[Response to Dark-Kenshin moved here from spoiler-free thread]
Originally posted by Dark-Kenshin
In OT, his desire to kill Vader was FUELED by the Emperor AND VADER actively tempting and prodding him towards the dark side. If you'll recall, he initially had ZERO intention of fighting anybody and was content dying on the death star . Ultimately, he overcame the Emperor and Vader's temptations and was unmoved despite being fried nearly to death by the Emperor's force lightning. Here, we're talking about a Luke who is not only not being manipulated by a master of evil, but has already completed his arc; a Luke who has already learned his lesson and fully seen the error of the dark side and that how good can be found in even people as evil as Vader. Are we really to believe that the thought of killing Kylo in cold blood would even REGISTER in his mind given every lesson he had been established as having learned in the OT? I don't think so.
No, I don't think so. Luke is not a traditional Jedi like Kenobi was or some of the prequel Jedi were. He was using force chokes, etc. Yeah, there was definitely temptation there but he likely just had a human reaction to Vader threatening to potentially turn/use Leia and lost control. Luke has always been someone who could've teetered on that line. Yes, he is a Jedi and is good but the thought crossed his mind simply because he knows how strong the Skywalker line is and knew Kylo was already being seduced by Snoke. It crossed his mind and immediately left him, as HE SAID, leaving him feeling nothing but guilt over it. Kylo caught him and thought it was something else.
It added humanity to Luke's character. Being perfectly honest? Luke simply being an absolutely good Jedi with no moments of crisis or anything like that would have been boring. Even a Master is human and can have those moments/thoughts. I thought it was a step in the right direction for his character. Luke learned his lesson about falling to the dark side and fully utilizing that dark power to control or perhaps run a galaxy that way, not necessarily doing a SINGLE thing, albeit a horrible one (killing Kylo).
I don't think your distinction for the Leia comparison matters. Based on what we know about Leia's character, even the mere thought or temptation of having such inclinations about her subordinates would NEVER even register in her head, even for a moment. It's antithetical to everything that has been established about her character. Same goes for Luke. As of the moment he defiantly throws away his lightsaber and tells the epitome of evil himself that he'll never join the darkside, he is shown and established to be beyond such inclinations. Like Rey and much like he did with his father years earlier, he would have seen the conflict in Kylo and would actively gesture him towards the light while being reminded of the lessons he had already learned himself while being tempted by the dark side. Any efforts to put him down would've been defensive or the result of a misunderstanding (which would've made more sense as far as this subplot was concerned).
I'm not going to respond much to your analogy because, as I said before, it doesn't fit much. It doesn't have much going for it, if I'm being honest. Luke's development hadn't ended there. Yes, he threw his lightsaber down and made his decision but obviously having more exposure to the dark side and likely knowing about Snoke's presence and another Sidious coming around, it may have been enough for him to think the action was necessary for a moment. Considering he abandoned another potential order and training more Jedi to seclude himself? It makes perfect sense. He has been someone who has been put to this test most of his life and it inspired a moment in him. It gives his character a lack of perfection that is necessary to not have him be absurdly boring (Early Comic Superman levels of being dandy and good) and inspires conflict.
Like I said, the thought of taking Kylo out crossing his mind is not an implication he would simply walk down the path of the dark side, which I think is the biggest problem with your criticism. He denounced the dark side with Sidious when was young, yes. However, the quick thought of murdering Kylo is not him walking down that path. At that point, it was a human being wanting to commit to something practical and having a lapse in judgment that took no moral conditions into account. There's no evidence to suggest he would have killed Kylo and then it would've changed his iris' yellow and he'd start shooting force lighting everywhere.
As I've pointed out in other threads, this is NOT to say that a situation where Luke tries to murder Kylo is impossible. Established characters can engage in behavior that greatly contradicts their previous characterizations, but the writers would need to give us A LOT MORE context and information than what we were given. And given the ease by which we see Luke communicate with the likes of Yoda, the idea that a lack of senior guidance led to this departure in his characterization is just not persuasive, IMO.
If it was more than just a passing thought that immediately inspired nothing but guilt in Luke? I'd agree it would need more. It wasn't so it isn't against the characterization at all. Luke has never, ever been the picture-perfect Jedi. He's always been, how to put this, closer to "grey" than "blue." He is a fantastic Jedi and is generally an outstandingly moral individual, as we've seen, but he had a moment and it added a great deal of humanity to his character. I loved it.
Also, it did look like he had not communicated with Yoda in a very,
very long time. Just thought I'd add that.