For every fan theory The Last Jedi Force-choked into oblivion, it seems like two new questions
pop up in their place.
New details and references hidden in the movie are still emerging, and some of them may have
more meaning than you realize.
Here are some of the crazy references you missed in The Last Jedi.
Spoilers ahead.
Blaster damage
In Return of the Jedi, Luke got smacked by a blaster bolt while he was trying to escape
Jabba's boat over the sarlacc pit.
Luckily, that laser landed on Luke's fake hand, and Luke went right back to almost kicking
the bad guys into the sand.
In The Last Jedi, old, grumpy Luke is still one hand down, but if you look closely, especially
at the part where Rey hands him his old lightsaber, you can see faint scorch marks on the back
of his hand, a reminder of young Skywalker's glory days.
No hand Luke
Speaking of Luke's fake hand, director Rian Johnson himself pointed out an inconsistency
that may reveal more for the future of the franchise.
After Force-projecting himself to Crait to deal with Kylo Ren, Luke vanishes from his
rock, by all accounts becoming one with the Force.
However, there was one detail missing from that scene.
As Johnson put it,
"We were in the other room saying, 'A steel hand should clunk to the ground.'"
Since Luke's prosthetic hand wasn't actually a part of him, it should have been left behind,
just like his Jedi robe.
Does that mean there's more to Luke's story?
Probably not, but you can bet it'll spark a new round of theories before the next movie.
Canine cameo
There was a lot going on during the Canto Bight scenes, so you probably missed one particular
cameo–Carrie Fisher's dog, Gary.
Well, even if you saw the alien dog onscreen, you may not have recognized it as anything
special, because for one, it was just a dog, and for two, it was only onscreen for a second.
According to the dog's official Twitter account, one of the aliens in the casino was holding
a dog based on Fisher's own canine.
Did it mean anything to the story?
Nope!
But it was a nice nod to the late Star Wars legend and a cool source of inspiration, if
nothing else.
Hidden knowledge
One of the big moments in The Last Jedi came when Yoda Force-called a lightning bolt down
to scorch the sacred tree holding all those ancient Jedi books.
Well, as usual, Yoda had the last laugh.
"Take you to him I will.
Hahah!"
At the end of the film, Finn opens a drawer in the Millennium Falcon holding all the Jedi
texts that from the sacred tree.
It gives a lot more meaning to Yoda's final line to Luke:
"That library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess."
It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but rest assured that the Jedi wisdom is safe
and secure for a new generation of Force users.
Costume secrets
Although the film never draws attention to them, the production team on The Last Jedi
put a ton of detail into the characters' costumes.
For example, Vice Admiral Holdo's bracelets are a map of the constellations seen from
her homeworld.
It's a crazy detail that nobody would ever notice, and it's just the beginning.
Poe Dameron wears a necklace that's usually covered up by the collar of his jacket, but
a few scenes show the chain around his neck.
What they don't show is the ring looped into the chain, which is his deceased mother's
wedding ring.
Similarly, Rose sports a secret ring of her own.
When Rose and Finn are on Canto Bight, there's a quick moment where Rose flashes a Resistance
symbol on her ring.
As it turns out, that's an antique left over from the Galactic Civil War, when they were
worn by Imperial Senators who would flash the secret symbol to other Rebels to prove
their allegiance.
Dwartii glyphs
Supreme Leader Snoke has come and gone, with no new clues to his origins.
Well, except for one…which, honestly, kind of lends some credence to all those "Snoke
is Darth Plagueis" theories.
For those who don't know, Darth Plagueis was the master of Darth Sidious, until Sidious
struck down Plagueis during his rise to power.
You could only see it clearly in two or three shots, but Snoke was wearing a ring in The
Last Jedi—located on his left hand, it had a gold base with a black stone rising out
of it.
According to The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary, the gold section is inscribed with "glyphs
of the Dwartii."
Dwartii is a planet that was home to the Sages of Dwartii, four mysterious philosophers who
were apparently revered by the Sith, judging by the statues of them in Palpatine's office
in Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones.
The novel Darth Plagueis also suggests that one of the statues belonged to Plagueis.
It isn't exactly a strong connection to Snoke, but the markings on Snoke's ring are literally
one of the handful of times Dwartii has shown up in Star Wars.
While it's doubtful that Snoke really is Darth Plagueis, the ring suggests there may still
be some connection between the two.
Praetorian symmetry
Like a lot of other characters in The Last Jedi, Snoke's personal bodyguards, the Praetorian
Guard, were introduced, then killed off without much explanation.
Fortunately, these faceless red warriors made the most of their time onscreen and gave audiences
one of the best fights of the franchise.
Amidst all the action, you may have missed a peculiar detail about the Praetorian Guards–although
there are eight of them, they're organized into four pairs, with each pair armed with
identical weapons.
The Visual Dictionary explains that this was done to emphasize the symmetry of the First
Order philosophy: "What is past is future."
Name check
If you missed Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cameo in The Last Jedi, you aren't alone–nobody
ever said his character's name during the movie.
In short, he voiced the alien on Canto Bight who led the police to Finn and Rose, and his
name was Slowen Lo.
That name is part of an ongoing joke from the filmmakers to give certain characters
names pulled come from Beastie Boys songs, of all things.
Slowen Lo comes from the song "Slow and Low."
The Force Awakens has Ello Asty from the song "Hello Nasty", Roodown from "Root Down," and
Brasmon Kee from "Brass Monkey."
Have the Star Wars writers finally run out of ideas for names?
Not even close–that happened way back whenever Salacious B. Crumb showed up.
Prime Jedi
If you've ever wondered who the first Jedi was, you're not alone, and The Last Jedi may
have an answer.
On the floor of the Jedi temple on Luke's island is a mosaic of the Prime Jedi, the
first guy to be part of the Jedi Order.
It shows up in several scenes during the movie, most clearly when Luke is telling Rey his
first abridged version of the "We Need to Talk About Kylo" story.
So who is the Prime Jedi?
Does he have a name?
Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have any explanations there.
Don't Join
Benicio del Toro's character, D.J., is definitely an enigma.
He showed up, got Finn and Rose onto Snoke's ship, then sold out the Resistance and skipped
out all the richer for it.
But for those paying close attention, his moral ambiguity was practically written on
his forehead from the beginning.
You may have caught the metal plate on the right side of D.J.'s headgear, but unless
you paused the movie in the theaters, you probably missed the inscription on it: Don't
Join.
Yup, that's what he told Finn, and it's D.J.'s whole philosophy, up to and including his
name–D.J., a.k.a.
Don't Join.
Crusader crystal
Near the beginning of the film, the camera moves through Luke's hut and rests on a few
of his belongings.
Some fans were quick to notice that a necklace hanging in the hut seemed to contain a red
kyber crystal–the crystal used to power lightsabers.
Turns out, that's exactly what it is, but the story doesn't end there.
Going back to the film's visual dictionary, it's described as a fragmented Sith lightsaber
crystal, but the necklace itself is a Jedi Crusader pendant.
The Jedi Crusaders were first mentioned in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—they
were also known as the Revanchists, named after their leader Revan, a Jedi who succumbed
to the dark side and became Darth Revan.
That's significant, because Knights of the Old Republic was purged from the official
canon.
Although there have been hints that the game was creeping its way back into canon, this
may be the biggest indicator of that yet.
Does this tiny detail in The Last Jedi reinstate Revan as a canonical character?
Fans can only hope.
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