Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Reading between the lines…
Now that we’ve had some time to digest Star Wars: The Last Jedi, there is some underlying connection in the film to some parts of the vast lexicon of the Star Wars Universe.
We’ll take a look at some of those connections, ranging from the prequels to the most recent Darth Vader comic series from Marvel.
“Always two there are, no more no less.”
One of the great links to the prequels is that of the rule of two. Although Kylo Ren is Master of the Knights of Ren, he is still very much the apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke. Much like his Grandfather before him, Kylo Ren seeks the praise and respect of his Master.
Achieving succession within the Sith ranks is done only one way; when the Apprentice supplants the Master. The grave mistake that Snoke makes is in his ridicule of Kylo Ren.
A disrespectful turn that fuels Kylo Ren’s ambition to supplant his Master. The Jedi Council makes the same mistake, when not granting Anakin the rank of the Master upon his appointment to the Jedi Council.
Photo Credit: Marvel; Lucasfilm
The current run of Darth Vader from Marvel comics picks up where The Revenge of the Sith leaves off. In this series, Vader is given his first introduction to the Sith Inquisitors. Again he is given notice that his place at the Emperor’s Side is not secure.
Photo Credit: Marvel; Lucasfilm
Both Series begin planting Vader’s seeds of dissent towards the Emperor. Darth Vader has sacrificed everything he knew to learn at the Emperor’s side.
Anakin sacrificed everything he loved under the guise that his friend would help him save his wife and children. He quickly finds out that he’s only a tool at the Emperor’s disposal, and replaceable at that.
Kylo Ren comes to a similar realization when Snoke announces he was the one who bridged he and Rey to the Force.
Kylo Ren realizes that this whole time he’s only being used to get to Luke Skywalker. It’s at that moment he turns against Snoke and achieves what Vader could not, succeeding his Master.
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
Apprenticeship is not for the faint of heart.
The Master/Apprentice relationship no Star Wars has always been somewhat abusive. It is especially abusive with the Sith, but it is also present with the Jedi. Rosie Knight from Nerdist does a great job looking at the toxic relationships presented in an article you can read here:
Luke’s handling of Rey in The Last Jedi Temple is reminiscent of his own training at the hands of Yoda. He’s reluctant to train Luke at first and puts him through the ringer.
He, of course, does all this while not divulging that Vader is his father.
Being trained to confront and possibly kill your own father without knowing it, it’s very dark if you think of it.
Both Rey and Kylo break the student/Master relationship due to the bound they form. A bond that Kylo Ren breaks when he shows Rey just how far down the path of the Darkside he’s gone. Rey will not travel the same road; she does not have the same demons lurking within her.
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
So long as there is hope, the battle is not lost.
As we neared the end of The Last Jedi, we see that Rey saved the ancient Jedi Texts. So, this will help provide her acquire the knowledge in the Force that she needs. So long as there is a Jedi to teach future generations, the order will not see its end.
Now, this is a theme currently echoed in the most recent issues of Marvel’s current Darth Vader Series.
We learn the fate of Jocasta Nu, the Jedi Archivist in the days after the execution of Order 66. She managed to escape the temple on Coruscant.
Photo Credit: Marvel; Lucasfilm
She wastes no time in recording her wealth of knowledge into Jedi Holocrons. It is this knowledge that will help build a new Jedi Order.
It is highly likely that Luke Skywalker uncovers these Holorcons and artifacts during his personal Jedi quest, which we see beginning in the Shattered Empire comic.
That journey continues in Star Wars Battlefront II, when Luke travels to Pillio, collecting a rare, Force-sensitive compass, which has connections to The Last Jedi.
Jocasta didn’t realize at the time, but she surely helped paved the way for Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Order.
Photo Credit: Marvel; Lucasfilm
A Jedi’s Hubris…
Jocasta Nu then returns to Coruscant, in order to retrieve a list of all Force-sensitive children in the Galaxy. She aims to rebuild the Jedi Order herself.
It is in these moments that she shows her Hubris, the Hubris that all Jedi tend to develop.
Some tasks are outside the scope of one’s abilities. The task Jocasta Nu sets herself on is not for a Jedi who’s been far too long away from the battlefields. It is a task she is not skilled enough to accomplish.
Photo Credit: Marvel; Lucasfilm
It is also a task for someone not as easily distracted as formerly Jedi’s Archivist.
She puts her entire mission in jeopardy when she cannot ignore the Grand Inquisitor treating volumes of the Archive with disrespect. This action will directly lead to the failure of her mission.
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Also, this harkens to Luke taking on Ben Solo as his apprentice. Luke was not yet prepared as a Master to deal with the Dark Side residing in his nephew.
He was not humble enough to realize it. When he saw the true nature of the darkness residing in Ben, he grew afraid.
Not just in the darkness in Ben, but in his failures as his teacher.
And it further parallels Obi-Wan’s taking on Anakin as an apprentice, despite the Jedi Council’s wishes.
Obi-Wan was able to correct his mistake in introducing Luke to the ways of the Force and directing him to Yoda.
This would guarantee that the Jedi would endure. However, it was training Anakin that directly lead to their destruction.
Next: Darth Vader Issue # 7 — The Hunt Begins
There are more links to Star Wars history in The Last Jedi than fans of the series want to give the film credit. The more we watch the film, the more we can uncover. It’s just a matter of reading between the lines.