Luke Skywalker

Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker

/ Detached / Leave a comment

The first trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX — which we now know is titled The Rise of Skywalker is finally here! This is the final film in the Skywalker saga which was unveiled at the Star Wars Celebration on Friday 4/12.

Episode IX will pick up years after the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and the remaining rebels of the Resistance have not only survived the onslaught from the First Order, but have reinforced their ranks. They’ll once again take on Kylo Ren’s First Order, but they may also face an old enemy based off the new teaser we got to see. This new trailer shows us wreckage from the Death Star and everyone got a surprise with the ominous laugh of Emperor Palpatine!

Another surprise was Luke Skywalker’s voiceover in the teaser which says “No One’s Ever Really Gone” — perhaps this was a warning, or this may have been to comfort Rey with something she was going through at the time. From the trailer, this movie seems to be about the new generation and what path is ahead of them. Are they getting ready to face the greatest evil the universe has ever seen? Are they ready, and will they be prepared for casualties, loss, emotions, and a final stand?

Will We See Luke Once More?

We all saw Luke pass at the end of The Last Jedi, but death in the Star Wars universe isn’t always the final end.  With this new trailer, we don’t see Luke, but we did get to hear him speaking. What did Luke mean when he said “No One’s Ever Really Gone” and will we get to see a Skywalker force ghost appearance in the new film? One can hope for sure, but it does bring up a lot of questions as to what Luke knew before he passed and what about Rey? Could the title Rise of the Skywalker actually be referring to Rey? Was Kylo Ren lying about Rey’s parents; if he was lying, it could mean Rey is part of the actual Skywalker family.

Has Emperor Palpatine Returned?

The only thing we have to go on here is the evil laugh we heard at the end of the trailer, which leaves almost unlimited room for speculation. As we all know Emperor Palpatine was killed at the end of Return of the Jedi, or was he? We never actually saw a dead body after Vader thew him down the reactor in the Death Star. Even if they did show us a body, I don’t think that truly means he was dead. All the films have established that anyone powerful enough in the Force could come back as a force ghost to speak with the living.

This has been seen throughout the Star Wars films with multiple Jedi who have returned to speak to Luke throughout the series to pass on wisdom, or offer some type of guidance. Could we now see Luke doing the same to Rey as Yoda once did for Luke?

What about Kylo’s Helmet?

While we don’t see Kylo wearing his helm in the trailer, we do see the helmet being fixed by someone. It’s clearly not Kylo himself repairing the helm due to the fuzzy hand we see. Who is this strange figure that seems to be caring for Kylo’s helm?

Wreckage Of A Death Star?

During the trailer we see our heroes come upon a huge chunk of what looks to be a destroyed Death Star in the ocean of a strange planet.

The Death Star.

There were two Death Stars that we know about from the films, and even more from all of the books. One was blown up in deep space, and the other was destroyed near the forest moon of Endor. Could this be a third Death Star that we never saw in the films….or from what I personally think….this is actually wreckage on Endor itself. We’ve never actually seen Endor in the movies, so we don’t have a way to visually compare the planet from the trailer to the canonical Endor. We also know that The Force Awakens almost featured a scene where Rey traveled to Endor to learn about Jedi history but that never made it to the final film.

We will have to wait until Christmas to finally see what surprises the Star Wars universe holds for the Skywalkers…..and their final story in the film series.

Star Wars Episode 8: Thoughts & Questions – Who is This Last Jedi

/ Detached / Leave a comment

the-last-jedi-star-wars-episode-8

Just a few days ago the Star Wars galaxy got great news as the next Star Wars movie, Episode VIII received it’s official title – The Last Jedi.  This spawned a lot of excitement among the fans but the release of the poster that featured red font also spawned a bunch of questions.  One being, who is “The Last Jedi” that the title refers to?  Who knows really what plans the next story has but I wanted to dive into a few of these topics and let you know my thoughts.

Let’s start with the end of Return of the Jedi after Vader passed his son Luke Skywalker was the last living Jedi Knight, or was he?  Just last year we saw the release of the Force Awakens – Episode VII in the series which takes place 30 years after the Return of the Jedi. This also took place after Luke Skywalker had tried to re-unite the Jedi order with a new generation of Jedi.  During the Force Awakens we learn that those young Jedi trained up by Luke were killed by Kylo Ren.  So with that said it raises massive questions about the new title for Episode VIII of The Last Jedi as Kylo Ren was a force sensitive and once fought for the side of good but was quickly taken by the Dark Side of the force.

During Episode VII we also got to meet Rey, which was a very mysterious young girl who we learn during the film was a force sensitive that saw her powers quickly develop. Her force powers came to light pretty quickly during her confrontation with Kylo Ren so it begs the question is she a Jedi? At the end of the Force Awakens, Rey finds Luke on his island hiding place of Ahch-To which brought to light that we now have a Jedi Master, and what could be the next Jedi apprentice! This was such an epic part of the film as Rey delivers the original lightsaber to Luke opening up so many questions, excitement for the next film, and wonder of whats going to happen next.

Now back to our first question of who is the Last Jedi from the new title of Episode VIII? Does this refer to Luke himself, or does the title refer to “Jedi” which can also be plural or singular.  Are we looking at Luke and Rey being the last Jedi in the universe? This title may even refer to a next generation of Jedi from which we see Rey showing force traits in the Force Awakens.  As we know the Force Awakens was a passing of the torch type film for the old generation to the new. What about Kylo Ren as we know he destroyed the generation of Jedi that Luke was training so maybe we will see a rejuvenated Luke when he learns of Rey’s force abilities? This is all speculation of course but these are the thoughts that have been running through my head since seeing the new title for Episode VIII.

I am very excited to see the new film, and I know you all are as well!  Does the Last Jedi refer to Luke from the old generation and the new film is going to be another push on passing the torch to this new generation?  In the Force Awakens the opening roll talked of the Rebel hero as “The Last Jedi” so who is this mysterious Rebel Hero, or Last Jedi?