It's been more than a week since "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opened in theaters. If you haven't seen the year's biggest movie yet, please stop reading now.
Because like every other article on the Internet being published about this movie, this piece is plenty full of spoilerific questions and probable answers.
All obligatory introductions and warnings aside, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" crushed box office records in Hollywood and made grown men cry when Han Solo got a blaster beam through the heart.
Yes, Han dies. By the time Han is killed by his son Ben Solo (AKA Kylo Ren, Master of the Dark Side's Knights of Ren), and the credits start rolling in, we get left with even more questions of who, what, where, when and why. Unfortunately, these won't get answered anytime soon (at least not until Episode VIII comes out a year from now).
At best, the one common thread that ties these questions together is that of origins: where does it all really begin?
Who Is Rey's Real Family?
Throughout the film, newcomer Rey insists she stay home or return home to Jakku just in case her family comes back for her. They never do though, which makes her origin story an intriguing mystery.
Could she, perhaps, be the secret child of Han Solo and Princess Leia? This question alone ultimately brings about more questions, unraveling even more loose ends. But should that not be the case, could she then be the child of Luke Skywalker instead (even though Jedi are supposed to be celibate)?
These two are the leading theories about Rey's roots: that she is either Rey Solo or Rey Skywalker. But until we finally find out Rey's real last name, she might as well just be an ordinary person who happens to be particularly strong in the Force.
What Is Up With Finn?
In the trailers and teaser before "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was released, we were led to believe that Finn, the Stormtrooper formerly known as FN-2187, would indeed be the newest leading Jedi of this trilogy. As we all know by now, he's not.
But from the very beginning of the film, as FN-2187 started breaking down after receiving orders to blast away at innocent people in Jakku, Kylo Ren could seemingly feel his presence. That being said, could Finn indeed hold some Jedi potential within? Is the Force budding inside of him?
Like Rey, Finn too is far, far away from his family. Being taken as a child and reared with the First Order's doctrines to become a Stormtrooper, he somehow broke free of the dark side of the Force.
Since both Rey and Finn partnered together throughout most of the film, could both their origins and their destinies be intimately linked? We bet Finn hopes so.
Where Is Supreme Leader Snoke?
No one knows the exact location of Snoke. Unlike the other major characters revealed so far in the film, Snoke is the only one we never really see in physical form. When the Voldemort-Gollum lookalike does make an appearance, it's only as a hologram.
The best answer the Internet has come up with so far is that Snoke is somewhere far, far away in the darkest parts of the galaxy. Just as Luke Skywalker is hidden away on one side of the galaxy where the first Jedi temple is located, Snoke is believed to be on the opposite either in hiding or preparing to release the wrath of the Dark Side where it was originally born.
When Did The First Order Come Into Power?
After the simultaneous downfall of Darth Sidious, of his apprentice Darth Vader, and of the Empire at the Battle of Endor, it's presumed that remnants of the Empire escaped to uncharted parts of the galaxy where the Dark Side was strongest. There, Snoke assumed the title of Supreme Leader, and the rest is history.
But for the most part of "The Force Awakens," the First Order seems to simply serve as a rebranding of the Empire. Like its predecessor, the First Order's troops are made up of Stormtroopers, its ships of TIE fighters and Star Destroyers, and of course, are commanded by men cloaked in black who can use the Force.
So what really went down between the two sides of the Dark Side?
Why Did Ben Solo Turn To The Dark Side To Become Kylo Ren?
Ben Solo, being the son of Princess Leia who was strong in the Force and the nephew of Luke Skywalker whom the Force was strongest with, had all the right ingredients to have become the universe's greatest Jedi hero. But he didn't turn out that way.
Supreme Leader Snoke must have wielded a huge carrot to lead Ren, errr Ben, into the Dark Side to become Kylo Ren. Why he would turn on Jedi Master Luke, slaughter fellow Jedi apprentices, and kill his own father is the biggest head scratcher of "The Force Awakens."
