After all the hemming and considerable amounts of hawing, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is here, thank God, it’s finally here. And yet there’s still a sense of incompleteness to the experience that can’t quite be avoided, in part because the very premise of the film demands it. The Force Awakens is but the first in a new trilogy, and so the story remains maddeningly open-ended by the time the end credits thunder onto the screen. We want to take stock of the many, many questions that the film leaves deliberately unresolved in anticipation of Episode VIII, and see if we couldn’t track down some answers in the process. (Fair warning: The rest of this article will be full of spoilers, so shield your delicate eyes if you’re unprepared.)
Who is Rey?
The Force Awakens is pretty stingy with backstory for the newly introduced characters, preferring instead to jump right into the action and dispense with the introductions. When J.J. Abrams’ camera first finds Rey (Daisy Ridley) she’s working as a gruff scavenger hoarding junked parts she finds out in the desert and exchanging them for meager fractions of food referred to as “portions.” (A mystery in and of itself: What food are these portions, exactly? Are they good? They look kind of good, like big muffins. Do I want one? I want one.) But who she really is will be left to future sequels. In her brief hallucination/flashback sequence, the audience can’t really tell who she’s talking to on Jakku, though it seems like it might be Kylo Ren. The surprise revelation that she has a powerful connection to the Force naturally poses the question as to how she could have been a latent Jedi this whole time. Who are her parents? It wouldn’t be too crazy to guess that she’s Luke Skywalker’s daughter, but in that case, who might her mother be?
What’s Finn’s deal?
Abrams leaves Finn just as enigmatic, perhaps even more so. When we meet him, he doesn’t even have a real name, forget a backstory. His lineage also seems significant, considering the fact that he might fave Force powers as well. (Though the marked dearth of black characters in the Star Wars universe would narrow it down to “grandson of Mace Windu” or “son of Lando Calrissian,” neither of which seem like probable options.) More than this, where did his sudden change of heart come from? It’s a weird, big pill to swallow that he’d just wake up one morning and decide to defect from the dominant military junta. The Force Awakens concludes with Finn in a coma — will he have fully recuperated by the time Episode VIII picks up? There’s got to be more to Finn than meets the eye.
What’s Kylo Ren hiding?
One of the biggest wallops packed by The Force Awakens lies in the reveal clarifying Kylo Ren’s lineage. Son to Han and Leia, grandson to Darth Vader, the Force is strong with this one — seriously, his midichlorian count must be bananas. (I think we can all agree that there should’ve been more talk about his midichlorian count, right?) It’s only for a moment, but Han addresses his son not by his Sith name, but what is presumably his given name, Ben. Are we correct in assuming that this is Han’s tribute to Ben Kenobi? And Snoke mentions that Ren’s training is not yet complete. We shudder to think of what that might mean, but… what might that mean?
What is Luke doing, chilling on some island while the First Order conquers the galaxy?
Up until the final minutes, Luke Skywalker is little more than The Force Awakens‘ MacGuffin, a thing that exists only to move the plot forward and has little specific import in and of itself. But now that Luke’s been found, he’s got some ‘splaining to do. Specifically, why is he in some kind of hermit-like exile on Idyllic Greens Island while the universe is going down the flusher all around him? Mark Hamill is not exempt from the ravages of time, and in the fleeting glimpse of Luke we do get before the end credits, he looks like he’s seen some sh*t. Will he help the Resistance forces? Will we learn how he ended up removed from the conflict?
Who’s dead?
I don’t think the viewing public would ever forgive Rian Johnson if he wrote Han Solo back into the story following his dramatic death at the hands of his own son, but there are a few souls still hanging in the balance. In the chaos that consumed the marketplace, did Maz Kanata die? (And while we’re at it, how did she get the lightsaber in the first place?) What about Captain Phasma — did she lose her life in the fracas at the climax of the film? Abrams leaves the option wide open for them to be revived for future sequels, but it’s not clear if they did make it.
What’re the droids up to?
Not to be nitpicky, and with the full understanding that sometimes logic needs to be spackled over for the sake of story, but I demand to know why R2 would wait until after the big dangerous battle to let everyone know he had the rest of the map. It seems like kind of a dick move to only reveal the path to Luke, the alleged savior of the Resistance forces, once everyone has risked their lives. Han would still be alive if it wasn’t for you, R2! And Poe mentions that BB-8 is “one of a kind,” though he might be referring to the distinct tan-and-orange paint job. Might BB-8 be hiding any special skills, to be shown in future installments? And of course, the most pressing concern left by The Force Awakens: when Chewie and R2 are shooting the bull while waiting for Rey, what do we think they’re talking about? When you save the galaxy on a regular basis, do you still feel the need to pass the time by discussing the weather?
What does the First Order want, and why?
The convenient thing about the expository info-dump of the opening crawl employed by Star Wars films is that it allows the audience to get right into the action without dilly-dallying on table setting. But that means that all Abrams give us in terms of explanation for the First Order is “they’re the evil guys, now quiet down and let’s light this candle.” The opening crawl informs us that they’re “supported by the Republic.” What’s the nature of their relationship to the Republic, and how do they differ? Is this a splinter group operating independently? They’ve got stormtroopers at their disposal, so they must be connected to or derived from the Republic in some capacity, right? Their goals in general seem to be to blow stuff up until they rule whatever’s left of the universe, a usual objective in sci-fi, but where did they come from? And what in the hell is Snoke? For the sake of theatricality, it’d be good fun if he really was that gigantic in real life and the magnified size wasn’t a Wizard Of Oz-style effect of the hologram projection.
Will we get more from Lor San Tekka?
Max Von Sydow was one of the most impressive gets in this solidly well-casted film. Even in his minor role of Lor San Tekka, the living legend exuded screen presence. This can’t possibly be the last we’ve seen of him. Why is it that he knows everyone? The opening crawl identifies him as an old friend, so how’d he fall in with everybody? Will he be the star of Episode VIII? Why not? Why is life unfair?
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
