Weapon of the Jedi (Book Review)

Weapon of the Jedi is one of the trilogy of Adventure books that is part of the Journey to the Force Awakens publishing event. It was released on Force Friday (9/4/2015). Each of the Adventure books features one protagonist from the Original Trilogy. This book features Luke Skywalker.

You can find plenty of book reviews, so I will keep mine short and sweet. This was a lot of fun! Fry did a great job capturing the character of Luke as still a kid trying to deal with the world just after his victory against the Death Star.

What I really want to capture here in this blog are the major elements of the story for future reference. Part of the marketing of these books is that hints about The Force Awakens have been planted in the story. So here it goes:

Prologue/Epilogue

The book is "bookended" by a conversation between Blue Squadron pilot Jessika Pava and Threepio. This takes place after Threepio gets his red arm, so it is well into story territory beyond ROTJ.

Prologue Notes:

• Threepio now knows "almost seven million forms of communication" as opposed to "six million"
• Jessika Pava is known as Blue Three
• According to Jessika: "...everybody knows Luke Skywalker. He defeated the Emperor, and they say he's the best star pilot in the galaxy" [nice homage to Obi-Wan's reference to Anakin]
• Jessika also indicates that Artoo-Detoo is famous for being the droid to accompany Luke in the trench run

References to Battle of Yavin :

• Red Squadron was made up of 12 X-Wings for the Battle of Yavin IV
• Only two X-Wings survived: Red 3 Wedge and Red 5 Luke
• The Red Squadron leader replacement was Commander Narra (male)

Locations:

• Red Squadron protecting a freighter evacuating underground leaders from planet Giju
• The Force calls Luke to come to planet Devaron, near Giju, to the Temple of Eedit
• The closest town to the temple is Tikaroo
• Sarco suspects there are vaults under the temple

Luke & the Force

• Luke does not know how to influence minds as Obi Wan did on Tatooine
• Ben has not talked to Luke since the Trench Run
• Luke has force vision of Jedi swimming and breathing underwater - Kit Fisto?
• Luke's first time hearing Ben's voice again after the Trench Run is when he is in the temple
• The Jedi are considered evil sorcerers by the indigenous people (encouraged by the Empire)
• Ben tells Luke that anger and fear lead to the dark side (before Yoda)
• Threepio and Artoo mention that they found recordings of lightsaber training/battles?
• Luke trains against two remotes...then three remotes
• Key training learned - Let Go.
• Luke uses lightsaber for first time against eight stormtroopers & Imp officer (aided by Sarco)

Plot Points

• pikhrons - large but passive herbivores hunted for their skin
• The Empire placed a sensor perimeter around the temple to guard against people entering it
• Luke is blinded and deafened in battle against Sarco

Sarco Plank

• Sarco weilds an electrostaff that he said was made to kill Jedi
• Sarco falls down pit, but Luke senses still alive
• Luke kicks electrostaff down the pit 

Random Musings

• Scattered/randomized jumps to keep from Imperial tails - but increases risk of encounter - which happens to Luke and forces him to abandon mission that Mon Mothma assigned him (led by the Force?)

Epilogue Notes

• Luke vows to return to the temple
• Threepio confirms he did - when Farnay grown woman (highly likely post-ROTJ)

Update on the Kiddos

It has been a while since I posted anything about my two kids. I've actually restrained myself quite a bit from bringing them into Star Wars. We did watch the first season of Star Wars Rebels together - my young daughter really latched on to Hera - not so much Sabine. Perhaps because she is more maternal and less violent, which matches her personality better.

But they haven't really seen much Star Wars since the first season ended many months ago. I was very surprised when both of them picked out Star Wars-themed costumes for Halloween this year. I figured by daughter in particular would choose My Little Pony since she is so into that franchise now. But she picked out a really cool Darth Vader dress and Hudson picked an awesome Kylo Ren costume. I got a retractable tri-bladed lightsaber from Target to match it.

We trick-or-treated at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney's Magic Kingdom. We saw plenty of Star Wars costumes, but no other Kylro Rens! I got a nice compliment from the cast member who helped people off the Little Mermaid dark ride - "You are raising them right!".

My daughter is really into the John Williams music. We listen to the Imperial March on a regular basis. Normally she is very talkative, but one day when I was driving her to school and we were going through the ESB soundtrack, she was very quiet. I looked and saw her looking out the window lost in her thoughts, with a slight smile on her face. I asked her what she was thinking and she said she was imaging a Star Wars parade with her in the lead, but joined by her brother, my wife and I, and several of her friends.

TFA Plot Speculation

Here is my speculation, based on the official trailer that debuted during Monday Night Football on October 19th. No spoilers here since this is just guess work on my behalf. I have striven to be spoiler-free outside of official information (novels, comic books, press releases, etc.).

My Guess on the Plot

Luke tried to get the Jedi Order going but every time he could track down a Force-sensitive (not many of them), he is intercepted by Knights of Ren who either recruit them or kill them. So he goes into hiding so he himself is not killed. Han and Leia have a baby who seems to have latent Force ability. To protect her from the Knights of Ren, they abandon her to the desert world of Jakku to keep her safe (passively watched over/developed by pirate ruler Maz Kanata). Suddenly there is a Force-event that causes an awakening in her. Leia sense her daughter is no longer safe and sends Han & Poe to recover her from Jakku and to find Luke to train her.

Why do I think Rey is Han and Leia's daughter? The fact that she is prominently featured in the trailer and music that plays for her is Leia's theme from the original Star Wars movie.

Meanwhile, Finn is also affected by the Force-event and is awakened. He is labeled a traitor to the First Order by the Knights of Ren, who sensed his Force ability and approached him to join their ranks, after he refuses to join them. He escapes in a TIE fighter only to crash land on Jakku, where he meets up with Rey.

Han & Chewie find Rey and Finn, daringly escape the attack by Captain Phasma in her TIE fighter, and journey to the castle of Maz Kanata to learn where to go next. Their meeting is interrupted by the attack of the First Order - Finn, Chewie and Han are almost captured when the castle falls.

The Death of Chewbacca?

We see Rey crying over what looks like to be a body - perhaps a furry one. If this is true, then it sure seems like Chewbacca dies in the film. I sure hope not. He was the only major legacy character to be killed off in the old EU, in the novel Vector Prime. IT feels like a rehash of that - which I am sure Lucasfilm would play up: "See we do like the old EU!" It also doesn't make sense from a franchise standpoint - why kill off someone who is not a face character? Wookies live for several centuries and since he is a "guy-in-a-suit" character, they can use other actors other than Peter Mayhew.

However, from a dramatic standpoint, I can see why JJ would choose to do it. He wants us to emotionally bond with Rey - especially the OT fans. What better method than the Old Yeller approach - having the lovable, protective, and loyal friend die? I've seen in the Star Wars sticker book Rey and Chewie in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon together. It fits. I hate it, but it fits.

The Death of Poe?

I expect Poe to die in this battle or when he is captured and tortured by Kylo Ren. I assume some clever editing in the trailer makes it look like he lives to fight the final battle on Starkiller Base on the yet-to-be-named ice world. It is his death that Leia mourns in her very brief appearance in the trailer. The Shattered Empire comic book series shows that she knew Poe's parents and presumably formed a close friendship with them over the 30 years.

We see Poe being tortured by Kylo Ren in the trailer, more than likely to extract information. But what if it is something else? What if Kylo is tapping into his emotions and converting him into a Knight of Ren? That would be very cool and it would help explain why only Kylo Ren has a lightsaber while all the other knights seem  to have move conventional weapons.

Kylo Ren is Rey's Brother?

The official poster does show parallel arrangement for the two characters. It also helps to answer the question why Kylo is fixated on Darth Vader rather than the Emperor. If it is his grandfather, it would be much more understandable that he would be fixated on him. This could be part of Leia's heartbreak that we may be glimpsing in the trailer.

We will see how close I am to these guesses - mostly taken from this trailer.