Luke Skywalker

Today I wanted to highlight one of my many favorite characters from the films...Luke Skywalker. I love watching the journey he takes throughout the three films of the trilogy and I'm excited to see where we find him in THE FORCE AWAKENS. As has been said, one reason J.J. Abrams agreed to direct the film was the question, "Who is Luke Skywalker?".

There are two main reasons why I love the character of Luke Skywalker.

1. The way he faces the challenges of being thrust into a battle between the rebels and the Empire. He starts from a farm boy who doesn't know who his parents are to finding out that his father was once a great Jedi and is now a great Sith. Watching A NEW HOPE, one part that really peaked my interest for the first time was the way his facial expressions when he saw that his aunt and uncle were killed. It went from sadness to resolve to help the rebellion in bringing down the Empire. With every new challenge he met, he met it with a new and stronger conviction. When he knew that he had to face Darth Vader in battle, he embraced the challenge and gave it his all. When it was down to him to destroy the first Death Star, he embraced the challenge and succeeded with the help of friends. My favorite though is that even though his father, Darth Vader, had fallen to the dark side, he embraced the challenge and strove with all that he had to turn his father back to the light. That brings me to #2...

2. Luke Skywalker had faith in his father that his father could come back. I read that again in a recent novel, DARK DISCIPLE, and brought a new emphasis to two things Luke definitely had...faith and hope.

Luke, in how he embraced his challenges with courage, faith, and hope, is an great example that we can succeed if we just have those three things.

One of my favorite experiences of his is when he gives up and feels like the challenge is too great to life his X-Wing fighter from the swamp. When Yoda does it, and teaches him a lesson, and then later when he doesn't beat Darth Vader but fails, I just imagine to myself how much of a growing experience those two events were. He came back the next movie more confident as a Jedi. He was more ready and more courageous to face the challenge head on of helping his father come back from the dark side and to bring down the Empire.

I'm sorry for the rambling on, but Luke really is the most amazing character in the STAR WARS saga and has always been my number one favorite character. I'm very excited to see what he's been up to between RETURN OF THE JEDI and THE FORCE AWAKENS and what role he will play in the upcoming trilogy.