Just a disclaimer, I'm probably going to be 100% wrong about this, but I just wanted to get this out while I was still thinking about it.
Okay, so as most of us know, the new Star Wars film is going to be coming out in a few months time, and like a lot of other long-time fans of the franchise, I'm excited. My brother and I, we've been tracking all the trailers, the posters and every tidbit of info we can get our hands on regarding what it might be like.
However, one evening, we were looking at the recent poster for the film, and I couldn't help but notice something important about it. The conversation that followed was more-or-less like this:
Me: "I don't get it! Why isn't he on the posters yet?"
My brother: "Who?"
Me: "Luke! I mean, he was THE hero of the original trilogy, and yet he's not been in any of the trailers or even this poster here! We have Han and Leia, but no Luke, so what gives?"
MB: "Well...maybe they've decided to keep him out of this one. It IS a trilogy after all, so maybe they're saving him till films two or three?"
Me: "That can't be it. They've already announced that he'll be in this one. So again, why not put him in the poster?"
MB: "...Well...maybe he IS."
Me: "What?"
MB: "Maybe he HAS been in the poster this whole time. I dunno...maybe THAT'S him."
Me: "Who?"
MB: "THAT guy! You know, the one in the mask."
Me: "What? That CAN'T be Luke! Look, red lightsaber. It's a bad guy!"
MB: "Well...maybe that's what Abrams has chosen to do with him in this film...make him a villain."
And yeah, that's where the idea came from for me. Maybe Abrams, when making this movie, decided to make it so that Luke is a bad guy instead of a good guy this time around. Now, since that conversation, I've been doing more research on the film, and have discovered that this masked figure in the trailers and posters is actually a separate character called Kylo Ren, and NOT Luke.
So, at that point I was feeling quite relieved. However, I then started to remember just who it was that was making this film. For those of you who haven't seen it or maybe don't remember, former Escapist MovieBob once posted a video talking about JJ and his method of making films, specifically a technique called "the mystery box", and how there are little teases and hints as to what's really going on in his films before they come out.
Once I remembered that I started looking at the posters and trailers AGAIN (and for the record, yes I was actually getting sick of doing this at this point), and started thinking about it closer. Who is to say that, despite being ANNOUNCED as separate characters, that Luke and Kylo Ren are actually ONE character, and that the announcement was just a deliberate attempt to mislead us?
Or, perhaps, Kylo Ren is someone unrelated to the masked figure in the posters, and that the latter is indeed Luke. I mean, I don't recall them ever specifically saying that Kylo IS the masked man. When I went back to the trailers, and saw that figure hold Darth Vader's burned helmet, speaking the words "I will finish what you started", that sounds an awful lot like something a successor (like a son) would say to him. Perhaps Luke, in an effort to finish some task of his father's (maybe fighting the Empire or bringing balance to the force) has taken up the dark side to do it?
And before people say that this would go against Luke's character, perhaps you'll remember that he's done some pretty heavy dark side stuff in the past, like using his Dad's favourite technique of mind-choking people when he went up against Jabba's guards back in the old days. Also, the trailers show the masked figure start to duel that other character, who we now know is some kind of former stormtrooper. And fighting stormtroopers is something Luke did PLENTY of way back when. Maybe that's ALSO something Abrams plans to do, have the members of the Empire be in a better light while having the older good guy character tread a darker path while keeping up their fight against them?
There's a lot more stuff and ideas that popped into my head about all this when I thought about this matter, but yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
Okay, so as most of us know, the new Star Wars film is going to be coming out in a few months time, and like a lot of other long-time fans of the franchise, I'm excited. My brother and I, we've been tracking all the trailers, the posters and every tidbit of info we can get our hands on regarding what it might be like.
However, one evening, we were looking at the recent poster for the film, and I couldn't help but notice something important about it. The conversation that followed was more-or-less like this:
Me: "I don't get it! Why isn't he on the posters yet?"
My brother: "Who?"
Me: "Luke! I mean, he was THE hero of the original trilogy, and yet he's not been in any of the trailers or even this poster here! We have Han and Leia, but no Luke, so what gives?"
MB: "Well...maybe they've decided to keep him out of this one. It IS a trilogy after all, so maybe they're saving him till films two or three?"
Me: "That can't be it. They've already announced that he'll be in this one. So again, why not put him in the poster?"
MB: "...Well...maybe he IS."
Me: "What?"
MB: "Maybe he HAS been in the poster this whole time. I dunno...maybe THAT'S him."
Me: "Who?"
MB: "THAT guy! You know, the one in the mask."
Me: "What? That CAN'T be Luke! Look, red lightsaber. It's a bad guy!"
MB: "Well...maybe that's what Abrams has chosen to do with him in this film...make him a villain."
And yeah, that's where the idea came from for me. Maybe Abrams, when making this movie, decided to make it so that Luke is a bad guy instead of a good guy this time around. Now, since that conversation, I've been doing more research on the film, and have discovered that this masked figure in the trailers and posters is actually a separate character called Kylo Ren, and NOT Luke.
So, at that point I was feeling quite relieved. However, I then started to remember just who it was that was making this film. For those of you who haven't seen it or maybe don't remember, former Escapist MovieBob once posted a video talking about JJ and his method of making films, specifically a technique called "the mystery box", and how there are little teases and hints as to what's really going on in his films before they come out.
Once I remembered that I started looking at the posters and trailers AGAIN (and for the record, yes I was actually getting sick of doing this at this point), and started thinking about it closer. Who is to say that, despite being ANNOUNCED as separate characters, that Luke and Kylo Ren are actually ONE character, and that the announcement was just a deliberate attempt to mislead us?
Or, perhaps, Kylo Ren is someone unrelated to the masked figure in the posters, and that the latter is indeed Luke. I mean, I don't recall them ever specifically saying that Kylo IS the masked man. When I went back to the trailers, and saw that figure hold Darth Vader's burned helmet, speaking the words "I will finish what you started", that sounds an awful lot like something a successor (like a son) would say to him. Perhaps Luke, in an effort to finish some task of his father's (maybe fighting the Empire or bringing balance to the force) has taken up the dark side to do it?
And before people say that this would go against Luke's character, perhaps you'll remember that he's done some pretty heavy dark side stuff in the past, like using his Dad's favourite technique of mind-choking people when he went up against Jabba's guards back in the old days. Also, the trailers show the masked figure start to duel that other character, who we now know is some kind of former stormtrooper. And fighting stormtroopers is something Luke did PLENTY of way back when. Maybe that's ALSO something Abrams plans to do, have the members of the Empire be in a better light while having the older good guy character tread a darker path while keeping up their fight against them?
There's a lot more stuff and ideas that popped into my head about all this when I thought about this matter, but yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
