Talent Without Training is Nothing: A Jab at The Disney Sequel Trilogy?

[Winter]

I put a question mark on this post because I honestly don't know if this was intended as a jab at TDST but, well, that's a very strange line to say. Luke's whole cameo in at the end of Season 2, while awesome, does feel like it's addressing how some fans reacted negatively towards he was written in TDST.

Take Luke's role in the episode, he comes in, wielding his classic Green Lightsaber mowing down a small battalion of Dark Troopers to save the heroes. Then he says he's come for Grogu and promises Din that he will give his life to protect the kid but will only take him if Din gives the Okay. And then there's the line "Talent without Training is nothing".

Maybe this is just speculation but it's hard not to see this as a direct Take That Us in regards to not only how Luke was written in TDST but also how Rey seemed to become so good despite having no training. People who love this scene and people who hate this scene, which there are a few, all seem to think that this is the writers addressing how TDST was handled. But is it?

Before I do let's address the Bantha in the room. The few people who dislike this scene and the whole Talent is nothing unless you put work into it line have said that Luke and, by extension, the writers are being hypocritical as Luke had even less training then Rey. This belief is held on the grounds that Obi-Wan only taught Luke for less then a few minutes and he was shown to be exceptionally skilled with the Force and there's nothing that Rey did that he didn't do just as well. And on top of that Rey DID have training like Luke did, in fact she had even more training then Luke as Leia took on the role of mentor to her for whole year in the events between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker.

Here's my counter argument. Yes, Luke had little training and had a natural talent with the Force which he used to blow up the Death Star, used Force pull and went up against the two of the most powerful Sith Lords of all time. BUT, the Trilogy takes place over the course of at least 6 years in universe and in his first fight with Darth Vader Luke gets utterly owned by Vader and when going up against Palpatine he's brought to his knees after One hit of Force Lightning and needs to be saved by Vader.

Rey, 5 minutes after she learns she has the Force goes toe to toe with Kylo Ren who has been trained in using the Force for his whole life and was trained by two Force users is already using a Jedi Force Pull and Jedi Mind Trick and fighting with a Lightsaber. It took Luke 5 years just to pull off a Force Pull and even after training with Yoda, THE MOST POWERFUL JEDI WE KNOW OF, he was STILL no match for Vader in a straight up fight and needed another whole year of training in order to match his father.

Rey NEVER lost a straight up fight to Kylo and in fact had to save him from a red shirt. And by the end of TLJ, the second chapter of TDST, she is already powerful enough to lift a TON of rocks when it took Luke 6 years just to lift up C-3P0 and that clearly took a lot of effort on his part.

So, just in regards to teh first two films no Rey has no training and yet she's already more powerful then Luke was throughout the entire Original Trilogy. Luke didn't teach her jack about how to use the Force.

The other argument is that Grogu is also farily strong in the Force despite having no training... Except Grogu WAS Trained in the Force. It's stated in season 2, by Ahsoka and confirmed by the little Green Kid himself, that he was trained by the Jedi to use his powers. He wasn't suddenly just able to do all this he had to be trained in the ways of the Force and as shown with Luke and Ahsoka he has a long way to go before he's even close to their levels.

And yet Rey can just do all these things because she's naturally talented in the Force and therefore requires no real training.

So, was the creators of The Mandalorian making a jab at TDST not only for how strong Rey was in the Force but also calling out how poorly Luke's character was handled?