1.
A New Hope In a surprising turn, Johnson chose not to
close the movie on a shot of Rey or one of The Last Jedi’s main characters, but instead
on the young orphan Rose and Finn met on Canto Bight.
This ends up being one of the most important scenes of the movie.
We see that this young boy is part of a new Force-sensitive generation following Rey and
Kylo Ren.
The orphan lightly summons his broom to his hand instead of just picking it up.
This signifies to the audience that he has burgeoning Force powers.
With Rey and Kylo Ren both being the most powerful of their kind moving forward due
to the deaths of Luke Skywalker and Snoke, this being the final shot of The Last Jedi
hints that a new generation of Force-users could be a key part of Episode IX.
Additionally, this young orphan reveals that he kept Rose’s secret Resistance ring.
Considering none of General Leia’s allies showed up to assist the final few Resistance
fighters on Crait, this small reveal proves that there is a group of downtrodden individuals
across the galaxy who now look to the Resistance with hope, as was Leia’s intent.
2.
Luke Skywalker’s Death From Obi-Wan Kenobi to Yoda, it is well established
in Star Wars canon that when some Jedi die, they can surrender their bodies to the Force
and disappear instead of leaving a corpse behind.
The reason Luke died is actually hinted at early on when Kylo Ren has his first Force
connection with Rey; he says that she couldn't be appearing to him through the Force because
the effort to do that would tear her apart.
Apparently sustaining a Force illusion of yourself is quite taxing, and given that Luke
keeps it going for so long, it was probably the combination of that over-exertion and
his elderly age that caused him to pass away into the Force.
Though Rey and Leia at least state that he was at peace when he did so.
The real question going forward is whether Luke will return in Episode IX as a Force
ghost or not.
It would be a huge missed opportunity for Mark Hamill to not reprise his role as Luke
Skywalker in some capacity in Star Wars: Episode IX to fulfill a Force ghost mentorship role
for Rey like Obi-Wan Kenobi once did for him.
3.
The Missing Jedi Texts We’re supposed to assume that Yoda burned
down the prized Jedi texts with the tree structure on Ahch-to that housed them.
But in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment at the end of the movie, we see that they actually
are still intact.
When Finn opens up a drawer on the Millennium Falcon to grab a blanket for Rose, we catch
a glimpse of the books lying next to it.
While we can assume that Rey snagged the books before she peaced out from Ahch-to with Chewie
and R2-D2, that has yet to be confirmed.
4.
Rey and Kylo Ren’s Missed Connections The Snoke-forged connection between Rey and
Kylo Ren is one of the most engaging new dynamics to be introduced in The Last Jedi.
Though we find out in the movie that it was the Supreme Leader who connected their minds
from across the galaxy, it’s clear by the end of the movie that the connection still
exists despite his death.
They share one last mind-connection at the end of the movie: Kylo Ren is in the abandoned
Resistance base on Crait, and Rey is loading the remaining Resistance fighters onto the
Millennium Falcon.
We see Kylo Ren look to Rey through their Force connection first, and then the camera
cuts to her as she closes the Millennium Falcon door while staring out at him.
It’s easy to read this scene as Rey closing herself off to the man formerly known as Ben
Solo, though it’s unclear if he will still be able to Force mind-meld with her again
going forward...