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phoenixkaptain · 1 year

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The prequel and original trilogies’ trio of protagonists are interesting to compare.

Like, two boys and one girl.

The girl is/was referred to by some royal title (Queen and Princess respectively) and is a major figurehead in changing the galaxy, but politically. They’re both leaders. They both fall in love with one of the guys but likes the other guy enough that the first guy mistakes their friendship for a romance. Etc, etc.

The two guys: at least one Jedi. Older and younger. Desert boy and someone from a planet we know the name of but never actually see (in the movies! I know Corellia comes up later, but we never see the planet in the movies! Just go with it!) The older is something of a mentor-type until the final movie, when desert boy has outgrown the need for a mentor.

But, there’s a problem with the idea of Luke = Anakin, Han = Obi-Wan, Leia = Padme. While the characters are similar on paper, and even resemble each other quite a bit, they don’t have the same roles. They don’t fit quite right, because they aren’t narratively the same.

(And really it’s incredibly basic and a bit convoluted to compare the characters in a 1:1 format like this, because all six of these characters are incredibly different and do different things and act differently from each other, and one could view this as diminishing the effect of one or the other, but I would argue that viewing either as a watering down or some such nonsense of the other is incredibly silly, and this is less of a “look at how the prequels steal from the original” and more of a “look at how the story rhymes, look at the matching hues, look at how the story beats are so complimentary and interesting.”

Don’t take this as criticism of either movie. This is my joy and praise and nothing more or less.)

I would present to the court that Luke = Obi-Wan, Leia = Anakin, Han = Padme. Because their roles in the narrative are functionally similar.

Luke and Han begin the story by meeting, largely due to coincidence but also because Obi-Wan told Luke they needed a pilot and Han was what they found. Luke, Han, and Obi-Wan rescue Leia from the Death Star. Obi-Wan dies to Darth Vader. His death leaves a major impact on Luke.

Obi-Wan and Padme begin the story by meeting, largely due to coincidence but also because Qui-Gon decided “Yeah, okay, I’ll help out this child queen whatevs.” Obi-Wan, Padme, and Qui-Gon manage to get Anakin off of Tatooine (functionally rescuing him from a life of slavery) Qui-Gon dies to Darth Maul. His death leavds a major impact on Obi-Wan.

Of course, writing the movies this way leaves out a lot of details and nuance, but that’s kind if sort of the point. If you look too closely at the characters then they aren’t very similar to each other beyond a base level, but if you pull back and look at the narrative as a whole, then you can see the way the chess pieces move in similar patterns. This trend continues as the movies go on, but I feel like it’s the clearest here.

Obi-Wan and Padme, alongside Obi-Wan’s mentor, “save Anakin.” (They weren’t technically asked to or anything, marking this as a big difference between the og and prequels, but the motives of the characters don’t matter as much as the actions, in this comparison.) Luke and Han, alongside Luke’s mentor, save Leia. In this comparison the parallels are 1:1 and very clear, but have the added benefit of putting Obi-Wan into Qui-Gon’s role, and I honestly believe that nothing would make Obi-Wan happier and that it’s what he deserves and-

In the remaining movies, the storybeats separate but the roles remain clear.

There are two driving forces for the story, Luke and Leia. Luke goes off and does his own thing while Leia and Han do something else. They separate near the very beginning of the story, after a chase sequence (I am being generous in calling the opening of The Empire Strikes Back “a chase sequence” because that’s really only a technicality. Technically speaking, they are being chased off of Hoth, so it technically counts. Yes I am stretching the comparison a little, but who cares?) Luke and Leia ultimately meet up after some shenanigans, but Han gets lost on the way. There’s a big fight between Luke and Darth Vader that Luke loses. Leia and Luke meet back up and everyone is kind of depressed because the whole movie was a big loss.

There are two driving forces of the story. Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan goes off and does his own thing while Anakin and Padme do something else. They separate near the very beginning of the story, after a chase sequence. Obi-Wan and Anakin ultimately meet up after some shenanigans, but they end up losing Padme (she tumbles off the ship, it counts, shh, just go with it). There’s a big fight between Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Dooku that Anakin and Obi-Wan both lose. They think they’ve won, because they drove off the Separatists , but they did start a war, so it’s a big loss.

As I mentioned, the storybeats separate, but the roles remain fundamentally the same. Also, while very different, this is when I’ll bring up the romances. The romances in Star Wars are very important to the plot, and they follow a basic outline: Jedi x being a Jedi and older x younger powerhouse. You can see this romance clearly in both cases. Luke x being a Jedi and Han x Leia, who has obscene amounts of power within the Rebellion (and, presumably, the Force, but she doesn’t know that yet). Obi-Wan x being a Jedi and Padme x Anakin, who has obscene amounts of power in the Force. The romances don’t play out exactly the same, but they are fundamentally similar. Also: Luke 🤝 Obi-Wan - I don’t need romance I need answers!

The last movie of each trilogy is where the character roles remain debatably the closest, yet split apart. Because the conclusion is so different in either case, but… well.

The movie begins with a convoluted plan to save Han. A plan that Artoo is a big part of. The big bad of this part is Jabba the Hutt, and he is ultimately killed by Leia.

The movie begins with a convoluted plan to save Palpatine. A plan that Artoo is a big part of. The big bad of this part is Dooku, and he is ultimately killed by Anakin.

You see, the main driving forces keep their roles, but Han gets a bit confused in there. However, both have a conclusion of sorts with Leia hugging Han and Anakin hugging Padme, which is an interesting comparison.

The biggest differences go from there. Luke is more similar to Anakin than ever in these final scenes, where an ominous Sith Lord tries to bait him to the Dark Side. Leia becomes the Obi-Wan, leading troops into battle. Han and Padme are there, hanging out, doing stuff… But the stories separate majorly from here. Anakin does turn to the Dark Side, Luke refuses to. Leia wins her battle, Obi-Wan does not. Padme dies, Han lives.

However! There are still similarities to be made. Han and Anakin both think Leia and Padme is in love with someone else. This is a fair comparison of the two. They both think that “other man” is Luke / Obi-Wan. The difference, the key difference between Han and Anakin that make them impossible to compare beyond this, is that Anakin is furious and Han is just like “yeah, okay. That’s fine.”

Han and Anakin just aren’t very comparable. Leia has Anakin’s rage-filled passion, his drive to do whatever she can and his desire to stop literally everything to save the one she loves. Han and Padme are both the odd ones out of the trio. Padme isn’t a Jedi. Han isn’t a Jedi and also isn’t really all the into politics. But somehow, Han and Padme fulfill the most similar roles to each other, despite the fact that they are so different.

The roles of Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, and Anakin are very blurred here. Like they suddenly remembered “Oh shit, we said that Luke was like his dad, didn’t we?? We gotta make him more like his dad!!!” That’s why Luke’s connection to Leia is a key moment. She’s Luke’s sister. And Anakin’s connection to Obi-Wan is stated explicitly by Obi-Wan. “You were my brother.”

The lines are blurred because, just like Obi-Wan, Luke doesn’t kill the sith lord at the end. They have different reasoning, but still similar. Luke doesn’t want to turn to the Dark Side. Luke can’t kill Vader because Vader is his father and he still has hope that Vader will do the right thing. Obi-Wan doesn’t want to kill Anakin and he can’t kill Anakin because he loves Anakin and he can’t watch him die. That’s why Obi-Wan leaves. He doesn’t want to watch Anakin die, he can’t watch Anakin die.

Luke retains Obi-Wan levels of confidence (“Anakin has never let me down and never will” matches very well with Luke’s plan of: go up to Father and convince him not to kill me or give me to the Emperor) Luke is also ultimately disappointed by Anakin (Anakin does, indeed, “let Obi-Wan down.” And he does, indeed, give his son to the Emperor) But Luke retains Padme-like faith that there’s still good in Anakin. Luke fights a sith lord and defeats him, but doesn’t kill him, just like Obi-Wan. The difference is between Anakin and Leia, because Leia is still chilling in the Light Side, Anakin, suck it-

The roles are very funny to look at, especially if you ignore the main three entirely and look at the others. Old Man Obi-Wan fills Qui-Gon’s and Yoda’s roles of guiding; Qui-Gon and Yoda guided Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan guides Luke. Yoda fills his own role as “I think this is a bad idea, but nobody is listening to me, so I guess I don’t really have a choice.”

The villain roles are the funniest. The biggest bad of the series continues to be Palpatine. The guy we actually see being evil and shit is Darth Vader, who is replaced narratively with two separate Sith Lords. It take two Sith Lords to match one Darth Vader (it’s what he deserves). But, top of the third movie, Dooku and Jabba parallel each other in that they are both killed by an extremely angry Skywalker, Anakin or Leia. (Sucks to be Dooku. A Vader and Jabba stand in? Couldn’t be me)

This is a disjointed, rambly mess, but what I’m really trying to say here is that Luke is the Obi-Wan of the group. The lone Jedi exploring the galaxy and managing to stay out of trouble as long as they aren’t within ten hundred feet of Anakin/Leia. Leia is the Anakin. Responding with anger, getting into trouble, making enemies, falling in love with an older person, doing stupid stuff for the sake of that older person, and causing the most mischief when in the direct eyeline of Luke/Obi-Wan. Han is the Padme. The third party who doesn’t have much of a role in the third movie aside from damsel. Shocked to find out Luke and Leia are twins (Padme didn’t even know she was having twins, that must’ve been a moment). Doing stupid stuff with the love of their life. Wondering “why did I do that stupid stuff for the love of my life?”

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