This is part 3 of my ongoing look at the second draft of Star Wars, called The Adventure of the Starkiller.

In part 1 I talked about the history of the Star Killer and the opening scene on the Tantive IV. Part 2 was a look at 3PO and R2s trek over the Utupau landscape and the differance between these droids to the ones we know and love today.

PART 3: AT THE OWENS AND FACING DESTINY

Scene 32-37

3POs and R2s trek through desert of Utupau ends here where they encounter Biggs and Windy Starkiller, two boys (twins most likely) that live that the Owen and who are around the age of 7. There they also meet Owen who Lucas describes as being a bearded, sturdy-burly man in his early fifties and Beru as being his plu[m]p-jolly wife, so the characters haven't change their look since the second draft.

What is interesting here is that the Owens have a 16 year old daughter called Leia who gives one the feeling that she's someone who is shy and quiet. Far from the Leia we know.

When the droids have realised that they've reached the Lars homestead, they give the code word "Angel Blue" (i.e we're looking for Luke). The Owens response is one of surprise and Leia says this:

Father, I think they're a trap, sent by an evil Jawa trading lord, or the dark master of the Bogan, or maybe even the Emperor himself.

My initial was one of amusment because I tried to picture an evil Jawa trade lord and wondered how that would look like but then I noticed the other part of the quote. In the first part of my analysis I wondered wether Prince Espaa Valorum, who is the Master of the Bogan really also was the Emperor. Here Leia makes a clear distinction between the Master of the Bogan and the Emperor, so it's interesting to think that the Emperor of the Starkiller had to get help from the Sith to exterminate the Jedi or that he took advantage of the rise of the Sith. Anyway, the Sith work for the Empire as we find out in the first scene when we meet Vader so there must be some kind of connection between the Emperor and the Sith, yet it is unclear.

It begs the question, why is the Master of the Bogan below the Emperor? Lucas makes it clear several times that the Bogan is a very strong force so why isn't Valorum the Emperor? The Emperor can't be a Sith because then he would be the Master of the Bogan, so he must be a common politican, yet all the Sith work for him. What kind of power does this Emperor hold? Interesting questions indeed.

When 3PO makes it clear that they come from Deak Starkiller, Owen points out to them were Luke Starkiller is. They find Luke in a ravine brandishing a lightsaber and training against a remote. Luke seems very comfortable with the lightsaber, even though the remote is too fast for him. From this we can draw the conclusion that "unlikely/unwilling hero" thing comes much later. Here's a Luke that knows of his legacy and knows that one day he must face up to it and he has been preparing for a long time.

When I realized this, it felt like some of of the charm of Star Wars was gone. Luke seemed to be on a much higher level in the Starkiller. The Luke we know feels more human in his unwillingness to leave what he knows but when he has lost all, he throws caution to the wind and follows Obi-Wan. It has got more charm to it then "Oh, I've feared this day for a long time, even though I have been preparing for that". That is a role filled by the wise mentor like Obi-Wan when he realises that The Day has come or Gandalf who realises The Time has come to do something about the Ring. The hero is almost always the unprepared one...

The droids meet him and give him a hologram message from Deak that tells Luke to bring the Kiber Crystal to Ogana Major and to his father. Very similar to the Leia hologram. This is when Luke realises that The Time has come.

Some interesting stuff appear at the dinner with the Owens. Especially when Owen says:

The force of the Bogan is strong, and if you don't feel you can make it, you probably won't.

So Owen is Force sensitive? Another interesting side of Owen appears when he says this:

I have taught you the ways of a skilled warrior, but I am not a Jedi Bendu. The ways of the spirit you must learn from your father.

Quite clearly, Owen must be an old Jedi. Owens homestead seems to be kind of sanctuary for the sons of the Starkiller and a training ground too. He's not the unwilling uncle who wants Luke to stay on another season but instead he's the mentor and the cheerleader who effectivly says "Your father and the galaxy needs you. Go!"
It's an odd feeling reading Owen Lars questioning why Luke doesn't want to go when one is so used to the Owen that wants to be better safe rather then sorry. We can see quite clearly that the persona of Owen was taken and made into Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, Owen is not adventorous,saying that he needs to stay and train the twins and that's what sets him apart from Obi-Wan. Owen is simply the guy that pushes Luke into adventure on the contrary where Luke gets thrown into it by accident.

An interesting thing here is that the mother of Luke is more prominent here then just being a vague mention in Return of the Jedi. She is actually buried outside the Lars homstead, similar to Shmi in Attack of the Clones.

Luke sits before a tall smooth stone planted on a burial mound. He sits with his head bowed to his knees. Finally he stands up and speaks to the stone.

Looking at the description of the whole scene, one can see that Lucas lifted it out of the Starkiller and put it into Attack of the Clones

Here we also get to know more of the history behind the Starkiller. Here, the Jedi order was founded by the Skywalker who discovered the Force and he taught it out to his sons who taugh it to their. So basically, being a Jedi was a family business. Luke describes also the fall of the Republic. It was due to several assasinations and rigged elections which made the Trade Guilds secretly come into power. The Jedi discovered this and were branded traitors. This is almost exactly as it happens in the Prequel. Luke then describes how the Senate funded anti-government terrorism to create civil disorder. This sounds exactly like the whole Separatist thing. The Senate also slowed down the justice department so that crime rose and an dictatorial police state would be welcomed.

This shares similar elements with the Prequels but differ on several points. The thing that sticks out is that the Senate seems to be the main antagonist here and not a single person. Also, it can be debated if someone was pulling the strings behind the Senate (one thinks of Palpatines quote "I am the Senate") like for example the Trade Guilds but somehow it comes across that the Senate acted out on it's own accord, somehow inviting the Trade Guilds in. That's how it looks to me anyway.

Of course, the Fall is covered here. A Padawan called the Darklighter fell to the Bogan and ran off, similar to what we know of Vader before Revenge of the Sith and he encounters Sith pirates and train them in the ways of the Force who then hunt down the Jedi and kill them. It's never clear if this Darklighter is either Espaa Valorum or Darth Vader or someon else for that matter. However, the Sith then become the loyal bodyguards of the Emperor so it can be debated if the Emperor is the Padawan that fell from grace.