The ghosts of episodes past

Apologies if this has maybe been touched on before but I've not seen it. The whole Force ghost thing brings up so many questions now. So at the beginning of the OT, Qui-Gon is able to talk to Obi-Wan and Yoda through some taught Force technique, since Yoda basically says to Obi-Wan "Qui-Gon has been communicating with me from the beyond, I'll teach you how to communicate with him". Then Obi-Wan becomes the first full-tilt Force ghost in episode 5; and Obi-Wan appears to Luke and helps him along the next two stories. So there is Ben the Force ghost who has been helping Luke ever since the Death Star trench run. Then at the very end of the trilogy, the final scene; Yoda and Anakin have become full-tilt Force ghosts, too.

So what are these three Force ghosts doing these days? They're there. They have to be. They can interfere, right? Why aren't they appearing? Why doesn't Anakin just appear to Kylo? "Hey this is no good, grandson, you're really making me look like kind of a Rebelscum and I was really trying to put all that behind us so I'd appreciate it if you just knock it off. Imitate someone else. Imitate Jar-Jar no one cares about Jar Jar. Just, stop it with the Vader crap I'm done with that."

I mean do you think they will appear in these movies? Having them all be Force ghosts at the end of Jedi was okay because the story is over now. But now that we're continuing the story, this leads to the question of, where are the Force ghosts? Where are Yoda, Anakin and Obi-Wan?

 

Well in TFA we do hear the two Bens (the Obi-Wans Kenobi?) speaking directly to Rey. So they're already involved. It's like Obi-Wan is always on the job. Qui-Gon, Yoda and Anakin all look like they're slacking. Maybe even Ben. He went from voice-only to blue ghost, back to voice-only again.

It would seem to me weird not to touch on this in the movies, otherwise you run the eternal "but where were the Force ghosts?" from fandom. But it also seems weird to touch on this in the movies. Luke has some explaining to do. Rey is there with questions and Luke has some explaining to do. If Yoda appears, so does he, I would think. Where you been for thirty years? You guys was, what? Off in another dimension or something? Couldn't be bothered with our lives after the second Death Star was destroyed? Or what, it's against the Ascended Rules? And Obi-Wan is a rogue who 'bends the rules'?

 

They are, Kenobi is interacting with Rey in TFA "Rey, these are your first steps". Episodes 1-6 have this progression leading to the appearing of the three to Luke at the end of Jedi. In e2 Qui-Gon speaks to Anakin as a voice-ghost; then in e3 he talks to Yoda, and Yoda teaches Obi-Wan how to communicate with Qui-Gon. Then in e4 Ben speaks to Luke as a voice-ghost, then in e5 appears as a blue ghost, then in e6 two more blue ghosts. Ending the story at e6, no real problem, we had one Force ghost appearing and helping Luke along the way, then we add two at the end to show Anakin is redeemed; and end story. Everyone lives happily ever after, and the Force ghosts retire to Force land. The end.

But now, wait. Everyone needs to come out of retirment for e7. Including the Force ghosts because, why not? Where were they when Luke was training new padawans? Where were they when Snoke was sneaking around in the shadows? Does it even matter? I can see the three Force ghosts not being involved in Rey's story. I'm pretty much expecting Han is coming back as the Force ghost of this trilogy. Probably joined by Luke and Leia at the end. That's what I expect for Rey to see.

But the story of Rey also is tied in with the story of Luke, and so now it's like tying the three Force ghosts back in via their connection with Luke's story. It seems to me a tricky situation for writers. I'm interested to see if and how they handle it.

 

I'm with you on that. But it creates a dilemma for me in that, it doesn't seem that should be the way that it should be. Even though the way that it should be, becomes problematic for the story itself. These three should be well aware of Snoke and Kylo Ren and the F.O. I mean, the story of TFA is all because of Anakin Skywalker. They should all three be really involved. Obi-Wan was involved when it was just him.

But then having the three(four counting qui-gon) involved would be a little over-the-top in favor of the good guys. It's like when a sci-fi series has the good guys invent some "mega-something" only to completely ignore that invention in further episodes where you ask "why don't they just use the mega-something they got from three episodes ago?" but you realize, if they always have the mega-something, they can never lose.

When Jedi ended, the three/four Force ghosts were the mega-weapon that was put together at the end of the story, and ended the story. Since there's no story afterward, mega-something isn't a problem. But if you make a sequel, suddenly mega-weapon's existence becomes a problem that you either address or ignore. I'm wondering if they address or ignore. It seems a tricky spot for a writer I'm interested to see what they do.