‘Star Wars: Episode 8’ Rumor: Luke Skywalker’s Search For Jedi Lore Led To A Big Loss

Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi will provide a clearer picture of the tragedy that befell Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his students, which ultimately led to his self-imposed exile.

It was revealed in Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens that the Jedi master is holding himself responsible for the obliteration of the fledgling group of Jedi he was training.

As fans will remember, the temple in which he was mentoring the group in his effort to keep the Jedi order alive was brutally attacked. Star Wars: Episode 8 is expected to fill the missing pieces of the puzzle.

In fact, it was glimpsed in The Last Jedi teaser trailer, specifically in a scene where Luke was seen kneeling down in disbelief with R2-D2 by his side as he watched the temple burn to the ground.

This is believed to be connected to the scene featured in Star Wars: Episode 7 during Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) Force vision when Luke’s hand was over R2 as shown below.

According to Star Wars watcher and YouTuber Mike Zeroh, Luke feels an added devastation because he was not around when the attack happened. Luke is brought to his knees as he laid eyes on the once pristine place being destroyed, everything around him being swallowed by the fire. His reaction gave the impression that he got there too late to save anything. As to why this is the case, Star Wars: Episode 8 will unravel this mystery.

However, Zeroh believes that Luke was elsewhere possibly engulfed in another battle or was away to search for more Jedi knowledge he could impart to his students for their effective mastery of the Force and better understanding of the Jedi order.

The disaster could be why Luke has been so hard on himself and will continue to be in Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi, as he is still haunted by the guilt of not being in the temple to do something.

Zeroh also believes that Ben Solo (Adam Driver), who is said to be one of Luke’s students, took advantage of the Jedi master’s absence to plot the destruction of the temple. Star Wars: Episode 8 is expected to shed light on all this, which means that fans might also finally learn what led Ben to ultimately betray his own uncle.

Fans will remember that in Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Force Awakens, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) tells Rey and Finn (John Boyega) the tale of Luke’s downfall, which started with a boy turning to the dark side. He made no mention as to who it was, but it was assumed to be his son, Ben.

Either way, the attack, Zeroh says, almost wiped out the Jedi, leaving only Luke. This could be why Star Wars: Episode 8 is called The Last Jedi, which director Rian Johnson confirmed to Good Morning America is singular and refers to Luke Skywalker.

“It’s so funny when people started asking that when the title was announced, because I had never even pondered that question. That seems like, to me, the most uninteresting [question]. And look, in my mind, it’s singular. In my mind, it is. Absolutely, yeah. I mean they say, in The Force Awakens, that he’s going to find the last Jedi temple, and Luke is the last Jedi.”

Why Kylo Ren would want to eliminate the Jedi remains to be seen. However, Luke’s willingness to end the Jedi order in Star Wars: Episode 8 as well, which is a complete 360 of what he was trying to do before the attack at the temple, may have come from the tragedy. This is because despite his efforts to turn his students to the light side, one was still seduced by the dark.

Many believe that Star Wars: Episode 8 will introduce the Gray Jedi lore, which involves Force users who sees no light or dark side, just the the Force as one all-encompassing entity. It is being said that Luke would hone Rey to follow this path.

Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi will hit the cinemas December 15.

[Featured Image by Lucasfilm and Disney]