TFA Speculation & Overall Thoughts;

Putting aside that this isn't the Luke of the OT (why he abandoned his friends and the galaxy after being partly responsible for Kylo's fall is beyond me)...

Obviously Rey is either his daughter or the daughter of Jedi that Luke knew. We hear LST say to Rey in the flashback "be quiet, girl" or something. But the fact that it didn't explain why Maz had the saber really pi**sed me off.

And don't get me started on Snoke. Just to think, the derision Lucas got for use of CGI...

 

Spoiler

Is there a bigger threat than a Star Killer weapon destroying the galaxy and his friends being butchered? Doesn't add up.

 

According to the Visual Dictionary:

"Though San Tekka is not Force-sensitive, he has witnessed its power firsthand. During the dark times of Emperor Palpatine's rule, San Tekka was a follower of the Church of the Force. This underground faith was made up of loosely affiliated worshippers of the Jedi ideals, who steadfastly believed that one day their light would return to the galaxy."

He better not be Darth Sidious... that would make me ragequit.
Can't we just keep Sidious/Palpatine dead?

I wouldn't mind if he turned out to be Sidious' master, Plageuis. It would be a nice way to bring the saga full circle.

Spoiler

And he didn't really seem that upset over losing Starkiller

 

Much preferred the film in 2D. Took a lot more in and the Rey story is great and makes sense. Kylo very interesting character but don't get his motivation. The film is definitely too similar to ANH and lacks a punch at the end. Snoke CGI is woeful. 9/10 up to Kanata. 7/10 from then on.

 

I dont see why this is so hard to grasp. Luke tried to revive the Jedi Order - to pass on what he has learned. It didnt go well. The reason is obvious. The timing wasnt right. He was attempting to manipulate the world around him to make it become what he feels it should be. It isnt going to work - the light side of the force doesnt work that way. Luke listened to the force and waited for the moment when the force communicated to him that he must act. Much like Obi-wan. He didnt try to train Luke from the day he was born. He waited until fate brought them together.

Trust in the force, Luke. He did and his next apprentice came to him both determined and ready. Every time a light side user attempts to make an event into their vision it doesnt go the way they expected. See Ani with his mother and Padme. See Mace with Sidious. See Yoda with using the clones. See Luke trying to rescue his friends in Cloud City. On and on. You dont fight the force, you let it come to you. Thats all Luke is doing. He has learned what Yoda attempted to tell him in ESB: that it is necessary to sacrifice your friends for a greater good, if you honor what they are fighting for.

 

Those two pilots who urgently run past the camera when Finn sees the Resistance base for the first time.

The ones who suddenly stop running and slow to a jog as they realize they're headed nowhere/towards the treeline.

Anyway, those two had me speculating that maybe someone didn't really think the blocking through on that one.

Or I might have just been really tired and imagining things.

 

What would Obi Wan have done if Luke hadn't gone off with him in ANH? Let the Princess die and the plan to the Death Star fall into the hands of the Empire?
No. He would've done what he could to stop this catastrophe.
Yoda told Luke not to go in TESB because HE WASN'T FULLY TRAINED. He could've easily fallen to the Dark Side.
Luke not coming out of his exile in TFA made no sense. Luke isn't omnipotent or omniscient. "Always in motion is the future".
The Star Killer just wiped out an entire star system - billions dead.
The Star Killer was about to wipe out another star system that include the Resistance (+ his sister).
Kylo Ren killed his best friend.
Kylo Ren could've killed Finn & Rey.
Luke sitting around and not getting involved because "he was waiting for the right time" makes no sense.
What we're left with is the fact that Luke was still grieving on Skellig. You can tell that by his reaction to Rey:
It will be down to her to pull him out of retirement.
And that IS NOT Luke Skywalker. That is not what the man who has defeated the Dark Side, fought, defeated and redeemed his father and overcame the Emperor would've done. Yoda and Kenobi witnessed the destruction of a lot more Jedi, including younglings. Kenobi was probably even more responsible for this than Luke would be for Kylo turning to the Dark Side. Do we see Kenobi unwilling to do what is needed when the s*** hit the fan? No, in ANH he would've taken on the mission without Luke.

I like the whole "where is Luke Skywalker" angle. Heck, I said back in 2012 that the story should be about him being an outcast. But when the galaxy is under threat, when BILLIONS are about to die, the hero of the saga can't just do nothing. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 17, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 17, 2015 ---

Questions I have:

1. Who is Lor San Tekka? What is his connection to Luke. He is part of the Church of the Force and believes the Jedi are needed to maintain the balance. Does he view Leia as royalty because she was a Princess or because she is Luke's sister? Was the Church of the Force part of Luke's Jedi Order?
2. Can anyone now use the Force? Is Finn going to use the Force? Perhaps not be strong in the Force but nevertheless, use it in some way?
3. What happened to Maz Kanata?
4. How did the lightsaber "call" to Rey? Will this be explained more?
5. Why was Luke searching for the first Jedi temple?
6. Who is Snoke? I say more than ever that he must be Plagueis. Dark Side knowledge, referred to as wise, the music being exactly like opera scene from ROTS, Kylo suggesting he use a Clone Army (Plagueis might have been behind original clones) - and then being a tall, skinny, pale alien that looks like he has been scarred by Sith lightning.
7. Who are Rey's parents? I don't think she is a Skywalker. It would've been made explicit when she met Han/Leia/Luke.
8. Why did Kylo turn to the Dark Side? This was a big thing for me, I didn't get it. He just sounded like one of those high school shooters. Spoiled, attention seeking and a bit mental. I don't get the motivation. Also, why did he say to Vader mask "show me again the dark side" (or something)?
9. Are there more KOR? Where are they?

 

By allowing the events to transpire the way they do, Luke is doing what is necessary. You say he should have done something. By doing something, events would not transpire the way they do. We will never know if that would be good or bad - what we DO know, is that Luke's actions (or inactions if you prefer), the next generation of the light appeared at his door step. I believe he knew this to be the case.

I believe Luke knows better than we do. To argue the will of the force is to miss the whole point of the force. I think Luke will be very monkish when we get a better glimpse of him and the burden of having to allow bad things to happen in order for the next generation of good to surface will have taken its toll.

 

Then why is everyone bothering to look for him? Lor San Tekka is a member of the Church of the Force. He'd know all about balance and the will of the Force yet he helps the resistance seek out Luke. In the end, Rey has to find Luke herself. If the time is right, why doesn't he come to them? And what better time is there to come out of exile then help the resistance and new Jedi in their most desperate hour?!

If I was a regular audience member I'd surely be asking why this powerful Jedi did nothing while billions died, included his best mate Han Solo.

 

Why is everyone looking for him??? - Because they think they need to. They arent Jedi. Luke has far different motivations than anyone in the galaxy, including his sister who wants him for the Resistance - NOT the force.

Why is the Church of the Force interested in finding Luke??? - Duh! Because they are the Church of the Force. Thats what they do, but they do not know the will of the Force. Thats not their job, mission, responsibilty.

Why does Rey have to find Luke??? - Because this is HER journey, not LUKE's. She has to go through the events as they played and willingly seek out Luke. It CANT happen any other way.

Every gripe you have seems aimed at actively making events transpire differently. That is not how the force works. Luke is tuned in at this point and, just like the OT, Rey and Luke's fate lies along different paths than the Resistance, Han, and all the others. If events dont transpire as they did, Rey doesnt necessarily make the conscious choice to seek out Luke and that is what this movie is all about. Rey making this choice - not Luke making it for her.

 

Well said, nothing more to add to this.

 

My lasting thought: "FRELLIG."

 

I felt the same. We have character like Snoke, who could have easily been played by actual actors. The CGI Maz Kanata, and the Millennium Falcon sweeping down over the water in every other scene of the film. While it might have been less in your face than a droid army, it was still painfully obvious we are in the age of CGI.

 

The resistance is looking for him because without Jedi, there is no balance to the galaxy.

Kylo/Snoke and the FO want to find him to kill the last Jedi.

 

Just came back from the premiere.

Here is something bold:

Star Wars The Force Awakens is now my FAVORITE Star Wars episode. WOW! just WOW!... I am in shock!

Characters are just Great! Goods and villains.
Funny, dramatic....all the emotions like a roller coaster.
Never a dull moment.... so packed.... so intense...
A lots of elements for years ahead of discussion.... this movie will get better and better as the next episodes come out.

And I have the feeling that tons of deleted scenes are coming our way on the Blu-ray disk next spring.

Here's my revised ranking of Star Wars episodes now:

1 - TFA
2 - ESB
3 - ANH
4 - ROTJ
5 - ROTS
6 - AOTC
7 - TPM

I can't believe I liked it better than my all time favorite Empire. It was that good for me.

 

In my opinion, TFA is a really great movie. I don't know if it's better than ESB but it's up there.

 

Loved it.

Rey is Luke's daughter.

Snoke was the student of Luke's who turned to evil. Han and Leia definitely know him

I'm guessing that Luke is the one who scarred him. We'll discover that the relationship between Luke and Snoke resembles that of Kenobi and Anakin

The scene with Leia and Han reminiscing is the one that jerked a tear out of me

Anyone else notice that Kylo likely lost his mask?

Snoke is going to finish his training

And of course I'll have to rethink all of this after the next viewing