet him, he's the farm boy yearning for adventure and excitement.  He's someone that many people can relate to because he is yearning for something different.  You get a few hints of who he could be and what he comes from but they are only hints until he meets Obiwan.
After he meets Obiwan, he goes to rescue the Princess, escape from the Death Star and later blow the Death Star up.  In the process he becomes the modern day equivalent to the knight...the fighter pilot.
 In the second movie, he is a Commander of the Rebellion and hot shot pilot.  He meets up with the ghost of Obiwan, who tells him to go to Dagobah to learn from Yoda about becoming a Jedi.  In the first movie, you get a hint of Jedis through Obiwan and somewhat through Vader.  But even while he is learning to be a Jedi, he is still rambunctious and recklessly goes off to save his friends.
In the process of rescuing his friends, he finds out that Darth Vader is his father and everything he knew up to that point is basically a lie but you see him start to grow.
 By the third movie, he's almost a Jedi but he still has to face his fears.  But I didn't really get an appreciation for Luke until I watched all six movies in succession.  That is because he rejected the power that his father didn't.  Luke could have had it all but he rejected that.
I still like Han but Luke is a more impressive character in my books.
 That being said, while the book lists the story as Luke's story, it really is Anakin's story.  Anakin is the one who became a hero, fell from grace and then re-emerged as a hero.  Sadly, Lucas didn't do justice to Anakin in the prequels.  I don't know how much of that was because of the actor and how much of that was because of Lucas.  I think Anakin could have been a much better character.
Which of course leads us to Darth Vader.  To me Darth Vader is the ultimate in bad ass.  I mean, you have commanders of giant starships trembling before him.  It is through him that you see Anakin's redemtion.
That being said, I still had a crush on Princess Leia.  But then again, why boy from that era didn't?

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