Ode to the Nice Guy - why I think Luke was a decent leader and other ramblings
Yo. I felt like sharing something I wrote a couple days ago as I reflected on fandom and the opinions I've soaked up ever since playing the game and roleplaying Luke. It has been interesting. And so here I am, standing by the idea that Luke deserves a liiiittle more acknowledgement as a leader - no less than what many give Kenny or Rick - and that, like with most characters in S2, the game doesn’t show him to his fullest capacity largely because of a railroading plot.
INCOMING TL;DR /alarms go off
Arguments against Luke as a leader tend to be that he’s weak-willed because he avoids going down the dark road of revenge-killing, or doesn’t shoot said person when they’re already helpless, or because he hears out the opinions of his people and often adapts rather than almost forcing them conform to his. It’s true that when he stepped up to become the group’s de facto leader, he didn’t get to be one for very long. :'D But even with the differences of opinion among Luke’s folks, his death proves he was effective enough of a leader to act as the glue. A group is only as strong as its leader, Luke points out himself. And it's his death that really sets into motion the crumbling of what remains of the group, imo.
I find that the Walking Dead show, particularly, pushes this idea that you have to have a degree of ruthlessness and/or detachment to survive. So many sensitive characters with nagging moral consciences (see: Beth, Tyreese) are bumped off because that’s often perceived as a weakness. At the end of the day, what generally seems to matter most – what tends to make characters the most ‘valuable’ to more than a few fans, I’ve noticed (but not everyone, of course) - is how many kills a character can rack up, walkers and humans, without breaking much of a sweat or blinking an eye.
Don’t get me wrong, the brutality of the series is what drew me to it in the first place. I love me some flying walker heads and buckets of blood and fierce, unyielding toughness. But in light of all that I’m kind of drawn to Luke’s restraint towards dealing with human threats even more.
Luke can kill - he knows what he needs to do if a situation calls for it. When Matthew's approaching him and Clem on the bridge, Luke says clearly that if it comes to it and that guy looks like he’s going to shoot, he’ll shoot him first. And Luke didn’t hang back and do nothing during that firefight with the Russian group - he was right up in there, doing what he could to protect his people.
But while he has those weapons and he can wield that machete like a pro, he prefers to use them as a deterrent. Shooting is loud and noise attracts walkers, that’s another thing. But yes – he knows he doesn’t always HAVE to kill. Someone he spares might come back to haunt him someday, that’s true. And maybe he'd have paid for that one day. But what if you’ve gone and killed someone who could have really helped you, one of those rare few good people left, because you made the wrong call? Then you get something like the situation with Matthew on the bridge. Knee-jerk violence doesn’t always have to be the only solution even if it seems like the best and quickest one at the time. (That said, I'll openly admit that I was in the camp of Getting Rid of Carver ASAP 'cause he scared the fuck out of me, lol)
The actor who played Tyreese in the show brought up a very good point I’d like to share because it’s so damn fitting. He says:
*
“You should always wrestle with whether to kill or not. You should be uncomfortable. I really don’t care if somebody thinks it’s soft. If you’re not in touch with your vulnerability, you’re not going to be an effective leader. You need a balance [and] to be in touch with your feminine side.”*
For someone 'hindered' by morals, Luke has lasted a very long time and it couldn’t have been luck that got him that far. He’s a good survivor, a guy always trying to approach situations with a plan. And like everyone else, he has suffered his share of loss. His heart could have folded in and he could have given up on people so easily. But he’s resilient. He can not only self-reliantly push on in the toughest of times but still keep a sense of humour like Omid. And he knows that you need to find others you can trust, that there’s nothing more important in the world than gaining allies and forming strong connections, and that means taking calculated risks. It’s not his crew telling him, ‘why don’t we give so-and-so a chance?’ He’s the guy still saying, ‘he’s [Arvo’s] jus' a scared kid, man’. In that same way he’s one of the only people to defend Clementine in front of his group when they argue over what to do with her when others might have easily just offed her and eliminated the threat because it’s easy and they’re scared.
Luke’s a fairly compassionate guy and he makes some stupid-adorable, achingly honest sadfaces – it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s part of the reason why he can be easily passed off as a 'lesser' leader-type character. He might not look like he’ll stand his ground and put up a fight. He’s not gruff, doesn’t threaten, isn’t loud, and doesn’t really put his pain above anyone else’s.
And Luke doesn’t get a satisfying scene where he gets to take that crowbar and beat Carver’s face in for all the pain he caused. But he stands before the man who terrorized his people for so long and beat him and Kenny half to death, looks him right in the eye, and against every fibre of his being and his lizard brain screaming for justice, he says, 'I’m not doing this. I’m not going to go down that dark and slippery slope he wants me to and I’m not going to become him, even when there isn’t one part of this fucker I don’t hate. His kneecaps are blown, he’s not going anywhere, and walkers are coming’.
It takes incredible strength to walk away from that situation - that opportunity - then for him to surrender to his base desires and swing that crowbar. He says himself that he doesn't know would have done in that situation -- but he tells Clem, 'less'. And as much as I think him rolling with his injuries well or hacking up the undead is pretty cool, that struggling restraint, to me, will always be pretty badass.
In conclusion, I’m definitely NOT saying all up here that Luke is a better leader than anyone else and everyone can go home. He made mistakes, some big ones, which he at least owns up to, and has a hard time striking that balance, sometimes, between leader and friend. He can come off as condescending to his best bud (not out of malice, I honestly think) under the strain of leadership, and yeah, maybe the one guy or girl he might have let go down the road would come back to bite his ass. That's always a legit risk. But I’m just saying that I think he and every other ‘nice guy/girl’ across all mediums of TWD deserve a hat-tip every now and again. They might be quieter, in a way, but I think they're no less important to have around.
Of course, everyone is welcome to his or her own opinion. Think I might doodle out some responses to what I get, just for shits and giggles.
Comments
I always viewed Luke a good leader, but one that at times was a work in progress XD like he's got the skills there and everything, but not enough years behind him to be a decent enough leader, because as it is...he made some pretty stupid choices. Give him a few years and he'd of learnt:
-That running out in the open when people are shooting at you isn't a good idea.
-That having a kid be your only backup for when shit goes down in a decision that nearly kills you both on a bridge isn't the brightest of ideas.
-That when having not eaten in a few days, asking for a friend to sneak out food for you is just as important as asking them to sneak you out a radio so you don't do anything stupid.
-That when a fine booty of a lady asks 'wanna pork?' while your other preggy friend is in labor and you're supposed to be on guard duty for your group, don't think with yo D and politely ask for a foot massage instead.
-That getting yourself some damn glasses and realizing you can walk around a frozen butt turd of a lake so you can speak up about it is REALLY IMPORTANT when your group is this hopeless enough in trusting their prisoner who sent a bunch of assbutts after you all!!!!
;_; he could've gotten there though, he could've. I trusted him more than Kenny and Jane anyways, because I didn't like Kenny's short temper and the way he jumped too quickly to conclusions, and I didn't favor Jane's 'I may or may not abandon you, btw keep it solo kid' attitude neither. Luke had morals I could get behind, and I liked the whole idea of stealth to the plan in Episode 3 [even with the gaping hole of 'bro get yourself some food and sleep a few hours you're not superman idiot'] compared Kenny who wanted to break out of there guns blazing like some action hero movie.
They're all a bunch of idiots honestly, but Luke was my favorite idiot that I trusted the most T_T like I said, a few years and he'd of figured that leader role out better.
Well Said Man, Well said.
I couldn't have said that better myself. And you made me feel many feels. :P
You make some very good points and it's posts like these that make me love Luke more than I already do.
I really want to pick apart what you have said but I don't know how much I could I add. I have a lot to say but I think I would end up turning it into a rant. :P
I think that was just the way Luke acted around Nick. Maybe because he had known him for so long he was true to himself around him. Possibly when he is around Nick that could be the real Luke? Not leader Luke?
I would say more but I'm tired right now, I might say more in the morning. But one thing I know for sure is that I agree with you.
Juicy, juicy commentary.
always viewed Luke a good leader, but one that at times was a work in progress XD
Indeed!
-That running out in the open when people are shooting at you isn't a good idea.
A bad impulsive choice, but he tends to put himself in harm's way (eg. getting shot if going after AJ) when the lives of family are on the line.
-That having a kid be your only backup for when shit goes down in a decision that nearly kills you both on a bridge isn't the brightest of ideas.
True enough, but I blame this one mostly on Telltale. They couldn't have their protagonist Clem do absolutely nothing, so I feel characterization was bent to make things work.
-That when having not eaten in a few days, asking for a friend to sneak out food for you is just as important as asking them to sneak you out a radio so you don't do anything stupid.
That's Luke putting family before himself again, which isn't always good for himself. But in the saving-Clem-in-the-lake scenario, he died trying to save her. Luke and his dumb heroics. But he tries.
-That when a fine booty of a lady asks 'wanna pork?' while your other preggy friend is in labor and you're supposed to be on guard duty for your group, don't think with yo D and politely ask for a foot massage instead.
He really dropped the ball there and I'm glad he recognized it. I think Telltale wanted to give people a reason to side more with Kenny than Luke hence they introduced that bit, and though the timing was bad (fucking teleporting walkers, though), I understand where he's coming from. He's been spending so much time existing and so many of his loved ones died in a short span of time. There's only so much he can bottle, and grief on top of the physical pain he was in and the lack of sleep is going to result in shitty judgment calls. I won't give him a pass on this, but I sympathize. Although, bro, Jane's not good for you, man.
-That getting yourself some damn glasses and realizing you can walk around a frozen butt turd of a lake so you can speak up about it is REALLY IMPORTANT when your group is this hopeless enough in trusting their prisoner who sent a bunch of assbutts after you all!!!! Aye. I think every character got shafted in this regard because of Plot. They also all SAW the town nearby from the observation deck and yet we never heard about it after that. What even.
They're all a bunch of idiots honestly, but Luke was my favorite idiot that I trusted the most T_T like I said, a few years and he'd of figured that leader role out better. Yeah, for sure. He was just finding his footing.
Thanks for the food for thought!
Thanks!
Hm. /strokes chin I guess there's no real way to know for sure. I have my own take on it, which you may or may not disagree with, but them being friends for a long time has something to do with it.
From the way Luke talks about Nick after Luke and Clem find Nick in the cellar, I feel like Luke has seen Nick at his lowest a lot. I know it might make me sound like a butt, but I feel like, after years of trying and trying to pull Nick out of slumps and often getting the brunt of Nick's knee-jerk defensiveness, there comes a point when Luke just throws up his hands with exhaustion and just doesn't know what to do. Nick doesn't feel like he's 'built' the way Luke is, and Luke gets frustrated because he feels like nothing he does helps - everything's met with resistance. He's seen this so much and is worn out enough by it that he can talk about Nick's slumps almost kind of dismissively. And to add to that, Luke recognizes and is afraid that Nick slipping into episodes of self-doubt and self-loathing and compromising grief can not only get Nick killed, but might compromise the safety of the rest of the group. So it's a very tricky position to be in and Luke is going to sound insensitive when he says, "eyes forward, Nick" or "you kiddin' me? if she can do it, you can".
It's rough for both of them, I think. Luke could stand to be more sensitive about it, I agree. But it's also easier to think so when we, as viewers, are not in an actual apocalyptic situation ourselves and we don't exist under the same brutal pressures they do. Pete was a bit rough with Nick too, but he still loved him, y'know? Tough love, but yeah.
In the situation where they were surrounded by the horde outside Howe's, they're all under stress and Luke just doesn't have the benefit of time to think about choosing his words more carefully. He needed Nick to keep calm and focused so they could have their best shot at making it.
And at the end of the day? Luke would rather Nick be alive and fiercely pissed off at him than just become another bittersweet memory, y'know? :']
Again, these are just my thoughts on it, and I definitely can see both Nick's side of things and Luke's. It's tricky shit. Thanks for the comment and food for thought, they're much appreciated!
Well Luke does say it's not the first time he has been like that. So he must have been around at difficult times in Nick's life.
But anyway I agree with you. It's a better thought than all of those Nick fans that just say Luke doesn't notice his best friend is in trouble or that he doesn't care about his friend. So thank you for letting me see it in a different light.
Oof, yeah, I really think he did care. (Those man-hugs Luke gives Nick readily are not your shy shoulder-bumping hugs, they're the real deal. XD) Maybe Luke wasn't as open with his feelings as people expected him to be -- like, it's often held against him that he didn't strongly show his grief. But he's the kind of guy who internalizes it and has to keep it together for the group ('broken people get reckless', he says of Kenny,) and when reflecting on all the folks he lost, he mention Nick first. :'D
I went to a few visitations recently and I saw some of the hardest-hit relatives just go completely blank-faced. Grief affects people in different ways. Sometimes it takes years to catch up with you, but when it does...
It blows, man.
And hey, nothing to thank me for, I love exploring all this stuff. Thanks for generating discussion!
I tend to think Luke bottles everything up to stop people thinking that he is weak but occasionally he explodes in anger and does things with certain people... cough, cough Jane cough, cough
That's what annoys me the most, when people say he didn't react. We don't know what he was thinking and how he grieves. Maybe he cried off-screen or maybe he just doesn't cry at all. As you said grief affects people in different ways.
In a way that's why I like Season 2 so much. There are so many questions that need answers and everyone has a different theory about it.
Yeah, that moment up on the observation deck was huge. You can tell all this shit has been snowballing and then this one good thing he had for a split second is gone and Kenny's jabbing at him and boom. Explosion, yeah. That was his most intense moment though he quieted down pretty quick afterwards. :'D
For sure. If he did step out to get some air and ended up breaking down, I figure he'd have tried taking it far away from other people. Besides... I figure it'd kind of hurt group morale if he crumbled in front of everyone. Hell, if I saw a leader in bad shape like that, I'd probably wonder if he'd still be fit to lead us, y'know?
Right on!
It was interesting to see Luke snap like that. If he had survived I think he would have continued down that road and would eventually crack, it would have been great to see. And yeah, he does go quiet quickly. When Mike asks what's wrong Luke replies with "Everything is fine." So he clearly didn't want people to know he had just exploded in emotions.
Yeah, I think it would have been fine if Mike and Kenny weren't there, I would think Luke would talk more freely around the people he is close to. But if a leader broke down in front of me I would just think they're human, at the end of the day that's what we all are.
Lilacsbloom, just the person I wanted to see, felt you would be interested in this
True dat.
Maaaan, if I had a dollar every time Luke said he's fine/alright and some variant of 'don't worry about me', I'd be living the good life.
Nice read. Luke tried, he truly did. His mistakes were reasonable. I think Telltale wrote his character quite well fleshed out. As a flawed leader with essentially a heart of gold and a personality that's very charasmatic/charming.
Meh I undestand people liked him but I thought he sorta lost rhythm after episode 2. His character kinda slipped
And he died thinking he let everyone down. Hell, he tried to protect Clem in the 'Help Luke' drowning scenario, but he just ended up sinking and watching her float up above him. Probably never got to see her being yanked out.
God dammit.
I'm crazy, so that I why I know what I am about to tell you...
Luke says 'I'm fine' 10 times.
He says 'don't worry about me' once.
He says 'I'm alright' once.
And he says 'I'm okay' once.
IT'S A LAKE! >.< Lake lake lake!
Fair enough. Was a shame he was out of ep. 3 for a while, and in ep. 5 he kinda took a backseat.
.....that could get me a delicious steak. Sweet.
Yep! It could. Well, enjoy your hypothetical steak!
Well there ya go. Luke saved Clementine as his final act, so he didn't let everyone down. Although I think his final thoughts were more of the "oh shit I'm sinking, not ascending!" line.
:'I
Definitely not a great way to go, what with the panic while you're starved for air before finally giving in and taking in lungfuls of icy water.
Ehhhh, I acknowledge the fact that Luke is a nice guy who means well, but dude is the walking definition of a flake. The majority of reasons for that were already pointed out by @Lilacsbloom, but long story short, despite his heroic boy scout routine, he never really did anything useful aside from saving Clem from the river... which was direct result of him getting shot in the leg and falling through the ice in the first place.
I heard it's one of the worst ways you can die... shivers let's talk about something else.... um Luke's facial hair never grows out, mainly his mustache does not connect to his beard. A problem that many men (including me) can relate to.
Oh I didn't see this mentioned, but remember how we met Luke? He saved Clementine's life. A zombie was about to finish her while in a weakened state and he rushed in to save the day. Now he ran straight to her while other zombies were around, this could explain why he tried to run cover to cover/save AJ in the Russian shoot-out. He acts first without putting his safety in mind.
Pretty much. Running after Sarah, staying in the trailer when at least a few people would likely bail while they still had the chance, giving up on sleep to catch up with his pals at Camp Carver's... the list goes on. Love for family will make one do crazy things sometimes.
You're absolutely right. Despite his idiocy when not knowing the difference between a mosquito bite and a lurker bite, he is one of the only people to treat Clementine with hospitality. It's only sad his friend Nick is a dumb ass and had it coming when he died for his incompetence.
I always saw Luke as being a fairly reckless, daredevil kind of dude. If he's not doing something stupid for the thrill of it, he's just not fully thinking it through in the first place, not that much unlike Kenny (minus the bad temper... and the whole "being a little crazy" thing)
There's all kinds of hints and stuff that seem to imply that mind-set:
The little story he tells Clementine about how he used to jump rooftops when he was a kid. Even when Clementine says that sounds stupid, he doesn't even deny it
When he's talking about hiding the knife from Walter, and you ask "What if he finds out anyways", he just says that they'll deal with it when it happens, instead of actually making a plan B in advance
When he comes across the two walkers by the bridge, he immediately jumps on the decision to take them, instead of really thinking it through
When he tries to run from cover to cover in the shootout, and you tell him that he should have stayed down, he pretty much agrees that it was stupid ("Yeah, yeah, I know! God...")
When he proposes scouting the bridge, Carlos asks if he thinks that's a good idea, and he says "I never said it was a good idea..."
If you say you don't want to scout the bridge with him, he tries to convince you by saying it'll be fun
Nick's story about how they went into business together and went broke after 6 months, but that they didn't care because they were having fun
Some of the dialogue options, when you let the timer run out, have him start second-guessing himself. When he comes across the two walkers by the bridge, he'll say something to the effect of "I'm sure we'll be fine... probably." or when Matthew's approaching you on the bridge, he's all like "Just don't make any sudden moves. And don't piss him off. And don't tell him anything... on second thought, maybe I should do the talking", or if you appealed to him in episode 1, he's like "My gut is telling me she's telling the truth. It probably is just a dog bite... probably."
He's reckless, but a less dangerous kind of reckless, where his acts are more likely to put himself in danger than they are to put others in danger (not to say he's made a few bad calls that have endangered other people, but most of them don't). Then there's the fact that he at least realizes that some of the things he's done are stupid. He doesn't try to blame other people, and he doesn't really deny it when other people say if something he did was dumb.
When you started this post I was ready to start raging at you but then when I read through it I actually agree with you. Luke is reckless and maybe a bit dumb and stupid. But that's what makes me love him so much. :P
True stuff. Telltale made him consistent with his character and gave him plenty of moments to show it. It all makes him feel more human and people can relate/empathize easier.
Here here, good post!
He was a decent guy nothing exceptional about him. Though he did get to get it on with Jane. I'll give him props for that.