As the final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens tells us, the Jedi are still a myth, but why and how has this happened? Didn't the events of Return of the Jedi begin the new resurgence of the Jedi Order?
First and foremost, if you haven't seen the final trailer for The Force Awakens, then check it out below before moving on:
There is a lot going on in this third spectacular trailer, but there is one big line that is revealed here that we are going to focus on for a minute. In the trailer, we hear Han Solo (Harrison Ford) interact with another character saying, "All of the stories you have heard are true. The Dark Side, The Jedi, they're real." This is a complete contradiction from the belief that we see Solo have in the original trilogy.
In the original trilogy, Solo has a conversation Chewy where he says, "Luke? Luke's crazy. He can't even take care of himself, much less rescue anybody." Chewie barks in reply to him, and then he goes on to say, "A...Jedi Knight? Everybody gets delusions of grandeur." This proves that in the original trilogy, Han doesn't believe in The Force and the Jedi. There is also another line that reinforces this, "There is no mystical energy field that controls my destiny." He also has another memorable line in A New Hope, "Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense." In the original trilogy, Han Solo has never seen even a glimpse of the Jedi. He dismisses the Jedi and the Force as just a tale.
If you embrace this thought process, then you start to realize that the Jedi have been this elite myth the whole time. They are characters that act in the shadows. When Luke encounters Vader on Cloud City and at the end of Return of the Jedi there are no witnesses. This is a completely plausible idea. We start to see this as we begin to breakdown a few things that have happened throughout the entire Star Wars universe.
To begin to see this we have to go back to the beginning. No, not to A New Hope, but the beginning of the story, the fan favorite The Phantom Menace. (OK, I'm just kidding. We all hate this movie.) During the film, we see Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn have a little run-in with the Trade Federation. During a brief conversation, we see between Nute Gunray and Rune Haako, Haako says, "Have you ever encountered a Jedi Knight before, sir?" Gunray's indicates that he hasn't. This is during a time when the Jedi are flourishing, and the Jedi Academy is at its strongest. If a faction as big as the Trade Federation hasn't seen or encountered the Jedi, then we can assume that the galaxy is a big place where most people have not encountered or even heard of the Jedi.
We then must fast forward a bit to the events of Revenge of the Sith. During the events of this film, Emperor Palpatine enacts Order 66, which orders the Jedi all be put to death for treason. Almost all of the Jedi were killed during this time, save a small handful. The only ones that we know that made it out of this time were Obi-Wan, Yoda, Kanan Jarrus (Star Wars Rebels), Shaak Ti (The Force Unleashed) and Ahsoka Tano (Clone Wars). Shaak Ti was killed twice in deleted scenes from Revenge of the Sith, but since they were deleted she was then killed off by Starkiller in The Force Unleashed video game.
There may have been a few more, but we are led to believe this is it. (This list does not include Jedi alive in the EU). Yoda orders all of the Jedi into hiding, so they wouldn't want anyone to find out that they are still alive. The events of Revenge of the Sith takes place 50 years before The Force Awakens. We already know that most people don't believe that the Jedi exist, so this amount of time solidifies that belief. It places distance in between the time where we are at in the time line, and the time when the Jedi lived. We even see that there are Force sensitive people who have survived the order, but they do not know how to use The Force yet. The Empire, during the events of Star Wars Rebels, is also on the lookout for any remaining Force sensitive people. These unlucky people are taken before the Inquisitors, and it is believed that they are killed off.
In A New Hope, Luke asks Obi-Wan what the lightsaber is the first time that he is given one. This shows you that Luke has never even heard of the famous weapon, brandished and loved by every Jedi. This could be because he lives on the outskirts planet of Tatooine, but even Jabba the Hut knows about the Jedi.
Furthermore, even those who surround Vader don't believe in the power of the Dark Side of The Force. Admiral Motti dismisses Vader by saying, "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient Jedi religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you enough clairvoyance to find the rebels' hidden fortress..." When even soldiers in the Empire don't believe in The Force, then it is a safe bet that everyone has already forgotten about the Jedi and the Sith.
In the first novel set to bridge the events between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, Aftermath: Journey to the Force Awakens, we see that the second Death Star being destroyed was only a small event in the course of the rebellion against the Empire. The Empire still exists, and still grows. This is reason enough for Luke to remain in hiding, for fear of being executed. The Empire could very easily overwhelm a single Jedi, even if according to the Star Wars Legends novels, Luke does become the strongest Jedi to have ever lived.
There is a little question that we should consider: Who is Luke Skywalker? This is a question that motivated J.J. Abrams throughout the writing of The Force Awakens, according to Mashable.com. It was presented to him by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. At the end of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas originally wanted Luke Skywalker to put on Vader's helmet and proclaim, "Now, I am Vader!" They ended up not going with that ending, for the better, because it would have messed up the entire trilogy.
Is this something that could potentially be coming in The Force Awakens? Could we see Luke Skywalker be the villain? I personally don't think that this is where J.J. will take the movie, but the possibility does still exist. With the film a mere 2 months out, this could be something that disappoints fans. This might be why we have yet to see Luke in any of the trailers. I am not saying this is what is happening, I am just working through a theory. I think it would be interesting to see a Luke Skywalker that has been in hiding because he fears his ability to use The Force. Remember, the force always remains in balance, A Dark Side, and a Light. Does this mean that Vader and Palpatine weren't the only Sith in the galaxy? It is an interesting thing to think about.
So, why are the Jedi a myth in The Force Awakens? There are many reasons, but this is more due to the fact that the Jedi have always been mysterious, and sort of a myth throughout the entire Saga. It is these little things that J.J. Abrams is great at picking out from a story. He didn't just come into this film with lightsabers blazing and a whole new Jedi Council, he let the Jedi fit in right where they have always been.
