Star Wars : The Last Jedi has finally made its way to home release this month , packed withfeaturettes , commentary , and deleted scenesthat enhance our understanding of the picture show . But this month also saw the picture show participate another form : a novelization that adds more to The Last Jedi even beyond its deleted scenes .
There ’s one major difference between The Force Awakens Good Book adaptation and The Last Jedi ’s . The former was based on early versions of the scriptthat changed and also hinted at a few challenging things the movie did n’t . The Last Jedi ’s novelization , by Jason Fry , is unique because it ’s the first of these novelization that has been released long after the launch of the film .
What that means is , not only is the Word of God based on what we actually saw in theaters ( rather than an earlier draft ) , but to keep it relevant , it ’s also been expanded with stimulant from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson — contribute , clarifying , and enhancing several important moments in the motion picture ’s story . Here ’s some of the most intriguing new element it bring to The Last Jedi .
Luke’s Other Life
The opening prologue for the novelization stirred much mental confusion when it first leaked forpurportedly give away Luke Skywalker ’s wife … which , it does , but not in the fandom - mind - botch way you ’d have a bun in the oven .
It ’s set in an substitute world where Luke never give Tatooine , and the Imperials seize C-3PO and R2 - D2 from the Lars homestead . While Luke quell on the planet and eventually married Cammie ( a friend previously seen in footage cut from A New Hope early on ) , the Empire hunted down the Rebellion and destroyed it . Several humankind beyond Alderaan are eradicated by the Death Star , and Leia is in public executed for treason . While this alternate Luke has a felicitous , quiet life under the Empire ’s pollex , he does have one regret : not get children .
Our coup d’oeil into this alternate reality ends there and coming back to Luke in the normal Star Wars universe . But the most interesting thing about it is that it is n’t actually a pipe dream — it ’s a imagination from the Force , sent to haunt Luke about his inaction after cutting himself off from the living Force . He take down these visions have started to become more persistent , as if heralding the arrival of something ( or someone ) in his life .
Han’s Funeral
Themuch - heralded additionof a moment to grieve Han Solo ’s sacrifice is actually fair minor in the grand scheme of thing . But in the novel , it primarily serves , understandably , as a moment for Leia . On the interior , she is still wracked with grief by Han ’s last , but the practicality of having to prepare the Resistance for evacuation and an imminent battle with the full might of the First Order leave her more annoyed with suffer to talk to the gathered Resistance stave to mark Han ’s passing — the kind of event , she notes , Han would ’ve disdain — than really giving herself a chance to sorrow publicly . After a abbreviated speech , Leia score Han ’s “ sepulture ” with a small wooden sculpture he made and gave her during the aftermath of the struggle of Endor .
Leia and the Force
One of the more weirdly controversial chemical element of The Last Jedi cease up beingLeia ’s relationship with the Force — and how she ended up have to use it to bring through herself from a horrifying death with a display of mogul never seen from the character before . While there have been hatful of gripes about just how the daughter of Anakin Skywalker was able to suddenly call on the Force in a moment of extreme physical trauma , the novel paints Leia as much in air with her Force ability — further driving home the fact that just because she ’s not a Jedi does n’t mean she ca n’t use the Force .
A quiet consequence added as the Resistance fleet makes its first saltation by from D’Qar see Leia quietly hit out into the Force to check on the mood of the haggard Resistance soldier , as well as judge in vain to see if she can feel Luke ’s front somewhere . It ’s an empathic level of Force use that ’s amazingly powerful — she can sense emotions on planet as they surge past the fleet in Hyperspace — and in line with her ability to have mat up Han ’s demise in The Force Awakens , or her brief link with Kylo when he attack the Raddus later on in the moving-picture show .
The Force, Awakened
The Force , in general , gets some fascinating explorations in this novel , albeit in small moments . The most interesting of all derive when Luke last adjudicate to reconnect himself to the Force . In Luke ’s mind , he sees two different version of it : the Living Force , the spiritual vim that binds all living thing together as explained to him by Yoda in Empire Strikes Back , and then the Cosmic Force .
The Cosmic Force is more consanguineal to what we would see as Star Wars ’ endless fascination with lot and predestiny . It ’s the actual divine will of the Force , something that can wax and wane , and choose to show itself in living instruments — Anakin and Luke are specifically describe as such — when needed . Luke believes the Cosmic Force subsided after the end of the Sith with Palpatine and Vader ’s deaths , but re - waken sometime during his exile on Ahch - To . Unsurprisingly , connect to his vision from the prologue as the will of the Cosmic Force , Luke also believe that Rey is another clear example of that will — to the point he in reality contemplates physically return to the Resistance with her before he discovers her Force - powered conversations with Kylo Ren . address of which …
Rey and Kylo’s Connection
Rey and Kylo Ren ’s connection , both spiritually and emotionally , dish as one of the most challenging aspects of the book ’s expansion . At one breaker point it implies Rey can tap into Kylo ’s own expertise at using the Force to further infer her own abilities . However , the connexion is primarily used to explore the two on an aroused level , specifically Kylo ’s whirl sea of emotions when it come to Rey . There ’s a present moment before he bring her to Snoke aboard the Supremacy where Rey can sense that conflict within Kylo , which does n’t just revolve around the pull between the Light and Dark within him , but his growing , complicated feelings for her as well .
Do n’t get too excited , though , Reylo fan : the record book also clear it explicitly clear Rey is pretty much done with Kylo after their affaire d’honneur with the Praetorian Guards . While escaping the Supremacy , a new minute with Rey discover that she contemplated kill Kylo while he was still unconscious in the backwash of Holdo ’s hyperspeed attack but choose against it , not out of a opinion that he could still be redeemed , but because she felt the will of the Force wanted him to survive the day .
If you did n’t get the clue then , you do when the book recount their terminal instant “ together ” on Crait as Rey and what remain of the Resistance flee the major planet . Rey unmistakably severs their connection and make it clear she no longer feels any compassion ( or even hatred ) for Kylo .
The Mystery of Supreme Leader Snoke
Just like the last film , the novelisation does n’t declare oneself a Wookieepedia page ’s worth of backstory for the now - fall drawing card of the First Order . But it does give us a few snippets that both paradoxically make Snoke feel hugely important but also someone who was n’t really worth all the speculation .
First , the interesting things . Snoke ’s mastery of not just the Force , but mystical element of it — the “ Truth ” of the Force , as it ’s describe — shroud in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy , are what made him vital to the Imperial Remnant after it fled there and encountered mistily - depict challenge to keeping itself a secret from the rest of the coltsfoot after the end of its warfare with the New Republic . The novel also notes that Luke and Snoke were cognizant of each other through the Force , and Luke was move out into the galaxy after Return of the Jedi to locate ancient Jedi artifact . There ’s even the implication from Snoke that he fight Luke through the Force to become a instructor — not just to train Ben Solo , but to establish the fresh Jedi Academy , as Snoke fuck full well that Ben ’s internal conflict and Luke ’s own hesitancy to teach would always terminate in a tragedy that would take Snoke ’s neat competition off the astronomical chess board .
But despite all that , the novel also sees Snoke readily let in that he was never intend to head the First Order to prominence . His emergence in its early day is ostensibly more down to happenstance than some grand design , and he was plainly in the right place to help oneself the Empire at the right clock time , uprise over the Imperial officers who had come to the Unknown Regions in the first place .
A Touching Farewell
When Carrie Fisher tragically lapse out in December 2016 , The Last Jedi was left unchanged , leave questions as to what will total of the Princess and General the Star Wars galaxy and our own loves so affectionately in Episode IX . But one of the benefits of the novelization coming out so much later is that it gets to give Leia a quiet , yet touching sendoff . The last view on the Millennium Falcon after the remnants of the Resistance are whisk aside now include a more private scene with Leia and Chewbacca in the ship ’s cockpit , as Leia has the sticky task of telling Chewie that another of his oldest friends is rifle .
It is a moment when finally , without the penury for a public facial expression or without the force per unit area to internalize her brokenheartedness and press on , Leia full point and openly grieves , embracing Chewbacca as she mourn for Han , Luke , Ben , and the unnumbered others they ’ve lose . Her final words to the Wookiee are like a dagger through the heart—“It ’s just us now . ”—because we know that Chewie will soon lose a third ally .
Leia carry a set of the excited weight in this novelisation , so it ’s fitting that her electric discharge is the one that closes the book in such a heart - wrenching way .
What Remains of Luke Skywalker
The novelization does tally one more epilog between the final scene on the Falcon and the stableboy on Canto Bight , say from the position of one of the Lanai caretaker on Ahch - To after Luke ’s sacrifice . The Lanai recite the unusual and wide-ranging visitors to the satellite she ’s see over the years , as the caretaker go through the objects leave behind by their latest node , storing them alongside force - attuned artifacts they ’ve pull together and safeguarded for long time .
A few point are specifically mentioned , like the compass Luke used to find Ahch - To in the first place ( first see in the write up style for Star Wars : Battlefront II ) , but one is leave cloudy : Luke ’s “ weapon system . ” Is this the staff Luke transmit n The Last Jedi , or is it the green lightsaber he handle in Return of the Jedi ? Who live , but it could terminate up being as important to Star Wars ’ future as the now - destroyed Skywalker crime syndicate blade was .
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