SPOILER Marvel's Star Wars Shattered Empire #4

That's what I think. The tree will probably only appear briefly during the flashback vision when, I imagine, we'll see his academy ripped to shreds.

 

Hows about: Two trees when Luke was expecting one? I'm calling shenanigans - Darth Sidious shenanigans. Luke was meant to find them, and one is tainted or false. He doesn't even question it, he just gives it away to the Bey-Damerons. One of those trees is a plant (pun, not foliage). Or, failing that, one of them just goes bad because of where they plant it (Yavin IV legends darkside history?) - good tree/bad tree, light side/dark side. It's an interesting fantasy kind of idea, playing off some core tropes of the genre, and would add well to the greater mythos.

 

Pablo Hidalgo has said that after we delve a bit into the ST, we'll look back at events in the "Journey to TFA" and certain things might be seen in a different light. I look at the (Force?) trees as a bit of a harbinger of things to come. Will they perhaps play a role in the "Awakening"?

Whether this plot line has a connection to TFA or not remains to be seen, but I have a feeling we'll get more on this somewhere in canon. I just can't see them introducing this part of the story without it going into it deeper later on.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 23, 2015, Original Post Date: Oct 23, 2015 ---

While I believe that the trees are steeped in Force energy or are a wellspring of the Force, I thought the particles were just being emitted from the stasis field holding them.

 

@Kyle great review! I was a little shocked at how happy the ending was; but then again, I wanted both parents to survive so I shouldn't be complaining! I think one of the best parts about this series is that the ending feels definite. There isn't a next chapter for these characters and we don't need one. The art was beautiful and the fights were great. Yet, I feel like Luke was hinting at something more (and this is most likely just a callforward to TFA) when he noted how the pilot who was brought to him was the one who nearly shot him down and flew with Leia over Naboo. Either way, the series was short and sweet and held great tension!

Edit: Although I will admit that Jedi Luke seems a bit...shady to me. The dark cloths make him more sinister than mysterious. We all know he's good! It's just to me, there's something...off about it.

 

Is it because the artist drew him like a half-melted Ken doll?

 

I liked it. About the trees representing the light side of the Force. What if Palpatine knew that to uncover the secret of cheating death, creating life with the force one needs both sides of the Force? The Dark side and the Light. (I typed this with Andy Serkis' voice from the trailer in my head XD).
Maybe I am completely wrong.
Can't wait to find out if and how TFA answers our questions

 

I'm liking these new comics! I just, I mean, I never pegged the Emperor as a vegan before...

If these trees have can manipulate the force, does that mean Poe Dameron is force sensitive??

 

I like your Darth Sidious idea , that didn't even cross my mind. I'm not sure about the good/bad part, Luke said they come from one tree...it seems they both would be good or both would be bad, not mixed. Either way I hope TFA answers these questions.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 28, 2015, Original Post Date: Oct 28, 2015 ---

That's what I'm wondering as well; I think Rey is force sensitive, not sold on Finn yet; could Poe be force sensitive...maybe?

 

I find that odd as well; these trees must be important!

 

I think the trees emphasize the ongoing theme of artefacts: The Sith artefacts in Lando, Kenobi's diary and the Jedi holocrons in Star Wars, Vader's mask in TFA, the apparent search for Luke's lightsaber, ...

 

I think the artifacts theme is playing into a general idea that that is all there is left of the Jedi and the Sith - relics of another time, a mythic time. It plays into the medieval influences we see in the imagery and settings of TFA - castles, medieval knights, crossguard saber etc.

The medieval idea of 'relics' of Jesus Christ will come into it. It was common for chivalry tales to feature con-artists claiming to have cloth or wood from the cross/the man. There are remnants today - think the shroud of Turin, which is actually semi-believed in by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholics.

Luke did say that they were from one tree - yes. But he was expecting only one sapling, not two, and Palpatine's strength was always in his cunning, manipulation, and insidiousness. I wouldn't put it past him to contrive a post-death set-up for Luke of some sort, a trap. It's just an idea, not convinced of it myself... The other part is that the Bey-Dameron's plant the second tree on Yavin IV, which in the old EU had deep and ancient roots to the darkside, which often effed up Luke's New Jedi Order pupils - see Jedi Academy games and Jedi Academy novels. Yavin IV being tainted is an idea that the story group COULD have considered carrying across to the new canon, as they seem to be backing or re-canonizing up a lot of general universe building background stuff into the canon. No hermaphrodite hutts yet though...

I dunno, I think it's far more likely one or both trees just show up in the background somewhere as a vague but cool nod to the super-fans who read Shattered Empire. I highly doubt they will be central to the plot. But as we have no plot and much speculation... well ha. Long live Darth Darth Binks, Supreme Leader of the First Order and re-incarnation of Darth Plagueis the Wise.