Re: Star Wars: Episode IX - December 20, 2019
This was the problem with the jedi order, and why luke thought the jedi must end in TLJ. The notion that all the jedi order is doing is training future sith. Anakin was not the first jedi to turn to the darkside due to their strict beliefs. He was just one of many, that is the crux of the problem here. The repression of the love and forsaking everything you care about to commit to the order, repressing these feelings is the catalyst for becomming evil especially when great harm comes to loved ones you could have protected. The issue I have with the last jedi is that Luke never would have taught the old jedi views to his new order pupils, including kylo ren. Luke had already changed the Jedi order the moment he allowed the love of his father to dictate his actions, he went against yoda and ben (the old ways), and he succeeded. He never would have taught Ben to give up on things he cared about, such as Han or Leia, if Ben was corrupted it would have been on his own, luke would not have been a facilitator (that whole lightsaber igniting scene while kylo was sleeping was so out of character I ignore it), he was not teaching love is bad, since it was love that allowed him to succeed against the emperor. So ya I don't buy any of the Luke character changes in TLJ, Kylo's turn wasn't lukes failure but a choice kylo made. However, much like Anakin, Snoke was in his mind at a young age, playing a similar role as Palpatine. Kylo's turn suggests that some people just turn bad, and nothing you can do can stop that. I can see luke blaming himself a bit for this, because he loves his family but he would never forsake everything he cared about, he wouldn't give up on kylo like he didn't give up on his father (because he succeeded with his father).
Your interpretation of the Jedi, their failures, and why some of them turn is really intriguing, and makes for good reading. But I just don't think any of it is supported enough by the stories and events themselves.
We know of three Jedi in the Skywalker Saga who turned to the Dark Side: Dooku, Anakin, and Kylo. I don't see any reason to believe that any of them turned because of being repressed from sharing loving emotions. There are other catalysts established for why they turned.
Anakin turned because he was manipulated by Palpatine, and paranoid about his wife dying. Also, there seems to be an implication that Anakin was always destined to serve his dark role and purpose. He was "created" . . . somehow . . . without being born in a conventional way. His destiny as a turning point in the "balance" of the Force is something that may have needed to happen. And his turn wasn't an objection to the Jedi Order, and its precepts. But the fact that no one can seem to agree on what the actual driving force was for his turn to the dark side is a perfect summation of why ROTS failed to give a worthy cinematic version of Anakin becoming Vader.
Kylo turned because Snoke had been corrupting him for years. Snoke preyed upon the grandson of Anakin, much the same as Palpatine had done two generations earlier. Maybe the Skywalker bloodline was the reason. Perhaps Anakin's "unique" origin makes his lineage susceptible to being drawn to the dark side. Maybe the Skywalkers belong to the Force. Either way, Kylo's turning wasn't as a rejection of the Jedi philosophies. And I'm sure we'll learn more about it in December.
And Luke's view of the Jedi in TLJ was predicated on their hubris, and their monopolization of the Force - as if they were the only ones worthy to wield and teach the ways of the Force. It led them, and him, to fail students whose powers became too big of a temptation not to use for selfishly independent ambitions. Hubris and arrogance were what Luke thought was wrong with the Jedi Order by the time we catch up with him in TLJ.
Luke didn't "give up on Kylo" as much as he tried to find a way to end the cycle that he himself had become a part of. Jedi would train these good people, show them how to use all of these incredible powers, and then fail to recognize how those powers could be used to serve the Dark Side. The Jedi were creating weapons of mass destruction. They were arming the Dark Side with powerful tools of murder and mayhem. He tried to end it. He tried to take himself out of the equation, and trust that a new answer (by way of the Force not being exclusively in the hands of the Jedi) would solve the problem better. Yoda showed him that he had taken his culpability too far, though, and given up on Jedi value unnecessarily. In the end, Luke paved the way for a new and modified version of the Jedi going forward. He realized their value, and chose to help them continue (through Rey).
You make it seem like Luke thinks there's something fundamentally wrong with the Jedi philosophy. He doesn't. He just realized that there were problems with the Jedi Order, but that it's ultimately better to continue trying to tweak it than give up on it entirely.
