ST Who's The Baddie?

Probably to train Rey and Finn. This is their trilogy, after all. Luke and Han will both be mentors.

 

I think Luke will train Rey, but remember, Finn gets left with the Resistance at the end of TFA. Therefore, if Finn gets trained, my guess is Maz Kanata will be the one to do it. I think the importance of Maz Kanata within the ST is being completely overlooked by fans. She seems to be the new Yoda archetype, what with her being a small, mysterious alien who's strong in the Force and has ties with Luke Skywalker. Another aspect that's interesting about her character is that she doesn't seem to be a traditional Jedi. She's now a pirate, and apparently doesn't use a lightsaber, at least in this movie. Perhaps she will train Finn to be a completely different type of Jedi or Force user, which will be a nice contrast with Rey, who looks to be the heir to Anakin, Luke, Obi Wan, etc.

 

I agree. Very possible Maz becomes Finn's master while Luke trains Rey. I like it!

 

After reading the comics the past few months I find it highly obvious that Vader built an emergency army just in case sh@t popped off. No matter how many times I read these new EU novels and comics it feels to me the only logical answer is Vader created an army and they will be a major factor in this new movie. I am not ruling out Plagueis as the overall main enemy. I find it interesting that it's implied that Sidious performed some ritual to destroy Geonosis of all its life based on the new comics. So their are still multiple ideas floating around about the new bad guy. But then again Plagueis isn't mention much at all in any new material so December can't arrive soon enough,

 

To convince the public that their strength in The Force makes them entitled to rule.

 

Yeah, the overarching theme in the new EU regarding Vader is that he was a lot more devious than we were led to believe. The stormtroopers and Imperial "grunts" had far more loyalty to him than they did to the high ranking officers and Palpatine. There almost seems to be two separate Empires within the new EU: one which is loyal to Vader and the other which is loyal to the Emperor. Not to mention Vader's constant attempts at creating his own army from scratch behind the Emperor's back. Perhaps the Emperor's version of the empire died in RotJ, but Vader's version continued to live on and eventually become the First Order. This scenario makes a certain amount of sense, because Vader seemed to be creating an army as a secret contingency plan for when he overthrew the Emperor. However, Vader himself wasn't supposed to get redeemed and die, so that may have thrown a monkey wrench into the whole thing. Maybe this is why Uber and Kylo Ren came along to take up the slack when the contingency plan went into effect without Vader. The more I read of the new EU, the more I think Uber has something to do with Vader specifically, and not the Sith in general. I'm definitely going to watch Rebels season 2 more carefully than season 1 to see if any hints get dropped.

Also, when it comes to Uber's physical appearance, it makes me wonder if this whole medieval theme will extend to him as well. We have Kylo Ren wielding a medieval longsword version of a lightsaber, and Captain Phasma, who's essentially wearing a suit of plate armor. Perhaps Uber dresses like a medieval king, with a gold crown and jewels, etc. This is actually how the Emperor was supposed to look in an early draft of ANH, so it's not out of the realm of possibility, what with them constantly using alternate designs from the OT. I know he's supposed to resemble an old man zombie according to SWU, but a more ornate garb on top of that would make him look even more interesting IMO. We've already seen an old man zombie dressed in plain black robes with Sidious in RotJ, so I hope they go with the medieval king (or general royalty) look just to make things different.

 

The Plagueis I envision doesn't need to take the reigns from anyone - he'd probably see Vader as a failure of a Sith (and that's a good thing - both in reality and for the Sith!).

Hmmm, very similar to how Plagueis viewed the Force/life/etc in the novel IIRC. I liked that, Luceno took the Sith in a different direction, but it still made sense. I wouldn't mind that angle being taken in the ST.

 

uber is merlin.

 

That leaked concept art sure leads you to think they intended Uber to be Plagueis originally and for Kylo Ren to be a cyborg looking character. I wonder if they changed their minds on using Plagueis just like they decided to ditch the cyborg look.

 

concept is concept.

 

No concept art of Uber has been leaked. Only Kylo Ren.

 

That one image (I think they said it was leaked about the same time) looked just like a Muun with a breathing like device from a distance.

 

I know the image you're talking about. It's definitely Kylo Ren according to all the spoiler sources. It depicts part of the same scene from the first trailer when Kylo Ren ignites his lightsaber on the snowy forested planet. The artist just depicted him looking kind of like a tall version of the Winter Soldier.

 

It definitely could have passed for a Muun it appeared and looked nothing like the cyborg concept art. I wonder if they have managed to keep a few things secret and Uber does actually intervene in some way in a scene. If I remember correctly the rumors only had Yoda facing off with Dooku by using force powers but when the movie was released we saw they actually fought with lightsabers also. Since Uber is apparently motion capture it would be easier to keep it a secret like the CGI Yoda battle with Dooku.

 

I think it's likely that there are some things being kept secret. I personally think Luke's "cameo" is one of those things that will be expanded upon in the movie. However, I don't think Uber will intervene in that scene, as it would diminish Kylo's power.

 

I'm not sure we've had any confirmation that Uber is motion capture? He was described by SWU as 'zombie-like', but I've not read anything that definitively states that he's mocap. Serkis has played many more live action parts than mocap characters, so Uber could just as easily be a live action performance with prosphetics.

Going by this interview from last summer, it really could be either:
http://www.slashfilm.com/andy-serkis-in-star-wars/

 

The Vader in the new canon is precisely that character I always thought he was. As I've said before, in agreement with others, First Order was/is probably Vader's secret army.

Regarding Uber, what if Vader made contract with a previously thought dead Sith Lord?

 

I tend to agree with you about that scene. It kind of would diminish Uber even more intervening like that in the first movie unless Luke was involved. That face in that concept art sure makes you wonder however as it is nothing like the rest of the leaked concept art.

 

I'm not sure if this has been brought up yet but apparently in the new comics, Palpatine is creating more clones to replace vader. Is it too far off to think that he has created a younger clone of himself to start up if he happens to die. I say this because Andy Serkis looks a helluva lot like Ian Mcdiarmid to me.

 

I don't really see the resemblance between Serkis and McDiarmid...but who knows?

 

Sweet pic. Rey, Kylo and Finn.

 

The character depicted in that specific piece of concept art is Kylo Ren. They drew-in Plageuis to act as a placeholder since they didn't have a villain yet.

MakingStarWars has addressed this many, many times.

 

I didn't know their sources said they drew in Plagueis as a place holder for that image. I guess they made it before they made the ones with Kylo Ren as a cyborg looking character then.

 

In that concept art he is holding the saber in his left hand, and I believe in the Plagueis novel he is left handed, I could be wrong . But one thing is for sure Kylo is a righty in the trailer. And in reply to Palpatine making clones, no he isn't. He is finding warriors and then gives them technology resembling the force in which Vader instantly recognizes as fraudulent. The comic conveys a sense of childish goals from Sidious. That's why I'm having trouble with the Vader series sofar. Makes them seem petty,small, and trivial. Not like the vibe Luceno gave the Sith in Plagueis novel.

 

That was an idea I was onto as well - what if Vader found a more powerful personage during his secret missions? Would be a very easy thing for the greater evil to assume the reigns of something his new student / ally was putting together for him...