Warning: This Article Contains Major Spoilers For The Last Jedi.
Audiences came to know about the concept of “The Force” in Star Wars which debuted in 1977 when Obi-Wan Kenobi said “is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” Simply said, it is a power which enables those trained about it to control articles, take control of others’ minds and sense the presence of other Force users.The film The Last Jedi dramatically altered all that we knew so far about the Force by showing a new use of the Force which created the path for an entirely new spectrum of possibilities.
As seen in The Force Awakens, the factor which pushed Kylo Ren to the Dark Side was Luke Skywalker’s botched efforts of training his nephew. Again in The Last Jedi, we see a hesitant Luke, unwilling to take sides in the war taking place between the First Order and the Resistance.
Resistance faced doom in the form of the First Order’s AT-M6s when suddenly Luke emerged from the dark to support them. He gave his sister Leia, the golden dice from the Millennium Falcon before stepping out of the bunker to challenge Kylo Ren.
Kylo initially unleashed the guns of all the walkers simultaneously on his ex-teacher, and that makes no difference. He then attacks Luke with a lightsaber, but, finds that his lightsaber goes through him. Then we see the visual of Luke back on planet Ahch-To, in a deep trance and apparently projecting his image across the galactic space to distract the battle.
This power was unusual as we saw in the film’s final moments. However, it seems to be just a slight alteration of Obi-Wan or Yoda’s decision of giving up life to become Force Ghosts. Luke managed to focus his spirit in a different form that could be manifested anywhere in the galaxy when he deeply meditated.
There is a chance that Ahch-To is not just a random planet, but, the island also enhances the powers, which allows Jedi or the Sith to do things which were not doable elsewhere.
Audiences instantly figured out that something was amiss when Luke was seen on Crait, looking much younger and sporting a darker beard as well as hair, which reminded viewers of his younger days. This might be due to the fact that he had looked that way when Kylo or Leia had last seen him in person, rather than, Luke having manipulated his appearance.
Another possible theory about Luke looking younger could be that when George Lucas made the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi, he inserted an image of Hayden Christensen as Anakin, while claiming that a Force Ghost would look like how a Jedi looked at the time of his death or in Anakin’s scenario, when he gave up on the Dark Side. It could be that Luke looked younger because he had given up on the Force when he couldn’t be successful in training Kylo.
Further Luke managed to create the physical feeling of the dice because Leia didn’t appear to be startled when she held them, but, they later disappeared when Kylo picked them up. It is not yet explained how a projection managed to create solid touchable objects.
The other fascinating aspect about this is that it displays how The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson didn’t back off from trying ambitious elements and redirected audiences’ expectations, something that will allow future movies to depict the Force in several new ways.
