*this profile is based off of information gathered from theStar Wars films only.
We first meet Luke when he is a young man working on his uncle Owen's moisture farm on the desert planet of Tatooine. He yearns for a life away fromTatooine, dreaming of one day being able to attend the Imperial Academy. His uncle does his best to keep Luke atthe farm, secretly afraid that Luke would follow in his father's footsteps.
Luke's life takes a dramatic turn when his uncle purchases two droids from passing Jawas. He discovers a secret message to Obi-Wan Kenobi hidden in the astromech droid R2-D2. Luke eventually meets Obi-Wan and learns that his father was not a navigator on a freighter as his uncle told him, but was in fact a Jedi Knight.
It's hard to imagine what's going through Luke's mind at this point. Having spent his entire life believing one thing, only to have it turned upside down and inside out when he least expected it has to be shocking, to say the least. Later, Luke and Obi-Wan come across a group of slaughtered Jawas, which Luke recognizes as the ones that sold Threepio and Artoo to his uncle Owen. He realizes that the Imperial troops that killed the Jawas would have learned who they sold the droids to and rushes home only to find the homestead burning and his aunt and uncle murdered.
What makes me curious at this point is how long Luke took to return to Obi-Wan and the droids. I also wonder at the incredible amount of turmoil and agony Luke has to be feeling at this point: being told who his father had been after spending his entire life believing that he was something else, and now returning home to find the only family he had ever known was brutally killed. It makes one wonder what happened between that discovery, and when he finally returned to the others.
However Luke dealt with all that happened is unknown. After this, Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids traveled to Mos Eisley where they met Han Solo and Chewbacca the Wookiee, and arranged for passage to Alderaan. Despite being attacked by stormtroopers and being pursued by Imperial Star Destroyers, they were able to make the jump to hyperspace and travel to Alderaan.
It was during this leg of the journey that Luke was first instructed in the ways of the Force. Upon reaching the Alderaan system, the group learned of the planet's destruction and were subsequently captured by the Death Star when they attempted to intercept a patrolling TIE fighter.
Here is where I feel Luke begins to show some real courage. After Ben leaves the group to disable the station's tractor beam, Artoo discovers that Princess Leia Organa is being held in a detention block on the station. Luke devises a plan to break her out,and things go smoothly getting into the detention block, but before Luke and the others can make it out, a squad of stormtroopers arrive and cut off their only escape.
Despite taking a detour through a garbage masher, and getting separated from Han and Chewbacca while trying to make it back to the Millennium Falcon, Luke keeps his head and he and Leia eventually meet up with Han and Chewbacca at the hangar where the ship is being held.
Now comes a third major blow to Luke. When the stormtroopers guarding the Millennium Falcon rush towards one end of the hangar, he and the others make a break for the ship, but Luke pulls up short as he sees what attracted the stormtroopers attention: Obi-Wan Kenobi is locked in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Luke witnesses Obi-Wan sacrifice himself. He immediately begins firing upon the stormtroopers, and only runs to the ship when he hears Obi-Wan's voice urging him to go.
At this point, Luke has had three life-altering events happen to him: the first is finding out his father was a Jedi Knight that had fought in the Clone Wars; the second was discovering his aunt and uncle were murdered; and the third was witnessing the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi. To have just one life-changing event like those occur and yet still trudge on shows bravery and courage. To do so after three takes much more than I could imagine.
And to top it off, Luke later takes part in a battle against the Death Star, flying a small X-Wing fighter. He demonstrates tremendous courage, as well as strong leadership, when, after the majority of Rebel fighters are destroyed, he leads an attack run on the Death Star's exhaust port. Despite fellow pilot (and childhood friend) Biggs Darklighter being killed, and fellow pilot Wedge Antilles being hit (not critically, but enough to make him pull out of the attack run), and with the timely arrival of the Millennium Falcon, Luke is able to fire a pair of proton torpedoes directly into the exhaust port, which begins a chain reaction that destroys the Death Star.
Up to this point, Luke has demonstrated an extraordinary amount of courage, bravery and strength. He lost four people that were dear to him; he learned that his father was a Jedi Knight and not a navigator on a freighter as he had been led to believe; he came face to face with many difficult situations and chose to take the hard path – he did that which was worth doing.
Fast forward now approximately three years. The Rebels have established a hidden base on the ice planet of Hoth. Luke witnesses a meteor strike while out on patrol and is attacked by a wampa before he can investigate it. He later escapes the creature's lair, but quickly succumbs to the frigid temperatures. Shortly before losing consciousness, the ghostly form of his former teacher Obi-Wan Kenobi appears before him, urging Luke to seek out Jedi Master Yoda on the planet Dagobah.
Luke is soon rescued and taken back to the base, where he spends time in a bacta tank to heal his injuries, but he has almost no time to recover as the Empire has discovered the Rebels' location and begun their assault. Luke leads a squad of snowspeeder fighters in a counterattack against the Empire's AT-AT walkers.
Here, Luke shows bravery and courage, when, after his ship is shot down, he single-handedly brings down one of the attacking walkers. He later escapes the planet on his X-Wing fighter and goes to Dagobah in search of Yoda.
Here, in my opinion, is where one of the toughest parts of his journey/his life takes place. Luke crash lands on the planet, makes camp and meets a small, strange creature that seems to know more about Luke and why he's there than Luke himself does. Luke eventually learns that the small creature is none other than Yoda, but gets frustrated when Yoda initially refuses to train Luke. It is only after the voice of Obi-Wan intervenes that Yoda changes his mind, but things don't get any easier from here.
There were many different obstacles for Luke to overcome, and not all of them were external. He had to overcome certain qualities about himself, such as his stubbornness, impatience, impulsiveness and recklessness, and even those were not completely defeated, as evidenced in his test in the cave, where he fought an apparition of Vader, but saw his own face beneath the mask. Later on, these failings became more evident when Luke had a vision of his friends suffering and he cut his training short to go rescue them, despite the warnings of both Yoda and Obi-Wan.
This turned out to be one of the poorest decisions we see Luke make throughout the entire trilogy. Luke is unable to rescue Leia, Chewbacca and Han, and when he faces Darth Vader in a duel, he ultimately loses his right hand and his lightsaber. Not only did he have that pain to deal with, but this is also where it is revealed that Darth Vader is really Luke's father Anakin. The shock Luke feels proves to be too much to deal with, and he allows himself to fall down a large shaft, eventually coming out and landing on a weather vane beneath the city. Luke, unable to hold on for long, calls out to Leia in the Force. She, along with Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and the droids, rescue him in the Millennium Falcon and reunite with the Rebel fleet, where Luke is fitted with a mechanical hand to replace the one he lost.
Fast forward now about one year. Luke has returned to Tatooine and successfully infiltrates the palace of Jabba the Hutt. After being brought before the crime lord, he uses the Force to call a blaster to his hand and attempts to shoot Jabba, but the Hutt activates a trapdoor beneath Luke that drops him into a pit with a rancor. Luke manages to kill the rancor by closing a large door on top of its head. Outraged, Jabba orders Luke to be executed, along with Han and Chewbacca.
At the Pit of Carkoon, Luke executes an elaborate escape plan, which culminates in the death of Jabba and the destruction of his sailbarge. Luke and the others return to their ships: Luke to his X-Wing, and Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and Lando to the Millennium Falcon. They parts ways for a short while, as Luke intends to follow through on a promise he made to an old friend.
Luke returns to Dagobah and reunites with Yoda. However, the Jedi Master has become frail and sickly. Luke professes his desire to complete his training, but Yoda states that Luke doesn't need anymore training. He adds further that there is still one thing left to do before Luke will truly be a Jedi: Luke must confront Vader one last time. Luke asks Yoda if Darth Vader really is his father, but Yoda turns away, reluctant to answer. Luke poses the question again, and Yoda admits that Vader is indeed Luke's father and would have eventually revealed it to Luke had he not rushed off before his training was complete. With his dying breath, Yoda reveals to Luke that there is another Skywalker, but before Luke can find out who it is, Yoda's body disappears into the Force.
Luke has had a long and difficult journey up to this point. He has shown incredible bravery and courage. He has also made mistakes that had terrible consequences, most notable of which was rushing off to Cloud City in the middle of his training and losing his hand to Darth Vader. Through all his experiences since working on his uncle's farm on Tatooine, he has become stronger and more mature.
Obi-Wan's spirit appears to Luke again, outside of Yoda'shut. He encourages Luke, saying that he (Obi-Wan) and Yoda will always be with him (Luke). Luke is initially angry, believing Obi-Wan lied when he had said that Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father. Obi-Wan explains that when Anakin turned to the dark side of the Force, the good person he had been was destroyed, making what Obi-Wan said years ago true, from a certain point of view. When Luke asks what Yoda meant by 'there is another', Obi-Wan says the 'other' is Luke's twin sister, and Luke realizes that his twin sister is Leia.
After Luke rejoins the Rebellion in the Sullust system, he accompanies Han, Chewbacca, and Leia to the forest moon of Endor, where they plan to destroy the shield generator that protects the second Death Star. The group is captured by the indigenous Ewoks, but after a little display of the Force from Luke, they are released. One evening, Luke questions Leia about memories of her real mother. He reveals that Darth Vader is his father. He also reveals that the Force is very strong in his family, saying that his father and he has it, and also his sister. Leia is taken aback by this news. Luke tells her of his plan to attempt to bring Vader back from the dark side of the Force, believing that there is still good in him.
Out of all the decisions that Luke has had to make, I feel that this is the hardest one of them all. It would take a lot of guts to willingly face an enemy that had beaten you once before, but in Luke's case, allowing himself to be captured and taken to Vader, then taken to Palpatine himself, he shows an amazing amount of bravery in being willing to come face to face with two of his most powerful foes.
After being goaded by the Emperor, Luke attempts to strike Palpatine down, but his lightsaber is blocked by Vader, and the two engage in a heated battle. Luke's resolve is tested, and reaches its breaking point when Vader learns that Luke has a sister and threatens to turn her to the dark side. Luke unleashes his fury at this, fighting Darth Vader back and eventually disarms the Sith Lord by cutting off his right hand. Luke pauses before delivering the killing blow, realizing just how close he is to becoming like his father. When Palpatine urges Luke on, he refuses and tosses his lightsaber to the ground. Palpatine then electrocutes Luke with Force lightning, and as Vader watches from Palpatine's side, something inside him changes, and he throws Palpatine down a large shaft to his death.
Luke helps his father to a shuttle, but collapses just short of the boarding ramp. At his father's request, Luke removes the helmet and looks upon his father for thefirst time. Anakin asks to be left there, but Luke refuses, saying he (Luke) has to save him (Anakin). Anakin says that Luke has already done that, and requests that Luke tell his sister that he (Luke) was right about him (Anakin). Luke watches as his father passes away.
Luke gets his father on board the shuttle and takes off just moments before the Death Star explodes. He returns to Endor and burns his father's armor in a traditional Jedi funeral, then rejoins his friends to celebrate their victory over the Empire.
* * * * *
There are varying degrees of bravery, courage, heroism,etc. When I think of Luke Skywalker, I think of a person (albeit a fictional one) who has gone through so much, suffered some devastating blows, and yet kept on going, even when the outcome was in doubt.
In 'A New Hope,' Luke lost four people that meant a lot to him: his uncle Owen and aunt Beru (killed by Imperial stormtroopers), Obi-Wan Kenobi (killed by Darth Vader in a duel on the Death Star), and his friend Biggs Darklighter (shot down above the Death Star's surface by Darth Vader). On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were times when he stepped up above what was expected: choosing to rescue Princess Leia from the detention center on the Death Star, and leading an attack run on the Death Star's exhaust port after nearly all of the Rebellion's fighters were destroyed.
In 'The Empire Strikes Back,' I feel that Luke hits a lower point than the other two movies, referring to his decision to break off from his training on Dagobah in order to rescue Han and Leia. His impatience and stubbornness ended up doing more harm than good: he was unable to save Han and Leia, fought Darth Vader and lost his hand in the process, and ended up having to be rescued by those he was trying to save. Now, I'm not saying Luke didn't have his good moments. He fought bravely during the battle on Hoth, single-handedly bringing down an AT-AT walker. He went through training with Yoda, even though it wasn't easy.
In 'Return of the Jedi,' Luke has come a long way from the brash young farmboy he was in the first film. With the help of his friends, he was able to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. He fulfilled his promise to Yoda to return to Dagobah and complete his training, although Yoda tells Luke he doesn't require anymore training, saying he must confront Darth Vader before he becomes a Jedi. The toughest decision (I think) that Luke makes is to surrender to Imperial troops on Endor and allow himself to be taken to Darth Vader and eventually Emperor Palpatine. Luke came dangerously close to falling to the dark side during his duel with Vader, but was able to resist the urgings of Palpatine to kill Vader as he lay helpless.
Luke Skywalker has exhibited many of the traits of a Knight in Battered Armor. He chose to stand and fight, and even though he suffered hits and losses, he chose to get back up and keep going. He fought for his friends and brothers in arms. He chose to do what he thought was right; what he believed was necessary in order to bring his father back from the dark side. While I don't know if Luke was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save his father, I'd like to think that he would do so if he believed it was necessary.
Welcome to KIBA, Luke.
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