To all the Star Wars nerds like myself...

I'm to brained out to think of anything to write. So instead, I'm going to post this incredibly nerdy essay exam that I just completed. If you actually read this, which would be slightly incredible, you will see that I have seen Star Wars waaaayyyy too many times. So...here is the hero's journey as seen through Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Define in depth the hero’s journey for a single character in either of the trilogies (Star Wars or The Matrix) in each of the three films and in the trilogy as a whole.

In the Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker completes the hero’s journey. In A New Hope, Luke started out the trilogy as a young farmer who worked for his uncle in his ordinary world on the planet Tantooine. The journey began when his uncle purchased R2D2 and the holographic image of Princess Leia. Soon after, he meets Ben Kenobie, his soon to be mentor who furthers the call by asking him to go with him to defeat the imperial forces. Luke refuses the call because his Uncle Owen says he must stay and help with the harvest. When Luke returns from Ben Kenobie’s house, he finds that his entire village has been burned down and his aunt and uncle had been killed. This allows Luke to answer his call to adventure due to the fact that he doesn’t have a reason to stay on Tantooine anymore. Before Luke could get past the threshold, he had to get past the guardians. The guardians in this episode were the aliens in the Mos Eisley Cantina and the storm troopers that were attempting to capture R2D2 for his information on how to destroy the Death Star. Once Luke escapes the troubles with help from his mentor, now referred to as Obi-Wan Kenobi, he crosses the threshold by leaving Tantooine. At this point, Luke is starting to discover his purpose because he knows there is no turning back. He is aboard the Millennium Falcon with his allies, R2D2, C3PO, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. His enemies are Darth Vader and all of the imperial forces. The first test he is put through is when Obi-Wan uses the remote droid to fire lasers at Luke while he wears a shield over his eyes and has only a light saber to deflect them. This is when Luke finds out how to use the force. Luke approaches his innermost cave when he is aboard the Death Star and must let Obi-Wan be killed by Darth Vader. Ben assures him that once he is dead, he will be more powerful than ever through the force. Luke is torn between attempting to save his mentor or save himself along with the rest of the crew. The reward from escaping comes when they get away with Princess Leia and the plans to the Death star. After they get back to the rebel station, they find a way to destroy the Death Star. Once they have this knowledge, Luke embarks on his second ordeal. He must get through all of the imperial fighter pilots and the lasers aboard the Death Star to make a nearly impossible shot to destroy it. Luke eventually succeeds with the help of his ally, Han Solo, and his mentor, Obi-Wan, returning to tell Luke to use the force. They then escape the exploding Death Star and begin the road back to the rebel base. It is there that Luke receives praise and reward from all of the rebel troops.
In the next film, The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan gives Luke his call to adventure by appearing and telling him to go to Degobagh to train with Yoda. Luke answers the call and by embarking to Degobagh and meeting his new mentor, Yoda. The threshold is crossed when Luke crash lands into a pond and cannot turn back. Luke’s tests begin when he starts training with Yoda. He then begins seeing visions and knows that his allies from the previous episode are in peril. He approaches his innermost cave when he caves into Vader’s trap. Despite Yoda’s pleas and his better judgment, he goes to save them, leaving his training unfinished. Luke knows his ordeal and plans to face it anyway. Darth Vader has captured Leia, Han, and Chewbacca knowing that they would draw Luke to him. Once Luke arrives, he has to battle Vader. Vader tells him that he is Luke’s father, which puts Luke into another cave, and another ordeal, knowing that he must kill his own father. Once Luke escapes, he uses the force to contact Leia, who we now know is his sister. The episode ends with a return to the rebel base, and Luke being fitted with an artificial hand, which was cut off by Vader. There is no reward for Luke at the end of this episode.
In episode VI, The Return of the Jedi, Luke is on his own. He does meet a new mentor, as he is now a fully trained Jedi Knight, although Obi-Wan and Yoda are still with him through the force. The episode starts out with a test for Luke. He must free all of his allies who have been captured by Jabba the Hutt. After freeing them, he returns to Degobagh and quickly approaches another cave. He finds that Yoda is sick and on the verge of death. His dying mentor tells Luke that his training is complete and that he must confront his father, Darth Vader. Luke then knows what he has to do. His final ordeal will be to face and defeat his father. When Luke does confront and fight Vader, he realizes that killing him would only bring out the dark side in him. He cannot succumb to anger and hate and insists that Vader still has some good left in him. He decides to let the emperor kill him rather than turn to the dark side. Before he can, Vader finds the little good he has left and destroys the emperor. Luke then gains his final reward, which was the destruction of the imperial forces. The resurrection is when Luke returns to Endor with the rebel forces and joins in the celebrations along with images of his past mentors, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anikin Skywalker.