Epic stories lead people around the world to heroic characters and stories of their deeds. Epics today are harder to come by as they tell of ancient pasts that have mostly been forgotten. The genre that epics fall into usually only exists from works hundreds of years in the past, however recent works like J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 book The Hobbit, and George Lucas’s 1977 film Star Wars have shown that epics can still be created in modern times. Star Wars is a shining example of how epic traditions exists in modern literature through both its storytelling, and its legendary hero, Luke Skywalker. The story of Star Wars is set up in such a way that it can be seen as something from the past. When giving the setting in the beginning the movie, it explicitly says, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” This quote is used to distance the movie from present day and give the story an epic tone. This tone is brought in so that the story can use unique settings that the protagonist finds himself in. The story also starts in the middle, just like many other epics. Having so many settings is very common in epics, and along with the story starting in the middle like other epics proves that Star Wars is indeed an epic. The hero in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker has many characteristics alike with …show more content…
Ben Kenobi acts as a wise guide who is old but experienced in his ways. His dialogue is similar to the epic style of writing because of how he speaks in vague poetic metaphors. The outfits and trinkets that the characters receive is also symbolic of epic literature. In Beowulf, Beowulf finds a sword when fighting Grendel’s mother with magical abilities that helps him to defeat the beast. Luke is given his father’s lightsaber which is also a weapon with special abilities however, he doesn’t fight with the lightsaber in this story, instead using it to strengthen his connection with the