ST The Church of The Force Episodes 8 and 9

We know that Lor San Tekka was a member of an organization called The Church of The Force that worships The Force but doesn't use it. Will other members of The Church of The Force appear in episodes 8 or 9? What will their role be? Could The Church of The Force have a dark side counterpart?

Mungo Baobab

 

I sure hope the organization is depicted. The more Force as a depiction of the faith of Star Wars, the better.

 

I really don't understand why Disney is going this route. The world needs less dogmatic religions, not more.

 

I do like it as a mysterious background group, but I'd like to know a bit more about it too. Lor San Tekka's mystery and his introduction seem very familiar to Star Wars, kind of like Ben and Yoda isolated in their huts. I'd like to know about his relationship with Leia and if Leia, any other Rebels, or Maz were involved with the Church of the Force.

Since Poe believes in the Force like the original Rebels, maybe he'll have something to do with the Church.

Luke could also be involved. Instead of going right back to using the Force and training Rey, he could meet with members of the Church to reacquaint himself with teaching the Force. He could then teach and train Rey and bring her to the Church so she gains more knowledge of the Force, and then she can learn to teach it too. After Rey's training, she and Luke could start up the new generation of Jedi with members of the Church.
This isn't my ideal story because I want to see Luke get back on his own or with Obi-wan, Anakin, or Yoda. Rey's involvement with the Church might be too much, but it's something I just thought about.

A dark side counterpart could work. Maybe some interactions with the two sides' members. Maybe Kylo, the Knights, Snoke or a new villain is involved.

 

Spoken by the very reluctant follower of a dogmatic religion.

 

yeh i like this idea. i was also left heavily invested by Lor San Tekka and that entire scene/exchange. but yeh, im not so sure itll be followed up in the movies, seems fairly summed up by the VS (how we know about the Church in the first place) and seems like a clunky thing to handle between other relevant must have things that look to be set up TFA.. however we obviously cant rule it out either and i would love to see it expounded on. maybe the KoR are a similar counter to it? we've been told they aren't sith, which could imply they arent sith followers and in fact more their own dark side religion. from the VS, it did seem like this Church was more a Jedi following thing, without being Jedi, so its nothing really new as opposed to the KoR concept i mentioned. obviously there would be exposition to explain what makes it whatever it is and with that, maybe some new info on the Jedi we dont know about, lore etc. itd be interesting if it was actually where Snoke comes from originally, so we actually had our first inkling of Snoke in TFA but obviously had no idea until retroactively going back, because of the new info in whatever happens in VIII or IX in reference to the idea.

 

I think the Church of the Force thing could be something fleshed out more. It seems that as an organization, it may no longer be in place by the events of TFA. Perhaps Lor San Tekka and Snoke were members (founding members, even). Snoke turned to the dark side and destroyed the church, then corrupted Ben and together they wiped out the Jedi academy. Lots of possibilities here.

 

Great topic.

I'd guess that Lor San Tekka wasn't the only member of the Church around. I could see other members gathering information or trying to convince First Order citizens to change their allegiance. Small actions that add up to something bigger.

 

I hear this was a Lucas idea, which means they all worship a sample of midichlorians on a holy microscope slide.

 

I'm not sure if we'll see other members of the Church of the Force in 8 & 9, but I certainly feel that we'll hear some of the back story that involves them. GL created them for the tv show. I would assume that the purpose was to show how the everyday, non-Jedi followers of the Force went underground, and organised themselves after the fall of the Jedi. Keepers of the faith, as it were. And evidently, some among them, such as Lor San Tekka were scholars of the Force, and of the history of the Jedi - The SW.com Databank says that LST helped Luke recover secret Jedi lore after ROTJ. I've a feeling that Lor was the one that originally discovered the location of the temple on Ahch-To.

I also think that there's a very good chance, as is usually the way with the GFFA, that we'll have an equivalent organisation on the Dark Side. We already have hints of Dark Side relic hunting, and 'acolytes'. If such an organisation exists, how old would it be, though? Pablo Hidalgo suggested that the Church of the Force sprang up following the fall of the Republic, and whilst it's easy to see that an equivalent Dark Side faith might come about after the fall of the Empire, there had already been a 1000 year timeframe ( before TPM ) that was essentially a parallel to the situation that the Jedi find themselves in after ROTS: Two Sith / Jedi, gone underground, working secretly to restore their order, whilst the faithful organise themselves into a religion dedicated to their return. Something like this could have happened long ago.

So, which would be the equivalent to the Church of the Force; The Knights of Ren, or the Acolytes of the Beyond? Maybe the KOR are the military wing of the Acolytes? They already do seem to be styled after the Knights Templar, with a 'Master' instead of a 'Grandmaster'.

 

And you do realize you just made a dogmatic statement, right?

 

LST finding Ach-To for Luke would be a nice tie-in.

 

If I think about Palpatine, a darkside cult of worshippers who exist to do his bidding seems very fitting. The acolytes were servants of Sidious

Yes yes, the stupid Rule of Two. But think about it. Wouldn't it be incredibly convenient to have warrior (Inquisitors), scholars and archeologists who fight your force-sensitive enemies, study the darkside and uncover force-artifacts of great power? How much more powerful and knowledgable can you become as the leader of such a group?

And Darth Vader would probably also want a slice of the pie so he probably had darkside servants as well.

 

If it is not in the movies ... ? still not complete canon (hoping)

 

Legends had the Prophets of the Dark Side & The Church of the Dark Side. Now about my 1st post. LST said the Galaxy needs balance. Yet he is part of a group that worships only the Light Side.

We need a group that uses both sides.

Balance.

 

Where does this "Church of the Force" come from? I don't remember it in the movie.

 

The words "Church of the Force" are not spoken in the movie. People learned about that background information from the official source books like the Visual Dictionary, etc.

 

Ahh ok, got it. I've been wondering about that.

 

How do you know? He didn't say so in the movie, he only said there need to be Jedi for balance (if I remember correctly). He does seem to think Kylo is on the wrong path but that doesn't mean LST hates the darkside. He may just hate imbalance.

While Lucas seemed to view the darkside as an inherently demonic force (for the most part), Abrams leans more in the yinyang direction.

 

U answered your own "?". He wants the Jedi back, a group that follows the Light Side (mostly) .

 

That doesn't mean LST only worships the lightside. He may think that the darkside is also a holy force of the universe.

 

We know that Mas Amedda was complicit in Sidious's schemes but he doesn't seem to Force-sensitive. Maybe Amedda and Sly Moore worship Palpatine. In the EU, Mas Amedda retrieves artifacts for Palpatine.

 

I'm interested in potentially learning more about LST, his connection to Luke and Leia, and how he got that piece of the map? If not in the films (which is preferable), than at least in a novel or comic book or something.

And yes, perhaps the KOR are a Dark Side-worshiping cult that's essentially the opposite or the COTF?