Life After The Hero's Journey

 For all those who have read previous posts here, you might have an idea that I kind of like Star Wars and might be something of a fan of the franchise. I was young enough when the first film hit that I do not remember a time before Star Wars and it seems as if I have always had Star Wars as part of y life.. I still have some of actual pieces of the bedroom set I got way back in the 70s, with a pillow case that is highly faded, packed away.

Right now the big thing for Star Wars is the Kenobi series on Disney+, showing us what he was up to between the prequels and the classic trilogy. So far I have enjoyed the series myself. It is not perfect, as there have been a few times where it felt like we missed something, possibly to due to a cut scene. There have been a few times where they are messing with canon, although nothing as bad as what happened with the prequels. So far nothing big enough to upset me, as I know we have a few more episodes to go.

Of course one of the main complaints coming from the toxic fans right now is the (false) claim that Disney is trying to destroy all the classic character and Kenobi is doing that to the title character. I do wonder what they thought Obi-Wan was doing in those nearly two decades of hiding, but I guess he was not allowed to end up in a meaningless job, living a boring, depressing life. For me that made sense, but for so many others it was a sin for the hermit to not be living it up.

I thought it was brilliant character development to show he had closed himself off from the Force and that what used to be easy for him is now a challenge because he has gotten so lost in grief. Everything he knew was taken from him, his world was destroyed and it makes a lot of sense for him to feel guilt over how things turned out, as he was right there in the heart of it all and failed to stop it. Yet these toxic fans want him to be just fine and happy with his new life and I guess they don't think he would need to make money, as him having a job really upsets them.

Of course they have compared Obi-Wan to Luke in The Last Jedi, as there is a lot of mirroring going on there.

I loved that after Luke did his Hero's Journey and became a galaxy-known hero, he made some mistakes and ended up not dealing too well with consequences of his actions. He is after all human.

But there seems to be an odd idea that after the character has done their journey, then they should be perfect after that, or that it it destroying the character to show that they suffer from depression or some level of PTSD. As someone who has shut himself off from the world due to feeling overwhelmed by life's drama, I can related to what both Obi-Wan And Luke end up going through. I felt showing such characters who have been though so much, who have made huge sacrifices and have had to push themselves to extremes to win the day, then find it hard dealing with their mistakes, to be great storytelling.

We know Obi-Wan pulls it together when the time comes and Luke had one hell of an awesome last battle, showing us just how powerful he really is. Both of these characters experienced very human times of doubt that brought them low, but in the end, when it really mattered, they got their act together and made a difference again. 

To me that is powerful storytelling.

Clean cut perfect heroes are boring and the idea that after the Hero's Journey their lives go on, but the challenges can get to be too much for them, makes them interesting. It does not negate any of their past victories or make them less of a hero. 

It makes them human and real.

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