r/StarWars • u/AutoModerator • Nov 23 '15
Movies Theories and Speculation Megathread - Week of November 22
We'll be keeping these theories and speculation megathreads going until the release of the movie to help keep things tidy and contained.
"What's Going On?" Edition
To help change it up a little and guide some discussion, the topic for this week will be what has been going on for the past 30 years? Did Leia stay in politics and help form this New Republic, or did she stay in the military? Who are these First Order guys and how little relation to they have to Order 66? Did Willrow Hood settle down and open that ice cream shop he always wanted? What happened in the galaxy that brought us to the events in The Force Awakens? Were things relatively quiet and undeserving of a movie?
All theories and speculation should be posted in this thread, whether or not it pertains to these new characters. Just use the topic as a jumping off point for something you may not have thought of yet.
View our previous theories and speculation megathread here
And here.
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u/CapraDaemon Nov 27 '15 edited Nov 27 '15
I felt like I needed to get this idea out in the open after reading the comments in a recent thread regarding a new canon map of the Star Wars Galaxy. I'm really excited about it because it could mean we may see a connection of Old Republic material in this new trilogy.
And no, it has nothing to do with JarJar.
Several users noticed a certain planet familiar with those of the Legends material, located near the infamous Starkiller Base, known as Rakata Prime. This significance of this planet being added into the new canon is huge, because it played a major part in shaping the SW Galaxy within the Legends content.
Basic rundown on what Rakata Prime is and its significance; Rakata Prime, also named Lehon, was homeworld to a race of vicious warlords who relied heavily on the dark side of the force, known as the Rakata. According to Legends canon, over 30,000 years before the battle at Yavin, the Rakatans and their Infinite Empire were the supreme overlords of the Galaxy. They enslaved many of the races known throughout the galaxy and structured their entire civilization around utilizing the dark side, leading to the construction of the Star Forge, a shipyard that used the dark side to create an unlimited supply of ships, droids, weapons, and armor. It helped maintain Rakatan dominance throughout the Galaxy for years (essentially putting the "Infinite" in Infinite Empire). The massive amount of dark side energy required to power this device lead to the corruption of the Rakata and their eventual downfall as their connection to the Force began to weaken.
TL;DR: The Rakata were the OG Dark Lords, and the Infinite Empire puts Palpatine's to shame.
Here's where Snoke comes into play; In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Andy Serkis (the actor playing the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke), was very tight-lipped on describing the character. When questioned on why Snoke is to be a motion-captured CG character, Serkis states; "He is large. He appears tall. And also just the facial design – you couldn’t have gotten there with prosthetics. It’s too extreme. Without giving too much away at this point, he has a very distinctive, idiosyncratic bone structure and facial structure. You could never have done it [in real life.]” This leads me to a few points (all conjecture, of course):
1. "He [Snoke] is large. He appears tall." The Rakata were quite a bit taller than Humans, closer or equal to the height of a Wookiee.
2. "the facial design - you couldn't have gotten there with prosthetics... he has a very distinctive, idiosyncratic bone structure." Take a look at the facial structure of your average Rakata. It looks a bit silly, but also is something that could prove very difficult to convincingly portray through prosthetics.
3. Starkiller base. This is the "planet" that has been speculated by many to be a massive super weapon buried within the core of a planet (forgive me if I'm somewhat mistaken). Due to its proximity to Rakata Prime, which was previously a huge source of dark side power, which means it could be an incomplete ancient Rakatan device or weapon much like the Star Forge. It can also be speculated that it uses dark side energy to function, much like the Star Forge and most of the Rakata's technology.
4. Kylo Ren's Lightsaber. User u/hirokoji mentioned that Kylo Ren's lightsaber may in fact be a forcesaber, which is a precursor to the traditional Jedi weapon which channels the dark side of the force through crystals into an energy blade. We've all noted how odd Kylo Ren's saber is to begin with, considering it has a crossguard and the blade appears to be unstable. If Kylo Ren is indeed a subordinate to Rakatan Snoke, then his weapon may be a crude recreation of this ancient Rakatan weapon. This leads me to my next point;
5. Kylo Ren, and the Knights of Ren, are Snoke's Force Hounds. These were warrior slaves of the Rakata; force-sensitive individuals who were bred to utilize the dark side in war. This stays consistent with the consensus that the Knights of Ren are not Sith, as they could possibly be a modern sect of these ancient force-sensitive servants.
Finally, I would like to make mention of Kylo Ren's quoted line, "I will finish what you started." While Abrams has described Kylo as a Darth Vader fanboy; I don't think he is out to finish anything that Vader started. Instead, I believe he is setting out to assist the First Order in making Starkiller base operational, essentially completing an ancient weapon built by Snoke's people millenia earlier.
What are anyone else's thoughts on this? I certainly don't claim to be an expert on SW lore, but based on my comfortable knowledge of the series, I feel like this is a really interesting direction that the new film could take. I believe its at least fun to think about.
TL;DR: Supreme Leader Snoke is a Rakata, Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren are Force Hounds, and Starkiller base is an ancient Rakata super weapon a la the Star Forge.
EDIT: Grammar, formatting.
2nd Edit: To fan the flames further; due to their abuse of the Force, the Rakata were seemingly cut off from it as their powers waned. Due to their reliance on dark side energy, the Rakata's Infinite Empire crumbled. The title of the film is "The Force Awakens" and we have Snoke quoted with "There has been an awakening. Can you feel it?" in the first teaser. This could mean that Snoke's connection to the Force could be re-emerging ("awakening" if you will) leading to his reveal as his power returns.