Star Wars is known for its great heroes, and Luke Skywalker is the greatest of them all. As one of the most important people in the galaxy, Luke Skywalker proved to be the spark that allowed the Rebellion to burn down the Empire, saving the day many times and managing to redeem Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker's list of accomplishments is great, but that doesn't mean he's perfect. In fact, Luke Skywalker's failures were almost as bad as his accomplishments were great.
Luke tried his best but there was a lot about himself that he couldn't overcome. These character deficiencies led him to some pretty bad places throughout the movies, soiling his legacy.
8 He Took Too Much On Himself
Luke Skywalker did a lot of great things during the Original Trilogy, but one mistake he kept making was going off on his own and trying to do too much. While he was able to succeed several times—he got a solo kill on an AT-AT after his snowspeeder was destroyed—other times his tendency to do things on his own backfired and nearly killed him.
While wanting to keep others out of danger was admirable, Luke's tendency to go and do things on his own almost cost the Alliance one of their most important soldiers. It was hard for him to learn to trust in others and it almost cost everyone.
7 For Too Long, He Tended To Use Violence To Solve His Problems
Luke's time on Dagobah was one of the most important parts of his life, as it molded him into the Jedi he would become. One of the most important events on Dagobah was his sojourn into the dark side cave, where Yoda warned him not to bring his lightsaber with him. Luke did, and this revealed a problem of his: the tendency to think violence worked to solve problems.
While Luke would learn this lesson the hard way and change his ways, this caused problems with him throughout the Original Trilogy and almost cost him his life on more than one occasion.
6 He Overestimated His Abilities
Luke Skywalker, after a vision of his friends being tortured on Bespin, abandoned his training in a vain attempt to save them. He believed that he could somehow stand up to Vader, and paid the price, losing his hand and almost dying in the fight. Too often, Luke tried to do everything on his own and failed because he overestimated his own abilities.
While believing in one's self is a noble thing, Luke often took it to an extreme that was harmful at best. He put himself into situations where his skills just weren't up to snuff because he thought he was more powerful than he actually was.
5 He Didn't Learn From The Mistakes Of Others
Luke was shocked when he found out that Darth Vader was his father and eventually confronted Obi-Wan about it. Kenobi told him that he had made a mistake, not only training his father but also in not telling Luke the truth about Vader. Luke himself would repeat these mistakes with Ben, not recognizing the signs of the dark side within him, much like Obi-Wan with Anakin, and keeping the secret of Darth Vader from him for too long.
Luke made all of the mistakes that Obi-Wan did, even after knowing that Obi-Wan made them. Luke had a problem learning from the example of others and because of that, millions died.
4 He Was Too Stubborn
One of Luke's biggest problems was that he was much too stubborn for his own good. This came back to bite him many times over the years. There were multiple examples of this throughout the Original Trilogy and it's one of those problems that informed so many of his other problems. He could be a great Jedi but his pigheadedness was a huge character deficiency.
Being stubborn isn't always a bad thing, as it often leads to someone not giving up. Luke, though, would take it too far at times when he shouldn't have. It hurt his Jedi training and endangered the Rebellion several times over the years.
3 His Temper Almost Cost Him Everything
Luke inherited several things from Anakin Skywalker, but the most unfortunate was his temper. Luke's temper was his biggest stumbling block during his training, and it almost doomed him. As the son of Anakin Skywalker, Luke was extremely powerful and that power made him susceptible to the dark side of the Force. Learning to control his temper wasn't easy for him and he almost lost control more than once.
Vader used it to his advantage during their fight on the second Death Star, but Luke was able to pull himself back before completely giving himself over to the dark side of the Force. His temper was one of the most dangerous parts about him; indulging it would have cost the people of the galaxy their freedom.
2 He Was A Whiner
Counting the number of times Luke complains about something in A New Hope reveals one thing about Luke: he's a whiner. From whining about power converters and wanting to go to Tosche Station to throwing a fit because he has to stay one more season on the farm, Luke had no problem making his complaints known in the most annoying ways possible. While the argument can be made that it was because of his age, he was eighteen and should have known better.
He would eventually grow out of it, a side effect of both maturity and fighting in a war. He never fully overcame it, as it was always there and would come back full-blown after his failures with Ben Solo, when he felt the best thing to do about his failure was sulk about it on an island.
1 He Ran Away From His Problems
Luke's biggest character flaw was underlined by his actions in the Sequel Trilogy but there were always glimpses of it. Luke had a tendency to run from his problems, especially the big ones. This was underscored by the whole situation with Ben Solo. Instead of trying to make things right and turn him back to the light, Luke ran away from the problem.
Instead of solving what would have been a difficult problem, he went away, leaving his friends and everyone else to deal with it. This would allow the rise of the First Order, which led to the death of countless beings throughout the galaxy. Apparently, the only lesson that Yoda and Obi-Wan taught him that stuck was to hide from the bad guys.
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