Everyone at one point in life must seek out an identity of his or her own if that person is to successfully pass from adolescence to adulthood. This psychological journey entails encountering fears and overcoming them, resisting material and spiritual temptations to stray away from the quest, gaining in experience and knowledge, and becoming in harmony with the forces of nature -- good and bad -- within yourself.
This process is extremely painful, since the adolescent must separate from all that is safe and familiar, especially the family. You are worthy of becoming a separate entity if you can withstand the pain of separation and initiation. Once you have completed initiation, the family structure changes to accept you as an adult and an equal worthy of respect.
Such is the psychological journey Luke Skywalker must endure over the course of Episodes IV-VI of the saga. At the very beginning of A New Hope, Luke is a total innocent trapped in a boring existence as a moisture farmer on a desolate, remote world. Outside of this small world, the whole galaxy is in turmoil over the war between the Empire and the Alliance. Luke knows nothing of the galaxy at large, not to mention what pure good or evil are. In this way he is like the Celtic hero Conneda; naive and powerless because he has not experienced anything outside of his own small existence.1
Luke dreams of leaving the moisture farm and taking off for the stars, much the way young boys dream of traveling the world. Luke's wish comes true, but in a way he does not expect. A holographic message from a mysterious young girl pleading for help (conveyed through R2D2) is his call to adventure.
It isn't until Artoo vanishes that Luke experiences his first trial. He goes out on his own from the homestead in order to retrieve the droid along with another droid that will become part of Luke's new family structure, Threepio. On this first adventure, Luke is attacked by Sand People, otherwise known as Tusken Raiders. This short scene makes the viewer aware that once Luke leaves the relative safety of his home he faces dangers and he faces pain. However, because he is inexperienced even in the shadow realms of his own world, he cannot save himself. He loses consciousness and is rescued by Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, an old hermit who had once been a Jedi Knight and a hero in the Clone Wars.
In Hero of a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell notes that the first encounter of the hero-journey is with "a protective figure (often a little old crone or an old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass."2 Obi-Wan is such a figure, who not only is the next link to Luke's past and future, he provides Luke with the skills he will need to survive the trials ahead of him, and he bestows upon him a talisman.
Luke learns from the old wise man where his true identity and his destiny lie. He learns his "dead" father wasn't a navigator on a freighter, but a Jedi Knight. He learns that the Jedi Knights were guardians of peace and justice in the millenia before the Empire, and that they had been wiped out. Luke for the first time has a connection to his past and through his father's identity as a Jedi, he is revealed to have a greater potential than he had ever dreamed possible. And for the first time, Luke gains paternal role models who will guide him toward this potential: Obi-Wan and his biological father Anakin. Telemachus adopts his father Odysseus as a role model the same way, through second-hand information, since Odysseus had been gone for all of Telemachus's life. Unlike Telemachus, who had been raised an orphan alone with his mother Penelope, Luke already had a paternal figure in his Uncle Owen.3 However, Owen is a threshold guardian, one who keeps the hero from advancing in his journey. It is not to say he is a villain. In fact he provides Luke the moral upbringing and stability that aids him on his quest. But he is determined to shield Luke from his potential, perhaps out of fear the Empire will find Luke or that Luke will share the same fate as his father Anakin.
This initial meeting with Obi-Wan is the also the first time Luke learns about the Force, which Obi-Wan describes as an energy that "flows through all living things...it sustains us...and binds the galaxy together." There is a light side, which is the creative, benevolent side that is tempered with conscience and reason. The Jedi use the light side to defend and support life, not for random destruction or personal gain. The dark side is the non-rational animal instinct, based on anger, fear, aggression, and other primal emotions. It is described as being "quick" and "seductive," without the virtues of patience and reason.
A New Hope is in many ways a film about the older generation handing the sword over to a new generation and this happens literally when Obi-Wan gives Luke his father's lightsaber. This is another connection to Luke's past as well as a promise of Luke's future should he fulfill his potential. The lightsaber is a talisman. Unlike most talismans such as the One Ring that has a magical power unto itself, the lightsaber is more a symbol of the Jedi, a reminder of Luke's aspirations and his heritage. For Luke, becoming a Jedi is becoming an adult. To do this, he must leave behind his old life. He must go out to be initiated and discover the light and dark side within himself.
After seeing Princess Leia's message, Obi-Wan asks Luke to travel with him to Alderaan. This is another call to adventure, but Luke balks at leaving his aunt and uncle behind. For all of his dreams of leaving Tatooine, he finds that when given the opportunity, he can't bring himself to go. This is known as the refusal of the call. Campbell says, "What they represent is an impotence to put off the infantile ego, with its sphere of emotional relationships and ideals. One is bound in by the walls of childhood; the father and mother stand as threshold guardians, and the timorous soul, fearful of some punishment, fails to make the passage through the door and come to birth without."4
The saga could have just ended right there, but Luke's decision to take the journey is made for him when Imperial troops kill Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, giving him no other choice but to leave the planet with Obi-Wan. His family's death is the first of many separations Luke must experience over the course of his journey. It is painful, but necessary in order for Luke to take his first significant step forward.
His next trial is when he enters the shadow world of Mos Eisley. It's a place rife with danger from the Empire and from the rough characters who inhabit the town. Luke enters the literal underworld of the cantina on a staircase leading down, although at this point he is an innocent and still needs Obi-Wan's protection from the cantina patrons. It is here they encounter new companions, Han Solo and Chewbacca. Chewbacca is the classic loyal sidekick and instantly we know he is a character Luke can trust. Han is more comfortable in the shady surroundings of the cantina and his costume even reflects moral ambiguity with black, dark blue, and white.
When Luke leaves Tatooine with his new companions, he still needs Obi-Wan's guidance as well as the protection of Han and Chewbacca. Luke may be an able pilot, but in the "larger world" into which he has made his first steps, he is a neophyte. Luke relies upon others until he discovers the princess is being held captive aboard the Death Star. For the first time since leaving home, he takes the initiative in his adventure. He persuades a skeptical Han Solo and Chewbacca to join him and plan the rescue. This leads to his next trial, rescuing the princess and escaping the Death Star. The rescue and escape are fraught with setbacks, dangers, and overcoming impossible odds, but because this new fellowship of sorts works so well together, they are able to succeed. This entire sequence builds the strong friendship among the four characters. But it is not without cost. Luke experiences the loss of his new father figure Obi-Wan, who dies battling Darth Vader. Obi-Wan sacrifices himself to save Luke and his friends.
Luke's final trial in A New Hope is the attack on the Death Star. Once again he experiences separation. He is without most of his new friends and many of his fellow pilots perish in the battle, including his old friend Biggs. Artoo is damaged and Luke's targeting computer isn't working. Here he must put faith in his own abilities. Even though Obi-Wan's voice gently guides him and even though Han Solo helps him at the last minute by clearing the way for Luke to destroy the Death Star, it's ultimately up to Luke to accomplish the task.
A New Hope tests Luke's worthiness of becoming a Jedi. Various situations, like rescuing Princess Leia from the detention block, destroying TIE fighters in pursuit, or participating in an attack on the Death Star, test Luke's bravery and belief in himself. For if he lets fear and self-doubt interfere, he succumbs to the animal instinct. It would be easy for him to be irresponsible, to give up, and turn away from his goal of knighthood.
By the end of A New Hope, Luke endures danger as well as the pain of separation and of loss. However, Obi-Wan remains a guiding force. He advises Luke as he attacks the Death Star, and Luke sees his spectral form in the next two films.
Otherwise, Luke is not completely alone on his path. Adolescents often use their peers as family. Luke's friends give him help and encouragement, but they can also be seen as physical manifestations of his personality. For example, Han Solo represents the thrill-seeking, free, and rebellious side. Threepio is a comical caricature of Luke's fears and self-doubts. Princess Leia, who is Luke's twin sister, represents Luke's anima, the "unconscious contrasexual side of the male psyche," according to Steven Gallipeau's glossary in The Journey of Luke Skywalker.5
As the only main female character in Episodes IV-VI, Leia serves as what Carl Jung called "the archetype of life" and "the archetype of all divine mothers."6 Her maternality is manifested through her high position in society and in the Alliance's leadership hierarchy. She represents the fullest extent of what Luke could be: confident, powerful, compassionate, and just. As his anima, she motivates him throughout A New Hope. Her message encourages him to seek out Obi-Wan. Her presence on the Death Star allows him to truly prove himself for the first time. She comforts him and brings him back to the moment after Obi-Wan dies, and it is for her cause he risks his life in battling the Death Star.
The most important relationship, however, is the relationship between Luke and Darth Vader which is addressed for the first time in The Empire Strikes Back. This chapter in the saga tests Luke as he has never been tested before. As Vader tells him, "Obi-Wan has trained you well, but you are not a Jedi yet."
Luke's faces his first trial at the very beginning of the film when he is attacked by the Wampa creature and taken back to its cave. The audience realizes very quickly that despite Luke's triumphs in A New Hope, his improved skills with a lightsaber, and his increased use of the Force, he is humbled by the shadow creature of a hostile world, which he barely manages to escape. The spirit of Obi-Wan appears to him to seek further training from Yoda, indicating he has far to go in his journey to become a Jedi and a man. It is up to Han to assist him and save his life when he is stranded out in the frozen wasteland. Luke still needs the guidance and protection of others.
His next trial occurs during the Empire's attack on the Alliance's base. Luke loses his gunner in the attack, crashes, and nearly loses his life. He is able to heroically bring down some of the AT-ATs but the most he has been able to accomplish in this battle is delay the Empire long enough for his friends to escape. He then endures the separation from his new family as he goes on to Dagobah while his friends flee the Empire.
On Dagobah, Luke endures his next test when he first encounters Yoda. The diminutive Jedi Master comes across as a nuisance, ransacking through Luke's belongings, fighting with Artoo, and otherwise pushing Luke's patience. Not surprisingly, Yoda recognizes some of the Skywalker temper present in Luke and it takes some urging from Obi-Wan's spirit before Yoda agrees to train him. The short training scenes reveal that the physical training is arduous, pushing Luke to his limits. But nothing is more difficult for Luke than the spiritual challenges he faces on Dagobah because for the first time, Luke realizes his own potential for evil.
Yoda tells Luke to go inside the cave that is with the Dark Side. This is Luke's journey into the subconscious. The entire scene has a nightmare-like quality to it, shot in slow-motion. There he encounters Vader, a figure representing all that is evil and irrational: fear, anger, and aggression. A lightsaber duel ensues, and Luke decapitates Vader. The mask pops off the severed head and Luke sees his own face staring back at him. Not only is it clue for the revelation later in the film, it's a warning of what Luke could become if he is not wary.
As difficult as his time is on Dagobah, Luke gains another father figure in Yoda. Yoda provides guidance, wisdom, a link to Luke's past, and the key to Luke becoming a Jedi. He is the first one to teach Luke to use one's own power judiciously.
The visions Luke experiences on Dagobah of his friends' suffering leads him to his next trial. Yoda and Obi-Wan advise him not to go but they leave the decision up to Luke.
Luke walks into a trap at Cloud City, forcing him into a confrontation with the man he believes killed his father and killed Obi-Wan. But, Vader reveals he is Luke's biological father. The vision he had of what his father was turns out to be false. This is another painful loss for Luke. The horrifying separation of his hand from his body by the father -- the hand holding Anakin's lightsaber! -- visually expresses this soul-rending pain. He must accept now that his father is alive and evil. He must also accept that a mentor he trusted deeply, Obi-Wan, lied to him. Even with the weight of events, Luke makes one final decision, a likely death over the false promises of power from Vader. From this moment on, Luke must again rely on the protection of others, specifically his friends.
The Empire Strikes Back is Luke's major initiation through pain and loss of innocence. He experiences demanding training under Yoda, he is separated from his friends, his close friend is captured and frozen in carbonite, he learns his archenemy is his father, the Alliance loses its base to the Empire, and he loses his hand while fighting Vader. In Gracia Fay Ellwood's essay on the plots of Romance, the Descent "means increasing loss of identity: loss of relationships, especially with parents and beloved; fear, suffering, often imprisonment -- becoming an object."7 This film marks the beginning of Luke's descent.
The loss of Luke's hand has more than one implication. It has been described as a symbolic castration.8 In many societies, circumcision is a form of symbolic castration. By enduring the pain and resisting the fear of true castration, the adolescent becomes a man. Luke takes further steps to becoming a Jedi by resisting fear and not turning away from his quest in spite of all the bad things that happen to him.
Luke receives a mechanical hand to replace the one that was cut off. This symbolizes that Darth Vader, who is "more machine than man" is a part of Luke and Vader's capacity for evil is Luke's as well. At the same time, Luke also realizes the goodness in himself must still exist in his father. After all, if Vader was absolutely evil, how could there be any good in his son? The audience realizes this ember of goodness too, since he resisted the idea of executing Leia in A New Hope and convinces the Emperor to spare Luke's life in The Empire Strikes Back. Vader's subdued reaction to his son's escape in Empire also indicates the facade of evil has perhaps begun to crack.
When Luke first appears in Return of the Jedi, he is dressed in a dark cloak and the audience notes his demeanor has changed since we last saw him in The Empire Strikes Back. He seems mature, self-assured, calm, and very Jedi-like. He bravely enters another shadow world, Jabba the Hutt's palace, to help rescue Han Solo. Luke in this sequence acts without doubt or fear, even when most of his friends have been captured and he is faced with seeing a scantily-clad Leia chained to Jabba. When Jabba drops him into the rancor pit, Luke successfully defeats the beast, even when victory means having to be a captive for a time. Jabba brings his prisoners out of the shadow world and into the light, and finally Luke is able to act. The heroes destroy Jabba and his minions and lose their enemy Boba Fett in the process. Luke is ready for knighthood.
Or is he? The very first thing Luke does when confronted with the Gamorrean guards inside Jabba's stronghold is strangle them with the Force until they stand down. Luke also threatens Jabba more than once with lines like, "You will be destroyed" and "Free us or die." When the film was originally released, one would not have thought much of this behavior. After all, Luke is a hero. But the prequels have shown that none of the other Jedi -- Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn -- strangle or threaten anyone even under the most dire of circumstances. The only character we've seen act this way is Darth Vader. Luke is dressed head to toe in black and after his prosthetic hand is shot, he covers up the injury with a black leather glove. This is a reminder that Luke is still vulnerable to his own potential for evil and he has yet to surmount the one obstacle to knighthood, confronting Vader.
Yoda tells him as much when Luke visits him on Dagobah. Yoda confirms that Vader told him the truth about his parentage in The Empire Strikes Back. This revelation inspires hope but it also inspires new fears and doubts in Luke's mind. Before Yoda dies in Return of the Jedi, he tells Luke he must confront his father if he is to become a Jedi. This is his final trial. The ghostly form of Obi-Wan tells him the same thing. Luke says, "I can't kill my own father," although no one actually tells him he must kill Vader.
Luke tends to gain substitute father figures throughout his quest, but they die off as Luke gets closer to discovering his true father, and himself. Suffering the loss of so many weighs on Luke and he may not be able to survive emotionally losing the father he'd long ago admired.
For Luke, this confrontation with Vader is the ultimate test. He must not let his fear of his own death, parricide, and failure prevent him from facing the Dark Lord. Hamlet had a similar problem with confronting and killing Claudius, his uncle and step-father, and his procrastination had disastrous results. If Luke is to pass this trial, he must go alone into the netherworld.
Once Luke realizes he cannot put off this confrontation any longer, he leaves his friends behind on Endor and surrenders to the Imperials. He confronts Vader again and not only does he acknowledge Vader as his father, he asks Vader to reject evil and repent. Vader refuses, saying almost sadly, "It is too late for me, son." Luke is then taken to the Emperor's throne room in the Death Star. It is the center of evil in the universe despite its spartan and modern setting. The room is mostly dark and shadowy. It is the final descent into the netherworld for Luke.
The Emperor does his best to get Luke to submit to anger, fear, and aggression by taunting and goading him with threats. Luke resists until the Emperor reveals he tricked the Alliance into thinking the "fully armed and operational" Death Star was unable to defend itself. Luke loses his temper, retrieves his lightsaber, and begins fighting Vader, who remains the Emperor's loyal slave. Luke regains his calm temporarily, until Vader discovers he has a daughter and threatens to turn her over to the Dark Side.
This threat exposes Luke's greatest vulnerability, his love for his sister. He sees this as a violation against his own anima, against everything that is pure and life-giving. He flies at Vader in a fury. This time, Luke does the maiming when he chops off Vader's mechanical hand. Luke looks at his own mechanical hand, ensconced in a black glove, and realizes he has given in to anger and fear. At last it hits Luke that he is just a lightsaber stroke away from taking Vader's place at the Emperor's side.
The Emperor encourages Luke to kill Vader, but Luke tosses away his lightsaber. "No...I am a Jedi, like my father before me," he tells the Emperor. Luke chooses life over death, compassion over revenge, the greater good over his own emotions. It is at this moment, he truly becomes a Jedi. He has fully realized the darkness within himself and he has the confidence to keep it under control, even in the face of fear, anger, and death.
The Emperor reacts to this with fury and tries to kill Luke. But Vader is inspired by his son's maturation. He is reminded of what he had been and what he could have become had his choices been different. Undoubtedly, a latent love for his wife Padmé influenced him as well. Vader learns from Luke that he is not only able to make choices, he also has the freedom to act upon them. He seizes the Emperor and kills him but not without becoming mortally wounded.
Vader asks Luke to remove the dark mask, the facade of evil, to reveal his true self. Vader then dies, but it is the final separation Luke experiences. He has helped his father re-discover himself, and he has learned that he is strong enough to resist the Dark Side. The funeral pyre scene is symbolic, not only of Anakin's spirit being freed for good, but also of Luke leaving behind the last vestiges of his adolescent fears and anxieties. Return of the Jedi is mostly about Anakin's redemption but it is also about Luke finally becoming his own man. His independence is stressed throughout the film, from his mode of dress to the lightsaber he crafted himself to the way he always made his own choices, whether it's rescuing Han, redeeming his father, or rejecting Palpatine's temptations to give into anger. It is his ability to make his own choices and act upon them, along with his love, that finally inspires the Chosen One to fulfill his prophecy.
Now, Luke is allowed to rejoin the new family structure and his community. The final scenes of Return of the Jedi resemble a family reunion. Not only is Luke reunited with his sister and his friends, the father figures of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin are all present as well, forever a part of Luke's psyche and his heart. This scene symbolizes his return to the family after passing initiation and gaining a new identity. It also symbolizes the unity and maturity of all facets of Luke's personality. Leia blossoms into a woman, almost an earth-mother type figure by the end, while Han rejects his selfish and cynical ways to finally believe in something bigger than himself.
To become an adult, one must experience many painful separations and tests. You must come to know the bad as well as the good inside yourself, the creative as well as the destructive. The evil will not "go away." The darkness must exist for there to be light, so that you realize the difference between them. You must not be afraid to confront this dark side, although the temptation to hide from it may be hard to resist. You must face up to the responsibility, or the journey will never be completed.
Luke accepts the tests and separations bravely, and he fights his fears and doubts. He comes to know his own goodness and darkness, and through that, he completes the journey successfully.
Works Cited:
1."The Story of Conn-eda; Or The Golden Apples of Lough Erne" by Abraham M'Coy, translation by Nicholas O' Kearney; http://ireland.celtic-twilight.com/yeats/fairy_folktales/conn-eda.htm
2. Campbell, Joseph. Hero of a Thousand Faces. Princeton/Bollingen, 1949, 69.
3. Homer. The Odyssey.
4. Campbell, 64.
5. Gallipeau, Steven. The Journey of Luke Skywalker. Open Court, 2001, 281.
6. Gallipeau, 281.
7. Ellwood, Gracia Fay. "The Shape of Romance." In A Faraway Galaxy, Extequer Press, 1984, 89.
8. Gordon, Andrew. "The Power of the Force." Eros in the Mind's Eye, Greenwood Press, 1986, 193-206.
