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Star Wars: The Forcefulness Awakens was a major blockbuster last year, only the pic ultimately raised more than questions than information technology answered. We don't yet know why Luke's Jedi university was destroyed, why he afterwards went into cocky-imposed, exile on Ahch-To, why his nephew Kylo Ren cruel to the Dark Side, why Han and Leia were estranged, or the history of the new Emperor stand-in, Supreme Leader Snoke. A new trailer for Episode Viii dropped last night, and while it doesn't answer all of these questions, it provides some major hints. Also, everyone is going basics for Chewbacca's new side-boot, called a Porg.

Please be better than Ewoks. Please.

We're going to discuss what'due south in the trailer, so if you don't want to exist spoiled leap out now.

The Kylo-Rey Connection

The trailer opens with a voiceover from Snoke, telling an unseen listener they possess both tremendous, untamed ability equally well equally "something truly special." These opening scenes are framed in a mode that could make them use to either Han and Leia'southward son, Kylo Ren, or Rey. And then we hear Rey telling someone (presumably Luke) at that place's been something inside of her from the very beginning, "But now it's awake, and I demand help." Cue to another shot of Rey training on a steep, rocky gradient, just as we saw in the beginning trailer–only this time, information technology'southward implied she cracks the bedrock itself when she manipulates the Force. Luke shoots the crack a surprised and alarmed look–not the kind of matter you wait to run across from a Jedi Master.

"I've seen this raw force only in one case before," Luke says, equally the scene shifts to what's conspicuously his mechanical hand punching upwards out of a burning pile of forest and rubble. "It didn't scare me enough then. It does at present." Luke, as shown in a higher place, looks positively haunted.

Wreckage

There'due south a lot of meaning packed into this first minute. The trailer purposefully frames the footage so nosotros never know exactly who is being addressed or in what situation, only we tin make some educated guesses. Prior to this trailer nosotros'd seen brief snippets of the Knights of Ren attacking Luke's Jedi academy, but information technology wasn't articulate if he arrived after the attack or was present to defend against it. Seeing him hook his fashion out of the rubble confirms the latter.

But this raises an interesting question of its own. In The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is far from fully trained and less-than committed to his ain encompass of the Nighttime Side. The new trailer strongly implies this continues to be truthful. So why did Luke become chasing after a lost Jedi temple as opposed to trying to save his nephew the way he saved Vader?

Leia

Gone but not forgotten.

This could play out several dissimilar ways. One explanation is that the Knights of Ren are really the other students Luke trained and that Ben Solo (Kylo Ren's original proper name) led a defection of the entire university. Luke may be powerful, but taking on a group of half dozen Force wielders plus Snoke may well have been beyond him. Simply this doesn't foursquare very well with what we know of Luke'due south own personality. Yoda tells Luke he must confront Vader, implying in that location'due south a chance for Luke to shell him, only tells Luke indicate-bare not to underestimate the power of the Emperor. Luke goes anyway, betting he can turn his father back to the Light Side even in the face up of two Sith Lords.

Training-Rey

My guess is Luke was overmatched past Ren, Snoke, or some combination of the two. Despite his raw power, he was never officially or formally trained for any length of fourth dimension. Fifty-fifty the most charitable reading of both his time with Kenobi and his studies with Yoda adds up to weeks, not years, and we know Jedi were typically trained for a decade or more than during the fourth dimension of the Old Republic. Luke'due south prodigious skill with the Force may actually have made him a poor teacher. With his Jedi temple destroyed and his students dead, fled, or fallen, Luke may well have gone looking for the teachings of the earliest Jedi in the hopes of either learning how to overcome his nephew and Snoke or finding teaching techniques that would leave his students at less risk of falling to the Night Side.

Ren's role in this disharmonize and her parentage are still unclear, but the trailer besides implies she may hold the key to matching or defeating Ren and the First Lodge.

The second half of the trailer packs in multiple infinite battles and combat scenes highlighting Leia, Poe Dameron, Finn (FN-2187), and shows Ren visibly struggling to fire the cannons on his TIE fighter at a target unsaid to exist the bridge of Leia's starship. Luke, injured and freezing, warns someone, "This is not going to go the manner you think." Nosotros run across Snoke holding his hand out in a familiar, Force-wielding way, then a shot of Rey screaming in pain. And we stop with her saying: "I need someone to evidence me my identify in all this," and a concluding shot of Ren, holding his hand out in friendship or back up.

A Familiar Design

Ane major criticism of Episode Vii was how closely it aped the story of Episode Iv. Episode VIII's trailer plays up some of the themes of The Empire Strikes Dorsum, but doesn't seem to copy them equally closely. Luke is clearly instructing Rey in how to use the Force, but this trailer variously paints him as guilt-ridden, frightened, and even aroused. He displays neither Yoda'south serene wisdom nor Kenobi'southward placidity command of his ain power. Information technology's easy to see why. The supposition of the no-longer-canon Star Wars books and comics was that Luke went on to found a Jedi Praxeum and became one of the near powerful Force-wielders to ever live. The new films testify a very dissimilar human and arguably a much more interesting graphic symbol. Rey's arc may parallel Luke's, but the thought of a one-half-trained neophyte Night Side wielder as her opposite could make for a very interesting dynamic.

Episode Seven got a lot of credit for delivering the one thing the leaden prequels never did: A sense of fun and gamble. Here'south hoping Episode VIII combines the fast-paced fun of Star Wars at its best with a less-derivative story and its own compelling characters.