You Tube became all aflutter today with the release of a Japanese trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While much of the footage featured in the trailer can be found in the full trailer released on October 19th, there is quite a bit of new info revealed.
So, we got all kinds of new stuff here. So let’s go over it a bit.
“Waiting… for my family.”
Rey said she’s waiting for someone. For her family. That implies that she’s been transplanted to Jakku and that she’s not native to the world. This strengths long held fan theories that Rey may, in fact, be of the Skywalker bloodline – either as the offspring of Han and Leia or (less likely in my opinion) as the child of Luke Skywalker himself. The big take away here is that she knows she’s part of something else beyond being a scavenger on a backwater, wounded planet.
Rey also appears to be curious about the origins of the insanely adorable BB-8. This also seems to confirm that she is not the droid’s original owner and lends credence to the theory that BB-8 belongs to Poe. After all, we do see the cute little ball droid rocking an X-wing.
“I will fulfill our destiny. I will finish what you started.”
Oh, Kylo Ren. So much mystery and so many questions. Who is Kylo Ren? What’s his story? What’s his background? While we don’t know, I have a personal theory. Again, this is just fanboy speculation – but here’s what I suspect is going on with Kylo Ren – and it goes back to not only Darth Vader, but to Luke and even Yoda.
When Yoda was dying he told Luke Skywalker to “pass on what you have learned.” If Luke followed this advice, that would mean that at some point he began looking for students to train in the Force. However, I can’t imagine this training was easy for “Master” Skywalker. Luke is a half-trained Jedi, at best. Sure, he has the certainty, faith and conviction necessary to be a Jedi Knight – but he doesn’t have the decades of training and study that were the foundation of the Jedi Order during the days of the Republic.
So Luke takes his first class of students some time after the events of Return of the Jedi. Luke teaches them what he can and uses Darth Vader as a warning of the power of the Dark Side. But some of his students are drawn to the secret knowledge of that power. Then, somehow (I’m not sure how), there is an accident or an incident that results in a schism in Luke’s students or results in him even abandoning instruction all together.
The most powerful student Luke has, a young man, takes up the call of the Darth Vader and begins to research the Sith Lord and becomes obsessed. Other follow his lead, his promise of power. These would-be Sith take up the name the “Knights of Ren,” and Luke’s chief student takes up the name Kylo Ren – their leader.
In an effort to prove that Vader’s power is validated and prove himself, Kylo Ren will carry out what (as he said) “you started.” This is the extermination of the Jedi. Particularly the last Jedi: Luke Skywalker. But in this new trailer, Kylo says it is his destiny to do so. Why? What makes it his destiny.
Given the themes of Star Wars and statements from Abrams, we know that The Force Awakens continues the story of the Skywalker family. But Rey is not the only Skywalker… I theorize that Kylo Ren is either brother to Rey or even the son of Luke himself! It is his destiny, like his grandfather, to finish the great Jedi Purge that began with Order 66.
It’s also possible that Kylo is hunting down Force-Sensitives with an offer: Either recruit them into the Knights of Ren or destroy them. That would explain his confrontation with Finn as well as the new picture of him holding his lightsaber to Rey’s neck.
I’ve got another theory on that way – and it’s just that, a theory: I’m still not 100% certain Finn is Force-Sensitive. His talking action figure says “My name’s Finn and I’m in charge here.” That makes me wander if he’s not a bit of a military alpha – used to being obeyed unquestioningly. So he’s “in charge,” and he’s carrying Luke’s lightsaber because he feels the need to be in a position of command and importance. I think he gets his butt kicked in the fight with Kylo Ren. Ren assumes Finn is Force-Sensitive when he sees him with the saber – but in the fight Ren realizes he is mistaken. He discovers it’s Rey who is Force-Sensitive (and possibly his sister!). So he turns on her. This might explain this new image:
“Hope is not lost today. It is found.”
There has long been a theory that someone from the original cast is going to die in The Force Awakens. Personally, I had long subscribed to theory that it was Han Solo – now I’m not so sure. We see Rey crying in the snow. She appears to be flanked on the lower part of the frame by something brown… and fuzzy. Could it be the fallen corpse of Chewbacca? I wasn’t so sure and am not absolutely certain, but given that we hear the words “Hope is not lost today. It is found.” when this is happening and we see the image of what appears to be Chewie pressing the button on what seems to be a detonator, I can’t help but believe that we might be seeing the end of our stalwart Wookiee companion.
There are a few other tidbits in there to speculate on. The appearance of Leia in what appears to be a planning or war room, Kylo igniting his lightsaber in what looks to be a base or bridge – we can pick this apart for months. Fortunately we don’t have months to wait! We’re less than six weeks away from The Force Awakens – so hope is not lost!
