Does Luke In 'The Book Of Boba Fett' Match Luke In 'The Last Jedi'?
Warning: Spoilers for 'Book of Boba Fett' Chapter 6
The conversation around The Last Jedi will never truly end, will it? Ever since Luke Skywalker's surprise appearance during The Mandalorian's second season finale, fans have been wondering how Lucasfilm will go about portraying and characterizing the famous Jedi in future stories. Well just this past Wednesday, we got our newest look at Luke during the penultimate episode of The Book of Boba Fett's first season. With Chapter 6: From The Desert Comes A Stranger, we saw Luke's approach to training Grogu and the rather harsh decision he gives the child between training as a Jedi or returning to Din Djarin. As such, many fans have been discussing how well this portrayal of Luke's character meshes with his portrayal in the sequels and in The Last Jedi in particular.
In The Last Jedi, Luke is a broken man. He tried to restart the Jedi Order and prevent his nephew Ben Solo from turning to the dark side, only for his apprentice to betray him and destroy everything he had worked so hard to build. As such, he resigned himself to Ahch-To as punishment for his failure as a Master, cutting himself off from the Force and waiting for his own death to bring a permanent end to the Jedi Order. This, however, doesn't pan out, as Rey's arrival and challenging of his beliefs causes him to reconsider the Jedi's potential and strive instead to be better than the Jedi of old. His conversation with Yoda's spirit is the point where he finally realizes that he can still grow beyond what he used to be and unlearn what he has learned in order to reconnect himself with the Force and help save the Resistance from the First Order.
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In Chapter 6: From The Desert Comes A Stranger, Luke is essentially doing everything that he condemns in The Last Jedi. Aside from a few warm moments here and there, he is strict, dogmatic and eager to push Grogu down the path of the Jedi as quickly as possible. It's honestly quite jarring seeing him train Grogu so similarly to how a prequel era Jedi Master like Mace Windu would train their own apprentice without much patience or comfort. To a certain degree, I think this honestly might be intentional. After all, it was Luke's own shortcomings as a teacher that contributed to Ben Solo's downfall and Luke's disillusionment with the Jedi Order. So perhaps this episode is setting up Luke's flaws as a mentor that will eventually lead to him deciding it is time for the Jedi to end.
Now of course, there are inconsistencies one can find with this angle. For one, the episode still treats Luke very reverentially despite the clear flaws in his teaching methods, while The Last Jedi as a film actively condemns the old Jedi Order and its use of those methods as much as Luke himself condemns them. There is also the fact that we still don't know how this story will turn out. Will Grogu stay with Luke and complete his Jedi training or return to Din Djarin and become a Mandalorian? If Grogu does choose to remain with Luke, then their subsequent appearances together will have to maintain the idea of Luke being an unsuccessful teacher in order to properly build up to his state of mind in The Last Jedi.
When all is said and done, there is the potential for a great story here. A story that shows Luke struggling to be a better Jedi but ultimately falling short and becoming the kind of Jedi he will come to despise. The story of Luke Skywalker is one of pride, loss, self-loathing and redemption. As a fan of The Last Jedi and Luke's story within it, I sincerely hope that future live-action outings in the Star Wars franchise will stay true to that story and make Luke's final sacrifice all the more meaningful.