Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead!

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now in theaters and fans are losing their minds over some of its biggest and most shocking moments and spoilers. It's a film that certainly leaves its mark on a galaxy far, far away, altering our perception of what's possible in some major ways. The Last Jedi also takes its characters' arcs in surprising and unexpected directions, dotting the film with genuine twists and turns.

All that being said, if you haven't already seen The Last Jedi and don't want to learn what happens, we suggest you stop here and don't read any further until you have. Unless you don't mind being spoiled for what are by far some of the most exciting reveals since Darth Vader told Luke he was his father, turn back now.

New Force Powers (This Page)

Leia Saves Herself From Space Using The Force

First Order General Leia

Ever since Yoda first mentioned there being "another", fans have been waiting for then-Princess, now-General Leia Organa to more fully explore her connection with The Force. Like her father and brother, Leia is a Force-sensitive individual though she never received any formal training (even Yoda thought she was better suited to become a Jedi than Luke). Still, she remains incredibly strong with the Force, demonstrating that she can sense others through, as she did when Luke was stranded on Cloud City and when Han was killed by Kylo Ren.

Related: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review - The Saga Continues In Epic Fashion

But in The Last Jedi, Leia finally has the chance to exhibit a power beyond "gut feelings", fully embracing her Force-abilities. The moment in question comes early on in the film as the Resistance is desperately outrunning the First Order's fleet. During the escape, the bridge of Leia's cruiser is shot out and those present are launched into space. All are killed - including longtime rebel leaders, like Admiral Ackbar - but not Leia. She manages to survive against all odds thanks to the Force, tapping into that powerful energy to pull herself safely back to the ship (though her time in the vacuum of space does take its toll and she winds up in a coma). It's a breath-taking sequence as the self-rescuing princess manages to do just that again, reminding us she won't be so easily defeated.

Rey And Kylo Share A Force Connection

While The Force Awakens introduced Rey as this trilogy's new hero and protagonist, it also made sure to give ample screen time to Kylo Ren, depicting the film's antagonist as both her opposite and equal. Though their roles in the film place them in conflict, there's a bond that forms between them thanks to their strong ties to the light and dark sides of The Force. In The Last Jedi, that bond is explored more fully, with their connection becoming a link between them - a sharing of minds through The Force.

It's a new gimmick never before seen in a Star Wars movie, allowing for Rey and Kylo to communicate directly. At several points throughout the film, they speak to one another as if they are in the same room while actually being light years apart and can occasionally physically interact, at one point even touching hands. It's during these interactions that Rey becomes aware of the conflict raging within Kylo, believing there is still good in him. Only later is it revealed to have all been a ploy of Snoke's to manipulate Rey, explaining it was he who linked their minds and stoked Kylo's guilt in the hopes that Rey would seek him out in an attempt to turn him.

But whether a trick or not, there's no denying that Rey and Kylo grew closer because of this link, sharing thoughts and feelings with each other that they wouldn't have dared to under different circumstances. What this might mean for their next confrontation isn't exactly clear, but this shared link, even if it's now severed, is certain to have made an impact.

Luke Skywalker and C-3PO watch R2-D2 display a hologram of Princess Leia in Star Wars A New Hope

"You're My Only Hope"

There are certainly a few callbacks to the original trilogy in The Last Jedi, but only one gets to be both a fun nod to 1977's Star Wars and function as a similarly important piece of the story. It comes when Luke is on the Millenium Falcon and he reunites with R2-D2, remembering those whom he's lost and generally feeling sorry for himself. As he sits in the Falcon's lounge, he wishes he could make Artoo understand why he can't return to the Resistance - to which Artoo replies by playing him the holovid of Leia's original plea for help to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Related: Rogue One: ILM Details Process For CGI Leia

Coming during a scene already heavy with nostalgia, hearing a young Princess Leia utter that now iconic phrase - "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" - is a stirring and emotional moment. For Luke, it's that initial call to adventure he heard decades earlier, only now it's calling him to return to a life he turned his back on. He rightly tells Artoo that playing it was a "cheap move," using the past to influence what Luke decides to do with his future. But it works, helping to slowly convince Luke that he must again answer Leia's call for help.

Luke Created Kylo Ren

Luke Skywalekr and Kylo Ren in Star Wars The Last Jedi

The Luke Skywalker we meet in The Last Jedi is a far departure from the man last seen celebrating a great victory among friends on Endor. This Luke is a broken, grief-stricken man who came to this remote planet to die - taking the Jedi Order down with him. He has been almost entirely crushed by the weight of past events, and rather than face his failures, he ran from them.

We already knew Luke was unable to prevent Ben from turning to the dark side and that it led to the destruction of the new Jedi Order - an event for which Luke assumes full responsibility. However, not until The Last Jedi is the the full scope of what happened explained. Three times we are told the events of that fateful night and with each telling more of the truth is revealed.

In the end, Luke confesses to Rey what happened when he came to confront Ben, explaining that he looked within him and realized Snoke had already turned him to the dark side. In that moment, Luke considered killing his nephew and stopping all of pain he would cause right then and there. But he hesitates and winds up feeling ashamed that he had even considered it, even for a moment. That's when he notices that Ben is awake and now aware of what his uncle almost just did. This proves to be the final push Ben needed to reject the light, reaching for his own (the blue) lightsaber and Force-pushing Luke through a wall before destroying the temple and fleeing. From that moment on, Ben Solo was lost and Kylo Ren was born.

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Yoda's Force Ghost

The Last Jedi offers some insight into what Luke was doing for all these years - like fishing and collecting green milk from strange coastal creatures - but besides the local caretakers who mend and look after the Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, it’s a solitary life. He’s shut himself off from the Force, so it’s implied there haven’t been regular chats with his former masters or his father. Just him and his memories, his failures.

Related: Most WTF Things Done Yoda Has

But at a crucial moment in the film, Luke does receive a visitor - Yoda, in that familiar Force ghost blue, comes to teach his final student another lesson. Upset at himself for being unable to stop Rey from seeking out Kylo Ren, Luke goes to burn down the tree and the sacred Jedi texts held within. Then his old master appears. Everyone assumes it's to stop Luke from burning it all down, but in a turn of events that’s so perfectly in line with Yoda’s quirky wisdom, he ignites the tree with a strike of lightning!

After laughing at Luke’s astonishment, the Jedi Master explains that Rey already possesses everything she could possibly learn from those books. “The greatest teacher of all, failure is,” Yoda explains, and that along with his strengths he must also pass on his weaknesses. He admonishes Luke for always looking towards the horizon, to the future, reminding him to remain in the present if he is to help Rey. It's Yoda’s final lesson that winds up being what convinces Luke to rejoin the fight, and it's a heartwarming moment between and old master and his student.

Kylo Kills Snoke

Snoke

After sharing several interactions throughout the film, Rey finally comes to meet Kylo face to face on Snoke’s Mega Star Destroyer. Kylo brings Rey to his master, the Supreme Leader, who then goes on to explain how Rey coming here was all a part of his grand plan. He probes her mind in order to learn Luke Skywalker’s location, after which he orders his apprentice to kill her.

As Kylo stands before her, his saber in hand, Rey remains adamant that there’s still good in him, calling out his true name. But she needn't worry because Kylo has no intention of killing her, his mind is made up, and instead, he’s secretly maneuvering the blue lightsaber sitting on the arm of Snoke’s throne. As Snoke commands Kylo to kill Rey, he uses the Force to turn the blue saber towards Snoke and ignites it, killing his master.

Related: Star Wars: Is Snoke From The Unknown Regions?

It’s a shocking moment, with everyone from Rey to the stationed guards caught unaware. Kylo then pulls the lightsaber to Rey's outstretched hand, slicing Snoke's body in half in the process. Later on, when General Hux is examining the carnage, he approaches the Supreme Leader’s body, only for the bottom half to unceremoniously slide off the chair and onto the floor. It’s gruesome, kind of hilarious, and a wholly unexpected death for a character many assumed would stick around until the trilogy’s finale.

Rey's Parents Confirmed

After killing Snoke, Rey and Kylo join forces to fight off the remaining Praetorian guards in the throne room. It’s a thrilling fight, demonstrating not only what skilled fighters they are but how well they work together. Once all the guards are defeated and they're alone, Rey becomes concerned about the Resistance transports under fire, but Kylo remarks that she's still clinging to the past. He then makes her a proposal, suggesting that the two of them should join together and rule the galaxy.

Needless to say, Rey declines, disgusted both with Kylo for suggesting it and disappointed in herself for believing he had changed. It's then that Kylo makes his most cutting remark, telling Rey he knows who her parents really are, and that so does she. It's at that moment Rey seems to finally admit the truth to herself - her parents are nobody, or as Kylo elaborates, nothing more than drunk junkyard traders who sold her for money.

Related: Daisy Ridley Was ‘Very Moved’ By Rey’s Parents Reveal

And though Rey's apparent acceptance seems to suggest this is the truth, is it really? The identity of Rey’s parents has been the most burning question since even before The Force Awakens released, and to have it turn out to be no one significant is either a brilliant move or a cop out, depending on how strongly you held to one of the many theories floating around. When Rey tried finding answers in the cave on Ahch-To, none came to her - either because the truth is unknowable or she was still in denial of it. Either way, it seems that all the speculating over who Rey's parents are may have been for naught, with it turning out it doesn't really matter where she came from, but rather where she's going.

Holdo's Uses Hyperspace As A Weapon

Star Wars The Last Jedi Laura Dern as Admiral Holdo and Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa Behind the Scenes

One of the new characters in The Last Jedi is Laura Dern’s Admiral Amilyn Holdo. She comes into the film after Leia enters a coma, taking over command of the Resistance's few remaining forces. Holdo is immediately in conflict with Poe Dameron; she keeps him in the dark about their plans, which irritates him to no end, and Poe second guesses every one of her decisions. Their tension eventually leads Poe to lead a mutiny against her, convinced that Holdo’s lack of action and decision to abandon ship in defenseless transports is endangering them all.

Of course, all along Holdo was acting on Leia’s wishes and doing what she could to ensure that at least some of the Resistance would make it long enough to reach the planet Crait, home to an old rebel base. Leia only reveals this to Poe after he regains consciousness on the transports following his failed mutiny (which she herself stopped by stunning him), but by then, it’s too late for him to make amends with Holdo. In order for their escape to work, someone had to remain behind on the cruiser, and it’s Holdo who volunteers to do so.

When the transport ships come under fire from the First Order, she manages to stop the attack, jumping to hyperspeed straight through the First Order's fleet, obliterating almost all of their ships. It’s a striking scene played out in the silence of space, as the Resistance cruiser slices through their star destroyers in one hell of a send-off for the relatively minor character.

The Lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars The Force Awakens

The Blue Lightsaber Is Destroyed

After rejecting Kylo's offer to turn evil and rule the galaxy at his side, Rey reaches for the blue lightsaber with The Force, pulling it towards her. But Kylo isn't letting go of this Skywalker family heirloom that easily, reaching for it himself and suspending the lightsaber in the air between them.

Related: Every Type Of Lightsaber, Ranked Weakest To Strongest

Both strain to pull the lightsaber to them with The Force, but the weapon cannot endure the pressure and, ultimately, the hilt snaps in two, destroyed by their attempts to outwill one another for ownership. Perhaps this is not the most shocking" death" in The Last Jedi, but seeing this iconic lightsaber - the very first to ever be ignited on screen - break apart and explode is a wild sight to behold. It's Rey who recovers it, and when she's talking with Leia later on in the film, she's holding the broken saber in such a way that we can see the kyber crystal still inside. Though nothing is ever outright said, we can infer that Rey intends to use that crystal to forge a new lightsaber, completing her training and creating a weapon that is her’s and her's alone.

Luke & Kylo's Duel

After being prodded first by Rey, then Artoo, then by Yoda’s Force ghost, Luke finally relents and comes to Crait to help the Resistance. His arrival is a momentous occasion, with him stepping through the partially destroyed hanger door and walking calmly out onto the battlefield. When Kylo - who with Snoke dead, is now the Supreme Leader of the First Order - sees his uncle and former master, he goes bezerk, ordering the advancing AT-M6 Walkers to fire everything they have at him. They do, unleashing an incredible torrent of firepower at Luke, but once they stop and the dust clears, he’s still standing there, completely unharmed.

This only enrages Kylo more, so he exits his ship and confronts Luke himself. The duel that ensues is unlike anything Star Wars has depicted before, not as measured as Vader’s final fight with Obi-Wan but also far less flashy or frenetic as Anakin and Obi-Wan’s duel on Mustafar. Luke warns Kylo that if he were to strike him down in anger, he’d remain with him always, just like his father. Luke retracts his lightsaber blade and stands there defiantly. Then and only then does Kylo land a strike, slashing through Luke in one quick motion.

Except, Luke isn’t really there. He isn’t actually on Crait at all, not physically anyhow. The Luke that Kylo has been dueling is a Force projection there to stall for time to allow the Resistance to escape. Kylo's attack has no effect; he even repeatedly stabs Luke through the chest and nothing happens. In hindsight, it’s all so obvious - this Luke appears younger, refreshed, all cleaned up in a new wardrobe and using the blue lightsaber we see destroyed earlier in the film. He doesn't leave any footprints and there's never any contact between the two, not until Rey and Resistance are safe and can finally stop the charade.

Luke Skywalker The Last Jedi

Luke Skywalker Dies

The reveal that the Luke who duels Kylo on Crait isn’t really him but a Force projection is a clever trick, duping audiences into thinking that Kylo managed to strike down his old master. But that reveal in itself is a trick, because after Luke’s projection fades away, The Last Jedi returns to Ahch-To where Luke has been intensely meditating in order to project himself so far across the galaxy. With his task accomplished and the Resistance able to flee and fight another day, Luke stops the projection and immediately collapses. He then slowly seats himself back on the rocky cliff overlooking the sea and stares off at the sunset - a twin sunset - and fades away, his robe blowing away in the breeze.

Related: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Makes Darth Revan Canon?

Yes, even though Luke appeared to survive his battle with Kylo Ren, the sheer energy and endurance necessary to pull off such an incredible feat proves to be too much. This was likely his plan all along, sacrificing himself so that both the Resistance and Rey could carry on his place - that he would, in fact, not be the last Jedi. As Rey later remarks to Leia, his death wasn't sad, but peaceful and with purpose. This sure doesn't make the death of arguably the galaxy's most beloved Jedi any easier to accept, but to see Luke go out on his own terms and in such a meaningful way is some consolation. Plus, there's always the chance Luke comes backs as a Force ghost were Rey to ever need his guidance. And seeing what she'll be up against in Episode IX, that seems all too plausible.

Hope Restored

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Through Rey it’s implied that the Jedi Order will continue - not end as Luke had initially insisted. The Resistance, too, will carry on, with Leia assuring Rey they have all they need to continue their rebellion. In keeping with this hopeful spirit of The Last Jedi’s ending, the very final moments of the film make sure to lay the groundwork for this very future.

The final scene returns to Canto Bight and the young children Finn and Rose came across while escaping. One of the young boys is regaling his friends with the story - now a legend, really - of Luke Skywalker facing down the First Order on Crait, illustrating the great battle with homemade toy figurines. They're scolded and told to get back to work, and the other young boy runs outside, reaches for a broom and pulls it towards his hand. He then gazes longingly at the stars as one streaks past, bright blue in color, and he touches the ring on his finger - Rose's ring, the one with the Resistance's insignia - and slowly raises the broom handle as if it were a lightsaber. The message is clear - hope has been restored to the galaxy, and with it, the rebellion will only grow.

Chewbacca Cooks A Porg...

Porg Star Wars The Last Jedi Height

...But he doesn't eat it. Which is just wasteful, really.

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