Episode X. The Once & Future Hope: Luke Skywalker in Exile

Among the most frustrating and controversial plotlines in the Sequel Trilogy is the arc and death of Luke Skywalker, especially in The Last Jedi. The aggravation at Luke's seemingly uncharacteristic exile of himself from his Jedi legacy, his family, and the New Republic, as well as his refusal to act against the First Order on their behalf, extends all the way to Mark Hamill and continues to pervade fandom. Today’s episode therefore not only brings to fruition a four-part series in this podcast concerning Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, Rey the Scavenger, and Luke Skywalker but also reveals how this derided segment in Luke's mythological path is directly related to King Arthur's final actions in, and other key aspects of, the medieval Arthurian Cycle. In short, this chapter unveils how Luke's journey through both the Original and Sequel Trilogies clearly and neatly parallels that of Arthur from roughly a millennium earlier. Moreover, we learn that this common mythological path is part of an elementary idea with a history extending no less than a hundred thousand years into our own past. The overall aim of this chapter, together with the three preceding it, is thus to elicit new perspectives on and understandings of these much-criticized films, as well as the principal characters within them.