Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been released, we have watched it and loved it! While Faizan Rashid’s 5-star review is completely spoiler-free, for those who have watched the movie there is a lot to discuss about many things that happen and the questions they raise. Here’s 10 things we noticed worth thinking and discussing about.
Remember: SPOILERS AHEAD for Star Wars: The Force Awakens! So if you have not watched the movie yet, you are recommended to read no further.
1. Kylo Ren and Lor San Tekka know each other
At the village in Jakku where Poe Dameron gets the partial map to Luke Skywalker, after the initial attack by the First Order, Kylo Ren confronts Lor San Tekka (Max Von Sydow). Their conversation shows they know each other from before. “You’ve grown old,” Kylo tells Lor. “You cannot deny your family,” replies Lor. He knows that Kylo Ren is Han Solo and Leia’s child. What past did these two share? Lor even mentions to Poe about Leia being “royalty” to him – there is more we may eventually find about Lor San Tekka.
2. Kylo Ren vs General Hux
Back aboard the Stardestroyer ship, Kylo belittles General Hux on the Stormtroopers’ inefficiency, even suggesting that the Stormtroopers be replaced by a Clone Army. (Oh yes, they haven’t been forgotten!). Hux, in retort, talks down to Kylo: “Careful”! Both are young and ambitious, and neither supersedes the other. Both are also loyal to Supreme Commander Snoke. An interesting dynamic for the future films.
3. Supreme Commander Snoke is a Sith Lord
Snoke says to Kylo Ren, “The Force has awakened. Have you felt it?” Kylo asks Snoke to show him the way to the Dark Side. At the end, Snoke announces he wants to complete Kylo Ren’s training. Being strong with the dark side of the Force, he has to be a Sith lord, with Kylo Ren as his apprentice. But what is his Darth- moniker? Not Darth Plagueis surely, since Darth Sidious (AKA Palpatine) claimed to have killed him. Could Plagueis be alive? Or is this someone else, who watched the events of the original trilogy from the sidelines?
4. Leia knows Snoke
Snoke isn’t an unknown character within the film – Leia mentions to Han that Snoke corrupted Ben Solo. Han knew him too, though it matters not anymore. It can be assumed that Luke Skywalker knows Snoke too, and perhaps even scares Snoke. Will we see a Luke vs Snoke battle in Episode IX?
5. Finn has an excellent aim
This is less to discuss, more to note. Right from the TIE fighter he escapes in, to the guns in the Millennium Falcon and eventually when using a blaster on ground, Finn proves to be an excellent shot. It’s a good thing he fled the First Order – he’d make a lousy Stormtrooper! *wink*
6. Who dropped off little Rey at Jakku?
The flashback we get show Rey as a little girl being left at Jakku. We don’t get a clue on who drops her, but we get to see the arm of the person who takes hold of little Rey, and it looks like it belongs to the same junkyard buyer who barters food-for-parts with a grown up Rey. So he knows who dropped her off. We haven’t seen the last of that guy.
7. How did Maz Kanata get Luke’s lightsabre?
We get bits of details on Maz Kanata throughout the scenes set at Takodana, especially when Han Solo asks her how she got the lightsabre. “A story for another time,” she replies. There is much she knows and has witnessed in her 1,000+ years of life. Quite likely she knew Yoda too. Was she who caused the vision that Rey experiences? We will discover a lot more about Maz Kanata in the future films.
8. Republic vs First Order
The First Order destroys the planets that are the senate of the Republic (who are openly known and operating a government). The Republic supports the Resistance (hidden and fighting the First Order). Therefore, we can guess that the Republic and the First Order are in some sort of power struggle for the Galaxy. This can be inferred from the dialogues. While it is fascinating to see the movie not laboriously lay out the politics like the prequels did, this isn’t the last of the politics that we’ll learn. Both sides have suffered big losses, meaning the battle will only get more intense in the next films.
9. Kylo Ren will have a different look in Episode VIII
At his father’s behest, Kylo Ren takes off his mask, and drops it on the bridge. We don’t see him with the mask again – we see his face during the snow battle against Rey & Finn. He also possibly gets a scar at the end of the fight (unless that’s just blood). Can we assume Kylo Ren’s mask, along with Vader’s burnt mask, is destroyed with Starkiller base? Episode VIII could just have him with the same look (he probably has a few masks of that design), or a new one. I’ll bet on a similar-but-modified design.
10. What causes R2D2 to awaken?
What triggers R2D2 to awaken towards the end of the film, to come forward with the map? Did Luke feel the Starkiller getting destroyed and telepath across the galaxy to R2D2? Or is R2D2, as some fan theories suggest, privy to the Force?
11. Rey meets Luke alone
Not many theories on this one. Considering the Resistance was looking for him long and hard, it is interesting that they take the decision to send one girl to meet Luke. That too, a girl they’ve just met who (from Resistance point-of-view) hasn’t really done much; Finn brought down the shields, Chewbacca was behind the early blasts and Poe’s team delivers the final kill. Then, why does the Resistance let Rey take the Millennium Falcon (with Chewbacca and R2D2) to meet Luke alone? Surely they would want Leia to meet and convince her brother to come back, especially after Han’s death. Do you have a theory? I’d like to see this satisfactorily explained in the next film.
12. Rey… Skywalker? New Trilogy is the story of the Skywalker grandchildren?
Anakin Skywalker’s lightsabre, which then belonged to Luke Skywalker, calls out to Rey while at Maz Kanata’s place. An educated guess would be that she is Luke’s daughter and therefore another grandchild of Darth Vader, apart from Kylo Ren. (Wait, is this why Luke drops her off to Jakku, to prevent her going over to the Dark side like Kylo?) If this is true, it would make a neat set: Prequel trilogy (Ep I, II, III) for Anakin Skywalker himself, Original trilogy (Ep IV, V, VI) for the children, and the Sequel trilogy (Ep VII, VIII, IX) for the grandchildren.
There are certainly many more details the movie provides us that raise in-universe questions, or provide specifics that fans will find fascinating. Have you caught any such details? Do you have theories on any of the above points, or indeed any other points? Tell us, we’d love to hear from you. Just remember to back it up with evidence from the movies!
