I have a tag on tumblr that I use whenever I post or reblog an image of Luke Skywalker. The tag is #theoriginalhero. Let me explain what this means because it’s something quite personal to me.

I consider myself a true Star Wars fan of the Original Trilogy. What this means is that for me, the OT will always be the best, irrespective of whatever comes after. This may sound a little conceited though, I get that people might think this. How could I possibly know how good a movie will be if I’ve never seen it? Well, that’s the whole meaning behind OT – the original movies that started it all will always be the most important to fans like myself and even though the Sequel Trilogy is actually pretty damn good, nothing is better or could be better than the original films.

And when the sequel trilogy was released, it became quite evident that Rey was the new embodiment of “Luke Skywalker”. Whilst this has never been confirmed (afaik), it’s implied and a lot of the Star Wars fandom see Rey as the hero of the ST which is perfectly fine. But for me, Rey will never replace Luke Skywalker and she will never represent what he did and still does for the Star Wars franchise as its original hero.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the sequel trilogy, I even like the prequel trilogy (yep, I actually do!) in fact, I don’t have an issue with any of the Star Wars movies. Some of the more “hardcore” members of the SW fandom are happy to rip apart the movies for whatever reason but I don’t buy into any of that. I think it’s enough to love the movies the way you want to and many people (like myself) have very personal reasons for being star wars fans. I think this is what makes the franchise what it is. The heart and soul of the Star Wars franchise is the love and enjoyment fans receive from it. As long as this continues to be the case, Star Wars will continue to be one of the biggest and adored franchises of all time and that’s just fine by me.