Disaster

I was afraid that Disney would make Kenobi just another blockbuster show with lots of fighting and dramatic scenes with realisations on the level of a twelve year old child. But what I like about the show is the sheer longing and bitterness it’s filled with, the ghostly feeling that follows Obi-Wan everywhere he goes. All the reminders of Anakin that clearly still pierce his heart silently, the lightsabers, the begging clone from the 501st, Luke and Leia with so much from Padme and Anakin in them it hurts…. I love seeing how broken Obi-Wan is, how Anakin’s fall truly changed him and made him a different man. I love the way he struggles to reconnect with the Force because he has been shutting it out for so long, and the way his heart stops and breaks when he learns that Anakin has survived. He isn’t the charming, witty, powerful Jedi Master anymore and he isn’t the old hermit whose wounds don’t hurt with such immeasurable pain anymore, he is a tired, lonely, broken man. Arghhhhhh

I think that Luke was supposed to be trained by Obi-Wan and Yoda and Leia was supposed to be trained by Ahsoka. Ahsoka is wise, calm and experienced enough to handle Leia’s Anakin-like rage and she’s also nuts enough to not hold her down out of fear or pride or anything else.

Had Anakin not become Vader AND had Ahsoka not left the Order (???), she would train Luke and Anakin would train Leia. Change my mind.

And I am once again writing about Star Wars not being a child’s sci-fi movie about lightsabers and starships.

Star Wars is, first and foremost, an incredibly well written story that follows a lot of classic storytelling ways (it has all the archetypes, the beginning of ANH is more than famous in many other stories), but also has a lot of unexpected turns and unusual character decisions. It is a story not only about how good defeats evil, it’s a lot more complex than that, but it all boils down to one thing: love. Love is what shatters the galaxy over and over, love is what builds it back up.

Star Wars is a story about friendship, about true, real, never-ending, selfless friendship that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth once lost. It comes back eventually, but it gets ripped out of your heart, leaving nothing but ash at first. It’s about people trusting each other and failing each other, it’s about people hurting each other in horrible ways and betraying each other, and paying for their wrongs. It’s a story about loyalty and the pain of the loss of a friend. It shows very well the deep black hole that is left after you lose a friend. But it also shows how important friendship is, how it ties and saves the universe, how love saves it.

Star Wars is about war. Of course it is. But not only the shiny, glorious side of war. It is also about loss and death and the terrible marks that war leaves on everybody. It’s about regret and pain, and the consequences of peoples’ greed, pride and selfishness.

Star Wars is about the wheels of time rolling slowly. An era comes after an era, but eras aren’t sentient. They don’t change themselves. People do, people make decisions, people lie and love and choose, and then face the consequences. People meet with the chaos that their own vanity and pride bring, people always get punished for the crimes they commit. And many are affected by it, many innocents. That is what the wheels of time crush under themselves.

Star Wars is about faith. Faith in your friends, in your loved ones, in fate and even in your enemies. Faith in yourself. And the lack of faith. And what it can end with, and that it is earned, and that it is essential. The lack of faith made the galaxy collapse, it’s presence saved it. Luke Skywalker had faith in Darth Vader, in a murderer and a monster, and it wasn’t in vain. Because love and faith often aren’t.

Star Wars is about love. It is always about love. It’s about loving enough to let go and loving so much you can’t, and loving to an extent that redeems the irredeemable, and destroys the indestroyable, and kills the unkillable. It is about how love is what holds people together. Love is what made Anakin betray his friends, love is what made Luke save them. Love is what tortures, love is what redeems, it is what brings joy and terror and grief, but also freedom and peace. Star Wars is about how important love is, not in a sugary kind of way, but in a harsh, honest way.

Aliens, starships, lightsabers, blasters, planets and magic are all very important, they make the Star Wars universe interesting and wide. But at its core Star Wars is a story about love, and it is sad that many fans don’t really see it as that.