The Man In The Woods

The teaser trailer for the new Star Wars movie has been out for a bit and there is much speculation for each scene. The name of the movie is no known: The Force Awakens. Disney’s love of stupid and silly robots is in full swing with the soccer ball robot. And the Empire is still around.

Set 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, the new movie is put to continue the story. Some, but not all, of the old favorites are in it. No Lando, that sucks. From the trailer, we see not only is the Empire still around, they use the same uniforms and craft for all this time. Even the Rebels are still using X-Wing fighters and the Millennium Falcon is flying around, though it looks to be at the hands of someone who cannot fly it well.

At the end of the trailer, there is a dark figure seen walking through the woods brandishing a red light saber. Most believe it is a Sith. Here’s my guess, it is Luke.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda tells look that the dark side is a shorter way to power and that once one starts down that path, it will forever control one’s destiny. Luke doesn’t listen. Yoda tells look not to take his weapons into the cave that is strong with the Dark Side of the Force, Luke doesn’t listen. When Luke has a vision of his friends being tortured, Yoda tells him to stay and complete his training, Luke doesn’t listen.

During his encounter with Vader on Bespin, Luke stays calm and tries his best to resist. In the beginning, his is full of energy and does well. As time goes on, Vader becomes quite annoyed that fighting Luke is not so simple and starts to turn up the wick. It is not long before he has pushed Luke out to the end of his rope, cut of his hand, and told him who his real father was. Luke cannot believe it and will not accept it. He also cannot surrenders and chooses to fall to what he believes will be his death. Instead, he gets sucked into a ventilation shaft and ends up hanging from a weather vane.

After his rescue by Lando and Chewbacca, he is tended to by Leia and starts to mumble amongst himself. Here he begins to question everything both Ben and Yoda have told him. He realizes what he believes and knows have been based on lies. This line of disbelief continues in Return of the Jedi when be confronts Yoda and talks to Ben’s ghost. His trip down the dark path is also seen at several moments early in the film.

As Luke enters Yabba’s lair, he is dressed in black and uses a force choke on the guards. When he later surrenders to the Empire and talks to Vader, he again uses dark side techniques trying to persuade Vader to leave the Emperor and go with Luke. Vader feels the powers being used against him and states he cannot disobey his Master.

The fight with Darth Vader on the new Death Star shows Luke using more powers from the Dark Side. The Emperor pushes Luke to anger to get Luke to pick up his Light Saber. Once started, Luke fights Vader with the speed of anger. The only thing that saves Luke is his desire to see his father saved and will not fight him. Luke hides and Vader plays a bit of cat and mouse with him.

In The Phantom Menace, Ben Kenobi has a similar cat and mouse with Darth Maul. Instead of going into a rage to defeat Maul, Kenobi meditates while hanging by only his hands, uses the calm to power himself out of the hole, and cuts down Maul rather quickly. Contrast that against Luke’s scream from under the steps and his lunge of fury at Vader. Once he cuts Vader’s hand off and sees the wires, he realizes where he is headed and tells the Emperor he has failed. Luke is not correct. At the end of the movie when he sees the ghost of his father, he is reserved and quiet. He does not celebrate with everyone else as he fully knows the true cost. Luke knows he will become a Sith eventually. He can feel it.