The Force Awakens Teaser #2: My New Theories

When the cast was first announced for the new upcoming Star Wars film I wrote entry about who I thought each character was.  Several months ago, when the first teaser trailer dropped, I did another entry about what I now believed about these characters, and the plot, of Episode VII is.  Thursday, at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, J J Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy introduced a second teaser trailer that lit the internet on fire (which became an inferno later after the BatmanVSuperman trailer leaked).  So after a few days of stewing, and many more viewings of the second teaser, I'm back with some new theories.

The teaser opens with a desert landscape view of a planet we now know is not Tatooine, but in fact another desert planet called Jakku.  It seems like a typical establishing shot until the camera pans to see a crashed star destroyer in the background.  Then you know this $hit just got real!

Then a voiceover occurs with something I have burned into my brain; dialogue from the original trilogy.  Luke's voice talks about his family and their relationhip to the Force, and people are debating whether it's new dialogue or just re-used from Return of the Jedi.  I say it's re-used, but over the words we see a destroyed Darth Vader helmet, a man with a robotic hand touching R2-D2, and the hand-off of a lightsaber we are all sure it Luke's lightsaber he lost on Cloud City, along with his right hand.  The way the images are in order want us to believe they sync up.  The Vader helmet when Anakin is mentioned, a robotic hand when Luke is brought up, and a lightsaber hand-off when talking about Leia.  I think this is not true.

J J Abrams is all about deception and keeping the audience spoiler free.  I think that is someone else's robotic hand.  However, if it is Luke's I love his new upgrade!  The lightsaber is tricky because I had heard rumors that the original lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker was going to play a part in this film.  In the third book of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy the evil Jedi Jorus C'Boath uses Luke's lost hand to clone him, and then trained the clone to fight Luke.  While it was awesome, I don't think that is the case in this instance.  

I think Luke has kept Vader's helmet as a memento, or warning, about what can go wrong if he is not the Jedi the galaxy needs him to be.  Rumors speculate Luke has not gone on to rebuild the Jedi order like in the Legends stories, but has been in hiding.   

So what brings Luke out of hiding?  Finn and Rey.  Finn is the man who sets the events of this movie in motion.  The bad guys are after him, and while on the run he finds Rey on Jakku.  Rey seems like a better version of young Anakin or Luke.  She lives on a desert planet and she likes to build stuff. 

Bring in the bad guy. Kylo Ren was the one sporting the new lightsaber in the first teaser trailer and I'm guessing is the one hunting down Finn.  But who is he working for?  Always two there are.

In the Legends universe the Rebels take control of the galaxy and form the New Republic while the Empire slowly dies.  But in this trailer we get the sense that the Empire is still in control, or at least the two sides are still battling for control.  Which leads to our last picture.

The entire teaser trailer I was thinking, "where is the original cast?'  And then Harrison Ford says, "Chewie, we're home."  Han and Chewie are obviously on the Millenium Falcon, and acting as if they hadn't seen it in a while.  This leads me to believe  the gang from Episodes IV-VI didn't stay thick as thieves like in Legends.  

I think they went their separate ways or something happened that split them up.  Han could have lost the Falcon being his usual self and gets it back years later. Leia probably stayed on to help fight the good fight as always, which could mean a split for her and Han.  Meanwhile, with all the Sith and Jedi dead, Luke becomes a hermit like Obi-Wan and believes more Force sensitive people will only hurt the galaxy; that is until "the force awakens" once again.  Now, the original guardians of the galaxy have to come back together to fight the Empire and restore peace to the galaxy....again.

Of course, I believe I am probably wrong on my new theory and feel like an official trailer will give us some idea as to the plot of The Force Awakens.  When it hits, I'll be drooling, and then I'll have to take a 10 minute break from whatever I am doing so I can watch it at least 4 times in a row like I did this teaser.  Until then, may the Force be with us all!