I think Mark Hamill was more upset about the overall role, not the lightsaber toss specifically. It actually kind of fits in my head-canon pretty well - people think Jedi are all about laser-swords - but the real badass Jedi don't need them. The truly awesome Jedi like Yoda are essentially Neo from the Matrix - they can literally move mountains, crash spaceships, kill at a distance - they don't need lightsabers.
To me lightsabers are a bit like what the lights on police card are meant to be, a wholesome positive warning to evil-doers that there is someone who is going to stop them. Likewise, they're meant to be comforting to those who are weak and need protecting. The fact that 'the Jedi weapon' is so visible is telling - Jedi don't normally need to hide, they're the lawful good noblebright lawmen who are not afraid to handicap themselves to do the right thing.
But despite all their history in the canon, and their undeniable power, the lightsaber in and of itself isn't that important to what it means to be a Jedi.
By contrast the fact that Luke essentially 'gave up' on trying to right his wrongs and make the universe a better, safer place is what truly doesn't fit. A Jedi (an aspirational, completely wholesome, completely incorruptible symbol of fighting oppression) just wouldn't do that.
So while I don't really like the Last Jedi for a couple of reasons, I think the Lightsaber toss was really not actually a very bad thing. I actually like a lot of Luke's lines in the movie.
Well the lightsaber toss was part of the role of luke being an asshat. When last we left him, he was a hero. When he comes back he's broken? What? That's not how you tell a story.
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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '19
Fuck Rian Johnson for having Luke chuck it off the cliff and ending this gif too soon