Warning: The following contains possible spoilers for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"
Ever since director J.J. Abrams confirmed that the original trilogy actors will be returning for December's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," fans have been wondering what their roles may be. Will Han and Leia have kids? Will those kids be on the Light Side or the Dark Side?
But what has taken up most of our attention are the rumors swirling around our main hero: Luke Skywalker. There have been a handful of reports detailing Luke's potential role in "The Force Awakens." Some seem legitimate, some seem far-fetched, and many of them conflict with one another. But MakingStarWars.com has put together a bulleted list of Luke's rumored role in the film based on their reporting and it seems quite plausible that it is accurate.
- "Luke is missing for most of the film, and may have been missing for about a decade
- Luke's blue lightsaber turns up at the start of the film, and ends up in the possession of our new heroes
- Maz Kanata, a new alien that our heroes visit in a pirate hideout, seems to be a Force sensitive that was once a student and/or teacher at a Jedi Academy that Luke may have started in the past
- The Jedi Academy that Luke created after the events of Return of the Jedi seems to have been utterly destroyed by an attack from evil forces
- Luke arrives at the scene of the Jedi massacre too late, departs, and is not seen again
- One of Luke's hands is now visibly made of metal
- Luke may have trained Rey in the past
- The film's villain, Kylo Ren, seems to be looking for Luke
- Rey discovers Luke's location through the decryption of a code of some kind
- At the close of the film, Rey finds Luke on a remote planet, on top of a mountain on an island in the middle of the sea, and hands him his blue lightsaber
- According to Jason Ward here at MSW, there seems to be a sense of Luke needing to 'atone' for past failures"
The one consistent theme in many of the reported "Star Wars" rumors is that Luke is not an active participant in the events of this new film and does not have a lot of screen time. The above list seems to support this theory while providing some critical background information on the elapsed time between "Return of the Jedi" and "The Force Awakens." It also connects Luke to new characters such as Rey, Maz Kanata and Kylo Ren. Although unconfirmed, this seems like a natural way to reintroduce Luke in the new set of "Star Wars" films.
For an unconfirmed detailed breakdown of the entire plot of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" click HERE.
