I have read the 1976 novel, originally titled: Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, later retitled Star Wars: A New Hope, and I would like to share my favourite parts.
Note: I read the novel twice. So that I didn’t miss anything. But, also, because this is a library copy and I wanted to jot down my favourite parts so I could reread them after I return it, okay, let’s go-
First things first, Luke is the best.
These are my favourite Luke things, I am begging you to click on them and read them, they are soooo good. Luke in general is a lot more likeable to me in the novel than in the film, if only because his weirdly whiny mood in the beginning makes much more sense because we have a bunch of scenes before Owen buys the droids.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Luke in all his various incarnations because I am, at my center, a massive nerd, but I like his characterization here. I also like that the novel tells us, “Yes, Luke has friends. No, most of them do not like him very much.” It implies (heavily) that the people he hangs out with have more money than he does, and he works a lot, and he has his head in the clouds, so they don’t quite get him. We have a scene of Biggs and Luke, and it is so sweet and cute and I love it so much. Biggs is like “Please stop trying to run into canyon walls.” And Luke just “Wow, you really have changed. You sound just like Uncle Owen.” And it’s affectionate riffing, but Luke, if two people are telling you, maybe you should, I dunno, listen??
I like that Han and Chewie basically took one look at Luke and were like “Yes, perfect, I love him.” Threepio and Artoo also have this. And Leia is immediately protective of him five minutes after his botched rescue. Even Obi-Wan is protective of him. The novel tries to tell us he is an average boy, but their definition of average and mine must be different. Something about Luke just inspires instant loyalty, it’s amazing.
I like Han in this a lot. He is just so… strangely optimistic. Also, he is overconfident and cocky and an asshole and I love him with all my tiny heart. Chewbacca is great too. He is so nervous, let him back on the ship, please.
Leia is great. She is a tiny little lady who is yelling at everyone, including the big scary Wookie (they spell Wookiee with one e in the book) and she kisses Luke twice and gets embarrassed about it both times (and there’s a weird scene where Luke sees a man and woman kissing, in the book’s own words, “passionately” and he basically thinks “they could have any relationship in the galaxy. Lovers, siblings, platonic. Who knows…” and I think about it a lot because do you guys passionately kiss your siblings? I am very concerned and confused and confounded, send help). Leia is very cute and very vicious and she’s basically perfect.
Now I wanna talk about Ben, because I love Ben. Every other person who sees him or senses him or hears thinks he is a hallucination. He goes onto the Death Star without even knowing Darth Vader is there, and his thought process is “Next step of the plan? Let’s see how much Luke and Solo fucked up, then we’ll think about the next step of the plan.” One of my favourite Ben moments is when he sees this big panic on the Death Star (caused by Luke and Han’s rescue of Leia) and he’s like “This couldn’t be for me, no way they would send all these people after me.” As though he has been seen a single time.
(Side note: my favourite thing is how they treat Leia, actually, because they surround her with multiple, armed guards and put her in giant cuffs and lock in a cell that is heavily guarded at all times. When there’s a disturbance in the cell block she’s in (they do NOT know she’s broken out yet, only that there is something happening near where she is being held captive), the whole ship goes on high alert. I know, intellectually, that it’s because they don’t want to risk losing her, but I like to think it’s also because she is very intimidating. She spit on Darth Vader. She straight up spit on him, and hit him! Who does that? I love her)
Ben is very cheerful for a man who has spent twenty years in a desert watching a kid from a distance. I like that he can do a krayt dragon call, which he does twice and tells Luke he’ll teach him how to do later. I like that he cuts two people in half and one guy’s arm off, all in one swing, because they made the fatal mistakes of 1.) looking away from Ben for a second, and 2.) they bullied Luke. Ben is so fond of Luke, it’s very sweet. I also like that he is trying very, very hard not to be so fond of Luke. It’s impossible, honestly, Luke is just too lovable, but Ben put up a good fight.
Ben being a general in a war only twenty years ago is kind of highlighted, if that’s the word I want. Like, he knows how to fix up R2 units so they can at least function, he knows how to work the computers on a war ship/station, he keeps up with Darth Vader when they fight; he just seems much more war general-y. He is also a huge goober and a nerd and I love him dearly.
I like this scene, primarily because of Vader’s “Obi-Wan is here. Well, I only felt it for a second. Maybe he isn’t- the princess? Obi-Wan is here!” Also, “He is here” “Obi-Wan Kenobi???” Vader talks about Obi-Wan so much, methinks, they are just so used to it. Imagine their shock when it turned out Obi-Wan was here.
I am now going to give you a succinct guide on how to use the Force, as explained in the book.
Step 1. Zone out.
Step 2.
And yeah, now you can use the Force, congrats.
No but seriously, Luke using the Force is just Luke zoning out so hard he doesn’t even remember firing the proton torpedoes that blew up the Death Star. He’s over there like “I don’t have anymore proton torpedoes. And I am no longer in the trench. And the Death Star is blowing up. But, did I press the button to fire them? I don’t think I did…” This is so relatable. My guy, I used to go up on stage and perform band concerts in high school, or on the football field to perform in marching band, or I would do a presentation in class, and the second the activity was over and I was walking away, my memory of the activity would be gone. “Did I do that? I have my oboe/clarinet/papers in my hands, and everyone is cheering, and I am out of breath. But, did I do it?” Luke is super relatable, 10/10, they finally made a character for me-
Anyway, there are a lot of minor things that don’t line up with movie canon, but the book is so fun, I highly recommend you read it, if you find it. I love this book, I read it twice because I love it so much. Ask me for my favourite scenes, I have a list of them that is too long to put here if any of us ever want to see the post beneath this one.
287 notes
·
View notes
Gonna take off all my skin
Tear apart all of my insides
When they rifle in
Mom and Dad think you'll be saved
you cry out “appey slices! can you draw skin that’s normal colors and not just literal paper white?” and I say “no 🤗😘✨” but punk rock kylo with and without tattoos that i totally stole from those free vector websites (and also the washington huskies logo go dogs) i’m also realizing the blaster scar on his side isn’t reading as blaster scar but it’s too late to change it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. idk if they’re on tumblr but thank the discord friend, insomnia, for inspiring me to make this. you the best 🫅
anyway, if you have any put it on kylo requests you can shoot me an anon and i’ll try to get to it in a reasonable time 👍
11 notes
·
View notes