If any one of you know me personally, you will understand the fact that I am a Star Wars nerd. I was the one who would watch the original trilogy over and over again, though my favorite has always been (and will always be) The Return of the Jedi. While I did attend the midnight showing (when they still opened movies at midnight, not 7pm the night before) of The Revenge of the Sith, I refuse to accept the prequel trilogy as actual Star Wars due to the horrendous acting, over-use of CGI technology, and that character that was supposed to be the comedic relief.
I was the kid who collected and played the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (CCG) made by Decipher, Inc. Heck, I still am the kid who collects and continues to play even though Decipher lost its license and stopped producing and developing cards back in 2001. The fact that there is still a community out there who plays, has tournaments (including Worlds), and continues to operate is proof of how amazing the game is, but more importantly, how powerful Star Wars has become.
After the prequel trilogy, I was disappointed with the route George Lucas took my beloved childhood memories. Yes, lightsabers are cool and Jedi are awesome, but the story that made the originals so powerful was lost to flashy moments and technology. I was even more apprehensive when Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars and announced the continuation of the story in Episode VII. Princess Leia is a bad-[edit], not a Disney princess. And who in their right mind would let a mass murderer and Jedi slayer walk among children at an amusement park (does nobody remember the scene with the younglings!?).
I watched as J.J. Abrams was announced as the director for The Force Awakens (does nobody else understand that he is now the most powerful being in the galaxy after the remake of Star Trek and now Star Wars?). And I smiled at the teaser trailers, knowing that Abrams was not going to give us much, the name of Star Wars could have carried the movie to theaters without showing Han or Chewie. But then we got the official trailer. And the world went crazy.
:::PAUSE::
If you haven’t seen the official trailer, I have one question: Have you been living under a rock?! Go watch it and try not to smile. I dare you.
:::LETS CONTINUE:::
Now, the big question that I have seen all over the place is: Where is Luke? Is that his mechanical hand touching R2? Why isn’t he seen on the poster? We hear his voice in the teaser, but we want to see him?
And now there are theories that he is one in the same as Kylo Ren. But I’m not going to talk about that.
What I do want to discuss is the theory that surrounds the duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in the throne room of the second Death Star. Did Luke Skywalker fall to the Dark Side of the Force?
Simple answer: Yes. Maybe.
No matter how much people try to explain the Force when it comes to the Light or Dark Side, the simple truth is that it is too fluid for any of us to comprehend. One one side, we have good. The other, evil. But what about the grey in between? According to the Jedi, it is either one or the other, a black and white world. And the Sith, well, they all start out with good intentions, right? Uhhh, no?
Luke sets out to confront Vader with the hope of redemption. He believes that it is possible to return to good, even after being consumed by evil for such a long time. In addition to this, we see Luke get captured in the hopes of giving his friends a chance to succeed at their mission and bring down the Death Star’s shield.
He has good intentions. And then he falls.
Yes, you heard me correctly. I believe that Luke Skywalker falls to the Dark Side when he lashes out in anger and strikes out at the Emperor. He knows it. And fights to regain his composure. Look at how he hides and tries to refuse to fight Vader. And once Vader senses his fear and preys upon it, Luke again falls to anger and fear. He goes crazy and strikes with reckless abandon. He is consumed by the Dark Side.
And to be honest, I think it takes him a lot longer to recover than The Return of the Jedi makes it out to be. Luke is still defiant, still fights against it. And suffers for it.
Now, I’m warning you before hand, I’m going to get into speculation and possibly some spoilers, so… you are warned.
There is a lot of theories out there regarding what the heck happened to Luke Skywalker. If you have read the Shattered Empire comic series, Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, specifically volume four, we realize that Luke is still alive, still fighting and stealing back these random trees that I have never seen before (I wonder, are they going to be a part of the story line?).But then evidently he goes into hiding?
By the sound of the trailers, Luke has disappeared. The entire idea of the Force has gone underground. Like it never happened. There are stories, myths about the Force and Luke is nowhere to be seen. It seems as if he has gone underground.
Unlike the original Expanded Universe, where Luke reconstructs the Jedi Academy and they all live happily ever after (lies). Instead of the Jedi Academy, we have the greatest Jedi, the hero who brought the fall of the Empire, nowhere to be seen.
My theory is that Luke is still recovering from that brush with the Dark Side. He is hiding because he is ashamed that he allowed himself to be consumed by anger and hate. I believe that he realized how powerful the Force can be, especially the Dark Side of the Force. There is a sense of shame that I could feel when we see this character reaching out to R2-D2. And R2 turns away.
I saw somewhere that all Jedi wear brown. Sith wear black. And those characters struggling between Light and Dark wear a mix of black and brown. To throw something more into the mix: Luke wears black. All black. Even in the comics.
The story of Luke is powerful because it is a story that we can all relate to. And that is what Star Wars is all about. I’m definitely looking forwards to The Force Awakens.
A Journey 