We love a fan theory here at JOE.
Whether it’s speculation about what’s going to happen in hotly-anticipated movies, or ideas that shed a new light on our favourite TV shows, we can’t help ourselves.
So obviously we are paying close attention to the upcoming Star Wars film, The Force Awakens.
As ever, the following may contain spoilers, even if they do turn out just to be the fervent ramblings of fans.
There has been much speculation about what the plot will be for the seventh instalment in the Star Wars franchise. We don’t know much, but we do know that Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker will be returning.
As the return of some of the original cast was one of the only things known to the public, eyebrows were raised when Disney released the official poster for the new film.
Notice anything strange? Watch the trailer and see if you can figure it out.
There’s no sign of Luke in either…or is there?
Building on an old fan theory from the end of the Return of the Jedi (aka episode VI), fans have begun speculating that Luke will actually be the main villain in the new film after turning to the dark side.
But why do people think Luke would have turned? Didn’t he defeat Darth Vader and Darth Sidious at the end of the original trilogy and save everyone? Well, technically yes. But there are some clues that he turned to the dark side to do so.
First of all, Yoda explicitly tells Luke that he must finish his training before going to save his friends, or else he won’t be strong enough to resist the temptations of the dark side.
Yoda says: “Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his emperor. If you end your training now… if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did… you will become an agent of evil.”
So what does Luke do? He does the exact opposite of what Yoda tells him to and leaves his training early to save his friends.
That alone wouldn’t necessarily be enough. Even Yoda can be wrong. But then something happens at the beginning Luke’s final battle against Vader.
Sidious says: “Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.” And Luke tries to.
The generally accepted view is that Luke came right to the edge of the dark side but pulled himself back at the last second. But what if he hadn’t? What if this was exactly what Yoda was talking about, and Luke had now given into the dark side?
Throughout the final fight, Vader and Sidious talk about how Luke is embracing his anger – and we never really see him stop being angry until he has already won.
Sure Luke defeats the Siths and returns to the rebels a hero, but he has discovered a new power within himself that he never knew possible – a power that has come from embracing his dark side.
One of the biggest criticisms of the original trilogy was that it fell into the classic trope of having a main character be told his training wasn’t complete and still save the day anyway. But Yoda never questions Luke’s physical attributes – it’s his control over his emotions and the force that worries him.
If Yoda was right, then that means that Luke wasn’t strong enough to resist the pull of the dark side. Yoda even described it as taking the easy way out.
So we go back to the new trailer. In it we see Dart Vader’s melted mask. Vader/Anakin took it off at the end of episode VI, right before Luke blows up the second Death Star.
Surely the mask would have been enhilated in the explosion that took down the Death Star? Also, who would display it in such a way?
Well, in the original ending for Revenge of the Jedi (Return of the Jedi’s original title), Luke takes Vader’s body with him and burns it. That never made it into the final cut of the film, but that’s not to say it didn’t happen.
It would explain how he got the helmet, and also how it got so disfigured too.
So while we still haven’t seen Luke’s face in any of the promotional materials for the film, we may still have seen him decked out in a costume to honour his father.
It’s all speculation. But in a franchise with one of the most famous plot twists in the history of cinema, nothing is off limits.
