An entertaining “Star Wars” fandom debate broke out recently, prompted by FANgirl’s provocatively titled blog post “Luke Skywalker Must Die.” Jason at The ForceCast podcast blasted her post a couple episodes ago (May 20) and then he and his co-host, Jimmy Mac, had FANgirl (real name: Tricia) as a guest on the latest episode (May 27).
Although FANgirl’s post is well argued rather than being just a frivolous attention-grabber, I’m not here to back her up. It’s human nature to nod politely and keep it to oneself when one agrees with something, and to take to the pen-and-paper or keyboard to write critical rebuttals when one disagrees, and I’m living up to that stereotype now.
It would be horrible if Del Rey, the publisher of the “Star Wars” novels, launched a “Shadows of the Empire”– or “Force Unleashed”-style marketing push centered around Luke’s death. The reason is obvious: It would take away the surprise.
We didn’t know Obi-Wan was going to die in “Star Wars” beforehand, we didn’t know Yoda was going to die in “Return of the Jedi,” we didn’t know Qui-Gon was going to die in “The Phantom Menace” (well, I did, because I accidentally saw the title “Qui-Gon’s Noble End” on the soundtrack, but that was kind of my fault). Granted, we could’ve figured it out: In hero myths, the teacher dies and the pupil must go it alone, armed with what he’s learned. But the marketing pushes behind those movies certainly didn’t incorporate “The death of Yoda!” or anything of the sort.
Lucasfilm’s respect for the element of surprise carried over into the novels. I was reading “Vector Prime” in the minutes before a college astronomy class in 1999 when I got to the part where a moon fell on Chewbacca. I remember thinking, “Wow, they killed off Chewbacca,” then I put the novel aside and focused on class. The book wasn’t well-written enough to rip me up emotionally, but I was impressed with the gutsiness of Del Rey’s decision, and the fact that they kept it a secret from me in the age of spoilers.
Going back to the mythic tradition of mentors dying, we know that there’s a chance Luke will die in a novel. Theoretically, it could happen in the current series, “Fate of the Jedi,” where Luke and his son, Ben, are retracing the steps that Jacen Solo took during his descent to the dark side. Perhaps the “fate of the Jedi” is that Luke — the universally respected (at least by the good guys) Grand Master of the Jedi Order — becomes wise through lessons and experience, passes on what he’s learned, and then becomes one with the Force (we know Luke will become a Force ghost like Obi-Wan because he appears to Cade Skywalker in the future-set “Legacy” comics).
But if Luke dies, I don’t want to know that before I crack open the book.
FANgirl argues that we watched and enjoyed the prequel movies even though we knew what was going to happen because the “how” can be just as compelling as the “what.” I agree, but I still wonder what it would be like to watch the prequels without knowing what happens next. And I wouldn’t want Luke’s death to unnecessarily play like a prequel: Just because the “how” is compelling doesn’t mean the “what” should be sacrificed for the sake of marketing. As a reader, I’d prefer to experience both.
Setting aside the whole problem of spoilers, I have a problem with this pervasive theory that killing off a character will jump-start good storytelling. The truth of the matter is that good storytelling comes about from a good premise executed with good character development and plot points. A well-known tidbit within the fan community is that Harrison Ford asked George Lucas to kill off Han Solo in “Return of the Jedi” because he thought that would make the movie better. Ford was wrong: Giving Solo a more substantial character arc would’ve made “Jedi” better. Killing off a character isn’t a quick fix; in fact, it could do just the opposite. Lucas was right to note that there was plenty of death in the movie already.
It’s the same thing with the current “Star Wars” novels. Some people think “Fate of the Jedi” is terrible, with poor characterization of Luke and not enough for the next generation to do. I’m not in that group; I think the “Fate of the Jedi” is solid — certainly better than “Legacy of the Force,” which chronicled Jacen Solo’s fall — that Luke is a compelling teacher, and that the Ben-and-Vestara romance is cute and compelling. But if the books are bad, the solution isn’t that Luke Skywalker must die, it’s that Luke (or whoever the central characters happen to be) must get better stories and character arcs.
I also don’t believe that because Luke is old that he’s automatically less interesting than the young characters. FANgirl’s complaints about Luke are that he has lost his youthful optimism, that he’s cynical and even political. I’ve noticed this too, but I actually think these things make him more human and more fascinating. Luke is imperfect — he’s NOT Yoda, but in teaching Ben and other young Jedi, his job is the same as Yoda’s — and that’s compelling to me. (By the way, Yoda wasn’t perfect either, and I find him kind of endearing for that reason.) I want to see Luke struggle to improve as a person rather than seeing him killed off. Although actually, seeing him killed off would be preferable to seeing him achieve wizardly perfection, where he invariably provides exactly the correct advice to Ben.
And at the same time, I want to see more stories of Ben, Vestara, Jaina, Tahiri and so forth. In that sense I agree with FANgirl, but I don’t think Luke’s story has to be dropped to make room for the next generation; I think Del Rey is giving us a good mix. Besides, it’s not even an issue of Luke, Han and Leia taking away pages from the younger characters: The two generations are very much intertwined — Han and Leia have taken Tahiri under their wing, the Horns are worried about their kids who have become political prisoners, and of course Luke and Ben are on a journey together. People’s coming-of-age stories often have their parents in the supporting cast (heck, even adults check in with their elders from time to time, and not just to humor them), and I have no problem with “Star Wars” telling hero’s journeys where the heroes aren’t orphaned.
One area where I absolutely side with FANgirl against Jason, though, is that the novels should be allowed to kill off Luke if they want to, and if Lucas signs off on it, as he did with the death of Chewbacca. I love The ForceCast, but Jason sometimes comes off as hypocritical: He says that no subgroup of “Star Wars” fans is superior to any other subgroup, but on the other hand he says the novels shouldn’t be allowed to kill Luke. His argument is basically that since he doesn’t read the Expanded Universe novels, he would be deprived of experiencing that story and yet he would be saddled with the knowledge that a beloved character is dead.
Jason would be OK with Lucas telling the story himself (as would I; indeed, I would be thrilled if Lucas called up Mark Hamill with an idea for a Luke movie or miniseries), but Lucas has gone on record that he has nothing specific in mind for Luke post-“Return of the Jedi.” In an old interview, he outlined a broad vision for the theoretical (but now defunct) sequel trilogy (Episodes VII-IX) that fits with what Del Rey is doing: Luke would pass on his knowledge to the next generation. So we know that if the death of Luke is ever chronicled, it will almost certainly happen in the novels or comics rather than a Lucas-breathed movie or TV series.
Secondly, if Jason doesn’t care to read the “Star Wars” novels, why does he suddenly care so much what happens in them? When “The Clone Wars” killed of Even Piell this past season, he had no sympathy at all for Expanded Universe fans who complained that Lucas was contradicting the “Coruscant Nights” novels where Piell was killed off after “Revenge of the Sith.” (I agree with Jason that Lucas is the final arbiter of a character’s fate, not the Expanded Universe; however, I disagree that Lucas should be frivolous about continuity. Besides, the novel came first, it was well written and it was at least indirectly approved by Lucas. Killing off Piell a second time was sloppy.) What’s the harm in the novels writing Luke’s death if stories not directly overseen by Lucas don’t matter to you anyway?
In defense of The ForceCast, it has provided fair and balanced (and entertaining) coverage of this controversy. Jimmy Mac said he’d like to read a “Death of Luke” story, and they invited FANgirl on the show as a guest rather than just ripping her — so at that point Jason was actually outnumbered two to one. The resulting interview was friendly and fruitful (although they didn’t get into the issue, as I did above, of whether hyping up Luke’s death might take the surprise out of the story).
I’ll sum up my point of view thusly: Del Rey should strive for good stories, and that may or may not involve Luke being killed off. If it does, so be it, but please don’t tell me about it beforehand.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Would killing off Luke Skywalker improve “Star Wars” fiction? And should the novels be allowed to tell such a story? If you’re not a “Star Wars” book reader, would buzz about Luke’s death increase your interest in the novels? Share your comments below.