The Knights of Ren began as one of the most intriguing aspects of The Force Awakens. When JJ originally told us about the existence of the Knights, eyes widened across the Star Wars fan community. Who are they? Where did they come from? While we can’t answer these questions today, we can say how and where the Knights seem to come to an end. Spoilers after the jump.
Making Star Wars reports probably one of the biggest leaks about Episode VIII so far. This one reminds me of some of the leaks for TFA way before the movie hit. Those leaks turned out to be mostly true. This one seems plausible too.
The scene describes two fights: One between Luke and the Knights of Ren, and another between Rey and Kylo Ren. Well, you could look at it as one fight, since it starts off as one cronfontation. First, let’s focus on the fight with Luke.
Luke vs Knights of Ren
According to the leak, Luke dispenses with the KoR very quickly, one by one. How powerful is Luke? From what it looks like, he uses a combination of Force-pushes and lightsaber moves. Moreover, there is a lot of “wire work”, according to one source, suggesting that there are going to be a lot of Jedi-acrobatics. I wonder how much of it will be done by Mark Hamill? He might do some, but there is no shame in a stunt double. Keep in mind, Hamill is as old as Alec Guinness was in the original Star Wars.
Let’s set the stage a bit. There was a leaked photo on the Jedi council forums, by member “Nightangel“. The original post is here.
For starters, probably the fight took place here in this plane/meadow area by the coast. Note the fighting location in the upper right:
Getting a better shot of the main area from a different angle that also labels the scene where the fight is likely to take place:
The annotations are from Nightangel, I presume. Seems legit given all the equipment around. Given the location that has a lot of people standing around, there is a strong likelihood that the fight takes place there.
This could be pretty cool. Imagine a fight on the grass there, with the coast and ocean in the background. A lot of Jedi action, leaping and flying, with Knights of Ren being Force-pushed into the air and out into the ocean. I’m stoked that we’ll likely see the same green saber from RotJ. How powerful is Luke at this point? It sounds like he is very powerful. Just completely dispensing with these KoR one at a time, and throwing them into oblivion with a wave of the hand. I’m very much looking forward to seeing Luke in action.
As for the Knights of Ren, it will be very cool to see these guys doing something other than standing around! I’m surprised that they still didn’t make action figures for them despite their limited screen time in TFA. Why do we have Constable Zuvio and not the KoR? I’m convinced we’ll see figures for the KoR for Episode VIII. How could we not?
From the Force-back scene and other concept art it is pretty clear that these guys use different weapons. One has a staff, one has what looks like a cricket bat, or a huge blade. It stands to reason that Luke will choose his method with which to dispense with these guys based on their weapon. Some weapons are best dealt with using his lightsaber, others will be best dealt with using a Force-throw. Either way, these chumps are no match for the last Jedi.
Will this battle be the end of Luke? Not by a long-shot. I think Luke will survive relatively unscathed from this fight for two reasons: 1. We have reports of him on other planets, and because this fight is on Ahch-To I think this is early-ish in the film, and 2. Because Luke is a bad-ass. Oscar Isaac is quoted in a recent interview that:
It’s the dark second chapter, but not really dark.
Luke biting the dust would be really dark. Therefore, I’m actually betting Luke will survive this one. The Knights of Ren are pretty much toast. So long, KoR, we hardly knew you. Maybe some day in an animated series we’ll meet again.
Rey vs Kylo Ren
We recently got some leaks of photos on Malin Head showing Rey in costume:
So this kind of confirms what Rey will be wearing during what is likely close to these scenes. Hard to tell, but it looks like Rey will have her hair pulled back, like the report at the top of the page suggests. This will be an exciting rematch between Rey and Kylo Ren. It’s amazing to think of the dialogue that could transpire. Such opportunities there! One of the things that was missing from, say TPM was a lack of dialogue between Obi Wan/Qui-gon and Darth Maul. Here we have such opportunities to deepen the conflict between Rey and Kylo during this one-on-one battle.
One thing you’ll notice from the report is that Kylo will be without his mask/helmet. So the question is, will there be a scar there left from Rey in TFA? I would think so. Lightsaber wounds don’t heal quickly. Moreover, this scar provides even more motivation for Kylo to try and exact his revenge. What about Rey? Will she show signs of the desire for revenge? Will she show anger and hate toward Kylo, inching her toward the Dark side? I’m willing to bet for two reasons: 1. She already started to show anger in her face in TFA during various scenes, and 2. this is the natural trajectory of the Jedi protagonist of all the Star Wars trilogies. As Oscar Isaac recently said in an interview, all the characters will be tested. I think this will be part of Rey’s test. From the interview:
“All three of them [Dameron, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn] get tested immensely…”
Definitely shaping up to be a great fight. How do you think it will go down? Leave your comments below.
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