Luke Skywalker Tries To Finish What Yoda Started In Marvel’s Star Wars #30
We have reached the end of “Yoda’s Secret War”, as told to us via Luke Skywalker reading Obi-Wan Kenobi’s journal. Luke has followed Yoda’s footsteps to the mysterious planet the Jedi Master left a mark on decades earlier. While our young hero thinks this may be a path to becoming a Jedi, those Yoda left behind have other plans for Skywalker. SPOILERS AHEAD…
From the opening pages of #30 it’s pretty clear that Luke Skywalker is in way over his head. Luke has shown up to try and learn a little bit more about the Force, but he’s met by a much older and more disturbed Garro. For most of this arc, Luke has been a bystander, and that really doesn’t change in this issue. Luke will take what he can get when it comes to learning about the Force, but he’s stumbled across someone who does not trust the Jedi, even though Garro doesn’t know exactly what they are, or that his “stone power” is the Force. As you can see, Luke is getting a firsthand look at the stones.
Garro blames Yoda for his current state, an isolated one on a lifeless planet. This was not the person or circumstance Luke was looking to find. We find out exactly why Garro has been driven to madness on this anonymous world. Pay attention to the frame above, these stone creatures rising from the underground for Luke like something out of a zombie movie.
We take a trip back down memory land where we last left Yoda, literally at the foot of the mountain. Garro and his Stonehawkers are pretty anxious to see Yoda squashed under this large creature. Remember, the mountain that Yoda and Garro made their way through is actually a living being who has been weakened by the warring people. Once the mountain awoke, Garro returned to his faction of a fractured people and betrayed Yoda. Now, Yoda is trying to teach Garro and all of the people that they can be at peace with these giants and themselves.
Yoda doesn’t stand up against the mountain lightly, but his balance in the Force helps show the Stonehawkers that they don’t need to fight. The Stonehawkers realize they can’t use their stone power against Yoda and the people they have deemed enemies, the Muckwhackers. Yoda realizes that he is not only waking up one mountain, but an entire race of mountains that were mined to submission.
Yoda has awoken the mountains and their stone power and he has ended a war on this unnamed world.
As soon as peace came to the planet, the people grew and began to spread out through the galaxy. The stone power dwindled and the mountains…well, it seems like they died. Except, Luke recognizes that the smaller beings emerging from the ground beneath him are the children of the mountains. They are what is left of the stone power, and Garro resents them for it. Garro has been driven mad by resentment and his obsession with the stone power. It’s not exactly full-on dark side, but Garro has definitely strayed from the benevolent child Yoda encountered deep within the mountain earlier in this arc.
Luke ignites his lightsaber and chooses to protect the children of the mountains from Garro. Garro is amazed by Luke’s selflessness in trying to protect these children. It stirs something up in Garro, it reminds him of his last encounter with Yoda.
Garro remembers the last time he and Yoda spoke. He remembers the force for good that Yoda was, even though Garro chose a selfish path of resentment. Garro strayed from the path of the stone power, or the Force, and chose a life centered on trying to gain power while the galaxy around him moved on. There was no war left to fight, but Garro wanted to fight anyways. The fight was within himself and he strayed so far he forgot himself and the stone power. As he realizes this, he realizes Luke was brought to the planet it to remind him of Yoda’s final lesson. Garro leaves his final mark on his world by casting his own stone power into what is left of the mountains, vanishing in a flash of brilliant blue before Luke’s eyes.
Luke is lead off by the children in the mountain, who he vows to help, and that is the last we see of him. As he makes his way into the heart of the mountain, the stone power calls across the galaxy to someone who has no doubt been watching Luke make his way to this strange world.
Overall, I was happy with this arc and satisfied with it’s final issue. It was interesting to see how a culture completely apart from the rest of the galaxy viewed the Force. As we learn more and more as the scope of Star Wars stories expand, the Force means something different for everyone it is touched by. This tale served as cool window into how Yoda has seen so many aspects of it. I don’t think this will happen any time soon, but I’d love to see some of Yoda’s early adventures, like 600-years younger Yoda. I imagine Yoda has many tales like this to tell.
This arc was starting to feel tired to me in the last issue, but Jason Aaron pulled off the conclusion nicely. Where Luke goes from here only leads to one place, the second Star Wars event and one I am very much looking forward to.
This issue is available at your local comic shop or digitally through comiXology.
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
I want to re-read this arc completely to gather my thoughts on it. But I feel this arc went a little too far on the “mystical” side of Star Wars.
But then again I felt that for Mortis Arc, the Night Sisters and Sidious using “sith magick” in the Clone Wars at first, but now I enjoy them.
Personally, I’d rather Star Wars go more into fantasy than sci-fi. Midichlorians and whatnot.
Clone Wars introduced the fantasy element to midichlorians. From what I took from it. There are two forms of the force; the living and cosmic. Whereever Yoda was in that arc is were the cosmic force was converted back into the living (as midichlorians).
I dont mind midichlorians. There has to be a barrier to stop everyone from actively using the force. Given the whol cosmi-living force thing, having the midichlorians choose you still keeps the “Force chose” you magic in star wars.
Mmmm…no. The Force is an energy field that surrounds and binds everything. Some people can tap into it and some can’t. Midichlorians are completely unnecessary in that explanation.
Those people would hence be conduits to the Force energy feild. Since these indvidualls occur randomly + are not connected in any which way through biology, race or species (as various species from across the galaxy can connect to the force). There must be a mechanism which differntiates them from “normal” individuals,to allow them to tap into the Force.
Otherwise why can’t anyone use the force ?
The cosmic force “selects” these individuals by giving them midichlorians (the mechanism which allows the individual to use the force).
The individual isnt less special, all midichlorians tells us is that this is what differeniates a non-force user from a force user on a phsyical level.
They are still “chosen” by the force, its still mystical.
No. They wield the Force because they wield the Force, and fuck midichlorians, there is no reconciling the two. It should be like muggle-born wizards in Harry Potter.
How does midiclorians effect that.
They have midichlorians to weild the force because they have midichlorians to weild the force.
There is nothing different. The midichlorians appear randomly in a person just as the force appears randomly
*Dies*
ahem Legends do it also. Have you read some of the shit like the Spirit Bomb rip-off
I’m a bit confused; so now Luke knows who Yoda is before TESB? In the film it seems like he’s never even heard of Yoda…
I imagine from reading the journals it helps Luke to create that image of Yoda being a great Jedi Master/Warrior, without knowing he’s a little old green guy.
The journals never mention Yoda by name.
Too much going on in this series…best to flip though it or it’ll drive you nuts.so outside of the characters behaviour that we know… blahhh
The first few issues of this arc were good but they lost me when they started to weave Luke into the story.
So are we finally getting closer to some stories post ESB?