Question: When Kylo Ren tries to use the Force on Rey, he mentions that they need the last piece of the map, and that they have the rest. However, when R2-D2 wakes up, we find out that he had the map the entire time. Was Kylo bluffing or did he know where the rest of it was? Was there a copy or did I miss something?
Answer: The piece of the map that R2 had was also recovered from the archives of the Empire.
Question: Was there a specific reason Mark Hamill got 2nd billing (other than he's Luke Skywalker)? Was the billing order based on how much they each got paid? I don't recall seeing his picture on any The Force Awakens posters and it didn't seem like they needed to add hype to the movie by billing "big name" celebrities. Of course that leads to asking why Hamill reportedly got paid 7 figures for his "role" when the actual stars got less than half or a third of that. I know they're all in unions, so is it a union thing? Or just a better agent thing?
Chosen answer: The actors playing Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren were mostly unknown, while Mark Hamill is famous worldwide as both a screen actor and voice actor. The billing order was likely based on their fame and then on their new roles. It's not a union thing, minimum wage in the Screen Actor's Guild is far lower than what they were paid. It's a combination of bigger star, better agent, and the future of the series.
Question: This is a two part question. Firstly how many students did Luke have before his academy was destroyed by Kylo Ren? Secondly what will happen to the New Republic now its capital is destroyed?
Answer: Any answer would be conjecture - best just watch the next movie.
Answer: We learn in The Last Jedi that Luke had Ben Solo/Kylo Ren and a dozen other apprentices. Kylo killed 6 of them and took the remaining six as is apprentices, the Knights of Ren.
The knights of Ren are not the six apprentices Kylo takes with him. The knights of Ren are Snoke's followers, dark force users. Kylo joins them and becomes their leader later on.
Question: Rey is owned by Unkar Plutt before she leaves Jakku with Finn. Does she not have a slave transmitter?
Answer: Nothing in the film indicates she's a slave so much as she's just been left with and works under him. She's more an unwilling laborer than an overt "slave" (so perhaps something like an indentured servant), since it seems she's under the impression she'll be free to leave when her family comes back.
Answer: Rey is not a slave. She lives on her own and is able to use weaponry and vehicles. We see that she scavenges parts from the Star Destroyer to sell to Unkarr Plutt for food. She depends on him for food and some measure of security, but doesn't belong to him.
Question: Han says, "Crazy thing is, it's all true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it." Why does he consider this a "crazy" thing? He met Luke and Leia only nineteen years after the Jedi were killed, and he is about ten years older than them. The Jedi were still around during his childhood. And anyone older than him could still be talking about the Jedi, also. Why would he ever doubt that they were real?
Question: Why does Kylo Ren kidnap Rey? Was it because of how good she was with a lightsaber, or did he do it so Han Solo, Poe and Finn would come looking for her? It just seemed to me that the two of them were having a lightsaber battle, and then he decided to knock her out and take her hostage. Have only seen this movie recently so might have missed something.
Question: When Kylo Ren told Rey that they had the rest of the map that leads to Luke, why didn't she try and get it back when she was escaping, since nobody knew that R2 had the rest of the map?
Chosen answer: It is merely stated the First Order has the other part of the map, not necessarily that it is kept on Starkiller base. Regardless, Rey would have no way of knowing where the data is kept and even if she did it would be pointless since there is no way to know how many people have seen/copied the data.
Question: When Han, Finn and Chewy are rounded up by the Storm Troopers after the First Order go to Maz Kanata's castle, one Storm Trooper takes Luke/Anakin's lightsaber from Finn. How do Finn and Rey have it back when he is in the forest battling Kylo Ren?
Chosen answer: Right after the X-Wings come blasting in, there is a sequence where the heroes pick up their weapons. You can see Finn grab it as they escape.
Question: When the whole gang is inside Starkiller Base and are planting the bombs, why isn't the building shaking? Dust or bits of whatever falling? The rebel X-wing squadron is right outside, shooting the very building they're in.
Answer: The reason they're planting the bombs is that the resistance fighters aren't able to do enough damage. The facility is too well insulated from the attack, so they need to damage it from the inside.
Question: Why does Kylo Ren keep hitting the spot where Chewie shot him? Does he want it to hurt more or was it just so we could see the blood?
Answer: Pain and anger fuels the Dark Side. The more pain he's in, the angrier he becomes, the more powerful he becomes. This is also why when Darth Vader was wounded on Mustafar; Sidious had him operated on awake; without anesthetics.
Question: Got a few questions. First Question. When the emperor is killed in ROTJ, doesn't that mark the end of the Galactic Empire? If so, wouldn't the establishment of the New Republic mean that The First Order is at this point just an extremist group trying to throw a coup? Second Question: Whether or not the first question is a yes or a no, wouldn't the New Republic have knowledge of Starkiller Base being constructed? Third Question: Is there any influence as to why Kylo Ren basically gets temper tantrums? An example being when Rey escaped or when he found out the droid escaped Jakku Last Question: Kylo Ren stopped a strong laser bolt and has to ability to freeze people. How was he so easily beaten by Rey with no jedi training?
Answer: Yes to the first. Not necessarily to the second, as they undoubtedly worked very hard to keep it secret. For the third question, the dark side of the force feeds on and enhances anger, rage, hatred. Ren is full of these emotions. As for the last question, remember that Ren took a shot to the guts from Chewbacca's bowcaster, a weapon that blows everyone it hits back several meters, killing them instantly. Ren took a knee for a moment then got right back up. He is using the bulk of his concentration on using his Force powers to survive and heal that wound and manage the pain. That's why he keeps beating his abdomen with his fist during his fight with Rey. Rey is also abnormally strong with the Force. These two factors combined to make their first fight evenly matched.
Question: If the lightsaber that Rey touches was Luke's and his father's before him, how did it get there? Luke's saber, given to him by Obi Wan, was lost in the fight between Luke and Vader on Cloud City when Vader cut Luke's sword hand off. It fell down with Luke's hand into the disposal tube, then out and down to Bespin's swampy surface.
Question: At the end of the space battle in the latter half of the movie, the Resistance's X-Wings jump to hyperspace with their stabilizer foils still locked in attack position. Why?
Answer: The design could have advanced enough in the last 30 years that the S-foils no longer need to be closed to enter hyperspace.
Question: How is Rey able to control a Stormtrooper's mind, when trying to escape from the torture chair, after only a few attempts? Luke knew that he was Force-sensitive for three years before he met Yoda, and still has very limited abilities when Yoda begins to train him.
Answer: When Kylo Ren is attempting to read her mind it is clear that she manages to push back. It is possible that in the process of this she gained a glimpse of how to use the force. There are also many theories that she started training as a Jedi when young but repressed the memories after all the other training Jedi were killed.
Question: Luke lost his lightsaber in Cloud City, how has it been retrieved?
Answer: It has not yet been answered in a canon source. The novel series that continued the stories after Return of the Jedi had Luke's lightsaber being found along with his severed hand which was then used to make a clone. The new movie series has made those stories no longer canon. It is possible Rise of Skywalker will answer this question.
Answer: In "Return Of The Jedi", after Luke turns himself over to Darth Vader, he is handed Luke's lightsaber to which Vader says, "I see you've constructed a new light saber." This would mean that after Luke lost his first lightsaber at Cloud City, he made himself another one.
Luke did make a new lightsaber after losing the first one, but he was the sole owner of it. In The Force Awakens, when Rey finds the lightsaber in the dungeon, Maz Kanata tells her that it once belonged to Luke Skywalker, and before him, it was his father's (Darth Vader). This would mean it is the same one that Luke lost when Vader sliced off his hand that was holding the lightsaber during their duel in Cloud City (The Empire Strikes Back). Somehow, that lightsaber was found on the planet's surface and made its way into Maz's possession. It now belongs to Rey.
Answer: When asked about how she came into possession of Luke's old lightsaber, which once belonged to Anakin Skywalker, Maz Kanata says that it's a tale for another time. Presumably it will be explained in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
It is not.
Answer: The First Order already has the piece that R2-D2 was carrying as well. That is the first piece, the large piece of the map missing a small section. The second piece is carried by BB-8 and only by BB-8, the missing piece in the map. All the first order needs is that second piece, and so does the Resistance. However the Resistance needs R2-D2 to activate again so he can show them the first piece, so they can put the second piece in it.
lionhead