EW has a whole bunch of Star Wars pictures out there, and while only one or two of them provides some interesting insight (like the one above. Finn somehow gets Poe’s jacket. do they switch clothes in order to escape? QUESTIONS!!!!), what we have learned is something that most people have figured out on their own, but I thought it’d be fun to gab about today.
Since the events of Return of the Jedi, the Empire has raised an entire generation of subjects on a steady diet of propaganda regarding Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance (now named the Resistance). The First Order troops have grown up believing that Luke Skywalker “was a villain who destroyed the benevolent Empire.”
I’m most intrigued to see how the Galactic Empire restructured into the more idealistic First Order after the death of the Emperor and Darth Vader, its two figureheads. We’ve seen that Kylo Ren has Vader’s melted helmet on some sort of shrine, so I’m guessing that the two greatest villains in the galaxy became martyrs that galvanized certain parts of the Empire.
This obviously has to factor into Finn’s story in a big way. His lines from the previous trailer about being raised to do one thing seem to mean that he is coming to some serious revelations about the world he’s grown up in. What a fantastic story to tell in the Star Wars universe: a soldier who realizes that he’s been on the wrong side for his entire life. I can’t wait to see that unfold.
There’s another tidbit in the EW issue that almost certainly confirms what a lot of people have been speculating about: who is Rey? From the article:
Rey was ditched on Jakku by her family when she was a child and has no idea why — or why they never returned. “She’s been alone for a long time,” Ridley says. “When something occurs when you’re 5, you know what went on but you don’t understand the reasoning. She’s hopeful for what lies ahead, whether that involves the past or not.”
Seeing as how a lot of The Force Awakens is taking cues from the original Star Wars, it feels like Rey’s story is running somewhat parallel to Luke’s. If she isn’t a Skywalker, I’d be darn surprised. The ongoing theory is that her and Kylo Ren are siblings (or cousins), and that will make for some wonderful family conflict. And Star Wars has always been about family, legacy, and the sins of the parents.
I know there’s not a ton of news in this post (and a lot of this has been speculated about already), but as The Force Awakens creeps closer and closer, I can’t help but start to feel the excitement bug biting my ass. It feels like this has a lot of poential be a really great film. If it can pull off the world and characters just right, I feel that all of the hype will be well-earned.
December 18. We’ll be right here when you get back from the theater. You better talk with us about this thing!
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