Sanderson - Star Wars Trilogy

In the Star Wars trilogy it is very apparent who the civic hero is and who the contemplative hero is. Luke Skywalker is obviously the contemplative hero since he is the one with The Force and is fighting a spiritual battle against the Dark Side. Han Solo is the civic hero. He stays within his community of and is fighting the soldiers of The Empire as opposed to the evil of The Empire. In these films Luke more closely follows Campbell’s Journey of a Hero and is more important to the film. Han is a very important part of taking down The Empire but he’s essentially replaceable, while Luke is a once in a lifetime kind of hero who is special and absolutely essential in bringing down The Empire.

Right off the bat, Luke fits into Campbell’s description of a hero when he sates that a hero is “often times of a lowly birth, but may secretly have special powers or a high birth right he is unaware of”. In the first movie, Luke doesn’t know who his real father is. He is living basically as a farmer with his aunt and uncle. He has aspirations of doing bigger things but his uncle is holding him back to protect him. It isn’t until Luke meeting Obi Wan that he starts to learn that he is special. Throughout the first and second films Luke realizes how much the Force is with him. 

Another example is Campbell’s third description of the call to adventure. Campbell describes it as the hero may be forced to go by a realization of imbalance or injustice. This fits perfectly when Obi Wan is asking Luke to go but he is hesitant to go because he feels obligated to stay and help his aunt and uncle (refusal of the call). He soon learns that his aunt and uncle has been killed by the Empire. The wrongful death is the push he needed to agree to go with Obi Wan and join the rebel’s fight against the evil Empire.

The very final stage, The Freedom to Live, connects to Luke in the final scenes of the last film of the trilogy. Campbell’s describes this part as “the hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is”. We can see this in Luke because while everyone is rejoicing their victory over the Empire we see Luke almost as off by himself. He is looking at the spirits of Obi Wan, Yoda and Anakin instead of dancing with everyone. We are given the sense that Luke will not stay there long. He isn’t meant for a normal life as he is destined to be a contemplative hero. Though he has saved the universe he will more than likely continue fighting the war against whatever evil comes next, because it always does. Luke is destined for a life like Obi Wan, which consisted of him living as a hermit until he found Luke to pass on his power and knowledge of the Force.

While Han fits many aspects of Campbell’s hero theory, especially the mistress part, Luke is better suited. Luke follows very closely to Campbell’s hero journey. They both play very important roles in the film and both kinds of hero’s are needed in order to take down the Empire. Luke is just the irreplaceable hero.