I kinda like this alternate history

[james_davis_nicoll]

Something I posted elsewhere:

POD: 1970s: A healthy Leigh Brackett pitches an interesting twist to George Lucas.


1980: Audiences are somewhat taken aback when, during the confrontation scene between Vader and Luke, Vader takes Luke's head off like an offending dandelion flower. Now the fate of the Rebel Alliance, rescuing Han and all that jazz rests on the shoulders of the last Jedi, Leia.

Comments

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

Assuming you go solely by the movies as the only source materials, Luke is the head of Rogue group on Hoth and coordinates the entire air defense of at least two dozen Snowspeeders. He's also got command authority for part of the evacuation of Hoth as shown as he's getting his flight gear prepared.

As for Solo, it's pretty heavily implied that he was originally offered full command of the fighter wings in the Second Death Star assault, and command of the strike team on the Endor moon is argubly the most essential part of the operation.

The films make it clear that by the third movie, they're all considered in the upper eschelons of the Rebellion command structure.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

Yes, we're told that they're in command of various things, but we never see them actually commanding. The most Luke does is order his wingman to cover him. He doesn't make any major tactical or strategic decisions, doesn't come up with a plan of battle or anything. Likewise with Han on Endor. When you compare them to the way Kirk and Picard are portrayed in the Star Trek movies, or Gandalf and Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, it's really hard to take seriously any claims that they're leaders, let alone great ones. They're just individualist heroes who occasionally get red shirts to accompany them on missions.

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

This is getting into nitpick territory but sure.

The most Luke does is order his wingman to cover him. He doesn't make any major tactical or strategic decisions, doesn't come up with a plan of battle or anything.

Not true. The attack on Hoth, Luke brings up Rogue group against the AT-ATs.

--The fleet of snowspeeders races above the ice field at full throttle.
They accelerate away from the base and head toward the distant walkers.

INT. LUKE'S SNOWSPEEDER, ROGUE LEADER - COCKPIT

LUKE
(into comlink)
All right, boys, keep tight now.

DACK
Luke, I have no approach vector.
I'm not set.

LUKE
Steady, Dack. Attack pattern
delta. Go now!--

Luke sets his squadrons attack pattern in relation to the threat on their station. They make the attack, discovering that it doesn't work. Luke adapts.

--LUKE
That armor's too strong for
blasters.

On the horizon, another walker moves up past Luke's cockpit window,
twisting out of sight as Luke banks and starts another run.

LUKE
(into comlink)
Rogue Group, use your harpoons
and tow cables. Go for the legs.
It might be our only chance of
stopping them.--

Luke's new attack pattern brings down several major ground assault units which were thought to be invulnerable to his squads' weapons. I'm not saying it's the Battle of Gaugamela, but there's a pretty clear example right there of command.

Now, that being said, comparing leadership in Star Wars to Star Trek or LotR is pretty dubious. The movies are structured very differently, as are the characters and the necessities of the plot. If you base it strictly on the movies alone, sure, you have to infer that they have the command roles due to some level of competance, because there's never really a place in the plot to showcase it (although, again, Han uses a small unit pretty effectively on-screen to take a fortified enemy position and Luke brings down several enemy units despite being vastly outgunned by them which I'd argue suggest sound tactical judgement).