Boba Fett Makes Luke Skywalker's Star Wars Sequels Exile Even Worse
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett, episode 4, "The Gathering Storm."
Boba Fett's embracing of the idea that one is made stronger through connections to other people in The Book of Boba Fett has made the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Luke Skywalker's self-imposed exile even worse in hindsight. The Star Wars films have encouraged the idea that friendship has a special power that can overcome even the Force since A New Hope. However, it is somewhat jarring to see the philosophy that no man is an island adopted by the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who has historically been one of the franchise's most famous lone wolves.
Boba Fett's new attitude was highlighted throughout The Book of Boba Fett episode 4, "The Gathering Storm." In a flashback sequence, as Boba tried to recruit Fennec Shand to his house, Shand said that Fett's time living among the Tuskens had made him soft. Fett refuted this assertion, proclaiming that the Tuskens had made him stronger and that one "can only get so far without a tribe." Later, during a meeting with Jabba the Hutt's former captains, Fett made a similar plea to unite the gangsters under his rule, asking why they should fight one another when "cooperation can make us all rich." While this was a practical appeal to greed rather than friendship and played upon the gangsters' fear of the Pyke Syndicate, the base idea that people are stronger together still stood.
Boba Fett's newfound philosophy stood in marked contrast to the actions of Luke Skywalker in the final three films of the Skywalker Saga. The last Jedi hid on the remote planet of Ahch-To following the destruction of his temple and his students at the hands of Kylo Ren. Many Star Wars fans felt that this behavior was out of character for Luke and that he would never have abandoned his friends or the galaxy to the mercies of the First Order. They also believed the sequel trilogy caused Luke to forget the lessons he had learned in his youth for the sake of the plot.
The original Star Wars trilogy painted the young Luke Skywalker as being fiercely loyal to his friends. A vision of Han Solo and Leia Organa being endangered was enough to make Luke suspend his Jedi training in The Empire Strikes Back and he later refuted Emperor Palpatine's statement in Return of the Jedi that Luke's faith in his friends was a weakness. While it is believable that Luke's shame at having failed Kylo Ren as a mentor and the collapse of the New Jedi Order might lead to a temporary lapse of faith and a need to get away for a time, it beggars belief that he would burn his bridges behind him in the way the sequel trilogy suggested. Had Luke trusted in his friends to help him out of his doldrums and had faith that they could find a way to fight the First Order together, it's likely that he could have prevented the return of Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker.
Ironically, Fett's newfound belief in The Book of Boba Fett that respect is a better tool than fear has also drawn criticism from some fans, who prefer Fett's previous characterization as a cold-hearted loner who got the job done at any cost. This ignores that redemption is another common reoccurring theme to the Star Wars series, with characters ranging from Han Solo to Darth Vader finding atonement for their past misdeeds. While the debate over these characters will undoubtedly continue, the moral lessons imparted by the Star Wars universe remain as timeless as ever.