Luke Skywalker Is Repeating Yoda's Mistakes That Killed The Jedi
Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Book of Boba Fett episode 6
Luke Skywalker’s training of the young Force-sensitive Grogu is shown in The Book of Boba Fett, but Skywalker is repeating Yoda’s mistakes that contributed to the Jedi Order’s fall. Luke became a Jedi Knight at the end of Return of the Jedi, but as the sole surviving member of the ancient order, the responsibility fell upon him to rebuild it following the fall of the Galactic Empire. The Jedi Order of old, however, was extremely flawed. But young Luke Skywalker made the mistake of repeating its failings, as shown in both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy frames the Jedi as heroic but flawed knights of the Republic. While their goals are benevolent, the order became too entangled in the politics of the Republic, becoming a paramilitary force for a government that gradually represented the interests of corporate lobbyists more than its citizens. More, Star Wars' Jedi Knights were taught by the Order to suppress their emotions. Attachment to others was forbidden, rendering the life of a Jedi a lonely and arguably unhealthy one, emotionally stunted in many ways.
The Jedi Order’s restrictive code left Anakin Skywalker yearning for a better life and Yoda’s platitudinal advice for him only made him feel worse when fearing for Padme. Anakin’s desperation played perfectly into the plans of Palpatine, whose dark side teachings made the Sith seem far more appealing to Anakin than the Jedi. This led to Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader and the Jedi Order’s subsequent destruction. Luke Skywalker, unfortunately, rebuilt the Jedi Order with the same outdated ideals, as shown in The Book of Boba Fett, helping to explain why his nephew, Ben Solo, followed a similar path to Anakin.
Luke Skywalker is shown telling Grogu to avoid attachment, making him choose between the life of a Mandalorian (which prioritizes their friends, family, and clan) and that of a Jedi (who forgoes such connections). Luke implies in The Last Jedi that he’d repeated the failings of the prequel-era Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett shows it directly. With this in mind, Ben Solo’s fall to the dark side and transformation into the Knight of Ren, Kylo Ren, makes sense, since he’d been placed in the same unhealthy environment that made his grandfather susceptible to the dark side, and both were targeted by Darth Sidious.
The Jedi Order was once a far healthier organization, as shown in the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project. The order used to be largely apolitical, its knights would each have a unique definition and connection to the Force, and attachments, such as close friendships and romances, were allowed. Upon becoming the Jedi Grandmaster, however, Yoda made his views, which included emotional repression and nonattachment, the only accepted practices for the Jedi Order. While is intentions were good, ultimately, he did a disservice to his students and created a vulnerability that the Sith would one day exploit.
Luke Skywalker’s actions are perplexing, given his characterization in the original Star Wars trilogy. Luke was defined by his attachments to his friends and family, wore his heart on his sleeve, and ultimately won the day by disobeying the advice of both Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke’s refusal to suppress or be controlled by his attachments and emotions was responsible for his father’s redemption and The Emperor’s defeat, so rebuilding a Jedi Order that forbids this makes little sense. While inconsistent with his behavior in Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker repeating Yoda’s mistakes in The Book of Boba Fett ties into his behavior in The Last Jedi and ensures the destruction of the Jedi Order yet again.
New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett air Wednesdays on Disney+.