Finally - Begun, the Star Wars parallels have.

Nobody thinks about Luke Skywalker in the full context. He is always the son of the chosen one. A twin. Hero of the rebellion. The one who brought balance to the Force. A Jedi Knight. A pilot.

Those were all titles that he wore.

But who – what – was Luke Skywalker really?

Pain.

Luke’s life was all about the painful cards he was dealt, and the honor with which he tried to play them. He was all about his principles, but life kept cracking him upside his head.

His uncle broke his promise, and was gonna make him stay another year on that farm. At the age of nineteen he had the mispleasure of seeing the burned remains of his aunt and uncle – who had raised him from birth. Then he had to go out and save the princess, but the pilot was some unbelieving guy who kept bashing his faith. At every point during the flight, all that he thinks he knows is proven to be useless and shallow. Once they make up a brilliant plan, the princess’ first comment is an insult to him. All he was trying to do was do the right thing. Then his mentor gets cut down before his very eyes. AND he’s helpless to do anything after the fact. Sure in the end he blows up the death star, but only to discover that there’s another one being made, that’s almost done. And on, and on, and on until the big one which is that the greatest evil that the galaxy has ever known is none other than – his father.

But he played his cards brilliantly. Honorably. Kept his eyes focused on the greater good. No matter what. Willing to sacrifice himself to save those he loved. Willing to sacrifice himself to save those who needed saving. His whole initial purpose behind studying to be a Jedi was to right wrongs, and bring justice. Something that Anakin, in all his zeal, failed to do. But – he did it. He never let his still somewhat shortsighted mentors get in the way. He didn’t let the loss of his friends and his hand, and his pride to Vader deter him. He even didn’t let the fact that he wasn’t a wizened Master like Kenobi or Yoda stop him. He just did the most with all he had.

The only one thing to ever get in his way – was himself. His doubts. His fears. At times – his inabilities. But as long as he kept his head up, striving for all he was worth to see that greater good and pull it down to reality, he continued to succeed no matter how many fails or snares it took to get there. In fact – this tendency caused the Enemy himself to seek him out personally to crush his hope. That’s all Palpatine wanted to do. Fighting was secondary. A product of the real plan. “Your pitiful rebellion has been defeated. I’m afraid the battle station will be quite operational.” He was attempting to crush Luke’s hope. To crush the essential part of Luke that kept him looking up – in order to get him to look around. As long as Luke looked up, he saw a better existence that he constantly struggled to bring down to reality. Which meant he played by rules not bound by this world, or the snares of evil. When Palpatine finally got him to snap and take a strike at him, it was because he “forcefully” flung the so-called failures of Luke’s surroundings right in his face. (similar to Peter walkin’ on water) And Luke – looked. Once he did that – he sank into the anger of the dark side. Into the snare, the quicksand of this existence. Only when he looked back up did his light once again emerge, and he was able to operate in freedom and hope.