The Last Jedi is less than 2 weeks away.
A while back, I gave you 8 stories to check out before seeing the movie.
In case you just didn't have time to get through them all,
I'm gonna run through what I think will be the most important information
to keep in mind while you see Episode 8.
There won't be spoilers for The Last Jedi in here
but I will be speculating based on other content
so if you want to avoid even that, this is your warning.
Let's start with Luke Skywalker, since he's the biggest mystery in all this.
Lucasfilm has been very quiet about his time between the Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens,
but we do know a little.
According to stories like the Legends of Luke Skywalker, Shattered Empire and Battlefront 2,
the young Jedi explored the galaxy to learn not only about the Jedi Order that came before,
but also the Force in general.
He studied different Force based belief systems
which immediately is more open minded than the prequel era Jedi.
I still think that when Luke says it's time for the Jedi to end in the trailer,
he means it.
I think he and Rey will be forging a new path.
Based on a number of stories like Star Wars Rebels Season 3, the book Ahsoka, and more,
I believe that path will involve a balance between the light and the dark.
People are used to calling that philosophy Grey Jedi but if I'm right, it won't be called that.
The Lucasfilm story group has said that that term is inaccurate.
Anyway, characters like the Bendu, Ahsoka and Lor San Tekka
have really been hammering the balance in the Force.
It´s still pretty vague what that really means,
but I think we're just going to see a more open minded approach.
We´ll see that passion and emotional attachment aren't bad things,
simply because the Jedi Order thought they were.
After all, it was Luke´s attachment to his father that brought him back to the light.
I could speculate on this forever, but just remember how much we've been hearing about the balance,
and feel free to speculate on your own.
Before moving on from Luke, let's talk about his time immediately after Return of the Jedi.
Battlefront 2 showed him exploring one of the Emperor's observatories and finding a compass of some kind.
The comic Shattered Empire showed him infiltrating an Imperial base
to recover two pieces of the tree that once grew in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
We currently have no idea what the significance of the compass is,
but I think the tree may have already been shown in The Last Jedi.
Given nearly 30 years and its connection to the Force,
it could have turned into the tree-like structure we've seen in the trailers.
Or maybe that's always been on Ahch-To.
But I think at some point we'll learn what Luke did with that sapling.
Now let's talk about Captain Phasma.
She disappointed fans by not really doing much except for lowering the shields of Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens.
Lucasfilm set out to explain why she did that in the Phasma novel and comic.
Both stories have pretty much the same purpose, despite being set several years apart.
They tell us Phasma is a hardened killer that is loyal to herself first and foremost.
She survives at any cost, and she doesn't mind killing allies to do so.
So when it comes to The Last Jedi,
I think we can expect her to do more and be far more threatening than she was in The Force Awakens.
I also think it's possible, however unlikely, that she might defect.
We'll have to see how things go for the Resistance and the First Order,
but she wants to be on the winning side.
If things swing in favor of the Resistance, she might as well.
Speaking of the two opposing factions, I need to mention the book Bloodline.
Rian Johnson gave Claudia Gray some specific notes on the political climate of the New Republic six years prior to the events of Episodes 7 and 8.
The basics are that half the politicians favored a stronger central government
and half of them supported more control given to individual planets.
Some of the members that favored a central government wanted that because it was similar to the Empire,
and they were secretly supporting the growth of what would eventually be publicly known as the First Order.
Since The Force Awakens barely spent any time telling us about the politics of the galaxy,
I hope The Last Jedi will give us at least a little information.
Moving on to a new character, let's talk Resistance Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo
who will be played by Laura Dern.
We haven't been told much about her in the context of the films,
but the book Leia Princess of Alderaan introduced us to the character as a young girl.
She and Leia have known each other since before the events of Episode 4 where they met as junior politicians.
People have suspected Holdo might be a villain in The Last Jedi, but I don't think so.
She and Leia might disagree, but I think Holdo will have the Resistance's best interest in her heart.
It's her methods that might be trouble.
In the book, she's shown to not fear and even be fascinated by death.
I expect that she might be more willing to sacrifice lives for the greater good of the galaxy,
which isn't necessarily a bad thing,
but in a small group like the Resistance where every life matters,
that could cause some problems and friction between herself and the General.
In that same book, we're introduced to the planet Crait.
It was home to one of the earliest rebel bases in the galaxy.
And we knew that as early as April when it was announced at Star Wars Celebration.
I'm guessing that after evacuating their base on D'Qar,
the Resistance will re-supply with some old Rebel technology.
And finally, I want to make a bold prediction.
This is something that's been in the back of my mind since the concept was introduced,
but I wanna talk about bleeding lightsaber crystals.
The idea that red blades are created by pouring the Dark Side into a kyber crystal was introduced in the Ahsoka book,
and has more recently been the focus of the new Darth Vader comic.
Like the balance of the Force, it's another concept that's been heavily featured, and it makes me wonder why.
My guess is that we might see a lightsaber crystal bleed in The Last Jedi.
It's something I think could happen on-screen visually
without any extra explanation for more casual movie-goers
but has already been set up and explained to people like me and probably you if you're watching this video.
Maybe Rey will bleed Anakin's lightsaber.
Maybe Luke will bleed his green one.
Or maybe it won't happen at all, I have no idea.
I just think it's interesting how prevalent the concept has been in other media.
But that's everything I think you need to know before going in to see The Last Jedi.
What do you think of what I included?
What else do you think might be important?
Leave your thoughts and ideas in the comments so we have a nice and complete list.
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As always, thanks for watching, and may the Force be with you.