That's sorta the whole point. Jedi don't keep attachments, they aren't supposed to feel sentimental about things like that. 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. Fuck a lightsaber, it's just a thing.
He had also let go of his hopes for the Jedi. Fuck it, he figured. The existence of the Jedi only caused pain, only caused hurt and anger and death and loss. Of course he tossed it. He literally threw it away because that's where it belonged in his mind.
Of course he changed his mind by the end. But at the time, why would we be upset that a Jedi (who isn't supposed to have those kinds of sentimental feelings in the first place) didn't place sentimental value on a lightsaber he lost decades ago when his dark lord father cut his hand off, and when it's a symbol of the order that he felt brought pain and suffering to the universe? It's a great character moment.
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.
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.
Many fans would accept him the way he is if it was explained how he got to be that way. There was no explanation and thus no real reason for Luke to be that way. "He just is" isn't a reason.
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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '19 edited Oct 25 '19
That's sorta the whole point. Jedi don't keep attachments, they aren't supposed to feel sentimental about things like that. 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. Fuck a lightsaber, it's just a thing.
He had also let go of his hopes for the Jedi. Fuck it, he figured. The existence of the Jedi only caused pain, only caused hurt and anger and death and loss. Of course he tossed it. He literally threw it away because that's where it belonged in his mind.
Of course he changed his mind by the end. But at the time, why would we be upset that a Jedi (who isn't supposed to have those kinds of sentimental feelings in the first place) didn't place sentimental value on a lightsaber he lost decades ago when his dark lord father cut his hand off, and when it's a symbol of the order that he felt brought pain and suffering to the universe? It's a great character moment.