Star Wars’ Civil War: A Philosophical, Religious, and Academic Irony

Beyond the stupid daily outrages and personal grudge matches, there’s a really interesting philosophical, quasi-religious question at work with Star Wars Fandom right now.

As most recently expounded by @radicalbytes, the problem specifically comes from a misreading of Return of the Jedi (the last universally-accepted canonical text) and facilitated by the decades of EU.

Luke’s heroic arc in RotJ ended with him putting aside his violence and anger, surviving his temptation by the Dark Side, and coming to terms with a peaceful resolution. Saving his father — and becoming a true Jedi — was an act of compassion and introspection.

But there’s a sect of the audience for which this isn’t the lesson at all. They see Luke’s arc ending with him winning the fight against the Dark Side by being a warrior (note: an active process instead of a reactive process). He saves Darth Vader by physically dominating the scene; his light saber skills and his demonstration of power are what make him a Jedi in the end. This reading is facilitated in part by the EU, which largely doubled-down on the “Luke is a badass warrior” interpretation.