I have been trying to crawl out of the Star Wars pit since January. While there is no part of me that ever hopes to get over “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, I am sure my close friends and family wish it would happen sometime soon, and perhaps they wish that I would go back to perpetually bringing up “Orphan Black” in every conversation. I can tell that bank account wishes the same thing. However, with the “Rogue One” soundtrack perpetually playing on my phone, I can tell you that I will not be out of my Star Wars mood anytime soon. This development is because of the recent release of the promo packaging for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, set to be displayed on items released on September 1st as a part of Force Friday (I’m ready but my wallet is not).
So far, this is as close as we have gotten to seeing what any of the characters look like for the new film. There is no trailer to dissect, no teaser to complain about. All we have is the packaging promo and the new title. Side note: Jedi is also the plural form of Jedi.
Upon noticing, you can clearly see that Rey is wielding the lightsaber that originally belonged to both Anakin and Luke. Now, it could mean nothing. She has his lightsaber because the part required to build a new are few and far between and it would be more economical to use one that is already built. As we saw in “Rogue One”, there is more than likely a kyber crystal shortage due to the fact a large amount was used to fuel a weapon of mass destruction, not only once, but probably twice. Obviously, the items needed to build lightsabers still exists. Luke did attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order, that much we know.
Maybe these are just the ramblings of someone who has nothing better to do than talk about Star Wars, but as we have seen in the previous two trilogies, symbolism is a heavy component of the narrative. Even with the latest episode, Daisy Ridley discusses how Rey’s life is supposed to be a reflection of who her parents are.
This is a lightsaber that has seen both the best and the worst of the Jedi. Both previous owners (not counting Obi-Wan) wielded this blade only to lose it and gain another lightsaber and a new hand to go with it. So, does her wielding the iconic lightsaber mean that she is indeed a Skywalker, or are they opting to go a new angle and forgo the use symbolism within the series?
Could she in fact be the child of two characters who are important, but not that important?
So what does this mean for Rey? Is she Luke’s daughter? Is she Leia’s? Is she by some mysterious turn of events the granddaughter of Obi-Wan?
That question has yet to be answered. J.J. Abrams said that her parents were not in the first film, but this is not first time he has made false claims about a character in a film that he was attached to. He publicly said that Benedict Cumberbatch was not playing the role Khan in “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, but the role of John Harrison. We all know that it turned out to be lie, because Harrison was in fact Khan.
Still, there are some very convincing fan theory videos that supply some useful evidence.
Moving to other characters (because the parentage discussion could take a while), Finn obviously recovers and is still donning Poe’s jacket, not Jedi robes as some people claim. And Poe is still obviously going to be an X-Wing pilot, so nothing new there. And perhaps it is important to point out that Rey is wearing her hair down this time around, which means that she must be starting to let her past go, since it was made obvious that she has worn the same hairstyle for years in Episode VII.
Perhaps, the most important takeaway is that Disney is finally ready to acknowledge Rey as the main character of the new series, with her literally being front and center this time around on the packaging. This a far cry from the very ambiguous marketing that implied Finn was the main character, while she was merely a supporting persona.
With fans, including myself, clamoring for as much insight into the next film as they possibly can, what is your take away from the new packaging?
