A review by fictionfiend74
The Legends of Luke Skywalker by Ken Liu
3.0
I'm glad I read this after seeing the movie, because the parallels stood out pretty clearly. Luke wasn't a terribly interesting character to me until The Last Jedi, but these legends, which may or may not be "true", were fun to read. I know I tend to read all the sequel trilogy stuff through a Kylo Ren lens, but there were several passages that seemed to be purposefully alluding to Ben/Kylo and sometimes his dynamic with Rey.
For example.... "In the dark tales told by my mother, the heroes needed to understand the villains to defeat them. Knowledge was the first step to control, to power, to order. I needed to know this man who had taken me prisoner, and who had also rescued me from a sandstorm and handed me the last of his food. I needed to know this man who terrified me, but who also intrigued me." Sounds like Rey and Kylo in TLJ, no? Also, "Sometimes the home you yearn for turns out to be a dark forest. Sometimes the people you trust the most turn out to be monsters. Sometimes the villains are really the heroes." Rey turns to Kylo after Luke refuses to help.
Then there's Luke's dynamic with Aya and the "Tide" (Force). Luke says they are Force equals who have to take turns covering each other even though, in Aya's mind, Luke is kind of "dark" because he tries to wield the Force, which her people think one shouldn't do (they are all about letting the Force do as it wills, rather than trying to "use" it.)
The disturbing part though, is the droid who has an evil override chip placed in it, causing him to lose all empathy so that he will start hurting other droids to get them to do their mining jobs. He tries to get rid of the impulses the chip causes, but eventually gives in: "I felt dead inside. The only way for me to survive, it seemed, was the let the darkness overwhelm me, to lose myself in it. It was impossible to live with a conscience, so I had to bury it, to suffocate it, to become what they wanted me to become." If that isn't years of Snoke working on Ben Solo's mind, then I don't know what it is. It's a great metaphor.
For example.... "In the dark tales told by my mother, the heroes needed to understand the villains to defeat them. Knowledge was the first step to control, to power, to order. I needed to know this man who had taken me prisoner, and who had also rescued me from a sandstorm and handed me the last of his food. I needed to know this man who terrified me, but who also intrigued me." Sounds like Rey and Kylo in TLJ, no? Also, "Sometimes the home you yearn for turns out to be a dark forest. Sometimes the people you trust the most turn out to be monsters. Sometimes the villains are really the heroes." Rey turns to Kylo after Luke refuses to help.
Then there's Luke's dynamic with Aya and the "Tide" (Force). Luke says they are Force equals who have to take turns covering each other even though, in Aya's mind, Luke is kind of "dark" because he tries to wield the Force, which her people think one shouldn't do (they are all about letting the Force do as it wills, rather than trying to "use" it.)
The disturbing part though, is the droid who has an evil override chip placed in it, causing him to lose all empathy so that he will start hurting other droids to get them to do their mining jobs. He tries to get rid of the impulses the chip causes, but eventually gives in: "I felt dead inside. The only way for me to survive, it seemed, was the let the darkness overwhelm me, to lose myself in it. It was impossible to live with a conscience, so I had to bury it, to suffocate it, to become what they wanted me to become." If that isn't years of Snoke working on Ben Solo's mind, then I don't know what it is. It's a great metaphor.