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Luke Skywalker - Galactic Hero or Mass Murderer?

Luke - Murderer or Hero

  • Mass Murderer

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hero

    Votes: 14 73.7%

  • Comedy option - I love the comedy option

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • Total voters
    19
Jedi_Master

Jedi_Master

Admiral
Admiral
With two torpedoes (and the help of the Force) Luke Skywalker set off the chain reaction that destroyed the Death Star, and instantly snuffed out the life of millions of people.

Was his act justified? Did all those who served on the Death Star share the guilt for the destruction of Jedha City, Scarif, and Alderaan?
Or was Luke guilty of crimes so heinous that he actually continued the legacy of his father?

This is an age old debate, so I'm curious as to what responses I will get. $10 says someone will link the Clerks video on the first page of this thread.
 
Yeah I'm totally ok with him blowing up a weapon that destroys entire planets with everyone on board. Screw those guys. Build that man a statue.

That it happened a second time, with lesser involvement from Luke, was just icing on the cake.
 
Yes, but they were all bad. —Arnie, True Lies.

Kevin Smith covered this in one of movies.

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Jedi_Master said:
Was his act justified? Did all those who served on the Death Star share the guilt for the destruction of Jedha City, Scarif, and Alderaan?
Or was Luke guilty of crimes so heinous that he actually continued the legacy of his father?
Click to expand...

That's the nastiness of war for ya! WW2 - Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki....
 
Let's see which one was seemingly the military target?

a.>Alderaan
b.>The Death Star

Sure you could possibly make an argument that not everyone on the Death Star had equal respponsibility in those attacks against civilian targets such as Jedha and Alderaan but when military targets are attacked in wars sometimes people who have lesser accountability die.
 
Look, if you're a civilian contractor and working a catering contract on something called "The Death Star" and you don't get the hell out of dodge once planets start blowing up, then that's your own lookout.

Yes, a lot of mostly blameless people died on that station, but that's not on Luke, that's on the likes of Palpatine, Tarkin, Vader and Krenic who built the thing, put people on it who mostly thought they were serving the greater good, and then used it to murder billion indiscriminately, with the promise of more to follow.

This really isn't much of a debate.
 
I'd almost call it an act of self-defense/justifiable homicide given that it's almost certain that millions (billions? trillions? quadrillions?) more would have died if he hadn't done so. Not on Yavin Four specifically, but does anyone think the Emperor would have stopped there?
 
As already mentioned, both Death Stars were legitimate military targets and their destruction is justified. The only unfortunate part is if the stuff from Legends is still true and the Empire had slave labour constructing them. Since the second Death Star was still being constructed when it was attacked, that's a lot of innocent people who were there at gun point getting killed. But, Legend isn't canon, so we don't have to deal with that unpleasant idea.
 
DonIago said:
I'd almost call it an act of self-defense/justifiable homicide given that it's almost certain that millions (billions? trillions? quadrillions?) more would have died if he hadn't done so. Not on Yavin Four specifically, but does anyone think the Emperor would have stopped there?
Click to expand...
Out of the kindness of his heart? Sure. Of course! :lol:

This was about more than just avenging Alderaan. It was about the survival of the Alliance and the last chance for a free galaxy. Had the Rebellion failed or chosen to flee, the Empire's grip on the galaxy would have become unbreakable. Thousands of worlds would have been conquered. Thousands more would have buckled and surrendered rather than risk obliteration. Indeed, Jyn says as much in RO.
 
I'm not bothered by what Luke did, it wasn't a secret what the Death Star was, so anybody working on it had to know what they were getting themselves into.
 
The Wormhole said:
The only unfortunate part is if the stuff from Legends is still true and the Empire had slave labour constructing them.
Click to expand...

The first one used Geonosian workers at first in the new canon, Poggle the Lesser cooperated with Krennic and the Republic, and ordered the workers of his hive to help build it. After the Clone Wars and the establishment of the Empire, they switched to droids, Wookiees and other slaves to finish it.

Not sure about the DS2. As far as I can tell, they used automation but did have human overseers.
 
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Tuskin38 said:
The first one used Geonosian workers at first in the new canon, Poggle the Lesser cooperated with Krennic and the Republic, and ordered the workers of his hive to help build it. After the Clone Wars and the establishment of the Empire, they switched to droids, Wookiees and other slaves to finish it.

Not sure about the DS2. As far as I can tell, they used automation but did have human overseers.
Click to expand...

We hear them talking about needing more men to complete the DS2 on schedule at the start of ROTJ.
 
MacLeod said:
We hear them talking about needing more men to complete the DS2 on schedule at the start of ROTJ.
Click to expand...
Correct. All indications are that the Empire consistently used slave labor for it's large projects - in keeping with their "Nazis in Space" routine.
 
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