Hey YouTube, this is Urban Acolyte TV.
My name is Prince, and in this video, I am going to talk about the 5 things you missed
in Star Wars Episode 7, THE FORCE AWAKENS.
In the opening scene of the movie Poe Dameron is sent to Jakku to meet with “an old ally”
of, Princess Leia’s, or General Organa as she is now called.
We see two men discussing a fragment of a map that can possibly reveal the location
of Luke Skywalker.
This scene was troubling for the audience because we are left wondering who this person
is and how he came into possession of this information.
The man’s name is Lor San Tekka.
Lor San Tekka was born during the time of the Galactic Republic, and he witnessed the
Jedi before the Clone Wars started.
San Tekka became an explorer and a devoted member of the Church of the Force— an underground
faith devoted to following the Jedi ideals.
Although San Tekka was not Force sensitive, he became an expert on Jedi secrets that he
learned during his travels.
This bit of information becomes important because during the dark period of the Galactic
Empire, all forms of worship were banned by Imperial Law.
The Empire sought to possess all information related to the Jedi, especially any Jedi artifacts.
After spending most of his life traveling the galaxy searching for Jedi artifacts, relics,
and secrets, San Tekka retired to Tuanul Village in the remote Kelvin Ravine of Jakku.
He became the spiritual leader of the villagers there who all loosely follow the Church of
the Force.
Something of interest to consider is this— if Rey had any connection to Luke Skywalker
or the new Jedi he attempted to train, would the Tuanul Villagers have had any knowledge
that Rey was also on Jakku?
It would be pretty cool to think of Lor San Tekka is a non-Force sensitive Obi-Wan Kenobi
because they were both living as hermits on harsh desert planets.
I guess we will have to wait for the next episode to see if Rey had any knowledge of
Lor San Tekka or the Tuanul villagers.
“There’s been an awakening.
Have you felt it?”
Do you remember when Supreme Leader Snoke says that line to Kylo Ren?
Snoke is talking about the ripple in the Force caused by the events happening on Jakku.
The ripple in the Force begins at the moment Stormtrooper FN-2003 is killed during the
raid on Tuanul Village where Lor San Tekka is killed by Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron is captured
by the First Order.
How does this cause a ripple in the Force?
To understand how this singular event impacts the rest of the story, we have to dive into
Finn’s background.
We learn that Finn’s Stormtrooper designation number is FN-2187.
He has spent his life, since birth training with a fire team of four members, FN-2199,
nicknamed Nines, FN-2000, nicknamed Zeroes, FN-2187 called Eight-Seven for short, and
FN-2003, nicknamed Slip because he was always falling short.
It is not apparent in the movie, but FN-2187 was considered the best stormtrooper anyone
had ever seen in General Hux’s training program.
He scored in the top 1% of all of his tests and evaluations, and he was well on his way
to becoming the ideal First Order stormtrooper.
There is one problem—Captain Phasma tells General Hux that FN-2187’s class is well
on their way to being the best Stormtroopers the First Order has ever seen— with FN-2187
as their leader.
The problem is that FN-2187 displays a dangerous level of emotion.
He refuses to leave anyone on the battlefield, and he pretty much carries “Slip” through
their training simulations.
Captain Phasma tells FN-2187 that helping “Slip” through his training is making
him weak.
His duty ought to be to the First Order above his comrades.
“If Slip stands on his own, the Order is strengthened.
If he falls, the Order is spared his weakness.”
On Jakku, Slip falls, and FN-2187 decides that he can no longer serve the Order.
It is unknown why Finn’s empathy or his feelings of detachment from his fire team
were not affected by General Hux’s reconditioning programs.
This is one of those open-ended questions that will hopefully be resolved in later Episodes.
I’ll be honest, though.
I think Finn’s strong feelings of empathy and his skill as a stormtrooper are both a
result of him being Force sensitive.
Speaking of Force sensitives, let’s talk about the pirate queen, Maz Kanata.
Some of my friends have nicknamed Maz Kanata, Cantina Yoda.
Maz shares a few characteristics with Yoda— they are both small aliens who are strong
in the Force and both function as the voice of Wisdom.
Han Solo says that Maz has been running her pirate haven on Takodana for at least 1,000
years.
This would mean that Maz was probably born before Darth Bane instituted the Sith’s
“Rule of Two,” and it is possible that she has some memory of the Galaxy when there
were big wars between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire.
Some people found it problematic that Maz kept the lightsaber of Luke and Anakin in
a chest in the basement of her castle.
How did she get it?
It’s best to think of Maz as a Force Sensitive version of Lor San Tekka.
I think that the new saga is really trying to push the idea of other people outside of
the Jedi or Sith with “a sad devotion to an ancient religion,” that being the Force.
Although our focus is on the lightsaber, Maz has been collecting Jedi relics for centuries
in the event that someone may need them in the future.
When you think about it, if the Jedi are purged from the galaxy, the Empire would first look
to settlements near Jedi temples scattered around the galaxy.
No one is likely going to check Maz’s castle as the assumption would be that pirates would
only want to sell Jedi and Sith relics on the black market— not collect them.
When you think about it— even Maz herself is “a Jedi relic.”
She says that she has never undergone any training, but she has had the opportunity
to come into contact with the Jedi for over a 1000 years.
She’s had over a 1000 years to observe the ebb and flow of the Galaxy.
Although she is just now beginning to openly display her affinity to the Force, we have
no idea what kinds of abilities Maz actually has.
If over 1000 years you have lived, ways of the Force you will know, too.
So let’s talk about when the planet we know nothing about gets destroyed by the First
Order’s big super weapon.
A lot of people who reviewed the movie said that the ball was dropped on this scene.
I have heard people saying that it’s nothing but a mirror of Alderaan being destroyed in
Episode 4.
In Episode 4, the audience knows that Princess Leia comes from that planet.
The audience also know that the Millennium Falcon is headed towards Alderaan.
In the case of the scene in Episode 7, we just see the red flare from the bridge of
Kylo Ren’s ship, the red streaks across the sky in Takodana, a woman’s face, and
a big explosion.
Unfortunately, the movie does not show what precedes this event from the point of view
of the Resistance.
At some earlier point, General Organa sends her representative, Korr Sella, to speak with
the Senate because she has evidence the First Order is going to initiate war.
Now we have to remember that 30 years has passed since Yavin 4 when the second Death
Star was destroyed.
There is an entire generation of people who were not alive during the time of the Galactic
Empire, and they have only known life under the New Republic.
For an entire generation of people— General Organa is viewed as a crazy old warmonger.
Think of it as the way a lot of people view Senator John McCain.
On top of the negative view— Leia is concerned about a possible assassination attempt.
What she tells Korr Sella is that if she goes to Hosnian Prime, she probably will not leave.
This is something else to think about— Previously the seat of the Republic was on Coruscant.
When Mon Mothma becomes the Chancellor of the New Republic, the Senate votes to make
the capital planet move on a rotating basis.
What we are actually seeing is a declaration of war by the First Order against the New
Republic.
Up to this point, the New Republic has been allowing the First Order to operate in the
Unknown Regions without any penalties because there is this unspoken Cold War going on between
them.
On top of that, the First Order has Senators on their payroll who are feeding false propaganda
to the Senate— “don’t worry about them, they are just harmless remnants of the Empire.
There’s nothing to see here, ignore that man behind the curtain.“
Even though in “A New Hope” and in “The Force Awakens” the Empire and the First
Order both use a super weapon to destroy a planet, these are not exactly the same act.
For one, the First Order destroys not just Hosnian Prime, but the entire Hosnian system.
The First Order kills the entire New Republic Senate and the fleet stationed at the capitol
planet.
For a more Star Wars example from the Extended Universe— think of the attack at Coruscant
led by Darth Malgus in the Knights of the Old Republic game.
The Republic and the Empire are in the process of signing a peace treaty, but the Sith slip
into Republic space, bomb Coruscant, cripple the Republic fleet, and destroy the Jedi Temple.
What the First Order intended to do was remove the New Republic, destroy the Resistance,
and ensure that there would be no one to resist them as they mopped up the mess to restore
the Galactic Empire under Supreme Leader Snoke.
Okay, so those were 5 things you may have missed in Star Wars Episode 7.
I am going to do a few more videos on Episode 7.
I plan to do one on why I believe Finn will eventually become a Jedi, and I will do another
on why I do not think Supreme Leader Snoke is Darth Plagueis.
You can click here and here to see those videos.
I will have the annotations working as soon as I get those videos uploaded.
So make sure to subscribe so you will know when I have them posted.
Hey guys, thanks for watching this video.
If it’s still 2015 when you see this, I hope you have a very Happy New Year.
Keep on breathing, and May the Force Be With You.