SPECULATION My Plot Speculation on The Force Awakens

I'm going to do things in bits. Enough for you to sink your teeth into, every few days or so, but not a whole lot at once. I'll be starting with pre-TFA information-basically, what goes on between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

• Let's start off easy-Max Von Sydow is Kanan. Or Caleb. Whatever you want to call him. Certainly not 'imposter Boba' or some old Rebel pilot (I think that was going around for awhile). I was a tiny bit shocked when I discovered this as well-Kanan's 33 as of ANH and so is in his late 60's here, while Sydow is in his mid-eighties. He mentions having 'been through a lot in his life'.
• It's implied in his dialogue that by the end of Rebels/shortly pre-ANH, the rest of the cast is either dead, imprisoned or abandoned the team. Oh yeah, spoiler alert. Bleak for a kids show too. What is important is that their little group was quite significant in the Rebel Alliance becoming organised. Anywho, by the time of ANH Kanan had gone into hiding-AGAIN-to save his own skin, not even feeling safe among the Alliance. Then he heard the Alliance blew up the Death Star, and got just a little bit excited.
• He lived a fairly unassuming existence for awhile, forging/renewing connections with traders and merchants in order to get by. That was until he got wind of the name 'Skywalker' belonging to the pilot responsible for destroying the Death Star. Believing Luke would be strong in the Force like his father, the great 'hero' of the Clone Wars (he never seems to discover Anakin was Vader...), Kanan decides to seek Luke out. It takes him awhile-not until after ROTJ in fact-but he finds Luke and the Rebels, and is welcomed into their ranks.
• Kanan saw more of a kindred spirit than a possible apprentice in Luke, but regardless continued to help guide him in the Force. Again (as a sidenote) Luke never told Kanan, or anyone other than Leia and Han really, that Anakin was Vader. Fast forward about ten years, and the two have constructed a 'new' Jedi Order-smaller, more focused, more secret, but a Jedi Order nonetheless.
• Moving away a bit briefly, onto the Rebel Alliance/New Republic and the Empire. Following ROTJ there was no new Emperor, no new figurehead-the Moffs, governors and admirals formed their own 'government' of sorts to keep control. All of Palpatine's associates were thrown out the window (with the kitchen sink of course) and now the Empire served the Empire, not the Sith. However, the Force-sensitive Inquisitors were still used (including a certain Game of Thrones actress in chrome trooper armor...) to 'enforce justice' in the Empire. Finn's homeworld happened to be pillaged by the Empire, with his parents murdered and he being taken to forcibly join the Stormtrooper ranks.
• On the side of the Republic, more worlds rallied to publicly join the Rebel Alliance following their (admittedly short-lived) victory in ROTJ such that this collection of worlds was renamed the New Republic, with Leia (of course) as its chief of state. She was a public figure now, and while Han was a Rebel hero, to the more political types he was nothing but a smuggler and a lowlife-their marriage, and the birth of their daughter, Kira, needed to remain secret. Also, as another note, C-3PO became her personal aide, because we all know he'd just love politicking.
• Back to the New Jedi Order. Roughly 10-11 years after ROTJ, Kanan and Luke had seven apprentices-one of them, Kylo Ren (around 18-20) was, for all intents and purposes, Luke's personal apprentice in everything but name. He was volatile and angry at both the Empire (who murdered his family) and, as most adolescents are, at the whole galaxy itself. Luke was doing his best to teach him calming techniques, trying to make the best Jedi out of him possible, but found it incredibly taxing. Also by this time, Han and Leia essentially gave Luke their 1-2 year old daughter, as he had sensed the Force strongly within her.
• Then, the Fire Nation Attacked. Sorry, had to (for what I believe was intended as a kid show it was actually quite good). Their temple was attacked by an immensely powerful Sith Lord (not going to spoil yet but it's Serkis) who decimated everything-he fought Kanan and Luke and attempted to kill all of the apprentices, as well as baby Kira. Having destroyed their work and beaten the two Masters within an inch of their lives-arrogantly believing they would just die-the Sith attempted to leave before coming across the broken, destroyed body of Kylo. Kylo saw the power of the Sith and wanted it-his pain fueled his hatred, and his hatred fueled his desire for vengeance-so the Sith took the nearly-dead Kylo with him.
• Luke is distraught and depressed and completely destroyed by what happened to his life's work, his destiny (Kanan less so). Han and Leia fall out over Kira's apparent safety-Han being royally peeved at Luke for not protecting Kira-and this, in addition to being fed up with the politics and his 'secret marriage' to Leia, causes him to leave the Republic and, with Chewie and the Falcon, seemingly vanish. With Leia's blessing, Luke puts Kira, with the pseudonym Rey, under the care of Kanan on Tatooine-apparently a remote a planet as they come that would now have featured in SIX of the seven films-before himself taking flight with R2-D2 to an unknown, remote location. Where he can grow all grizzly n stuff.
• The Sith Lord rebuilds Kylo cybernetically (think 'new Vader'), teaching him to channel his rage into the Dark Side. He develops Kylo's interest in ancient Jedi and Sith artifacts (hence a very familiar looking faceplate and a decidedly ancient lightsaber), which kicks the film's main plot into gear...

 

It's not him in the pilot suit. Absolutely, 100%. Assuming that everything I'm saying is complete bollocks though, just for the state of conjecture, and Driver is in the Rebel suit AND is the film's main villain in Kylo Ren...what do you expect to happen? Little character development at the start, 'crashing his X-Wing'/getting severely injured in some way, getting fixed, getting a costume, getting a lightsaber, getting all Sith-y. ALL IN ONE FILM. I see a logic fail in that sir.
On your other questions, his parentage is not known-he was pretty much just the first Force-sensitive Kanan and Luke found-and he is definitely not Han and Leia's son. While I enjoyed reading the 'Legacy of the Force' novel series and seeing the Jacen-Jaina sibling dynamic unfold, that won't be happening here.

 

Gleeson is Ravel Tarkin. Leaving it at that.

The lightsaber isn't the mulligan. Is it called a mulligan? I think it's called a mulligan. Anyway, that was misinformation.

 

McGuffin, that's it. Don't know why 'mulligan' came to me. The crossguard saber isn't particularly special, it's an ancient artifact. No special crystal, just old.

 

I'll tackle the plot of the film in a few days when I get round to it. He's not related to any Original or Prequel Trilogy characters though.

 

Honestly I know it SOUNDS like a lot but really it's explained away by a few pieces of dialogue throughout the film, or otherwise implied. There are no flashbacks to be found in this-it's not the Jedi...I mean JJ...way.

 

Okay, well there aren't any in this film.

Lots to tackle here and I do want to save a fair bit till my next dump *goes to the bathroom*
For the vast majority of the film Kylo wears his mask. The removal of his mask is almost a Vader-esque moment, as we get to find out what he looks like. Which you've seen in the concept art. He is ashamed of his cyborg form and thus remains covered. When we do see his face, the human side is meant to look young-now we can't all be Andrew Garfield but the implication is that his physical appearance hasn't aged since his 'rebirth'. So, he still looks '18-20'. I feel like that made little sense...

No. Stuff, things and dialogue.

Yes...that's why she was sent to Tatooine...
Spoilers If I can be perfectly honest Poe's character and generic story arc seems to be something every other spoiler poster/rumor horder seems to have gotten right, so there's that.

He. Hehehehe.

 

I stated before I enjoyed the sibling story from the EU, and I like your childhood friend idea. I really do. But it's just not what happens. I feel like JJ wanted to go back to the feeling of the original film in terms of bringing together a group of characters with little to no relation and having them learn to become heroes. Of course what would happen is the villain would become the father to two of the three mains, but you know. The original spirit was there.
I know what you're thinking-the sibling/childhood friend thing would make the struggle more personal. But trust me-things get very personal.

 

This guy gets it ^