LogFAQs > #892242246

I want to be upset about this film retconning the hero's victory to make it something bleak and ruinous, but that's pretty much standard operating procedure at this point.

I hated it when The Mask of Zorro had Diego de la Vega rotting away in prison for 18 years and living only for revenge. I hated it when Batman Beyond had Bruce Wayne as a bitter recluse reflecting on how nothing had changed despite devoting his entire life to crime fighting. I pretty much knew when I saw The Force Awakens that they'd as much as state in the next film that Luke Skywalker hadn't had a happy moment since Return of the Jedi.

Once a successor comes along, instead of allowing the old guard to graciously step aside, they've gotta spell it out that the hero's life has been shit since we last saw them many years earlier. The new hero can have optimism or find their happy ending, but the old hero isn't afforded anything except bitterness and the possible release that accompanies death.