So, I'm Alastair, and I'm a wonk.  I'm a writer of genre fiction, a coder and designer, a lover of coffee, and a Good Eats addict.  My favourite authors are Douglas Coupland, Peter F Hamilton, Jennifer Crusie and, of course, my wife Lani. :)

That's me; who are you?

Looking to read something from Terry Pratchett since I've heard so much about him. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.

-Corky

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My preference for Luke probably starts with my general taste in characters, especially those of the male persuasion.  I like dorky, awkward guys, which suits Luke's character profile.  I also like male characters who are genuinely Good and kind, ones who believe that the universe is a light-filled place and that there are genuinely kind people in it, and that the pursuit Goodness and Light is worthwhile.  I've never cared for "bad boy" characters.  I feel that much of their appeal is superficial; because they are 'bad' (but not Bad) they can get away with being snarky and jerky, whereas a Good character would NEVER do such things (an assertion with which I disagree).  I'm just not into this.  I prefer characters that I can admire, who possess traits that I wish to emulate.  I shouldn't have to squint to see past the bad stuff and find the teeny tiny splotch of genuine goodness in a character, unless that's the point of the story.   I respect Luke's genuine belief in, and pursuit of, Light, and I appreciate that it's a major component of his personality rather than a tacked on "he saves puppies so he must be a good guy" thing. 

A second argument against Han (not that he's a bad character) is that I find his personality a bit too similar to mine to really appreciate. What I mean is that, like Han, I tend to use humor and sarcasm to keep a comfortable distance from people.  I don't like this aspect of myself, so seeing it in a character is a little difficult.  The fact that this humor is mostly directed at the audience also makes it difficult to connect with Han; we don't see him as a vulnerable character because we're too busy smirking at his one-liners.  Luke, while dorky and bland for the duration of the first two films, has the benefit of being somewhat weak and vulnerable.  He is genuinely affected by the events occurring throughout the stories and he reacts accordingly, showing fear and anger and despair.  By being vulnerable and expressing these feelings he is given the opportunity to overcome them and become a better, stronger person.  This segues nicely to my next argument, which is...

Character development.  When we first meet Luke he is a whiny, shitty teenager full of youthful self-centeredness and aspirations to becoming a Jedi, with absolutely no understanding of what that lifestyle means or the effort needed to reach that state of existence.  Throughout the trilogy (especially in Return of the Jedi) he undergoes the mental and emotional maturation necessary to perceive the world as a sliding scale of grayness instead of simply Dark and Light.  What makes this even more meaningful for me is that he does so after 

1)  the brutal murder of the only parental figures he'd known

2)  witnessing the death of the crazy old man who'd sucked him into this mess

3)  almost freezing to death on Hoth then crashing on some gross swamp planet and being stuck with a grumpy little troll man

4)  failing to save one of his only friends (Han), losing his hand in a lightsaber battle with Vader and THEN finding out that, oh hey by the way, Vader's his father; and

5)  the girl he's been lusting after is actually his twin sister.