TOPIC: How Luke Skywalker is the BEST Hero in Fiction.

Star Wars is a beloved franchise known worldwide for their lightsabers, their villains that even
transcended the franchise like the faceless masses of Stormtroopers. The threatening 6’5 cyborg
and former Jedi, now Sith Lord Darth Vader. And how could we forget the conniving and
manipulative Emperor. Even the cast of heroes are known by almost everyone! The cocky yet
heroic smuggler Han Solo, the charming and beautiful Princess Leia, and the wise yet hilarious,
Master Yoda.

Yes, there are WAY more characters in this 44 year old franchise, but if you have noticed, I left
out one famous character among the heroes I listed above and he’s the topic for today’s essay. He
is the FACE of Star Wars, the young and adventurous Luke Skywalker. This essay will explain
why he is the BEST hero in all of fiction.

Luke is shown to be an average kid. He was a farm boy with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. He
was a bit on the shorter side in terms of height, and in the beginning of the story, he was shown
to be a whiny kid. His quiet life has led him to wanting to go on an adventure. This makes us
resonate with him because he’s a normal guy. We all perceive ourselves a lot of the time as
normal people with average and mundane lives. Sometimes we even yearn for excitement and
adventure which is something the farm boy has had in mind for a while.

Another thing that is great about Luke is the fact that he wasn’t made to be perfect right off the
bat in the story. A lot of heroes are displayed as someone who’s the embodiment of good in a lot
of stories nowadays, who has almost no negative characteristics about them. What makes Luke
so endearing is that we see him struggle through his journey. We see him actively get seduced by
the dark side. There are moments in the story where he has an outburst of rage like when he was
fighting his father Darth Vader, or a display of impatience like his training with Yoda.

And lastly, the reason why he is THE BEST hero is that he goes out of his way to see the good in
EVERYONE regardless of what side they’re on. He managed to see the good in his own father
Darth Vader, the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker who has done many atrocities during his
time as a Sith Lord. Luke sensed that there was still some good and love in him left even after all
he did. It was all just buried in a cold, cybernetic exterior along with extreme self-loathing and
anger. And in the end, Luke was right, his father did still have some good left in him. Darth
Vader managed to defeat the Emperor which led to the collapse of the Empire and brought peace
to the galaxy once more.

A hero is not someone who is completely perfect, or someone who simply takes down the bad
guy and gets praised by everyone at the end of the day. A hero is someone who the people can
relate to, someone who is capable of being vulnerable, and someone who could see the light in
the dark. Luke is someone who embodies all those qualities of what it takes for someone to be a
hero.