We’ve spent some time thinking about Snoke. You can read our previous articles on him here, here, and here. We’ve explored many of the theories and rumors out there. That’s what we do at Spoiled Blue Milk. We dig up the theories from the unknown regions of the world wide web, and run them up the flagpole, and see if the evidence holds up. Today is no different. more “The one theory about Snoke that seems to hold up.”
Now that I have The Force Awakens on Blu-Ray and can watch it whenever I want I have been thinking more and more about the questions that the movie left unanswered. Some of these questions will most likely be answered in spin off materials such as novels and comics but others are key to how the main story will progress. Others will influence how we see the characters moving forward and influence their actions too. Lets figure out what big questions there are more “The biggest questions for Star Wars Episodes VIII and IX”
Now would be a great time to do an analysis of the Rogue One trailer but that’s not what we’re going to do. Why? Well there are already probably hundreds of them and the only thing I can add to those is my opinion. You want that? It was great, as a fan that follows Star Wars new obsessively I got what was going on and and am super excited. I do however see some flaws, the most important being not letting the average viewer know the time frame of the movie. That being said even those people are excited by the trailer. There are two questions that people have had: Who is kneeling and who is the guy in white?
I’m so excited about seeing the Rogue One trailer tomorrow that I thought I would post a bonus article. Here goes…
OK, so I didn’t see this anywhere online, so either I’m crazy, or I could be the first to point this out. It appears that maybe, just maybe, JJ Abrams put Batman into the Maz’s castle scene. Why would I ever think such a thing would happen?
We’ve commented at lengths about the numerous parallels between Rey and Ren. Yeah, that’s right, I’ve called him “Ren” instead of Kylo as a usually do because we’ve recently learned that the Knights of Ren are named after Kylo Ren. Not the other way around as early reports suggested. It was originally said by Abrams in an Entertainment Weekly interview that Kylo Ren took the name “Ren” when he joined the Knights of Ren.
Now that we have the second season of Rebels in the bag we have to ask ourselves what happens next. Where will our intrepid heroes end up? To answer those questions we need to first review what happened in the finale. I must admit I was ultimately disappointed in the finale. more “Rebels: So…now what?”
Rey’s hairstyle is taking the world by storm. There are now many, many, more, and even more websites and videos that guide Star Wars fangirls on how to fashion their hair into Rey’s signature 3 bun style. No doubt this hair style is one of the biggest things since Leia’s original hairstyle in A New Hope. Only a unique hairstyle like this can match Rey’s excellence as a character in Star Wars.
Chekhov’s gun is a literary tool that is used to cut superfluous dialog, scenes, and action in a story.
“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there- Anton Chekhov
The origin of Rey has been quite a mystery and one of the most discussed mysteries in The Force Awakens. We discussed this earlier a few times, and we’ve concluded that a key part of her backstory, regardless of her parentage, is her “clan”. But who or what exactly was this “clan”? Presumably, the clan is Rey’s clan, and the group of people/tribe/clan in which she was born. Perhaps some of her early years were spent with the clan.
more “Who exactly was the “Clan Leader” in Rey’s flashback?”
Yes, yes. To Obi-Wan you listen. The cave. Remember your failure at the cave! -Yoda
Caves have had a recurring presence in Star Wars from the beginning. From the space-slug cave on an asteroid in ESB (“This is no cave!”), to the Wampa’s ice cave in the same movie, to the recent Episode of Rebels that found Zeb and Kallus trapped in a cave on a moon, to the cave in the deleted scene of Return of the Jedi where Luke finished building his lightsaber. Caves have been a common mythological motif going way back. Going all the way back to…well…all the way back to cavemen.
Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia, once an apprentice of Luke, now the Master of the Knights of Ren renamed Kylo Ren, the question is how? What lead Ben Solo to abandon his training with Luke and seek out the Darkside? How did Snoke begin to influence Ben? Today I’m going to explore some of my ideas on how this happened. This will be pure speculation based on the information we currently have available. Bloodline, coming out in May could possibly fill in more information but who wants to wait, right? more “The fall of Ben Solo”
Wednesday night’s Episode of Star Wars Rebels, “Shroud of Darkness” brought back some greatness to the series. Rebels finally delivered what many fans have wanted. In one episode, we got to see Yoda (voiced by the great Frank Oz), see the Grand Inquisitor’s identity/origin, and get to see the Jedi Temple on Lothal again. Millions of fans cheered as a series that many had felt was dragging its feet finally brought something excellent. That was my reaction at least. Up until this point, I was a bit ho-hum on the series; I’m finally excited again about Rebels.
Last week I told about how I thought Rogue One could hurt the Star Wars Mythos and I felt like maybe I was a bit of a downer. So I’m back with five reasons you should be excited about Rogue One
Snoke and Kylo Ren had a pretty clear picture of what caused the downfall of the Empire, and the downfall of the Sith as well. In a conversation presented in the novelization, but not the movie, we have Snoke ask Kylo the question:
Empire day. On that day seen in Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine reorganized the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. That day also saw the birth of Ezra Bridger, causing him to hate that day for many years after. The crazy thing is, Luke and Leia were born just days after Ezra in another scene of RotS. According to Pablo Hidalgo (who is the next best thing to canon: canyon) in Rebels Recon going back to June 2015, Luke and Leia were born a mere two days after Ezra. So in a span of two days, we have the birth of the Empire, and the birth of Ezra, Luke and Leia. It’s as if this span of time represents a temporal nexus point in the Galaxy far far away…
more “How will Star Wars Rebels play into the Sequel Trilogy?”
Empire day. On that day seen in Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine reorganized the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. That day also saw the birth of Ezra Bridger, causing him to hate that day for many years after. The crazy thing is, Luke and Leia were born just days after Ezra in another scene of RotS. According to Pablo Hidalgo (who is the next best thing to canon: canyon) in Rebels Recon going back to June 2015, Luke and Leia were born a mere two days after Ezra. So in a span of two days, we have the birth of the Empire, and the birth of Ezra, Luke and Leia. It’s as if this span of time represents a temporal nexus point in the Galaxy far far away…
more “How will Star Wars Rebels play into the Sequel Trilogy?”
This December we get our first Star Wars movie that doesn’t revolve around the Skywalker family and its mythos. We have had books, video games, and tv shows that gave us different viewpoints, eras, and characters but they have always been auxiliary. The stories told in those media were sometimes good, sometimes bad but they were never central to how we understood Star Wars because Star Wars has always been about the Big Screen. Now we have an addition to the Big Screen Star Wars that is outside of the Mythos and I have to ask is that good thing?
Colin Trevorrow has definitely got his mind on Star Wars, already planning a great finale to the Sequel Trilogy. He’s even gone as far as to contemplate how to do a shot in outer space. That would be truly amazing, but how would they do it? They’d maybe take an airplane very high in the atmospher to accomplish this, but even then to stabilize the camera for a “Star Wars shot” might be tough. Nevertheless, I like the way he is thinking. He wants to create an ultra-real Star Wars.
Greetings fellow Star Wars fans! I’m back to do some head scratching about The Force Awakens. There’s no doubt that Rey has some impressive Force powers in The Force Awakens. One power that she definitely seems to have is psychometry. She had a Force-vision when she touched the lightsaber for the first time. It makes you wonder what she experienced the second time she touched it…
Greetings Star Wars fans! Well, I must say for the most part things are a little quiet on the Star Wars news front the past week. That is, compared to previous weeks when news has been flying fast and furious.
…but there was one thing…
Hello Star Wars fans! We’re back for another spoiler-fueled article on The Force Awakens. This time, to contemplate whether or not Finn is a Force-sensitive. This is a question that a lot of people have been wondering after the movie.
Hello Star Wars fans! The news is coming fast now, for Rebels, Rogue One, and Episode VIII! This is the exciting part, when we have just enough information to start speculating. One thing is clear, there are a lot of opportunities for connections on all of these, plus with The Force Awakens. In particular, there is a specific line of events that has the potential to connect a great deal of the Star Wars saga, and it goes from the “Sith Temple” seen on Rebels, to the Death Star, to Star Killer base, connecting the PT, the OT, and the ST all in one fell swoop if done right. As usual with our site, spoilers are the norm, so consider yourself warned. Now let’s get into it.
more “Death Stars and Star Killers: New Insight from Rebels?”
Masks have a long history of symbolism in many different cultures. Masks can be used to evoke fear, humor, and reference something else like an animal or a monster or whatever. It can also serve a lot of other meanings too, and the Star Wars saga is no stranger to masks. Consider, for example, how the Storm Troopers used helmets that also serve to mask their faces. These helmets evoke fear, but also serve to dehumanize the troopers, and to remove their individuality. Importantly, masks symbolically can mean that someone is hiding their true self.
Greetings, Star Wars fans! I’ve been thinking about kyber crystals lately, what with all the occurrences in Rebels, and it got me thinking about Rey. Before we get into that, let’s talk about where they come from.
Before The Force Awakens was released we had a ton of questions about who Rey was. Now we have seen the movie several times we STILL have a ton of questions about Rey. Who are her parents? Who left her on Jakku? What happened to her family? What was her life like before she was left on Jakku? And finally can we trust what she said about her past? We’re going to try to answer these with informed speculation, cut scenes, and additional information from the novelization.
The events at the end of The Force Awakens leave the galaxy far far away in new uncharted state of affairs. Before the start of The Force Awakens the Galaxy was in a holding pattern. The remnants of the Empire had retreated to the Outer Rim Territories and uncharted areas and reorganized into the First Order. The Republic had a non-aggression treaty with the Empire/First Order that allowed them to rebuild the damage caused by the Empire and the war between the Rebellion and Empire.
Happy New Year, Star Wars fans! I’m back to contemplate a very intriguing character from The Force Awakens, Lor San Tekka. He has a very brief role, but leaves a significant impression on viewers due to Max Von Sydow’s excellent performance. But who is he exactly? I wrote a speculative piece back before the move came out. Now that we’ve actually seen the movie, we know a little bit more.
more “The backstory of Lor San Tekka: Connections to Rogue One?”
Merry Christmas, Star Wars fans! We’re back after reviewing The Force Awakens to bring you more theories about the movie that we saw, and to begin theorizing about what comes next. If you haven’t yet, check out our reviews of TFA here and here.
more “Rey’s Force-vision, and what it says about the backstory to The Force Awakens”
That magic moment. That moment just before the opening crawl hits for the first time with a blast of the trumpets and John Williams classic score. You can feel in the excitement in the air at that moment when everything goes silent. The anticipation is palpable.
Lor San Tekka is quite a mysterious character. Next to Snoke and Maz Kanata, he stands as the most unseen character in The Force Awakens. We know almost nothing about his backstory, but if we put the little bit that we do know together, we get the suggestion that he is much more than a village elder.
EDIT: I’ve just posted a new article about Lor San Tekka here since seeing the movie. Check it out for more insight! Also, I’ve just posted a review of TFA here , and it addresses some of the unanswered questions about Lor San Tekka.
A key plot point and the first live image of Lor San Tekka, played by Max Von Sydow, recently came out of a “Look and Find” book, from which we have the image:
The big news is that Lor has “a message that will help the Resistance against a new threat”. Not only that, we have that the message was placed inside BB-8 (thus mirroring ANH with Leia’s message in R2D2).
We have been told that Tekka is just a Jakku village elder, so why would this particular message be his? It’s possible that the message didn’t originate from Tekka, but rather was already in the lightsaber.
For those of you that may not be aware, Tekka is in possession of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, the one lost on Cloud City in ESB. He gets it from Nakka, who finds it, and it isn’t until Lor San Tekka recognizes it’s importance that it is kept safe. If we connect this to other rumors about BB-8, we have the potentially relevant peices:
From an old post at MakingStarWars, we have the following:
We follow our main hero, Rey as she says goodbye to the important players in the film, Leia, Poe, and so on. Meanwhile BB-8, Artoo-Detoo, and See-Threepio decode a puzzle. Rey makes a special stop to say goodbye to Finn in the medical bay.
So is it possible that the “message” that Lor leaves in BB-8 is the puzzle, or is encoded in the puzzle? We have from other rumors that the puzzle not only encodes Luke Skywalker’s location, but is also too difficult for humans to solve:
The Resistance cannot decipher the puzzle to find Luke Skywalker, everyone overlooks the droids as potential puzzle solvers.
There was a lot of speculation, and a hint at confirmation (thanks to Darth_Zidious for digging that up for me) over this that the puzzle was put inside Luke’s lightsaber, or was some how part of the puzzle. This is because another article, again from MakingStarWars, reports that:
Poe Dameron arrives and retrieves the lightsaber from [Lor San Tekka]. The only problem? They’ve brought the Empire there as well (not sure if the Empire followed Poe or intercepted the initially transmission he received). Poe sees Stormtroopers are coming and he places the laser sword safely in a little droid: BB-8.
It is believed that Lor San Tekka has Lukes lightsaber, which he got from Nakka. Therefore, we have to wonder if Lor’s message and the puzzle encoding Luke’s location are one and the same. Under this theory, Luke is the thing that “will help the Resitance against a new threat” (presumably Snoke?) This would certainly simplify everything, but could be more controversial than it first looks.
The reason why Lor San Tekka’s message encoding Luke’s location is questionable is because how would Lor know Luke’s location? The way around this is that Luke encoded the puzzle that contains his location, and it was already in the lightsaber. This would be fine, but it says it’s “Lor’s message” according to the official material. Therefore, we have the other possibility that Lor’s message and the puzzle are two different things. Under this scenario, we have from the quote above that Lor’s message “will help the Resistance defend against a new threat”. So it must be something to do with the StarKiller base and some critical piece of info to take down this weapon. This is equally problematic because it raises the question of how Lor knows about the StarKiller weapon?
So we have two possibilities:
The second seems most likely. This is because it is quite possible that everyone and everything on Jakku was formerly part of the Empire, left there after the fall of the Empire following the Battle of Jakku (at least initially; other scavengers later came there). We know that the landscape is full of wreckage of the Empire, and it is quite likely that Lor San Tekka, the Vicar, was once an Imperial officer.
This would be consistent with a rumor posted on Reddit, and covered by FuriousFanboys saying that
Lor San Tekka was an Imperial officer. He and his troops were abandoned on Jakku. The remaining Imps on Jakku are a warring faction with Unkar Plutt and his thugs, who run scavenging operations. Rey is caught somewhere between the two “tribes.”
Therefore, a very likely scenario is that Lor’s message contains key strategic information about the Star Killer base. If so, this would suggest that this weapon was under construction going way back to the times of the Empire. How else would Tekka know about it? It began construction during the times of the Empire before the Battle of Jakku. It would have to be, to give time to construct such a monstrosity. If all this is true, it gives a plausible backstory to the First Order. They could be the remaining officers left after being stationed on Star Killer base, which we recently learned was once Ilum, and were sent by Palpatine before the end of the Empire.
We reported before about Palpatine sending out scientists and brigades to the outer reaches of the galaxy. The Aftermath book has the quote:
“Palpatine felt that the universe beyond the edges of our map was where his power came from. Over the many years he, with our aid, sent men and women beyond known space. They built labs and communication stations on distant moons, asteroids, out there in the wilds. We must follow them. Retreat from the Galaxy. Go out beyond the veil of stars. We must seek the source of the dark side like a man looking for a wellspring of water.”
Perhaps these brigades were part of the group that started setting up base on Ilum, to seek the Force power in it’s kyber crystals, and forming the Star Killer base. The Ithorian character Byph stumbles upon a crystal on Ilum in the Clone Wars episode “The Gathering”, that almost suggests that the planet could also hold some Dark side power. Although the crystal is blue, there seems to be some red dark side energy that is amplified around it:
What else could do this other than some red Dark side crystals?
These machinations on Ilum were set in play before the Battle of Jakku, and Lor San Tekka was involved with it enough to know the base’s weakness, so that he could convey this in a message through BB-8.
Early concept art depicted Von Sydow as a cyborg character, and possibly former military with the helmets and armor he seems to have. Perhaps it is possible that some original conceptions of him were a damaged former officer with cybernetic replacements for the damage he endured fighting for the Empire.
In the end, we have two possibilities for Lor San Tekka (based on the two possibilities above). Either
Either way, Lor San Tekka has an intriguing backstory.
Stay tuned for more updates on SpoiledBlueMilk.com on MWF and follow me on twitter @davestrrr
On the latest episode of “Now this is podcasting”, there was a discussion about the latest interviews about Snoke. Interestingly, there wasn’t complete agreement on how to interpret some things in the interview from Empire last week, in particular the thing about Serkis filming atop a 25 foot podium. While Jeremy Conrad, from furiousfanboys.com thought that it definitely meant a regular sized character sitting atop a real podium. Jason Ward from makingstarwars.net and Randy Lo Gudice (@cursinguser), however, interpreted it that Snoke might be really large character.
Although this discrepency between the usually agreeing hosts reveals how little we actually know about Snoke, the answer to what this says about Snoke may be right in front of our noses.
This is because Jason further points out that the set piece is called “The Great Hall”, presumably the place where Snoke is staying, like a throne room, where he communicates with Hux (who was recently confirmed by the Empire interview to have scenes with Serkis) and Kylo Ren. In fact, the connection jumps out of one of the few pieces of concept art for TFA that could be of Snoke (above an old concept from Ralph McQuarrie via SWNN):
Therefore, we could have a more extreme version of the top concept, with a much higher throne, possibly in a much bigger cavern on the StarKiller base planet. It seems like it has to be on StarKiller base planet, because that’s the only place where he could talk to both Hux and Kylo. Many people thought that this was Luke, but the comparison to an old Emperor concept from RMcQ reveals that this is more likely Snoke. It is long well known that they are mining old McQuarrie concept art for TFA all over the place, and as fans know, McQuarrie also worked on Battle Star Galactica. There are some early concept work of the Boltar that resembles ideas that could be used with Snoke. The 25 foot podium mentioned by Serkis definitely brings this to mind:
Would JJ and Lucasfilm dig up old McQuarrie pieces that are not Star Wars, but BSG? They might if it sparked some ideas that could be incorporated into the other pieces. If they did, then that would explain what’s going on with the podium…except for the fact that in the other interview from Entertainment Weekly, Serkis also says that “He is large. He appears tall.” So which is it? Is he tall, or is he very tall? Meaning is he as tall as the Early Emperor concepts from McQuarrie?
Actually there were revisions in the early concept of the Emperor that may shed some light on what Snoke could look like. The first version looked like this:
which looks a bit decrepit in the face, fitting with other Serkis comments, and it also fits the quote “distinctive, idiosyncratic bone and facial structure” by Serkis (see below). This piece was later revised into something more like the Emperor we know (albeit taller and bluer):
We know the latter image inspired the McDiarmid’s Emperor, but could the earlier version have inspired some of the new concepts for Snoke? In both cases, this concept is very large, and could actually be 25 foot tall, and fits the description.
The Empire article also reiterates some stuff from interview from Entertainment Weekly, in particular the part about Snoke being a damaged, scarred, and disfigured character. We can’t help but make the connection with one of the early rumors of “Uber”, the early code-name for Snoke, where the guys at StarWarsUnderworld state that:
Andy Serkis’ character basically looks like an old man, zombie like, almost risen from the dead.
If we also connect this to some old McQuarrie concept art for the Emperor (found here), the first one that jumps out is this one:
we can see that this old McQ concept looks Zombie-like with skin hanging down off his fingers. Could this be what Serkis means when he says (in the EW article):
“there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose.”
In other words, it might be that Snoke is a half-dead, damaged, and disfigured, almost hanging by a thread to life, but at the same time emerging in a very long elaborate plot to take over he entire galaxy. He’s a “long-term schemer”, that’s been around through the much of the previous events in the Star Wars movies, so he could be some sort of undead character that goes back to the prequels.
But what if they combine these two? What if we have a 25 foot tall zombie character, broken and frail because his weakened undead bones can barely support the weight of his 25 foot lumbering body? So either this is the vulnerability that Serkis is talking about, or it is a reason to reject this and accept that Snoke is a regular-sized guy that has a tall throne.
The other key point we have from these new interviews is that Snoke is a new character. This is key because in one fell swoop seems to take down both the Darth Plagueis and the Darth Jar Jar theories.
Is there any other concept art that might be relevant? Maybe one ther piece:
This early concept from Indie Revolver, depicts what appears to be Luke battling a very tall, yellow-lightsaber-wielding bad guy. We know it’s Luke because of the green lightsaber, given that Finn/Rey have Luke/Anakin’s old blue one. At this height could this be our tall Snoke character? This could certainly be an early Kylo Ren concept, but check that height! That character is actually almost twice the size of Luke, if not taller. However, almost everything points to Luke only being present for the very last scene of the movie. Therefore, could this showdown have been moved to Episode VIII?
I talked to @mazlow01 about this, and he is of the opinion that Snoke will be between 8-12 ft tall and be seated on a 10-15 ft tall podium. He doubts we will see him do anything physical in this film except for he will light a lightsaber at least once. Andy Serkis said something about Snoke would carry one and Mazlow01 thinks he will, and will have a look that’s a mix of early concepts of the Emperor and Voldemort.
One thing we can be sure of is, by not telling us about Snoke, and getting us to debate and dig through the details, there are creating incredible anticipation. In a way, it would be in their best interest to not tell us anything about Snoke! I’m glad they left us a few crumbs to chew one.
Follow me on twitter @davestrrr and stay posted to SpoiledBlueMilk.com on MWF for updates.
Here’s a summary of these two articles:
Interview from Entertainment Weekly. To paraphrase Serkis, we have the following facts about Snoke:
Interview from Empire last week. Again, paraphrasing we get this info:
What’s not to love about BB-8? This little droid has taken the Star Wars fandom by storm, and has also had a huge impact on mainstream audiences. I’d like to take a moment to dig deep into the internet, to old rumors, and the latest spoilers to present 8 “tricks” that this new little droid has up his, ahem, ports.
First things first, BB-8 is a male. There are a lot of instances of people referring to him as a “he”. For example, there is a recent interview with JJ Abrams where he refers to BB-8 multiple times as a “he”. There is a recent post by Making Star Wars, that is supported by others, suggesting that BB-8 is in fact male. The report initially said female, but the update at the top says that there is some evidence that rules out him being female. So hereafter, I’ll use male pronouns to refer to BB-8.
Although we have known about this droid for a while, the full details are still being fleshed out. BB-8 begins this movie as Poe Dameron’s astromech droid. We see him in the same spot that R2 is known to sit, behind the cockpit in Poe’s X-wing.
After Poe lands, he goes and talks to the Vicar, and is able to get the Luke’s saber, the MacGuffin of the movie, from him. At this point, Poe sees the First Order troopers coming in and landing. The First Order comes to wipe out a village that they believe harbors the saber. Poe tells BB-8 to run away with the saber, while he is taken captive (mirroring Leia in ANH, perhaps?). Of course at this point, Poe is taken back to the First Order ship where he meets Finn. At some point, BB-8 is captured by Teedo, and is then found by Rey. Rey then seems to rescue BB-8, thinking that she could make some money off of the droid. Actually, this particular point I’m not sure about. She could have genuinely been trying to help the little guy and save him from captivity.
We all know that R2D2 has a ton of gadgets. So what kind of equipment does BB-8 have? Here is our list of the top 8 features of BB-8:
1. A compartment for storing a lightsaber. BB-8 shares this functionality with R2D2. We know this because he carries Luke’s saber for half the movie. Poe Dameron gives him the saber and tells him to run away with it.
2. A buzzsaw (see toy photo below). One possibility is BB-8 will use this buzzsaw to try to get out of the net he is trapped in by Teedo (photo above). This could be reminiscent of R2 using his buzzsaw to escape from the Ewok trap in RotJ. This scene is pure speculation on my part, but it seems all the pieces are there for this to happen. From the photo above, it is clear that Rey let’s him out before BB-8 can seal the deal and cut all the way through.
3. A taser-style shocker thing with blue electric bolts (see photo below found here). We know that Rey and Finn encounter some thugs in Cratertown, so maybe BB-8 uses this taser to defend himself?
By the way, the taser thing was featured on a new promotional campaign/special effects app from Bad Robot! Twitter user @GonzagoRaSa‘s tweet made me aware of this:
@StarWarsJunk @MakingStarWars @starwarsnewsnet #BB8 has more utility arms! Confirmed by the #ActionMovieFX app! pic.twitter.com/G4J0XSL9nX
— Gonzalo Ramírez S (@GonzaloRaSa) November 5, 2015
OK, so technically toys and apps aren’t “canon”, but I think it’s a strong indication that we’ll see something like this in the movies.
4. Escape mode: BB-8 has the ability to bring his head inside the ball for “escape mode”. We know this from a Walmart exclusive T-shirt. Again, this could come in handy to escape from the incoming stormtroopers in the Jakku village, or from the thugs in Cratertown. There are other functionalities labeled on this shirt, but it’s hard to read:
5. Possibly pufferfish spikes. There was an old Making Star Wars rumor about a year ago about BB-8 shooting out spikes in all directions like a pufferfish, then using these spikes to take out a Stormtrooper that tried to pick him up. That would indeed be cool to see, and presumably there would be some CGI involved in that shot.
6. A full articulated hand: There is an old report (again from MSW) that suggest that he has a foldable hand with articulated fingers. What will he use this hand for? One can only imagine. Maybe to pick something up, or to pull some lever on the Falcon. Anybody’s guess is good at this point, I guess.
7. A “scomp link” or data arm to interface a dataports on a computer terminal. This is probably similar to R2D2’s scomp link. At least, there is a recent Verizon commercial where BB-8 has this functionality. Somehow, I think if they built this functionality into the puppet for a commercial, I think this means that we’ll see it at some point in the movies as well:
8. Grappling Hooks! OK so this one is possibly the shakiest one on this list, but worth mentioning. There is another functionality seen in the #ActionMovieFX app, and in this video for example, BB-8 shoots out two grappling hooks, or some sort of cable that enables him to pull himself up and through a trap door:
Perks of working for #Disney…#StarWars characters visit your house! @Disney @starwars #actionmoviefx pic.twitter.com/E5vbuyaQFY
— Tim Sarquis (@PromoTim) November 12, 2015
Will we see this in the movie? This one isn’t as clear as the taser thing because it isn’t in the toys, but it would certainly be a cool thing to see! Let’s face it, if he does half of the things on this list, he will be nothing short of one badass little robot.
So the cool thing is BB-8 is practical. You probably already know that (although there was a time not too long ago when this was debated), but did you know there are in fact multiple puppets used for different scenes? The droid that came out and wheeled around during SDCC was actually built after filming. For example, in this scene from the first trailer, we can see that the head is lifted up higher, suggesting it is a different type of droid for going those kinds of speeds. Actually, this puppet could be based on a model more similar to this early drawing by Jason Ward here, so that it would be stable for fast speeds.
This version could be the “trike” mentioned in StarWars.com, in a list of versions of the droid:
There was the “wiggler,” which was static, but could twist and turn on the spot and was used for close-ups. There were two trike versions, which had stabilizer wheels, allowing them to be driven by remote control without a puppeteer in the shot. There was a version that could be picked up by actors and controlled via remote for specific reactions and movements. There was the “bowling ball” version, which could literally be thrown into a shot and never fall down (like a Weeble toy). Finally, there was the rod-puppet version, which was operated by Chapman and Herring — one controlling the head, adding nuance and attitude, and the other the body — who would then be digitally erased.
We’re now less than a month until The Force Awakens! Less than a month until we officially see this little guy in action. Speculation and anticipation is half the fun!
Follow me on twitter @davestrrr and stay tuned to SpoiledBlueMilk.com for updates MWF.
Women want him, men want to be him, bounty hunters want to find him, he is Han Solo. Throughout the original trilogy Han grew more than any other character, even Luke. Coolest guy in the Star Wars universe (sorry Lando) and he always found a way but who is he now? Lets explore who Han was and where he is going in The Force Awakens. Also, be forewarned. If you’re trying to avoid possible spoilers, you don’t want to read on.
When we first met Han he was cocky and a bit of a braggart. He also was in debt to a gangster name Jabba. Throughout the first movie Han repeatedly acted as though he had no personal stake in any of situations they were in. He was worried about protecting himself and getting paid. In the end he came back to help Luke and the rebellion, showing his true self. In Empire we see Han has accepted responsibility in the rebellion and has become a leader. He also has found love and of course he approaches it in the same sarcastic way he approaches everything else. Finally, in Return of the Jedi, Han grows even more. He is still sarcastic and independent but he is also thankful for his friends. He has grown enough to be willing to step out of the way thinking Luke and Leia have something they don’t. He’s also willing to accept help, something he always seemed reluctant to do. The scoundrel grew into a responsible somewhat mature man and Leia’s obvious paramour.
So lets figure out what we know about Han in The Force Awakens. First off, he doesn’t seem to own the Millennium Falcon anymore based off of his line “Chewy, we’re home”. Just from the way it is said it appears Han and Chewy haven’t been on the Falcon for a while. In fact, there was an old rumor at MSW where they claim that:
probably lost the Falcon days–if not moments–before The Force Awakens begins.
However, we think the time span was longer than this based on his comment to Chewy.
There is a brand new article on EW that suggests that Han Solo has continued to have money troubles which leads me to believe he either sold the Falcon or had it taken to pay a debt.
Based off of this information I also believe its safe to say that Han and Leia are not together at the start of The Force Awakens. Why would they have fallen apart? Its not unknown for couples to be unable to survive the loss of a child and I believe that this would certainly tear them apart. If their child was assumed dead or knowingly chose a path that was counter to what Leia and Han had fought for I could see them separating. The pain of loss is something both of them would take out on each other. Is Han a father? I think yes based on the idea that he and Leia are no longer together. As to who is Han’s child I am not 100% sure but it will be either Rey, Kylo, or both.
Han also still has his contacts in the underworld of the galaxy. He is the one that takes Rey and Finn to see Maz Katana and from the rumors and leaks we know he was on a large ship with various criminal organizations when the Falcon is captured. So it seems in the 30 years since Return of the Jedi Han is once again single and reverted to his pirate/scoundrel ways. However it appears he still has the heart that made him a lovable character based on the interview with EW .
What is Han’s character arc and actions in The Force Awakens(This information is based off the numerous reports from MakingStarwars.net and official media). We meet Han and Chewy, still best buds, when they board the Falcon and meet our new heroes. One thing is for sure, Han has warmed up to the idea of the Force. He went from a vocal skeptic to saying “It’s true…all of it” in the TFA trailer. So it might be fair to say that Han has found a spiritual side in his later years.
There is a small skirmish and Han and Chewy leave with Rey and Finn. This is where we have our scene from the Trailer showing Han tell Rey and Finn its all true. Han, recognizing Luke’s lightsaber, takes them to Maz Kanata. There is a battle while at Maz’s and Han is ready to surrender when X-wings come to save the day. Han and Leia reunite after the battle and while awkward at first they do still love each other. Han enacts a plan that ends up with the Falcon crashing on the First Order planet, possibly coming out of hyperspace in the planet’s atmosphere to avoid detection. It is on this planet that Han meets his death. Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I am 100% certain that Han Solo dies in an effort to give Chewy a chance to finish the job and save Finn and Rey. His death will be at the hands of Kylo Ren.
Ever since the trailer came out there has been a question of “Where is Luke Skywalker?” We’ve discussed this before. So we’re not going to go back over that again. However there is an idea that has gained popularity: the “Luke is Evil” theory. Specifically we are talking about the Huffington post article here by Rob Conery. Plain and simple this article is wrong and I’m going to break down why.
“The Cave… Remember Your Failure at the Cave…”
In the article, Rob Conery quotes the movie and concludes this:
Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his emperor. If you end your training now… if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did… you will become an agent of evil.
There it is: Yoda said it point blank. How many times has Yoda been wrong in the first six films? It’s almost like he can see the future sometimes! He knew Luke was on a path to become his father and, by leaving, he failed at preventing it. -Rob Conery
In this point, Conery is missing a key part of Yoda’s meaning. What Yoda is saying is IF Luke quits now AND then chooses the quick and easy path he will become an agent of evil. Quitting now does not mean Luke has chosen the quick and easy path. He must do both. Luke was given the opportunity to choose that path by Vader at the end of their duel. Luke choose to jump to his possible death instead of joining Vader. Yoda wasn’t predicting the future he was providing a warning. Yoda also added this: ” Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.” Luke did mind what he had learned and it did save him.
The Original Ending
Conery first talks about the ideas that were tossed around including Han dying and Luke walking off like Clint Eastwood does in his movies. This ending was never made and it was never even scripted. Gary Kurtz, a producer not a writer, is the one sharing this information that was based off of story discussion during the Production of Empire Strikes Back and was never used in any draft. Oh and Leia wasn’t Luke’s sister, part of the reason he was leaving alone at the end of this idea was to find his sister. They also discussed Luke becoming Vader after Vader’s death. None of these ideas made it to the screen or even script treatment so they are as important to the idea of Luke embracing the Darkside as the now discarded EU “Legends” are to The Force Awakens. He then brings in the idea that Mark Hamill had about making Luke Dark. I’m sure based on how well Mark Hamill plays evil(Joker, Trickster) he would have loved to have done that. But again Mark isn’t a writer, he just liked the idea from an acting point of view, and it never made it into any script so they are not relevant to Luke’s character in the movies.
Conery continues:
“Nevertheless, I’m taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit by this or be destroyed. It’s your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my power.”
Was that a threat? A touch of arrogance perhaps? No — Luke would never!“As a token of my gratitude, I present to you these two droids. Both are hard working, and will serve you well…”
One second. Hold on here — was that a lie? Why yes, it was. Luke is giving in, he’s drawn to the dark side. Wow… Luke lies. Keep that in mind. -Rob Conery
Was that a threat? Not really, it was an offer to a criminal, give me my friends and I’ll let your criminal enterprise continue. Luke then warned said criminal that if he didn’t take it there would be consequences and not to think that Luke couldn’t enforce those consequences. As for his perceived arrogance, its more calm confidence and we’ve seen Obi-wan, Yoda and Mace Windu all act more arrogant than Luke did in this scene. Next it was not a lie technically. Luke DID give Jabba C3PO and R2D2 and they were hard working. In fact Luke did not claim the droids back until AFTER Jabba failed to accept Luke’s final offer and was subsequently killed (By Leia not Luke). Even if it was a lie, it does not have anything to do with the dark side. Qui-Gon lied to Watto, Obi-wan lied to Taun-We and Lama Su in AotC. He also lied to Luke in ANH. Yoda lied/deceived Luke in ESB. Three of the Jedi who most symbolize the Light, all have lied to achieve positive goals.
Luke Turned, We All Watched It
Conery next says:
The emperor was working Luke pretty hard, and croaked in his guttural monotone
“Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.”
And guess what? Luke tried.
“Soon I’ll be dead and you along with me”-Luke Skywalker to the Emperor
Later in the sequence Luke loses it completely when Vader finds his soft spot (caring about his friends) and squeezes hard…Saving friends, and now family. Vader has just threatened his sister and Luke gives in. This doesn’t make sense if Luke has been a good guy the whole time. It makes perfect sense if he has indeed failed his training (which he did) and doesn’t have the ability to withstand his dad. Whom he idolized and wanted to be just like, all of his life.
This, people, is a plot hole. It doesn’t make any sense in terms of the story and also Luke’s character. It doesn’t follow Luke’s motivation at all because he quite clearly doesn’t have any motivation to stay a good guy. He’s just seen what he could do with his dark powers (defeat the bad guys, save people).
You can watch what happens next in two very different ways. The first, most obvious, is that Luke looks at his mechanical fist and then at his dad’s severed hand and realizes what could happen — oh no! Let’s make sure we come back from this ledge and stay on the Good side. This makes no sense in terms of Luke’s motivations.
Or, what I think, is that Luke looked at his fist and realized the effectiveness of his new power. Soaked in the revenge (the movie was entitled Revenge of the Jedi originally, I think this is why) and let the hatred indeed fill him… indeed make him powerful.
This would seemingly blow a hole in my story. Luke just flatly said he would never turn. He monologs for a bit about why he’ll be a Good Guy, always. He’s also lying through his teeth (like he did to Jabba, above). But why would he lie? Because he has to take out the emperor, and he knows his dad (Vader) is weak and vulnerable.
What happens next is a bit of deja vu. The emperor has realized that he has created just a little bit more than an apprentice — he’s created a rival. Why else would the emperor stop with the taunts right then? The emperor has Luke exactly where he wants him — it doesn’t make any sense to stop now!
Unless the emperor fears Luke. As he should — he just took Vader out of the equation.
The emperor tries to destroy him with the old shock treatment in the same way we saw in Revenge of the Sith (facing off against Mace Windu). In that scene, Palpatine played on the sympathies of Anakin to cut Windu’s hands off so he could toss Windu out the window.In this scene, Luke plays his dad in the exact same way to toss the emperor into the abyss. Ahh symbolism.
“If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed! Young fool. Only now, at the end, do you understand. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side! You have paid the price for your lack of vision!”
“Now, young Skywalker… you will die.”
1) To Obi-wan Luke: There is still good in him.
2) Princess Leia: But, why must you confront him?
Luke: Because, there is good in him. I’ve felt it. He won’t turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side. I have to try.
3) Luke: It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn’t driven it from you fully. [steps off to the side of the passageway, away from Vader] That was why you couldn’t destroy me. That’s why you won’t bring me to your Emperor now.
Vader: [inspects Luke’s lightsaber] I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete. [turns off the lightsaber again] Indeed you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen.
Luke: Come with me.
4) Luke: No. You’re coming with me. I’ll not leave you here, I’ve got to save you.
Anakin: You already… have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister… you were right.
His motivation was to bring his father back to the good side. Trying to interpret Luke’s actions otherwise you have to leave out crucial steps and actions, as Mr. Conery has done, or your argument falls apart.
And another thing!
There are a couple of important things that we do know about post RotJ Luke Skywalker that need to be addressed. If you’ve avoided spoilers you won’t want to read on.
First, the new comics and books being released are considered canon to the stories of the Movies. In the book “The Weapon of a Jedi”, C3PO confirms that Luke returns Devaron after RotJ to rebuild his Jedi Order. Also in “Shattered Empire 4”, Luke, with the help of Shara Bey(Poe Dameron’s mother), retrieves the last remaining fragments of a force sensitive tree that once was in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He gives one to Shara and keeps one for his new Jedi training temple.
Second, is the picture of Mark Hamill in his full Luke Skywalker costume. This was originally posted by StarWarsNews.net and Lucasfilm quickly issued a cease and desist so we won’t provide you with the picture however you can find it if you really want to and I will describe it. Luke is dressed exactly like Obi-wan and all the other Jedi from the prequels were. His robes are lighter than we usually see but not unusually so. He is the epitome of what we think a Jedi should look like. If you don’t believe the rest you should believe a photo of Old Luke as a Jedi in The Force Awakens.
There is probably no theory about The Force Awakens that has garnered more controversy than the theory that Snoke is Darth Plagueis. In this spoiler-fueled speculation piece, I’ll take a critical, serious look at what we know of canon, and what we know of TFA and see if this even makes any sense.
more “To cheat death is a power only one has achieved: Getting serious about Plagueis”
A revolutionary new idea called “Star Wars Ring Theory” has taken the internet by storm, and even inspired a forthcoming documentary. The ring theory proposes that the Star Wars saga is set up to mirror itself using “ring compostion” in a ABC-CBA pattern. The mirroring is set up through parallels and common recurring themes. More basic than the ring theory is the idea that the different movies of the trilogies “rhyme”, with parallel themes and scenes that compare and contrast for added impact.The real question is, are the makers of the new sequel trilogy (ST) aware of this structure to the Star Wars saga, and do they have intentions of continuing it? How many glasses of wine into the conversation would it take for Lucas and Abrams to start talking about stuff like this?
more “Ring Theory, Parallels, and Rhyming in The Force Awakens”
The question that convinced J.J. Abrams to direct The Force Awakens was none other than “Who is Luke Skywalker?”. It makes me wonder what answer he found. Based on prevailing rumors Luke is more McGuffin than character in The Force Awakens, so will we know who Luke Skywalker is at the end of this movie? Does anyone in the movie really know who he is? Is that maybe the real question that J.J. was wanting to answer? Let’s see if we can figure it out based on who he was when we last saw him and what we know so far.
Lets look at who he was when we last saw him. When we first met Luke he was nothing more than a whiny farm boy. From what we could tell he had only his Uncle and Aunt for company and maybe some “friends” in Toshi station. In short he was nothing special. Through ANH we saw him begin to trust the Force would guide him and accept it was his path. By the time we met him again in ESB he had grown in his abilities but is not in wisdom. He learned from master Yoda and increased his skills but took a step back in willingness to follow the Force and truly submit to it like he did during his trench run in ANH. He is cocky and reckless, then he is humbled by his father Darth Vader. Finally Luke completes his journey to becoming Jedi. In RotJ Luke is confident calm and in control of himself he has become Jedi his father should have been.
He was given a mandate by Yoda to pass on what he learned and so he did. He had a spot picked out on Devaron based on the book Weapon of a Jedi to open his Jedi Academy. Presumably, he did set up an Academy. If he did, where are the Jedi he trained? From the rumors and the footage we have seen there are no Jedi. In fact we can say there are only three force users not on side of the First Order, Leia, Maz and Rey. No rumors or leaks conclusively say Finn has the ability to use the force so even though he uses the Luke/Anakin lightsaber I am reluctant to add him. Now I suspect Maz was trained by Luke and it appears she not only knows Han but also Leia and possibly the Luke/Anakin lightsaber. But that is all we have information about so where are the others Luke trained?
We know there is a Force vision flashback scene that is lead by Maz. Here is where our first look at Luke Skywalker in the movie comes from. We have glimpsed a part of it in the trailer I believe that this is the aftermath of the attack on Luke’s Academy all of his apprentices are dead or presumed so as are the Jedi he had trained thus far. Based on reports from both StarWars7news.com and MSW we know this flashback takes place approximately 10 years before the start of TFA. The First Order or the Knights of Ren(or both!) are responsible for the death of the Jedi and based on differing translations of the lines from the Kylo Ren toy Kylo and Snoke believe Luke is the last of the Jedi alive (3 translation use singular Jedi the German translation uses plural).
This tells us after the destruction of the Jedi Luke went into hiding. The question is why would he do so, did he believe that by training Jedi he was forcing the Force to create darkside users? Or was it for his safety and/or others? I have a pet theory that the First Order has the ability to find someone using the force which is why they show up at Maz’s castle. Perhaps Luke figured this out and needed to hide or the Jedi would die. I suspect its a combination of needing to hide and guilt over the death of those he feels he could have or should have been able to save. Most importantly his Nephew(Kylo) and niece or daughter(Rey). I don’t see his hiding as far fetched as both his masters Yoda and Obi-wan hid when they had to.
We did get a leaked photo of Luke during some sort of dress rehearsal, promotional photo or 3D scan for a toy (Most likey). We won’t post it here because there have been “cease-and-desist” orders sent to other sites to take it down. It isn’t hard to find it online with a google search. It’s interesting that his robe lacks sleeves and looks more like this old robe in RotJ, rather than the prequel era Jedi, but this makes sense given this comes right after. His robe is a lighter color. Usually in Star Wars the outfits have symbolic meaning. Characters like Darth Vader and the Emperor wore all black, and in general usually extreme colors signify evil. Whereas the Rebels wore earth tones such as greens, browns, tans, etc, the bad guys wore mostly gleaming white (Storm Troopers), jet black (Vader, Emperor), or blood red (Imperial guards). In RotJ, Luke was skating a little close to the edge, Force-choked Jabba’s guards, and wore this Emperor-like robe:
So it appears with the new costume, Luke is going more earth tones, and lighter, softer shades for his robes. I think that with the new Luke outfit, we are reassured that he is with the light side of the Force. The symbolic significance of character’s wardrobes in Star Wars was perhaps why this image was a pretty serious leak because of what it reveals about which side Luke is on in a sense, hence why they issued take-down orders to many of the sites. It’s crazy to think that a year ago, a lot of people thought Luke would be a cyborg villain. Amazing in hindsight how little we knew back then. So safe to say that Luke is still a good guy.
Star Wars has always been a story of the Skywalker family. It is a little bit hard to imagine a Star Wars that isn’t a story of the Skywalkers in a way. Maybe they can pull it off and expand the galaxy as it were. But the story at its core has been a story of family, in particular the Skywalker family. If there is a character in TFA that is an offspring of Skywalker, it would have to be Rey and/or Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren has been heavily hinted at being Han and Leia’s child in various rumors as has Rey. Technically both would be Skywalkers but named Solo… something tells me the last name is important. Why else would you hide Luke as a baby but let him keep the last name that was known across the galaxy.
I’d say if Rey isn’t Han and Leia’s daughter, they certainly are heavily implying it to fool us. But they wouldn’t do something like that would they? would the makers of the movie ever make elaborate attempts to save the ultimate twist for opening night of a movie? Of course they would. Because this is 2015, and information goes at the speed of light. With the internet today, it isn’t like the days of Empire Strikes Back, when a secret could be kept. The more you think about it, the more it makes sense that they would deliberately imply misinformation to save a few juicy twists. After all, Star Wars is known for having twists based on familial relationships, and maybe this is the only way to make it happen in 2015. So we have to think that if Luke is in hiding he’d have to have had a very compelling reason. I think the loss of his Daughter would be more than enough reason to shut himself off from the rest of Galaxy no matter what is going on. Therefore, regarding whether or not Luke has children, definitely don’t write this one off just yet in fact I lean towards counting on it.
According to the plot synopsis from MSW, we have only one scene with Luke during the TFA time frame, receiving the lightsaber from Rey at the end of the movie. R2, C3PO and BB-8 decode where Luke is and Chewie Rey and BB-8 go to find him. StarWars7news.com has reported there may be a third Luke scene most likely from a recording so the decoded message may be what they are referring to. So will the final scene be Rey handing Luke the lightsaber, doubtful however no matter what this is the only current Luke Skywalker scene we should expect unless SW7N was correct here
Here’s my interpretation of what we will see and hear in Luke and Rey’s final scene.
Rey climbs the outside of a ruined temple and then enters the massive door.
Luke: How did you find me, who are yo- (sharp intake of breathe) I thought you died.
Rey: I ran when we were attacked. Sarco found me and took me away to keep me safe, taught me how to survive and defend myself.
Luke: I didn’t know.
Rey: Its not your fault. This is yours I believe.
Rey hands him the lightsaber.
Luke looks it over and ignites it and smiles.
Rey: I’ve come to complete my training.
Luke: You will be Jedi. Like your father.
Luke hands the lightsaber back to Rey. Scene cuts away to two figures outside the temple fighting one with a blue lightsaber the other with green.
Credits
There you have it everything we know about Luke and how it fits. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
“Is it true, you’re just a scavenger?” -Kylo Ren, presumably to Rey
“Together we will destroy the Resistance and the last Jedi.” -Kylo Ren, presumably to Snoke.
In this spoiler-fueled speculation piece we consider the mounting evidence that suggests that Rey is in fact more than just a scavenger and is in fact a Jedi (or at least was once a youngling or a padawan). Hopefully, by connecting the dots, we can reveal a little something about Rey’s motivation as a character. For starters, let’s consider a recent German Translation from the Official Facebook page of StarWars.de (the official German site) of the second quote from Kylo Ren above (props to Trooper31 from the banthaskull forums for pointing this out):
In particular those last three words. “die letzten Jedi”. Now, I don’t speak German, but according to this map from this page from Wikipedia, we see that the definite article “die”, when used in the nominative case, means either feminine, or plural:
Since we know that at least Luke is a Jedi and is in TFA, this can’t be feminine. Therefore it must mean plural Jedi. This is potentially a major revelation, as it suggests there are more than just Luke.
Second, there is new evidence further supports the idea that Rey is already a Jedi at the start of TFA. We’ve already reported that there is at least some reason to think that Maz Kanata is a Jedi, but I also think Rey is too. This could either be obvious or controversial, but now the biggest piece of evidence comes from a set of trading cards that list character affiliations. MSW reported about this finding, and here is a shot of the relevant characters and all affiliations:
Latino Review also covered this point and posted the same image as did others. So Rey has the symbol that refers to Jedi and Finn does not. The way I see it, there are two possibilities. One, Rey was already a Jedi before the events of The Force Awakens. Two, she becomes a Jedi before the end of the film. However, I think this second possibility seems a bit unlikely. How could the events of TFA that we know of constitute her becoming a Jedi? We have to go back to the instagram teaser showing Finn with a lightsaber, so many have speculated that Finn becomes a Jedi. I would think that using the lightsaber as a weapon would start him on that path. So why does he not have the Jedi affiliation? Do we have to start considering the possibility that Finn doesn’t have Force powers? Up until this point, I would have assumed that Rey and Finn would at least be on the same Jedi path to the same degree, hence both get the affiliation. But the more I think about it…because of these cards I’m starting to realize that we don’t really have confirmation or strong evidence that Finn has Force powers (other than maybe the implication at the start of the first teaser trailer). He is certainly attracted to the lightsaber and uses it at some point in the film and carries it on his jacket. But this doesn’t necessarily make him a Jedi. We get this quote from the plot synopsis from MSW here:
Maz Kanata presents the blue lightsaber to them again. Rey is revolted by it, while Finn is attracted to it.
To me the fact that Rey is revolted by it suggests that Rey has a history with lightsabers, and makes me think a traumatic event related to lightsabers makes her revolted by them. Could be the same traumatic events that led her to end up as a scavenger on Jakku.
The tantalizing theory in all this is that Rey was in fact a Jedi in Luke’s Jedi Academy, which was destroyed many years before the events of TFA, and left and went in hiding after the demise of the Academy. There is a definite possibility this the Academy and all the padawan were killed by the Knights of Ren or Snoke (who else is powerful enough to do it?). Kylo was taken by the Knights of Ren to join their order while she escaped to Jakku. This sheds some light to what Kylo says in the quote at the top, because he remembers her from their days as padawan.
We also know from the MSW plot synopsis that in a couple of places, Rey uses Force powers, like mind-tricks. Now, it’s certainly possible that she just was “a natural”, and just figured out how to do mind-tricks on her own, but somehow this seems like a stretch and would end up looking like a stretch to the audience. I think this is one of many “clues” that the audience will see in TFA that build up the the crescendo revelation at the end that she is a Jedi.
And then we have the bo-staff skills. From the plot synopsis:
A fight ensues between the heroes and the gangs. Rey almost single-handedly takes on the gangs using her skills with a staff.
These aren’t the skills of someone that just figured out how to use a staff while running around Jakku scavenging. How good are they?
We had an old piece here about her stunt double, and another post from StarWars7News, reported here that we got this statement from Kathy Kennedy about Daisy Ridley’s bo-staff skills:
Kennedy: She learned the bōjutsu fighting style. Rey uses the staff she has in the trailer to fight. Daisy’s gotten to be so good at bōjutsu that even grown men on the set fear it. [Laughs]
This is pretty intense. Check out this video of her stunt double if you haven’t already (jump to about 1:35 for the bo-staff):
As if that wasn’t enough, we have the halloween costume found here and reported here, that says she will kick some serious butt (implied with a staff).
Rey will not just be good with a bo-staff, she will be mind-blowingly bad ass with a bo-staff. If these scenes with the staff are as intense as her stunt double can do, it will be one of those moments that people will the talking about when leaving the movie, like the way Maul vs Obi Wan was what everyone talked about after TPM. Now why the heck would they get such a skilled stunt double and not use it? Now, given that, and what MSW calls “special skills”. It certainly sounds like she was a well trained Jedi, but after the traumatic events before TFA, she could never use a lightsaber again, and switched to the staff. While training with a staff has always been part of the early Jedi training (recall Anakin teaching the Felucians staff fighting in the Clone Wars), it is certainly possible that she was once well trained with a lightsaber, although I definitely don’t think she has a lightsaber staff. I think all signs point to her not wanting such a weapon and wouldn’t carry one because she is revolted by lightsabers due to her history.
What about electrostaffs? We have this image of Sarco Plank from the back of “The Weapon of a Jedi” book:
Note this weapon looks like the same kind of lightsaber-proof weapon “electrostaffs” wielded by the Magnaguard Droids from Revenge of the Sith (and similar to Zeb’s weapon):
And we also know that Sarco Plank is on Jakku (next to Rey!?) from this photo from Abu Dhabi from the Vanity Fair shoot (second from the right):
Look at the guy’s staff in the middle. It looks highly similar the Magnaguard Droid electrostaffs!
Now one has to wonder why is Rey leaving directly from Sarco’s location? Is there a deeper connection there? Although it is of course possible that Vanity Fair had them arrange characters in arrangements not seen in the film. Nevertheless, there is a suggestion that there is a deeper connection between Rey and Sarco (and maybe electrostaffs). That, and the fact that the Star Wars Databank for Sarco says he’s also a scavenger (then again, isn’t everyone on Jakku a scavenger?). All this makes me wonder if Rey, like Sarco, chose the only weapon that can defend against a lightsaber due to her traumatic history with them. Is her staff is also equipped with this protective lightsaber-repelling couplings? Just imagine how cool that would be if she fought Kylo with that thing!
In addition to all of this we have the suggestion from Weapon of a Jedi that Sarco meets Luke on Devaron, the same planet where it also sounds like he started the Jedi Academy. So this connects everything strongly. Could it be that Sarco was who brought Rey from the Jedi Academy on Devaron to Jakku after the attack on the Jedi Academy?
Finally, we have the scene at the end (again from MSW’s synopsis) where:
Finn is on the ground, preparing to die. Rey arrives, and Finn tosses her the Skywalker lightsaber, which she has been reluctant to accept up until this point. To save her friend and avenge Han Solo’s death, she takes the weapon and attacks Kylo.
We will get to see Rey use a lightsaber at the end, only because she is forced to, so we’ll know then for sure if she is a Jedi. Did I mention that her stunt double is also highly proficient with a sword? (kicks in after 35seconds):
Everything certainly points to her being be very skilled with a lightsaber, as Jedi typically are, and this final scene will remove any doubt to the audience that this is the case. Everything will build up to this final scene, suggesting that she is more than just a scavenger. At that moment, we will know Rey is a Jedi.
Follow me on twitter for more updates: @davestrrr
Poe Dameron is one of the new big three, but to a certain extent, a lot about him remains mysterious. I hesitate to say we know less about him than Finn or Rey, because something tells me we have a lot to learn about both of those characters…Nevertheless, let’s dig up the latest info on Poe and see if we can piece together news and spoilers to figure out anything about him.
Some new pieces of news emerged in the Shattered Empire comic book. Because sof this, we learned more about Poe’s motivations as a character. There is a strong suggestion that Poe’s parents fought in the battle of Endor. Although it isn’t explicitly stated in the book, other readers around the web share this feeling. At least, we have two characters introduced that are married and could plausibly be Poe’s parents:
There is also suggestion that Leia knew Poe going way back. This kind of gives a little frame of reference to the idea that Leia entrusts Poe with a very important mission. If we recall from Celebration, Oscar Isaac’s claims that “He’s been sent on a mission by a certain princess. He comes across John Boyega’s character and their fates are forever intertwined.”. It could be that Leia’s long-time connection to Poe and his family plays a big part in her entrusting this kind of a mission. That is, if we need more of a reason than him being the “best friggin’ pilot in the galaxy”!
We haven’t read the Leia young adult novel “Moving Target” either, but others that have read it suggest that when Leia asks about Jakku in this book, she is possibly asking about the pilot to whom she entrusted that mission, given that we know he is there at the start of TFA. This indeed suggests a strong connection and friendship between Leia and Poe. Some have even gone as far as to speculate that Leia is a type of mother-figure for Poe, maybe due to him losing his parents many years before TFA.
For me, the fact that Poe’s parents fought in the Rebellion sheds some more light on Isaac’s comments at SDCC that he could have been watching a video of the battle of Yavin (actually he says Yarvin) and looking up to the likes of Luke Skywalker. The dates would be off for him to see it live, but he may have watched videos of it because of his parents. Certainly his parents would make sure that he learned of the Rebellion and the Empire from a young age, and instilled a sense of loyalty from an early age. In fact, we have an early suggestion from Oscar Isaac (although I can’t seem to find the original source) that his character is in fact from Yavin IV. If this is true, given the timing of everything and his age, this would suggest that his parents moved back to Yavin IV after the battle of Endor. There is some speculation out there that the shot of X-wings flying over the rivers surrounded by mountains from the trailer is in fact on Yavin IV.
What else have we recently learned about Poe? Because of a recent update to the StarWars.com databank, we know that Poe was the “Black Leader”, a leader of a squad of Resistance X-wing fighters. We know that at least Poe flies a dark hulled X-wing in this role, shown in this toy and the image below to have red accents. It isn’t clear to me whether the rest of the X-wings in the squadron that Poe leads are also pained black. For example the photo above from StarWars.com shows nothing but the blue and gray X-wings. Makes me think that the “Black Leader” is the only pilot to have a black X-wing.
There was a claim earlier on MakingStarWars.com that Poe would be part of the “Black Squadron”, but it seems that it has recently been confirmed that the “Black Squadron” is in fact a First Order squadron of TIE fighters. Therefore, this strongly suggests that Poe’s squadron of X-wings is not called the Black Squadron. If that is the case, the idea that the “Black Leader” is the only resistance X-wing fighter with a black hull seems more plausible.
All I know is, black TIE fighers fighting a black X-wing in space is going to look pretty sick.
That last linked article also shows us that Poe’s helmet changes from blue to the black one we see in the trailer. That could mean that Poe starts associated with another (blue?) squadron, and at some point in the movie, Poe is promoted to black leader.
We also have that quote from MSW “The black TIE makes all the difference”. This quote is getting more and more confusing. It sounded like that Poe wanted to paint a TIE that he stole from the First Order black, so that people would know that it’s him, the “black leader”. However, given that we know that the black squadron was a TIE squardon, and we also know that Poe and Finn steal a TIE that certainly looks black (see image below) and crash it on Jakku, then this seems a big confusing. What could it mean?
Going back to X-wings, have you seen the Lego commercials? Check out the X-wing commercial here because that server isn’t getting hammered enough as of late. Who is that bearded X-wing pilot that greets Poe? Might be Greg Grunberg’s character. Maybe we will see a lot of interaction between these two in the film. Certainly plausible if not likley.
So to recap, here’s what we got:
It’s definitely easy to see some parallels with ANH here. Leia entrusts R2D2 with the plans to the Death Star, and similarly, Leia entrusts Poe with a mission on Jakku. So there is a possible parallel with Poe and BB8 mirroring R2D2 and C3P0. It seems like BB8 ultimately carries away the lightsaber similar to the way that R2 continues with the plans to the Death Star. So the parallel kind of crumbles after that, but it is clear that they are playing some of the same notes, just re-imagined. Ultimately, in the rest of the sequel trilogy, it seems that Poe will take the place of Han as the key pilot character (or at least one of them if Rey pilots the Falcon). If Han and Leia are married, one would expect that Poe also knows Han, but that is definitely not for sure as many suggest that Han and Leia have been separated for a while.
Beyond this info, I gotta say I’m grasping for more. If I’m missing something, hit me up on twitter and let me know.
davestrrr
In this spoiler-fueled speculation piece we ask the question: Were the Knights of Ren founded by an ancient Sith Lord named “Darth Ren”? What can we learn from combining the latest spoilers and confirmed info with the old Mizzlewump post?
It’s remarkable how many of the original Mizzlewump rumors have held up. If we recall, “Mizzlewump” claimed to have read the second draft from Abrams/Kasdan. Let’s take another look at this old post in light of what we now know. Looking back at the original list most of the points seem highly plausible. Here is the list:
When the first teaser for The Force Awakens was released back in November it had Storm Troopers, TIE fighters and a bad guy in black with a red lightsaber, it is so very familiar and yet different. Was the Empire still around? What happened to them after Return of the Jedi? Then we were told these new Storm Troopers we members of The First Order, so who exactly are the First Order?
What exactly is the Force? If we take a look just at the movies, we were all introduced to the concept of the Force by Obi Wan in ANH. Here is what he said:
“Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together” -Obi Wan in ANH
Who is Maz Kanata? This character intrigues me more than anything else in The Force Awakens. Is she a Jedi? Is she just a wise old alien lady? Or perhaps the leader of a pirate gang? Let’s delve into what we know about this mysterious character.
First off the name. The folks over at Making Star Wars had one of their podcast listeners mail in a suggestion (forgive me, I don’t know the name of who sent it in ping me and I’ll add it!) about the name of Maz Kanata being meant to sound like the Spanish phrase “más que nada”. This phrase basically is translated to “More than anything” according to Google translate (although word-per-word translation means “more than nothing”). In Brazilian Portuguese it means more like “but nothing” or “but nonsense”. Taken together, this is whimsical name for a character that both confuses and adds a bit of mystery. Like saying she could be nothing and everything at the same time. Given the long history of double-meaning Star Wars character names, I’m willing to bet that this is deliberate. What could be more than anything? The Force perhaps? An amazing Jedi? Also, taking a different direction, it is notable that the name Kanata is one letter swap away from “katana”, a Japanese sword. More on the possible Japanese connection below…
Thinking beyond the name, what do we know? She is an alien character played by Lupita Nyong’o through performance-capture. She runs a pirate gang that hangs out in a castle and may also run a pub. She might be a Jedi…We have a couple of images that have seemed to hold up. One of them dates back pretty far (first on imageshack and later by SWU here) of Rey entering Maz’s pub:
This image is remarkably similar to another piece of concept art that later surfaced at Indie Revolver, that seems to depict the same clothing and blue alien design:
So in both of these we have a blue alien character with a longish neck and a red headdress. Given this, we might think that we’ve nailed it down. Furthermore, these images really suggest a Gossam as the species of this alien. Not so fast. As most of us know there are more images out there that turn out to be quite different.
From the (second) teaser trailer, we have who almost everyone has concluded was Maz handing over Luke/Anakin’s light saber to Leia. Side note: we know this is Leia from the ring and outfit matching Carrie Fisher from the SDCC BTS video.
This depiction of Maz has a very different design: an orange alien with blue outfit. What gives there? I would definitely lean toward this later character design (in the trailer after all) over the earlier concept art. It’s even possible that the blue alien above is in fact not Maz at all, but another alien at Maz’s pub/castle. At this point, we don’t know for sure. Also notable is the fact that the outfit looks a bit more pirate-like. It seems to be a bit baggier and something about the bracelets connote something that would fit with the pirate motifs. Furthermore, note the lack of wrinkles. This alien seems young, although it is tough to draw too many conclusions since this shot is difficult to see.
Next we have the most recent post at Indie Revolver, that gives one of the most detailed images of Maz yet:
In this image we have a design that isn’t exactly similar to any of the others, but more similar to the previous image in terms of the alien’s color. This is much more wrinkled. We’ve noted before that early reports from makingstarwars.net have reported that there were two aliens, an older one and a younger one. This last image definitely looks like the older one, so maybe the orange one posted before it is the younger one? Time will tell if the notion of two aliens holds up, or whether early concept design was playing with the idea of different ages. Another possibility here is that this alien species just has a lot of wrinkles independently of her age.
The robes in this last IndieRevolver pic are very reminiscent of a Jedi or possible kimono robes. The crystal in front of her is consistent with reports and theories that Maz uses psychometry to extract information from the Kyber crystal from within Luke’s lightsaber. She uses this to conjure up the history of the crystal and produce the Force-Flashback that the characters, or at least the audience gets to see. All these theories and the fact that the image is consistent with them suggests, if true, that Maz is indeed Force sensitive and possibly a Jedi.
But how? How could she be a Jedi at this age of the galaxy? Given the age of the character in this last image, one would expect that she predates Order 66. Could she just be a Force user and not a Jedi? That is certainly possible, but her outfit looks too similar to a Jedi to me. I would think it would be confusing to have a Force-user that wears an outfit that looks this similar to a Jedi tunic. Maybe Maz was just too powerful to be taken down by the Clone Troopers, or maybe she had already left the order, or maybe, she was already hiding out on Takodana far away in the outer rim. Another possibility is that she does not predate Order 66 and was just trained by Luke at some point post RotJ. Perhaps she was just a Force-sensitive that later refined her methods under Luke’s tutelage. Time will tell.
Any other scraps we can dig up? A while ago we had reports of the name “Kanjiklub Gang” being in TFA. MSW has speculated that this could be a group from the freighter scene. However, Reddit user thatstarwarsdude has posted here the following comparison shot:
On the left we have the guys from the lower left of the Vanity Fair shot of the guys from Maz’s castle. On the right we have a character from the box of the leaked Lego set where the name leak came from. The resemblance is pretty strong. The chest strap. The cap. The eye patch. The gloves. The mustache. It’s just so much that it would be confusing if these were not the same character. Now I’m fully aware that Vanity Fair may have characters line up out of context for a big group shot, but these guys just seem to fit in with the rest of the shot.
To me, this really suggests that Maz’s pirate gang could in fact be Kanjiklub. Let’s dissect that name for a minute. Kanji is basically a writing system used in Japan. We also have Maz’s robes as being described as like a kimono. Both of these things suggest a design with heavy Japanese influence. Kanji club? It’s almost like they aren’t trying too hard to make the names sound otherwordly.
We also have the planet name “Takodana” that sounds Japanese, and “Tako” means octopus in Japanese. Many have concluded that this name is most likely the name of Maz’s home planet. Come to think of it, Maz Kanata kind of sounds Japanese too (other than the Spanish connection mentioned above) and sounds a lot like “katana”, a Japanese sword as mentioned above. So it certainly sounds like there is a common thread of Japanese references in a lot of these names. That seems to reinforce the notion that Kanjiklub is the name of Maz’ pirate gang stationed on Takodana because it would tie together a lot of these Japanese-infuenced names.
Time will indeed tell who this character is. The speculation is half the fun!
For the longest time, people thought that the desert planet in The Force Awakens was in fact Tatooine. It wasn’t until Star Wars Celebration this past summer that we found out that it wasn’t Tatooine, but was “Jakku”, a planet then unknown to Star Wars fans. We have a few scraps of information about this planet, so let’s explore them now.
Supreme Leader Snoke, the man (?), the myth, the motion capture character played by the best in the business Andy Serkis. We have seen concept art of Maz, a stolen shot of Luke, but nothing has been seen of Snoke. JJ and Lucasfilm are keeping him under wraps for now only releasing his name and the sound of his voice. So what can we expect from this new villain? more “Who is Snoke?”
The Force Awakens! There has been an Awakening! Excitement right there, all I needed. But the question remains, why was the Force asleep? If we recall from the PT, there are numerous quotes from Mace and Yoda speaking of the fact that their ability to use the Force had diminished, essentially due to the Sith bringing the Force out of balance.
Today Entertainment Weekly released new info on our new favorite bad guy Kylo Ren. The most important part being he took his name from a group called the “Knights of Ren”. So what was his name before? Are the Knights still around? Are they Sith or something else? Let’s dive into the spoilers and piece this together…
