The 10 Biggest Questions Raised By ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

9. What’s the Deal with Snoke?

Much like Darth Vader and his master Emperor Palpatine, Kylo Ren is also shown to have a mysterious master in the form of Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke is being set up as a major villain for future films but right now, he’s still largely a mystery and one we’re keen to figure out. The most prominent theory circulating right now is that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, the Sith Lord that trained Palpatine himself and who allegedly was able to cheat death through his mastery of the Dark Side. Palpatine claims in Revenge of the Sith that he killed Plagueis, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t come back. J.J. Abrams has denied that Snoke was Plagueis but the director has been known to lie about the identity of characters before, so there’s no reason to take his word as the gospel truth. Whatever the deal with Snoke is, we can’t wait to see more of him in the next film.

http://moviepilot.com/posts/3702214 Source: moviepilot.com

8. How Did Kylo Ren and Hux Escape?

There are already too many think pieces floating around the internet that discuss how The Force Awakens’ plot mirrors that of the first Star Wars, so we won’t belabor the point here, but the climactic final battle conclude much differently in this film than it does in A New Hope. Namely, the latter film actually shows what happens to the villains in the enusing explosion of their giant military base (Grand Moth Tarkin bites it, while Darth Vader spins around in a Tie Fighter for a few weeks). The Force Awakens offers no clear idea of how Kylo Ren and Hux escape the destruction of Starkiller Base, even though we know that they do (there’s no way these characters won’t be in the next film). It’s pretty unbelievable that Hux would be able to a) find Kylo Ren in the woods and b) escape in time, when the planet explodes maybe a minute after Snoke orders Hux to bring Kylo Ren to him, but we’re willing to suspend that disbelief if we could just see how that miraculous event plays out. Even if it’s some kind of teleportation, we don’t care, just give us something.

http://www.moviefone.com/2015/11/13/star-wars-villains-kylo-ren-details/ Source: moviefone.com

7. Who Was Max von Sydow’s Character and Why Did He Have The Map?

The map to Luke Skywalker is quite the storytelling macguffin, but it gives the characters in The Force Awakens a pretty satisfying goal to achieve, so we’re fine with overlooking how convenient and under-developed it is as a plot device. No, what we’re really interested in finding out is just who the heck the guy who gives Poe Dameron the map is. According to the StarWars.com’s official databank, his name is Lor San Tekka and he’s a legendary explorer who actually helped Luke recover Jedi lore before the latter began setting up the new Jedi Order. It’s also interesting to note that Kylo Ren recognizes San Tekka, commenting on how old he’s become. Clearly the character has important ties to the Skywalkers, but we want to know how he came into possession of that star chart that leads to Luke. It’s just odd that a character we’ve never seen before would be entrusted with something so important and we want to find out why.

http://darksideconfidential.com/rumor-max-von-sydows-role-in-the-force-awakens-revealed/ Source: darksideconfidential.com

6. How Developed Are Leia’s Force Powers?

One of the most interesting parts of watching The Force Awakens — especially for longtime Star Wars fans — is checking in with old characters to see what they’ve been up to in the 34 years or so that have passed since the events of Return of the Jedi. While Luke’s situation is still very much a mystery, we get to see quite a bit of his sister Leia in The Force Awakens but other than the fact that she’s now a General with the Resistance, we know very little about where Leia stands in relation to the Force. She’s clearly not a Jedi, but how much does she know about the ways of the Force and what is the extent of her powers now? When Han dies, Leia is able to sense it even though she’s a few lightspeed jumps away from him, so she clearly has some mastery over her Force abilities. Unfortunately, that’s all we really see of Leia using her powers in the film, so hopefully Episode VIII can clear up what the true extent of the other Skywalker sibling’s powers are.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/11/9716718/princess-leia-star-wars-the-force-awakens Source; polygon.com

5. How Did Maz Kanata Acquire Luke’s Lightsaber?

One of the biggest revelations in The Force Awakens has to do with the Yoda-like Maz Kanata being in possession of Luke’s blue lightsaber. While it’s awesome to see that weapon resurface, no explanation whatsoever is given for how Maz comes to possess the weapon and that’s a bit troubling. When we last saw the lightsaber, it was plummeting to the bottom of Cloud City after Darth Vader cut off Luke’s hand. We don’t care who you are, finding that thing would be one heck of a scavenger hunt. It seems fairly certain that Luke himself never recovered it, as the bewildered look on his face when Rey presents it to him suggests that he never thought he’d see the thing again. So did Maz hire a team of scavengers to find it or what? This all could have been cleared up with just a simple line or two of dialogue, but instead we have to wonder how Luke’s lightsaber made the journey from the depths of Bespin to some old mystic’s very poorly-hidden box.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/star-wars-7-plot-details-leak-with-sequels-opening-and-premise-revealed-9618421.html Source: independent.co.uk

4. What’s The Deal With The Resistance And The Republic?

While the First Order is really just a poorly-developed clone of the Galactic Empire, the same holds true for the Resistance and the Republic, perhaps even more so. While we know that both groups are closely allied and are the ostensible “good” guys of the new trilogy, but other than that, there really isn’t much to go on for either of them. The Resistance might as well be called the Rebel Alliance considering they look and act almost exactly the same, while the Republic is only vaguely referenced here and there before they’re suddenly destroyed by the First Order’s Starkiller Base, giving us no time to learn about or identify with them. The Force Awakens clearly downplayed its political subplots after the prequels spent too much time on them, but it simply goes too far in the other direction by not developing them at all. Hopefully the Reistance and Republic (if it even still exists) are given a bit more prominence in later films so we can better identify with their plight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34582853/star-wars-the-force-awakens—a-message-to-the-haters Source: bbc.co.uk

3. Why Did Luke Really Run Away?

The driving force (no pun intended) of The Force Awakens‘ plot is the search for Luke, with most of the explanation for his absence coming from his old buddy Han Solo, who claims that Luke went into hiding after Kylo Ren turned to the Dark Side and could possibly be seeking out the first Jedi temple. Of course, there’s much more to this story than what we’re told in the film. Luke’s departure must be much more complicated than simply being ashamed over the loss of Ben Solo because considering how dire the situation is for the heroes in The Force Awakens, Luke looks like kind of a jerk for just taking off. While the next film in the new trilogy will likely address most of this, we’re hoping Luke is taken to task for running away and allowing one of his oldest friends to die.

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/star-wars-force-awakens-plot-spoilers-comics-prequel-suggests-return-dagobah-episode-486127 Source: idigitaltimes.com

2. What Happened To Luke’s Other Students?

The entire situation surrounding Kylo Ren’s betrayal of Luke is pretty thinly-sketched right now, so there are a ton of lingering questions surrounding this important event. One of the most pressing in our minds is what happened to Luke’s other students after Kylo revolted? Han says that Luke was training a new order of Jedi and Rey’s vision appears to depict Kylo killing some of those young Jedi, but something tells us that’s not the full story. Did some of Luke’s students join Kylo and the Knights of Ren? Speaking of the Knights of Ren, we don’t really know much about them either; from the way the film plays out, you would think that Kylo was their only member as no one else from his order is ever shown, not counting the brief shot of Kylo and a group of warriors in the rain, but we’re still not sure if those are the Knights of Ren or Luke’s other students.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Knights_of_Ren Source: starwars.wikia.com

1. Who are Rey’s Parents?

Arguably the biggest mystery coming out of The Force Awakens (and that’s really saying something considering how many questions this film introduces) is the identity of Rey’s parents. The prominent theory still seems to be that Luke is her father, which would make a lot of sense given her natural ability with the Force and that Luke’s lightsaber “called” to her. Still, it’s also quite possible that Rey is Han and Leia’s daughter, especially given how much thematic sense it would make to have Kylo Ren be her evil brother, but this would require quite a bit of explanation considering Rey interacts with both her parents without either of them seeming to hint at knowing who she is. Then again, Darth Vader tortured Leia and didn’t know she was his daughter, so anything’s fair game in the Star Wars universe. At any rate, it’s fair to assume that the question Rey’s parentage will be a big deal in Episode VIII and beyond.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/please-stop-spreading-this-nonsense-that-rey-from-star-1749134275 Source: gizmodo.com