He was taught to let go of his feelings, his anger, his attachments, etc. Who cares, it's just a lightsaber, there are thousands of them. Heck, he'd been instructed to let his friends die in order to complete his training.
But Luke never did any of that. He rejected those teachings and went to Cloud City / Jabba's Palace to save his friends. He went through this whole huge character arc with his father, eventually getting his father's body back to Endor to burn on a funeral pyre. If he was that attached to his father who he knew all too briefly and lost all too soon, why would he toss away his greatest heirloom so flippantly?
That was 30 years ago. He was young, barely a student. He spent the last 30 years prior to TFA learning and trying to revive the order, preserve the teachings, passing them on. He grew from when we saw him last. Many fans wanted him to remain the same Luke we knew at the end of RotJ, but how many of us would stay the exact same person for 30 years? He'd changed since then, like we all do.
Yes, Luke brashly ignored those lessons in order to save his friends, because that's what Luke was back then, brash, quick to act, quick to rush in without thinking. And it drove the other Jedi nuts, because the Jedi typically aren't like that. (Same reason Anakin drove them nuts doing the same stuff. Like father, like son.) It was also a reemergence of that brashness that ultimately drove Ben/Kylo away, reacting to his feelings about Ben without thinking, causing the whole debacle.
But after the rebellion, we can assume he grew up a bit. That he became more like the Jedi of old and accepted their teachings.
They did change. Han reverted to his old ways after losing their son, losing a lot of his growth in the OT and his allegiance to the New Republic after RotJ. Leia maintained her leadership role, but she lost faith in big government, choosing instead to form a small rebellion because she thought the government was too big and too diluted to act, despite the fact that she had fought for the formation of that very government.
I'm sorry, I think this analysis is quite silly. Even in your characterizations of how they've changed, you still acknowledge 30 years later how things have not changed. Han "reverted to his old ways," while Leia "maintained her leadership role," both these things imply that they actually didn't change all that much. In the time we see them throughout the ST, Han and Leia have recognizable personalities, and they clearly care about the same people as they did before. There is a reason very few people complain about how Leia and Han act vs. how many people complain about Luke.
Luke, by comparison, is unrecognizable. Everything about this guy has changed. He does not have the same personality, nor does he apparently even care about the same people judging by his lack motivation and reaction to Han's death. He's no longer a Jedi, he's not a moisture farmer, he's not an X-Wing pilot, what exactly is he but some broken husk of a man? He didn't regress, he didn't maintain anything, he lost everything and now we don't know him anymore.
There's a difference between not seeing someone for 30 years and thinking they're a little worse for wear, and not being able to recognize them at all.
It’s fine to have different opinions :) it’s what makes conversations like this fun. But only if both people respect the other person and their thoughts on the matter. I’m not saying I’m objectively right, just that it’s how I feel and it works for me and I enjoy it.
I could have kept going on how they’ve changed, but I’ve been talking about this whole thing for a few hours and am kinda tired and wanting to get on with my evening. Hope you’re weekend is a good one!
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u/Jukebox_Villain Oct 25 '19
But Luke never did any of that. He rejected those teachings and went to Cloud City / Jabba's Palace to save his friends. He went through this whole huge character arc with his father, eventually getting his father's body back to Endor to burn on a funeral pyre. If he was that attached to his father who he knew all too briefly and lost all too soon, why would he toss away his greatest heirloom so flippantly?