The Last Jedi Predictions

So, do I need spoiler tags or something for this entry even though I don’t know if anything I am about to write is a spoiler or not? Well, here goes anyway.

First let me say that I have not yet seen the eighth installment in the official Star Wars saga franchise, so everything I am about to say is either conjecture, or something I would like to see when Erin and I head off to the theater on the afternoon of December 21^st, 2017 to see The Last Jedi. These predictions are based solely upon what we have seen in the official movie trailers, snippets of various interviews, and my own (perhaps not so) logical reasoning based on some obvious real world circumstances which we are all familiar with. Obviously, I know some people who have already seen the movie, and all I have heard thus far that it is a great addition to the saga and perhaps the best one yet.

I kind of find it hard to believe that it has been two years already since Star Wars has made a triumphant return the big screen and I wrote about my thought and feelings in a couple of blog posts back when the Boo and I were going off to see The Force Awakens. I find it hard to imagine that the second installment of this sequel trilogy will measure up to the previous offering, and the even better standalone offshoot of Rogue One, which I still consider the best Star Wars movie I have seen yet. Unlike last time though, I have been determined to avoid spoilers and looking at the plot of the movie which should now be readily available on Wikipedia and the like around the Internet. I want to go into this one with a fresh perspective and see how it unfolds and what kind of impact it leaves on me not knowing what is going to happen next. Part of that is because I just don’t feel the same anticipation in watching The Last Jedi as I did for those previous two Disney installments. Despite the initial reports from those above unnamed people I know, I just don’t have that sense of “OMG! Star Wars is back!!” like I did for Episode 7 and Rogue One. I don’t know why exactly, it’s not like the movies are already taken for granted even though we already know we will see a Star Wars movie every single year for the foreseeable future. I think it might be partly because of the inevitability of what most likely will transpire in these next two installments of the movie and ending of the Age of the Classic Star Wars franchise as the new crew takes the helm for future adventures. Not that it won’t be fun and exciting, but I guess it just means I am getting older and all those things I loved as a kid are falling by the wayside of age and time.

But anyway, let’s get on with my predictions of what will happen in Episode 8, and see how close I come to reality.

First things first, I think it’s inevitable that we will have to face the death of Leia. The production has stated that they will not replace Carrie Fisher or digitize the performance of the character. It is a shame as, from my understanding, Carrie was supposed to have a major role in the plot of Episode 9, which had to be re-written to exclude the character of Leia Organa. The interesting thing here is how they are going to handle killing her off. Obviously, the movie was in the can when Carrie passed, so there would not have been a death scene filmed, unless (apply Tin Foil Hat), the production was misleading us all along and were going to kill off Leia from the very beginning in this episode. But I don’t think we will see a Han Solo type of demise here, and more than likely it will be something off screen, so to speak.

Now obviously, the movie trailers have set us up to consider some very interesting scenarios – Kylo blowing up the command ship Leia is on during the battle between the Resistance and First Order. We also get to see a conflict arise between Rey and Luke, and the possibility that Rey turns to the Dark Side and joins Kylo Ren. What is noticeably absent, however, is any mention or further information about the Knights of Ren who only made that brief appearance in Episode 7.

I kind of suspect that we may see a shift in how we think about the Force – the Light and the Dark, and the production may be taking a page from the Extended Universe. We may see something that gives some nods to the video games The Force Unleashed and Knight of the Old Republic. Where we see some very powerful force users and see them embrace both the Light side and the Dark side of the Force. All through Episode 7 we see Kylo struggling with both of these, and I think in Last Jedi, he may finally accept and embrace the fact that he is more powerful by drawing upon both Light and Dark, and convinces Rey of the same thing.

In the trailers, we get to see Rey come face to face with Snoke. However, what we don’t know is how much use of flashbacks and Force visions will be made of in the movie. We were introduced to Force visions in The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke thinks he is fighting Darth Vader on Dagobah, and later as a mental projection of his friends being tortured on Cloud City. We were introduced to them in the last movie, and I think we will see more during Rey’s training in the ancient Jedi temple. What I also think we are going to see is Rey becoming disillusioned with Luke and the concept of the Jedi, and thus making her more apt to join forces with Kylo Ren.

In fact, I think the climax of the movie may be Kylo and Rey joining forces and taking on Snoke so that they can then become the most powerful Force users in the galaxy and can shape the things to come to their own designs (not unlike Anakin’s desires in Episode 2).

I think there is a very likely possibility that Luke is killed off in this movie. The trailers make an obvious attempt at trying to lead us down that path, which could naturally be by design for the shock value, but this could be one instance where there is no deception and that what we are lead to believe may happen in the trailers is actually going to come to pass. In every Star Wars movie to date, one or more major characters are killed off or incapacitated in each one. To me it kind of makes sense when you take in the early reports that Leia was going to have a bigger role in the final installment. Rey and/or Kylo kill Luke, and in Episode 9, it is Leia who brings both of them back to the Light side of the Force. Now of course this might have changed now that we will see Leia’s last appearance in a Star Wars film, and that the original plan to kill off Luke is changed and Luke survives to take on what would have been Leia’s role in the final movie.

The only other real question that may still be left to be answered is that of Rey’s parentage. In The Force Unleashed, Vader hunts down and kills one of the remaining Jedi Knights who is in hiding, but discovers that the Jedi has a son who is extremely powerful in the Force and takes him in as his apprentice. I think the movies will lead us down a similar path. In the Extended Universe novels, Luke meets and marries Mara Jade, a former Imperial Pilot. I don’t recall if they have children, but I believe they do, just as Han and Leia have a son that turns to the Dark side of the Force. As much as it is the current belief with fans right now, I don’t think we will see confirmation that Luke is Rey’s father, though I think it ultimately needs to come to pass so that fans can see (in some aspect) the return of another beloved EU character in the form of Mara Jade (like Grand Admiral Thrawn has now returned to the official canon of Star Wars in the animated series Rebels). I think that question is still left to be answered, or perhaps may be answered at the very end of the movie – perhaps with a shocking twist that Snoke is actually Rey’s father. That wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

Well, at any rate, in less than 24 hours from me writing this final sentence and getting this up on the Interwebz, I will know how close (or how far) my predictions in this blog are. It will be extremely interesting to see if I was able to hit upon the right note in something.