#legends eu

lol, in space no one can hear you scream have depression

(I mean, this is true of ALL the heroes tbh but I know you’re focusing on Luke)

Well, this is why so many of us Legends hoes loved that Mara hooked up with him, because she saw and loved the regular guy underneath the Big Damn Hero™, and she also didn’t let him sit around feeling sorry for himself or blaming himself pointlessly for things that weren’t his fault, etc.

The Doylist perspective on that masochistic beat-down is that Legends went on too long with increasingly convoluted, grim, nonsensical storylines that just resulted in pummeling the Squad™ like a dead horse because YA CAN’T KEEP SELLING BOOKS AND COMICS AND SHIT IF THEM STARS AIN’T HAVIN’ ANY WARS YA FEEL

So that resulted in Luke and his family losing close to everything and having an excess load of trauma akin to a 70-car pile-up on a blizzard-struck freeway.  With that said, however - on the one hand, Luke Skywalker is meant to be an inspirational figure which means he may achieve or reflect things in a less realistic but aspirational way to spur us on (which is...exactly what he did to himself in Mindor, lol, WHAT WOULD LUKE SKYWALKER DO?).  On the other...some people really can be that resilient.  There are real people in this world who have gone through absolute hell and still clung to their principles and haven’t lost their faith and hope and compassion.

It all goes back to Luke having that salt-of-the-earth foundation to his childhood along with his numerous life experiences.  He’s seen the highest highs and lowest lows in terms of what people can be driven to, and he’s brimming with empathy from that.  He’s not made of stone or durasteel, he has his own moments of weakness and grief, but his convictions are steadfast and he knows better than to give up or fight fire with fire, because that only makes things worse and devalues the sacrifices others have made.  There’s also a lot to be said for a person with strong faith in a higher power - being so deeply connected to the Force, to all living things, the very fabric of the universe, and knowing there’s something beyond the very difficult life he’s had to slog through (and likely a reunion with lost loved ones) is a continuous source of hope he can never lose.