Star Wars isn't "Arthurian" — but here's what such a thing might actually look like

I've noticed a strange and wrong-headed (but quite persistent) tendency to identify Star Wars as "Arthurian". To some extent, this kind of comparison has always been made, but it must be noted that you hear the claim a lot more since the release of TLJ. This is because the argument "Luke is actually King Arthur and/or the Fisher King" (most people just unattentively conflate the two) is greedily used to defend that film's depiction of Luke Skywalker. It's fitting that the youthful, optimistic hero is now a reclusive sad sack.

But no, it's not. For starters, that's not even a little bit like King Arthur (who faces the final confrontation heroically, despite knowing what awaits, and despite having been betrayed by loved ones). It's not that much like the Fisher King (a wholly separate character), either. The Fisher King wants to act, but can't. Bottom line: Luke isn't King Arthur, he's not the Fisher King, and TLJ is a thematically and narratively poor film that gets defended using stupid excuses, by people who don't know what they're talking about.

And Star Wars isn't "Arthurian" to begin with, so the whole attempt at skewed comparisons is pointless anyway. Every time someone tries to defend the claim that Star Wars is "Arthurian", they have to rely on cherry-picking individual elements from a range of wildly different iterations of the Arthurian story. Someone who made a whole detailed comparison actually had to write the sentence "(...) during their duel aboard the second Death Star, Luke is Arthur, Sir Modred, and Sir Bedivere all at the same time while Vader is both Arthur and Sir Modred at this time".

Wow. That's a pretty wide net you're casting there. Using this method, you can (depending on the scene you cherry-pick) compare almost any Star Wars character to almost any Arthurian figure. Which amply demonstrates that all such comparisons are superficial and incidental. The fact of the matter is: Star Wars is a classic heroic tale, and various Arthurian tales (there is no one "Arthur story"; it is a cycle of connected stories) follow that same basic structure. So you can basically equate Luke to almost any questing knight. The comparison I quoted just now tells us that, in part, Luke is Mordred! (Using the reasoning that Vader is "evil Arthur" and Padme is "good Morgause".) With that kind of total stretch, I can also defend the position that Jar Jar is actually the Green Knight!

It's silly to claim that Star Wars is Arthurian. It's always been silly. It's especially silly to use this in an ill-conceived attempt to "justify" the many failures of Rian Johnson when it comes to characterisation, narrative structure and thematic cohesion.

But let's not waste time on severely over-rated film-makers. Instead, we could be doing something far more entertaining. Such as... imagining what Star Wars might look like if it really was an Arthurian saga. Well, here goes!

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We start the same. With a boy, Luke (Arthur), being raised by vaguely defined relatives. However, his uncle Owen (Sir Ector) is a veteran knight, and teaches him how to be a paragon of martial prowess. He also has an adoptive brother, Deak Lars (the Sir Kay of this tale)

He is taken in by the mystical teacher, Obi-Wan (Merlin), who additionally teaches him his arcane arts, and instructs him in everything a wise philosopher-king ought to know.

It comes to pass that Emperor Vader (the Uther Pendragon; a combination of Palpy and Vader) passes away after a long and rather severe reign. By some contrivance, his magical light-sabre is put in some unreachable location, wherefrom only the worthy heir may retrieve it.

All knights of the Galaxy go to Coruscant, and attempt to release the sabre. None succeed. But Obi-Wan brings Luke, and the boy miraculously has what it takes. Of course, he is actually Emperor Vader's son, conceived two decades ago, when Vader (with Obi-Wan's) help murdered the husband of Queen Padme Amidala (Igraine), mind-tricked her into believing that he was said husband, and basically raped her. From this union two children were produced, but neither knew of the other, and the galaxy didn't know of them at all.

Luke assumes power on Coruscant, and is crowned Galactic Emperor. But it is not long before he encounters the Lady of the Sith, Leia (Morgause), wo seduces him. Unbeknownst to him, she is his evil sister. Her mother killed herself after finding out what Vader had done to her, leaving behind orphaned children that Obi-Wan hid from Vader. Leia, however, was possessed with a dark intelligence. She uncovered the truth from her adoptive father, King Bail-- an old friend of Obi-Wan. She poisoned him, usurped his throne, and trained herself in the arcane arts of the Dark Side. She seeks vengeance. With Vader dead, and Obi-Wan suddenly arriving with a mystery heir, she knows that this Luke must be her lost brother. And she wants nothing so much as to destroy him.

Obi-Wan, who learns of the incestuous affair, hurries to Coruscant, but is too late. Leia has already departed, pregnant and knowing that she will give birth to a dark scion, pre-natally corrupted by the Dark Side: the perfect weapon against her enemies.

Obi-Wan doesn't tell Luke the truth, but reveals that Vader was his father, and that Leia is obsessed with destroying the heir of Vader because Vader killed her mother. Emperor Luke is horrified. He wishes to do good, and prove that he is a worthy ruler. He re-instates the old Order of the Jedi Knights, and begins seeking out prospective Knights, who can fight as mystic warriors using the Force. With his Order, he will defend the galaxy from evil. Obi-Wan tells him that there is a prophecy about the Balance of the Force, and that his Knights will only succeed in their quest for peace when they find the secret of achieving this Balance. Obi-Wan then departs, trying to track down the evil Leia.

The Lady of the Sith isn't foolish enough to just wait for him to find her, however-- she has enlisted the aid of Duchess Satine, the great love of Obi-Wan's youth. He still loves her dearly, and Leia convinces Satine that she and Obi-Wan can live in peace, forever, on Mandalore. Satine lures Obi-Wan there, and Leia uses Sith sorcery to place the whole planet in a hyperspace pocket. Nothing and no-one will be able to reach (or escape from) the planet for an indefinite period. Obi-Wan has thus been taken out of the equation.

Leia goes on to marry another petty king, somewhere in the Outer Regions, knowing that his sons are Force-sensitive, and will in time be welcomed at Luke's court on Coruscant. Her own son, Kylo Ren (Mordred), is raised alongside these others and they consider him a brother. He secretly takes to calling this little group his "Knights of Ren", and they pledge to support his claim to the throne, when the time comes.

Luke knows nothing of this, and all seems to be going well for him. He has married Mara Jada (Guinevere), and he is often going on heroic adventures with his Jedi Knights, while his foster brother Deak acts as seneschal in his stead. Luke's best friend in the commander of his armies, Han Solo (Lancelot). They are inseperable. This is the time of high adventure and glory days. The last traces of overt evil are wiped out, Luke's reign is peaceful and celebrated, and the Jedi have returned.

But a shadow looms. A new generation grows up, and there are vipers among this cohort. Vipers flung at Luke's throat by the wicked hand of Leia. Chief among them is Kylo Ren-- yet Luke knows nothing of this evil. He believes this to be a son of Leia and her husband, and when Kylo tells him that his mother has set aside her old grudges, Luke welcomes the young Knight at his court. Around the same time, other Knights of a new generation arrive, chief among which is Rey (Galahad), the long-lost daughter of Han Solo and Bria Tharen (Elaine of Astolat; deceased).

As the original generation of Knights has grown older and less fit for adventure, they younger knights take over the Quest. It is Rey who succeeds, finding the original leader of the Jedi Order, Yoda (the Fisher King), and restoring him to some of his old strength. He teaches her his wisdom, and she learns the secrets of the Balance from him, before he dies of old age.

Rey returns to Coruscant, but can only tell the other Jedi that a fundamental part of the secret is that you have to learn it for yourself. Yoda could only teach her because she was ready. It is the quest itself that makes you worthy. Kylo Ren refuses to accept this, full of rage and spite. He wishes to destroy Luke, and Rey, and all of it.

And then he discovers the dagger with which he will achieve his deadly stroke: Han Solo is having an affair with Luke's wife. He arrages for this to be exposed, creating a rift that destroys Luke's marriage and his friendship with Han. Both the adulterers are exiled to the Unknown Regions. Luke is heartbroken and no longer truly fit to rule. Kylo Ren instigates dissent, and with his Knights of Ren, begins and uprising.

Rising to the challenge one last time, Luke gathers his Knights and meets the enemy in battle. Virtually all participants die. It is Luke's young aide-de-camp, Finn (Bedivere), who takes the fallen emperor's light-sabre from the field of battle. Rey, one of the only survivors, meets up with him. Han and Mara Jade, returning in haste to help Luke, arrive too late. Despondent, they accept Rey and Finn's offer: to do penance by keeping Luke's vision of peace alive.

Rey and Finn travel to Mandalore, where they are confronted by Leia. Rey perceives that the Sith Lady's power has already been broken with the death of her son and the annihilation of any future she may have head. Using Luke's sabre, she dispatches the evil queen. This breaks her Sith magic temporarily, and Mandalore is once more accessible for a short while. No time has passed there. Obi-Wan awaits them, to teach them yet more wisdom. Since Rey now wields the royal sabre, he is willing to proclaim her Galactic Empress. She tells him that she is a Knight and will remain a Knight. When the galaxy has need of a ruler... Mandalore will release the sabre-- and then she leaves it there, as they depart the planet. Behind them, the time distortion regains its effect, and the planet vanishes.

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Personally, I think this is all quite depressing. It doesn't fit the themes of Star Wars at all. (That's because Star Wars and Arthurian myth are fundamentally different, you see.) One could no doubt make a very interesting tale by turning Arthurian myth into a sci-fi epic (although I'd recommend a lot of alterations to the source material's rather outdated take on certain topics), but it wouldn't be very much like Star Wars at all. The Arthurian story is profoundly sad, and designed to leave you with this feeling of wistful longing for a golden age that was destroyed by wickedness; and even though the evil instigator of that destruction has been defeated, it claimed the lives of the very best of us. We are left in dimmer world, waiting until that which is pure may one day be restored in Avalon.

That's a good story, to be sure, and I really think a talented author could fabricate a sci-fi epic using that basis. One that could rival Star Wars in its success, even. But it would be different, down to the core. The essence of the story is different.