Why does R2 suddenly wake up and reveal the map?

My theory is that Luke is connected to Artoo and when he went into hiding, he powered down the droid. Upon feeling Rey's "Awakening" (and perhaps the loss of the Hosnian System and Han Solo) Luke let Artoo come back to life so that Rey could find him.

 

The other component of the map being in the same room was my thought. Could be droid communication as well. R2 sits idle until there is a sign of conflict. Droids would be collecting and sharing info continuously.

 

Was that the first time the two components of the map were near? I can't remember. Anyway I don't think people should consider this as a weak link in the plot, given the fact that there are already possible explanations and that it will most likely be explained in the next episode.

 

That was my theory too. After Luke felt the disturbance, he sent a communication to R2. If not that, it's a pretty silly coincidence.

 

We know that R2 will hang onto information until it gets to the right person at the right time. His deactivation, Luke's departure, and Rey being placed on Jakku were all part of a plan we don't understand yet.

 

It is because Luke's lost secret daughter has been found again and that triggers R2 to wake up and show the map.

 

I feel it is a combination of the map and Rey being there. They had the map their first when BB uncovered R2 but he didn't awaken. Only after Rey showed up did he awaken. I think he had to wait for the map and for the person that was supposed to go to Luke.

 

Artoo is the first force sensitive droid!

 

Not an easy task for a little droid .

I think R2 is the only one that knows the truth about Rey in the room since he probably was the one who spent the most time with Luke during those important years after ROTJ. Not even Han or Leia makes the connection. (perhaps Leia has felt it at the end when she smiles and says "May the force be with you" to Rey)

 

Because its the end of the movie and they hadn't found Luke yet.

Agree with some others andI think because of Rey. She wasn't there the first time BB-8 approaches R2 and 3PO tells him he is in reserve power mode. Rey comes to the base, and R2 wakes up.

 

yea.. even tho he is in power down mode, he still may be recording who is there and what is happening. He records Rey and then wakes up

 

This is my theory. Especially since Rey wasn't there the first time we saw artoo, and he only woke up when she returned from Starkiller Base.

 

And here it is from Abrams and gang:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/2...-question-about-r2-d2-star-wars-force-awakens

Artoo decided to wake up so they could find Luke. I actually love this idea. It brings it back to Artoo being an essential character in the series.

 

JJ has given Rian Johnson one heck of a task. In VIII he has to explain, probably in flashbacks and exposition:

1. Why Kylo turned evil
2. Why Maz had the saber
3. What happened to Maz after the FO attack
4. Why Artoo suddenly came back to life
5. What planets were destroyed - this was so inadequately done. I thought it was Coruscant on first viewing. That had some deeper meaning considering we have seen the planet in the previous 3 movies. But now it's some new planet the senate is based on...bah, weird.
6. What Luke had been doing and why he didn't intervene
7. Who Rey is, why she was left on jakku, who her parents are
8. Where Luke was whilst the KOR butchered his academy
9. Who is Snoke, where he came from, where he's been, how he knew about Kylo
10. How Rey seemed so advanced in the Force

There's loads more. But when you consider just how simple a story ANH was and how that perfectly set up Kershner for TESB, the mess that was TFA is surely going to cause Johnson some major headaches.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2015 ---

Wow, that was badly executed.

 

(refrencing the EW article about the Abrams/Arndt/Kasdan Q&A) I wonder if Ben went searching through the archives artoo was holding, went looking for something from/about his grandfather he read about, came across Snoke on said adventure, and was seduced to becoming Kylo Ren.

 

Well, glad they answered that. I think the bit about it "rattling around for a while" is pretty lame, but not everything has to work perfectly. To me it would have worked better if they just had R2 wake up as soon as BB8 came back with the map. I get why they put it off since Luke is the Macguffin they wanted it at the very end. But they could have found Luke's location, but then realized they didn't have time to get there before the FO attack so they have to deal with that first.

 

lolwut? JJ gave Rian Johnson a great sandbox to play in- Rey's Parents, Kylo's seduction, Snoke's motivation, something scene stealing from Phasma, Luke Skywalker near center stage. Why is that a mess or a headache?

 

I don't think that those points will be quite as hard to address as you seem to think they are. A lot of them seem to be linked together (e.g. Rey's parents and why she's advanced in the Force seem intertwined), and I'm not 100% sure that Maz needs to be addressed at all really. If she's in VIII (has that been confirmed yet?) that stuff might come up, and yeah the "I'll tell you where I got it later" is just kinda lazy, but it happened and I'm not sure it really needs an explanation now.