I get that this is the desired reading but it doesn’t work for me. He dies antagonizing his nephew into eternal war. He does while they are shooting a laser at the last 20 people in the Resistance, before Leia has even gotten to safety. Kylo was straight up trying to kill his mom, Luke just peaces out in the middle of it
Honestly the whole “Luke’s burdens were finally lifted” thing rings hollow to me. They weren’t at all! Dude dies right as his nephew screams at him across the galaxy. Doesn’t seem conducive to a peaceful death in any way.
What’s more, I don’t get how he learned anything from his failure. His failure was in pre judging Kylo, the root event at the crux of his entire arc is the night he threatened his nephew’s life, how that caused him to fall, and to suggest that he overcomes this failure by showing up and threatening him again, I dunno, seems very dumb to me. He failed him by making an enemy out of him yet he is redeemed by doubling down on that? Huh?
Tbh all the supposed “character arcs” in the last film are hamfisted and hollow for me
Well, beyond the fact that I already said why Luke didn't die willingly but rather the technique costs the user their life, what do you mean "before Leia got to safety"? By the time the FO enter the base, the Resistance is long gone, hence why Kylo is just looking slowly through everything as Hux glares at him.
Also, Rey FLAT OUT SAYS, "you didn't fail Kylo. Kylo failed you." after learning the fully story of what happened that night. But since apparently that needs to be elaborated on, okay so Kylo wakes up and it looks like to him Luke is about to kill him since he doesn't know Luke stopped himself. And how does that make Luke responsible for Kylo now being part of a military that murders billions of innocent people? That moment should have only made Kylo hate Luke, it's still his choice to fall to the dark side. I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one is forced into one side or the other even if it tempts them. ANH had this exchange - Luke: So it controls your actions? Obi-Wan: Partially, but it also obeys your commands. The Force can guide you when you let it, but you ultimately choose where it takes you. Otherwise the idea that a character would need to redeem themselves makes no sense, why the need for a redemption if they didn't have a choice in the matter to begin with?
This is why Leia stops Luke from elaborating on what happened between Kylo and him. She knows Luke must have made some sort of mistake but it doesn't matter, she still cares about Luke and also knows that Kylo still made his own choice to do all this. Luke is antagonizing Kylo in their fight because he needs to make sure Kylo doesn't realize it's a far more strategic move to have the FO move in to get the Resistance already instead of hanging back while Kylo wastes time fighting one guy. This wasn't about possibly redeeming Kylo, he made his choices in life and no one can help him anymore. He even had a chance after helping Rey against Snoke and he still turned it down, so at this point if he wants to redeem himself he has to do it himself. This is why as the Resistance is escaping and Rey and Kylo see each other one last time through the Force connection Rey gives him a disapproving look, she gave him a chance to change and he fucked up. Anyone who sees Kylo as a victim in all this is grossly misunderstanding what's happening. If anything, it shows the irony in Kylo telling Rey to move on from her past. She does so, and yet he chooses to hold on to his anger and ends up all alone.
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