I respectfully disagree about Luke being a mary sue. Empire is literally him training, abandonding said training, and losing a hand and getting his friend frozen; all as a direct result of his established character traits
Which makes literally zero sense and is the most overwhelming evidence of Star Wars fans being unhinged and ignoring reality to fit their own narrative.
Luke was a nobody raised in a rural environment with no threats or signs of harm. Rey on the other hand raised herself on a desert planet by herself where no one protected her and she has to protect herself.
Yet no one has a problem with Luke piloting a military aircraft perfectly a couple days after his aunt and uncle were killed and every problem with Rey swinging a weapon.
I agree with you that if Rey is a Mary Sue, then Luke definitely is as well. But I’ve developed a huge distaste for the “Mary Sue” label due to how thoroughly abused it’s been, and would rather just push back against it being used at all.
The original concept referred to fan fiction self-inserts, and in my opinion it really only holds any water at all in the context of a new character being forced into an existing dynamic. If it’s the franchise’s main protagonist, it’s not a Mary Sue.
After all, if Luke’s a Mary Sue, why not Kirk? He’s the youngest captain ever in Starfleet, and has been given command of their most prestigious class of vessel. He’s unerringly appealing to women, to the point where gynoids will malfunction from his charms. He’s able to best his hyper-intelligent Vulcan science officer at chess. He can bluff his way around encounters with races far beyond Federation levels of development. He defeated a eugenic superhuman with ten times his strength in direct combat.
It’s fine, even normal, for a protagonist to be exceptional. It’s a meaningless criticism to me.
Yeah, Empire is about that. What about A New Hope though? You never commented on that.
Luke is presented as a character with no real flaws. He is able to wield a lightsaber shockingly quickly with surprisingly little combat ability despite not having any combat training. It isn’t explained, at all, where he got the experience from to pilot a military aircraft through a combat zone and avoid turrets. We’re just told that because he hunted vermin he can hit this exhaust port. Nothing else about his abilities are explained. He just flew on Tattooine so he’s the best pilot to ever exist.
People keep going THE CHOSEN ONE AND THE FORCE but he’s just a Mary Sue. Given a ton of abilities and importance from the start with no real explanation and Lucas then had to change his own story during the movies to give a reason for it. The Original Trilogy are rife with inconsistencies but nah. Nope. No one ever wants to talk about those because it’ll shatter the image that somehow the original trilogy is perfect.
I respectfully disagree about Luke being a mary sue. Empire is literally him training, abandonding said training, and losing a hand and getting his friend frozen; all as a direct result of his established character traits
Yeah that’s a bizarre take.
It really isn’t if you actually look at the evidence.
Right? I usually hear people saying Rey is a Mary Sue, not Luke.
Which makes literally zero sense and is the most overwhelming evidence of Star Wars fans being unhinged and ignoring reality to fit their own narrative.
Luke was a nobody raised in a rural environment with no threats or signs of harm. Rey on the other hand raised herself on a desert planet by herself where no one protected her and she has to protect herself.
Yet no one has a problem with Luke piloting a military aircraft perfectly a couple days after his aunt and uncle were killed and every problem with Rey swinging a weapon.
I agree with you that if Rey is a Mary Sue, then Luke definitely is as well. But I’ve developed a huge distaste for the “Mary Sue” label due to how thoroughly abused it’s been, and would rather just push back against it being used at all.
The original concept referred to fan fiction self-inserts, and in my opinion it really only holds any water at all in the context of a new character being forced into an existing dynamic. If it’s the franchise’s main protagonist, it’s not a Mary Sue.
After all, if Luke’s a Mary Sue, why not Kirk? He’s the youngest captain ever in Starfleet, and has been given command of their most prestigious class of vessel. He’s unerringly appealing to women, to the point where gynoids will malfunction from his charms. He’s able to best his hyper-intelligent Vulcan science officer at chess. He can bluff his way around encounters with races far beyond Federation levels of development. He defeated a eugenic superhuman with ten times his strength in direct combat.
It’s fine, even normal, for a protagonist to be exceptional. It’s a meaningless criticism to me.
Yeah, Empire is about that. What about A New Hope though? You never commented on that.
Luke is presented as a character with no real flaws. He is able to wield a lightsaber shockingly quickly with surprisingly little combat ability despite not having any combat training. It isn’t explained, at all, where he got the experience from to pilot a military aircraft through a combat zone and avoid turrets. We’re just told that because he hunted vermin he can hit this exhaust port. Nothing else about his abilities are explained. He just flew on Tattooine so he’s the best pilot to ever exist.
People keep going THE CHOSEN ONE AND THE FORCE but he’s just a Mary Sue. Given a ton of abilities and importance from the start with no real explanation and Lucas then had to change his own story during the movies to give a reason for it. The Original Trilogy are rife with inconsistencies but nah. Nope. No one ever wants to talk about those because it’ll shatter the image that somehow the original trilogy is perfect.