One question I keep hearing about the sequel saga is why Luke Skywalker leaves a map to
the First Jedi Temple if he's supposed to be going somewhere where people can't find
him.
The truth is that that question is flawed because that's not really what happened.
The truth is that a lot of the plot holes people find with The Force Awakens and The
Last Jedi are holes they've actually created.
If you take a step back and look at the bigger story being told, a lot of these questions
actually have an answer, and in this video, I'm going to answer this particular question
related to Luke Skywalker and how Rey is able to find him there on Ach-To.
What's Up Star Wars Fans?
My name is Prince, and I am an Urban Acolyte.
In this video I'm going to talk about Luke Skywalker's evolution from Return of the Jedi
to when we see him become One with The Force by the end of The Last Jedi.
This is actually a response to a post over on Reddit that's asking questions about whether
or not Rian Johnson's presentation of Luke Skywalker lines up with what JJ Abrams intended
at the end of The Force Awakens.
Before I get into the meat of this video-- I just want to say that if you're new here,
I call this "geek culture with a purpose."
I talk about Star Wars, Super Hero movies, and Martial Arts movies.
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So that post over on Reddit is by user egoshoppe, and it says:
I'm sure most of us have heard this argument about The Last Jedi being perfectly consistent
with The Force Awakens.
Often accompanied by this image, the gist is that Han's statement of "he just walked
away from everything" is some be-all, end-all gotcha that shuts down any idea that JJ had
a different plan for VIII.
Very conveniently, defenders usually leave out Han's next statement about looking for
the first Jedi temple.
It's something that fundamentally clashes with the idea of Luke just saying "fuck it",
giving up and retreating into exile: we know it's something he had to actually seek out
and find, that wasn't a known location to him when his school was destroyed.
Cut to The Last Jedi, and we have Luke's definitive statement,"I came to this island to die."
Was he taking the time to search for the first Jedi temple just to burn it down and kill
himself?
So first-- let's actually go back to that conversation Han Solo had with Finn and Rey
aboard the Millennium Falcon in The Force Awakens.
Han says that ever since Luke disappeared, people went looking for him.
He was training a new generation of Jedi when, a boy, one of his apprentices turned against
him and destroyed it all.
Han said that Luke felt responsible, and he just walked away from everything.
When Finn asked Han if he knew what happened to Luke, Han's response was that the people
who knew Luke best, thought he went looking for the first Jedi Temple.
In The Last Jedi, we see the same Luke Skywalker that Han Solo described in The Force Awakens.
Luke started a new generation of Jedi.
His nephew, Ben Solo, was turning to the dark side, and he was being manipulated by Snoke.
Luke saw what Kylo would do, and for an instant thought about ending the threat that Ben would
unleash upon the galaxy.
In that instant, Ben saw Luke and attempted to defeat him.
Ben burned the temple to the ground, convinced some to join him, and the rest were slaughtered,
earning Ben the nickname of Jedi Killer within the ranks of the First Order.
Luke tells Rey that his failure was the same failure of previous generations of Jedi, so
he came to the First Jedi Temple with the intentions of dying there as the last of the
Jedi Order so that the Jedi would never be able to repeat their mistakes.
This Luke Skywalker lines up with everything Han Solo said in The Force Awakens.
Furthermore, this Luke Skywalker fits what George Lucas was going to do with the character--
Luke Skywalker is missing.
Years of loss have led him to become a disillusioned old man who is now a hermit.
The hope he had was lost, and the only thing he wants to do is fade into nothing and be
forgotten.
So this brings us back to the original question-- if Luke was going into hiding, why would he
leave a map to his location?
Well--the thing is, Luke didn't leave a map.
Luke did not use a map to get to Ach-To.
He used a compass.
If you haven't seen the mission in Star Wars Battlefront II, there is a mission where the
player gets to play as Luke Skywalker following the events in Return of the Jedi.
In this particular mission, Luke Skywalker teams up with Inferno Squad member, Del Meeko,on
Del's mission to destroy Palpatine's observatory on Pillio.
When they reach the observatory, Luke and Del discover that it is full of old Jedi relics.
One of the relics is a compass, which Luke keeps with him.
Now if you were on the livestream when I played through Inferno Squad's story missions-- I
guess correctly that someone needed the Force to use the compass and that Luke used that
compass to get to Ach-To.
Now this probably doesn't make sense, but hey-- it's Star Wars, and this is how the
Force works.
Also, in the most recent Thrawn novel, Thrawn Alliances, we learned that the Chiss use young
girls who are Force sensitive as navigators on their ships because they don't have navicomputers.
As it turns out hyperspace lanes are unstable and constantly moving in the Unknown Regions--which
is probably why it's the Unknown Regions-- you can't make a map of a place if that place
keeps changing.
Third sight, as the Chiss call it, or foresight is required to see things before they happen
and act accordingly if someone is going to navigate a ship through the Unknown Regions.
It is highly likely that hyperspace travel in Republic space was probably also performed
in the same way by people who were, as the Chiss called them, Skywalkers-- which is the
Basic translation of the Chiss word for these force sensitive navigators.
So Luke used that compass and the Force to navigate his way to Ach-To.
So if Luke did not use a map--then why did he leave a map behind for people to locate
him.
The thing is, Luke did not leave a map behind.
Just because Luke did not use a map to find Ach-To does not mean there was never a map
created.
As we saw with Artoo Detoo, the location to Ach-To had been erased from all records.
Artoo's portion of the map came from the Imperial Archives.
Maybe it was the case that someone like the Jedi Librarian, Jocasta Nu, erased the records
of Ach-To from the Jedi archives when she hid the holocrons to begin a new Jedi Order
when she went into hiding during Order 66.
We know that Luke eventually did find that hidden library.
As for the map-- the map was found by Lor San Tekka between the time when Poe rescued
him from The First Order and when they met again on Jakku.
Lor San Tekka had been searching for relics related to not just the ancient Jedi Order,
but he had discovered relics that seemed to go beyond the Jedi, like the holocron that
required both the dark side and the light side of the Force to access.
So I know people feel like Rian Johnson took a big dump on The Force Awakens and their
idea of who Luke Skywalker was supposed to be.
I can't say anything to change how someone feels about the movie, and unless they are
willing to let go of the story they've created in their head, there's no way anything I say
can convince them otherwise.
The Story Group has always said that Luke's greatest strength is his compassion.
Luke did become a powerful Jedi, but the Luke Skywalker that exists in the canon was more
focused on being a Jedi and not so much on being a warrior.
I know this is something difficult for a lot of people to accept given the prequel era
Jedi were literally portrayed as elite soldiers dressed as space samurai without the armor.
If the Jedi are supposed to be these Zen masters who have superior fighting abilities through
their mastery of the Force, how come we don't see much of the Zen side?
If Jedi are Taoists, the way my friend, Taoist Monk Yun Rou, says anytime he writes about
Star Wars, or attempts to relate Taoism to modern pop culture--then how come we don't
actually see the Jedi in harmony with nature.
How come they don't find unusual ways to make people think and solve problems?
Why are the Jedi not awakening people to the reality of the Force instead of playing the
police as the Republic's enforcers?
Those are questions that some parts of the Star Wars fandom does not want to answer because
they've been spoiled by the Expanded Universe version of Luke who kicks lots of ass and
does cool stuff with the Force.
People went into these movies expecting to see Luke Rambo Skywalker, and they felt disappointed
and angry when they didn't see Luke unleash the Force on the First Order.
Look, the most powerful Jedi knows when to put down their lightsaber and make the ultimate
sacrifice for the good of the Force.
Kanan did it.
Ezra learned that lesson to save Lothal and the Rebellion.
Obi-Wan did it.
The three force users did it to save Luke.
Luke eventually learned that lesson, and he did it at the end of The Last Jedi to save
Leia, Rey, and the Resistance.
So that leaves me with one last point.
A lot of people feel like Rian Johnson took a dump all over JJ's work in The Force Awakens
and on Luke Skywalker.
The thing is this--when you read The Art of the Force Awakens, there are all kinds of
interesting tidbits about the production stages of The Force Awakens.
Some of those ideas carry over into other works--like in Rogue One.
It turns out that the first 1/3 of The Last Jedi is actually things JJ would have put
in The Force Awakens.
I said this shortly after I reviewed The Last Jedi-- the first 1/3 of episode 8 would have
been in 7.
More importantly-- the Art of the The Force Awakens ends with a short essay called "Who
is Luke Skywalker?"
This is the first question JJ asked when everyone came together to start working on the sequel
trilogy.
JJ spent The Force Awakens showing these events all around the question of "Where is Luke
Skywalker?"
The heroes and the villains are all scrambing to find Luke.
At the end of the movie, Rey finds Luke Skywalker, but we have not addressed the question of
who Luke has become.
Now if you're upset with Rian Johnson, you should think logically and ask--well why didn't
JJ answer that question?
Why leave it up to Rian Johnson to answer the question?
If we're gonna go there, we should also think about the fact that first 1/3 of the Last
Jedi is stuff JJ would have done with The Force Awakens-- meaning, the Luke we get in
The Last Jedi was the Luke JJ Abrams was going to give us in The Force Awakens.
So if you feel like Luke was weak, or ruined, or anything else--well, that's the Luke you
were always going to get...and one more thing-- it's also the Luke that George Lucas was going
to give us--because Luke Skywalker has always been George Lucas putting himself in this
story.
George walked away from Star Wars because Star Wars fans don't know what they want,
and he was ready to retire.
It's why the idea of "listening to the fans" is impossible.
There is no "one voice" that belongs to the fans.
Some fans want more women of color.
Some fans don't want what they consider "forced diversity."
Some fans are so misinformed that they think Star Wars has never had a hint of politics
or real world events interwoven into the story.
Like George Lucas is gone.
Lucasfilm is in the hands of the new guard.
Everyone's heroes are now gone.
They are fading into the twilight.
If Star Wars is going to continue, it is up to new people to move Star Wars into a new
era that is not focused on the Skywalkers.
Just like the Prophecy of Mortis, or the Prophecy of the Chosen One-- there is one who will
bring balance to the Force, but it has always been up to the Jedi to maintain that balance.
We've seen the story of the Chosen One and his offspring.
There's a big galaxy out there, with lots of stories to be told.
It's time to see what new direction new storytellers can take Star Wars for a new generation of
fans who aren't so attached to Luke, Han, and Leia--or for Millenials, Obi-Wan, Anakin,
and Padme in the prequel era.
It's like Yoda said-- the Force is always in motion.
In I Liq Chuan, my Sifu says that you have to change with the change.
If you don't change, you get stuck.
I know people feel a certain kind of way when I say "Hey, if you don't like Star Wars, find
something else," but what I'm saying really goes beyond Star Wars--It's really about being
mindful of the present moment-- which is really how The Force works.
I talked about that in a video a few years ago.
You should probably check it out.
It might help you better understand what was going on with Luke Skywalker and where I feel
like Star Wars is going in the future, when it comes to force users.
I mean, Rayne Roberts of the Lucasfilm Story Group did suggest people read Matthew Bortolin's
"The Dharma of Star Wars." and here's a hint-- I read that book years before I even thought
of talking about Star Wars on YouTube.
I can understand if some people won't read it, though-- they'd rather just listen to
some dude on YouTube tell them something ridiculous like how Rey is actually a Sith Spy because
"it makes the story make more sense."
I'll stop because somebody watching this video probably likes that theory, and I'll hurt
their feelings-- actually, if somebody liked that nonsense, I doubt they made it this far
into this video to know I'm talking about them.
Before I wrap this up, I want to give some shout outs to everyone doing the Darth Maul
challenge.
So shout out to Melvin Wilson, Michael Rindahl,Nathaniel Lara, and Corey Collins-- it's been cool following
y'all's progress, keep up the hard work.
I hope you guys can weigh in on your experience on the 30-day Darth Maul challenge for the
rest of the Urban Acolyte community really soon.
Something I should put in my idea book is one day hosting an Urban Acolyte experience
workshop or something where groups of people can experience some of this stuff that I'm
currently developing.
That's a bit further down the line though--maybe.
I'm kicking around doing an online course really soon on kettlebell training, qigong,
and meditation, so we'll see.
Anyway, I'm completely off topic now, and some people don't realize Urban Acolyte is
a training community that talks about Star Wars and Geek Culture-- they just want to
sit around and be geeks who don't train.
If you like this video, hit that like button and share it with your friends-- if you have
something to share with the Urban Acolyte community, post it down below in the comments,
and I'll be checking to see what you have to say.
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If you liked this video and you want to see more, be sure to check out these videos on
the top Star Wars Episode 9 Theories.
I've actually got a new one to get out to y'all really soon.
You can also check out this other video from my channel that was picked specifically for
you.
Well, that's all I've got for this video, so thanks for watching.
Y'all keep on breathing, and May the Force of Others be With You, Always.