Star Wars: The Force Awakens Plot Holes

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is everything we wanted and more, but it’s still not perfect. We’ve made a list of plot holes we noticed.

Let’s be real: Even the original trilogy had its flaws, plot holes being among them. That doesn’t make them any less awesome, but it’s just something to consider: No movie, not even a Star Wars movie, is perfect. The Force Awakens, while amazing, had its share of plot holes, and we’ve made a list of three we noticed below.

Spoiler Warning: What follows are major spoilers from the movie.

1. How did R2-D2 have a map to the first Jedi Temple, where Luke is?

First of all, we know the Empire knew of the map. Kylo Ren said the First Order found it by accessing the dead regime’s data records. Yet, we are not given the reason why they didn’t have the full map. Why would they be missing a piece? And why does that piece lie with Lor San Tekka on Jakku?

But I digress. Back to R2-D2. J.J. Abrams explained to us that R2 had the map because he had inadvertently downloaded it when he plugged into the Death Star all those years ago, during the events of A New Hope. Abrams didn’t want to explain this important bit of information in the film, however, because he didn’t want to burden anyone with “how s–t happened 30 years ago.”

Unfortunately, not messing with that “shit” created a plot hole, which he had to explain later.

2. Why did Finn only, and none of the other stormtroopers, feel conflicted about the First Order?

This is less of a plot hole and more of something that just doesn’t have the proper explanation. It may be explained in Before the Awakening, a junior novel which shows what happens to Finn, Rey, and Poe Dameron just before the events of The Force Awakens. But that’s no excuse for not giving it the proper context within the film.

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The reason why this is a problem is simple: Why did only Finn feel conflicted about the First Order, and not any of his fellow stormtroopers (except, perhaps, the one who touched Finn’s helmet with his bloody fingers before he died)? And how did he get to this point? General Hux said his army of stormtroopers were trained and conditioned from birth to serve him and the regime, so something must have happened to make him change. It could have been the death of his comrade during the shooting of the Jakku natives, because it’s after that we see him have a problem. Still, that plot point could have used a little more context to be completely solid.

3. How did Rey learn how to use the Force so quickly?

For this, I look back to A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and watch how Luke Skywalker struggled, over a span of three years, to use the Force to even lift a simple object, such as his lightsaber. In The Force Awakens, in the span of probably twenty-four hours or so, Rey has learned to use a Jedi mind trick, levitate a lightsaber, and calm herself during battle. And we aren’t given any hint as to why she’s progressed so quickly.

The only explanation I thought of was, perhaps she’s heeding what Maz Kanata said after she experienced her first vision, to let the Force guide her. But, why would the Force guide her that quickly? And how does she even know what the Force sounds or feels like?

Next: Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Who Is Maz Kanata?

These are some plot holes which bothered me a little. One and two are especially problematic for me, because it feels like something’s missing that should have been explained to us. Hopefully, Episode VIII will the third issue, though that only adds to the amount of heavy lifting it’s going to have to do in a year and a half.

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