My theory is as follows: Luke attempted to rebuild the jedi order and had multiple students. Some of them (including Kylo Ren) turned to the Dark Side and slaughtered the ones who refused to join them. Luke has failed to stop Kylo and went into exile realizing that he is responsible for bringing the dark side back into the galaxy and causing his father's ultimate sacrifice to be in vain.

 

He's in self exile, for some reason. Dunno why, maybe because he was incapable of bringing down the Empire with Palpatine's death?

 

He went into self-imposed exile. Over the course of the past 30 years, he has grown crazier and crazier. Han and Leia will be in for a shock when they see Luke again, as he now looks like this:

 

I feel like Rey is Han and Leia's daughter.

(Overly cautious spoiler for those who didn't see the official trailer.)

Spoiler

But it looked like she didn't know Han in the trailer.

So I wonder if she and Kylo were twins and something happened and we had some type of Luke/Leia repeat and Luke went all Obi-Wan and into self-exile while having to split Rey and Kylo up as babies. Maybe they sensed one of them or both would be Force sensitive and Luke didn't want to risk them growing up to develop it?

 

I wouldn't mind this too much as long as it isn't a "big reveal". It's too obvious of a theory and would be kind of lame if it was made into a huge deal.

 

I doubt it would be a reveal. I think it could be just an explanation. Family reveals have been done. They are expected now. So for something to be an actual reveal, it would have to be different from that I think.

 

That theory's pretty interesting. I wonder if Kylo would know that Luke's Vader's son though. I think he went into exile for a purpose. He definitely didn't join the Dark Side.

 

I agree. I don't think he joined the Dark Side. I think it's something else. I'm so curious. For a while I thought they were just saving it for the movie. We already got Han, Chewie and Leia from the trailers. I thought maybe they were saving the first time we see Luke Skywalker for the big screen. But now I think there is a bigger reason as to why they're hiding Luke.

(This spoiler came from a toy that's been publicized, so not sure who's see it. About a certain droid. Don't click if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

Spoiler

Like C-3PO's red arm. I think they're saving that one for the movie. Thanks, Funko Pop Vinyl... ¬¬

 

Spoiler

They are not saving it for the movie, there will be a comic that explains how C-3PO got his red arm. I believe the publish date is 1st of December so shortly before TFA. Besides, it was not the toy that spoiled C-3PO's red arm but a magazine picture. Also, wasn't he shown in the Comic Con reel?

 

Spoiler

Oh, alright. Thanks for that info, I didn't know. I think you see them assembling C-3PO, but I don't remember seeing the red arm. But I only saw the reel that one time and people were going so crazy in that room that I barely remember what I saw on the reel. And I didn't see that magazine. Whatever magazine it was, we probably don't get it here in my country. I'm avoiding spoilers as much as I can, but it's hard. In my case, what did "spoil" it for me was the toy. I haven't seen it anywhere else. If I got spoiled that way, I'm sure other people did too.

But I see your point. If they've shown him, they're not saving that for the movie.

Okay, sorry, guys. Enough with the spoiler, that apparently isn't really a spoiler, talk. XD

 

If they have Luke turning to the dark side, I'll be mighty ticked off.
-----------

this.

 

I think this whole "Luke being evil" thing is hogwash. Pure poppycock. Utter flim flam, and it flabbergasts me something fierce. That is all I will say about it, and waste not ONE more sentence on such rubbish.

-ahem-




There's all these articles I've seen and people I've run across that complain constantly that we didn't see Luke in the trailer-and I say: "Of COURSE we didn't - are you kidding me!? There not gonna spoil THAT!!" I mean, what JJ said about "it's no accident" that he's not in there is awesome. That makes me really excited for what we might see. It's a big moment, his reveal after all this time-and I think the people behind the film are fully aware of this. I'm sure it's not lost on them how great of a reveal people are looking forward to Luke having in TFA.

I wonder if we might actually see more of Luke in Episode VIII, and not more than a few (or even one or two) scenes in TFA. Considering how much he's being left out of everything (which I think is a great idea, to build anticipation), I really feel that we're in for something amazing when we finally see Luke for the first time in ROTJ, but maybe not all that much?? Either way, exciting stuff!

 

I really like the idea of Luke's fate mirroring that of Obi-Wan's - sort of hiding away somewhere until a new Jedi comes along to save the day. It doesn't look like there will be some 'New Jedi Order', so maybe he's just waiting for...wait for it...the Force to awaken in someone else.

 

Well if Luke's in hiding is not out of Fear

The reason is that Fear leads to the Dark Side.

The title of the movie can be a big red herring, but I don't think so. As all other movies the title tells the story (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Returnvenge fo the Sith, A New Hope, etc.). In that sense The Force Awakens ("there's been an awakening, have you felt it?") most likely means just that. That the Force has somehow kicked into high gear.

I hope that the Inquisitors or Sith or whatever the bad guys are, don't turn out to be failed apprentices from Luke. This is just a re-hash of OB1 failing to train Anakin and Anakin turning to the Dark Side. Hopefully it's something more creative than this.

 

My Theory based on pure unspoiled speculation: [though I admit I am never even close on these things...] But i should mention I never thought Palpatine and Sidious were clones of each other...

After Return of the Jedi... the force lies mostly dormant. Due to the reputation of the Jedi still being tarnished from RotS and the Sith involvement essentially unknown to the population GFFA at large - Luke goes into seclusion to meditate and learn about the Force and the Old Republic Jedi and his family etc etc etc
The Rebellion continues to fight to restore freedom to the GFFA and put an end to the rest of the Empire remnants

Then... The New Empire (or whatever the group in the trailers calls itself) starts a scorched earth campaign and the new Sith dude (Kylo Ren) takes center stage and (from the looks of the new movie poster) unleashes a new super weapon

The Force (possible redemption for lame midichlorian concept and maybe extrapolated from Darth Plagueis novel) kick into gear to find a new balance and get new Force-sensitives either a: born or to b:"awaken"

Han gets together with the Black dude and the Girl and they go in search of Luke's secret hidey-hole where he is likely already aware of the new disturbance in the force and ready to re-emerge to train the new generation of the Jedi [armed with the knowledge he has gleaned over the last 25+ years]

The kid in the trailer receiving the lightsabre likely not his -- but a nephew/niece from Han/Leia

P.S.: I do NOT believe any theory whatsoever that Luke goes Dark at all. It's been done and done well in Dark Empire -- JJ wants to tell his own story.

 

I don't seem to be able to edit the last post --- but I don't think for a second there are any more twins out there to be separated and all that. That's almost as silly as Palp/Sidious not being same person.

There is no reason to read into Luke not being in the trailers at all -- he just isn't. I hate to post a spoiler without tagging it... but Luke will be in the movie and play a major role in it.

Also -- I can't stress enough -- this is a trilogy. The story will not be told all in one movie. Characters [even Han] might make it all the way to EpIX and we are almost certainly waiting 3 years for the complete story that begins in TFA to fully be realized.

 

I agree with most.

However I have a different opinion on one of your points.

I believe the "old sage", "old mentor", "old wizard" has to die in the first movie. It's part of the story formula. From Lord of the Rings, to Star Wars to old myths and legends. And like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars the "wizard" doesn't stay dead but comes back to help the hero in his journey with knowledge.

Who could fit this character from the story?

Well we have a trio of old returning characters. Han, Leia, Luke. Any of them could fit the bill for the "old mentor" or wizard.

In TPM it was Qui-Gonn.
In FOTR it was Gandalf
In ANH it was Obi-wan
etc.

Unfortunately this is part of the Hero's journey. The handing off the torch has to take place in the first part of the trilogy.

 

I think Han appears to be the "Wise old sage" in this film. So I wouldn't be totally surprised if he's the one to go. (Luke seems barely to be in it!)

 

Let's not jump to conclusions about Luke's screentime! The trailers show us little smidgens of the film, I predict we'll see him a lot more than you all seem to think!
I'm predicting that Luke is "A Strange Old Hermit."

 

Luke is barely in.... the Trailers. If you think he is not gonna be in this trilogy much -- you're being naive.

 

Yes, both Yoda and Obi-Wan in the original trilogy lived on their own, in faraway lands. Yoda in a hut in the swamps, and Obi-Wan also in a hut in the desert. Since both were more or less Luke's teachers and mentors, I wouldn't be surprised if Luke also decided to live in a hut somewhere out of the way. The Jedi, in the original trilogy, seemed to have been modelled after monks or religious missionaries who had an austere lifestyle and lived in some remote places, and I suspect that Luke is following the same pattern.

 

There's no way Luke turned to dark side. That would be stupid.