What Theory/Spoiler Did You Get Wrong? [SPOILERS]

[Mr Light]

I never heard that rumor before, but that would have been a really cool way to open the movie; the Republic captured the Empire's old super weapon and has been sitting on it for decades, and the First Order infiltrates and captures it in the opening scene of the movie.

 

[Gepard]

I never heard that rumor before, but that would have been a really cool way to open the movie; the Republic captured the Empire's old super weapon and has been sitting on it for decades, and the First Order infiltrates and captures it in the opening scene of the movie.

The rumor went further than that and said that part of the plot was General Leia having to decide weather to use it against the First Order or not.

If you assume that the Republic built and has the Starkiller for the entire movie, the whole second half of the film makes a lot more sense (and gets a lot better in my opinion).

Copying a list from a discussion on this exact point I was having on another board:

• Finn’s aborted character arc. Finn’s story sort of peters out as the movie goes on, eventually being forgotten about. Why create a character who is a former faceless enemy turned good and not capitalize on that? Assuming a different role for Starkiller, he’s the perfect character to make the impassioned plea to the good guys to remember that the planet full of First Order troops they’re bout to blow up are living, breathing human beings, slaves who were brainwashed by the First Order and don’t deserve to die just because of where they had the misfortune to be born. Any one of them could be another Finn and they deserve a chance, same as him. Finn saves the day, and gets to become a hero and find a new purpose in his life.


• Leia’s near-total uselessness. Leia basically does nothing in the finished movie. But if she were, say, the sole dissenting voice on the New Republic council (or whatever) advocating against the use of the Starkiller, she’s got a point and an arc. She would be the spearhead against the immoral use of a weapon of mass destruction, able to speak form experience because she lost her home planet to the Death Star. The arrival of Finn, Rey, and the key to finding Luke Skywalker finally gives her some traction in her fight against the superweapon. Speaking of…


• The search for Luke Skywalker would actually matter. “This will begin to set things right,” says Lars Von Tekka at the very start of the movie. Except….how? It’s never clear what problem the Resistance/New Republic has that finding Luke would solve. Sure they need to keep him safe from the First Order but they could do that by destroying the thumbdrive with the map in it. But if the Replublic has begun to fall to the Dark Side in Luke’s absence, it makes sense that Liea et al would need to find him. He’s the last Jedi, the last lightside Force user, and they need him if there’s any hope of stopping the Republic from making a huge mistake.


• It would explain why Starkiller Base was so easy to destroy. It takes very little effort to destroy Starkiller in the finished movie. There’s a couple of minutes where the characters go from knowing nothing about the base to having a plan to blow it up that then proceeds flawlessly. This would make perfect sense if Starkiller belonged to the Republic/Resistance. It’s their own base! Of course it’s easy to deactivate/blow up. They built it! They’re already on it! They probably just have to go push a button.


• The out-of-nowhere reveal of Starkiller would work as a shocking mid-movie twist. As opposed to the shoehorned-in threat it is in the film story. Imagine our heroes flee from Takodana in the Millennium Falcon to meet up with the Republic forces; they arrive at the Republic Base. Something seems....wrong. Han Solo can't put his finger on it, but this situation seems familiar....and then it rotates into view. The superlaser. The Republic has built a Death Star.


• It would strengthen the theme of reversal the movie has going on. A female version of Luke. A female version of Yoda. A stormtrooper disguised as a rebel instead of a rebel disguised as a stormtrooper. A Skywalker son who is dark and feels tempted by the light but sticks it out and stays loyal to his side. Another Death Star but in the hands of the heroes would be another addiction to the OT perspective flip that the movie has going on. (Plus reversals are the kind of thing JJ loves to do. See Star Trek Into Darkness)

And so on. There’s lots of other little things it improves, as well as some new flaws it introduces, but I feel like it makes a lot more sense than the movie we ended up with.

The more I think about it, in fact, the more I think the "rumor" may have been a leaked idea from an earlier draft, something got pulled out of the story at the last minute. The loose ends that the released version of the film has tie up too nicely with this idea for me to think it's a coincidence.

 

[DarKush]

^
Man, that actually sounds pretty cool. I like the ideas about the Republic having a Death Star, also Finn and Leia's arcs. It's something I wish Finn had said or been more sympathetic too the lives of his fellow Stormtroopers. Since we know the First Order Stormtroopers are taken from birth or early on and need to be conditioned/reconditioned it makes them victims too, not willing participants like I could assume the OT Stormtroopers were.

 

[bbjeg]

Though I knew Ford wanted to kill the character, I didn't see Hans death coming. I was actually thinking "how the hell is he going to get out of this one?"

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Just a followup from my original post. I thought Daisy Ridley might not make it due to the casting of Gugu Mbatha Raw.

ETA: Or, at least, rumored casting.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

--Snoke was Plageuis

Technically, it could still be a correct theory. Snoke is the one who tempted Ben Solo to the Dark Side to become Kylo Ren and after Vader chucked Palpatine down the Death Star, the Sith were (supposedly) extinct. Unless Snoke trained himself to use the Dark Side, I suspect he could, in fact, be Darth Plagueis. Hell, Snoke was even scarred, which could indicate a failed assassination attempt.

I think it would be cool if we find out Starkiller Base was under construction for decades in secret, and that Snoke was so pissed about Palpatine's betrayal that he was going to take over the Empire himself, but after Sidious' death, he left his plan on the back burner until he found a suitable apprentice.

 

[Mr Light]

Given how much Lucasfilm / JJ have distanced themselves from the Prequels, I really doubt they would make a Prequel character their primary villain. Also, Plageuis was a Muun (though since that wasn't explicitly stated in the film I guess they could just ignore that fact).

Given the Starkiller was an entire planet, I certainly hope it took them 30 years to build it!!! The Empire has been a fractured mess for 30 years, they don't have the economic or logistical resources they did in Palpatine's time.

 

[DimesDan]

I had an idea that Starkiller would still be active, the Republic/Resistance were in disaway because of its use and the apparent unknown power that the First Order now had at its disposal would be used to destroy the Republic/Resistance.

I personally think ending the first film of the trilogy like that would have been interesting.

 

[Mr Light]

It was hoping that the Starkiller wouldn't be completely exploded, just disabled beyond repair. Blowing up the entire planet was really overkill. Now that they've done it, I really, really hope the third movie isn't Starkiller II

 

[DarKush]

Given how much Lucasfilm / JJ have distanced themselves from the Prequels, I really doubt they would make a Prequel character their primary villain. Also, Plageuis was a Muun (though since that wasn't explicitly stated in the film I guess they could just ignore that fact).

Given the Starkiller was an entire planet, I certainly hope it took them 30 years to build it!!! The Empire has been a fractured mess for 30 years, they don't have the economic or logistical resources they did in Palpatine's time.

I'm holding out hope that it is Plagueis. He's a threat I see if not greater than Palpatine, close to Palpatine's level. And it would also help connect the entire saga and not just the OT and the new films. Hopefully this prequel anxiety will be over now that TFA is breaking box office records like crazy and they can use some stuff from the prequels. Sure Plagueis is a prequel character, but in name only. Heck he was presumably dead by the time of The Phantom Menace.

I don't know if Plagueis is a Muun anymore. He was in the EU, but I don't know if that's been made official in the new canon.

 

[Tom]

[fanboy]The fact that Snoke has a major head injury does make me hope it's Plagueis. And, also that he can defeat death presumably. The only thing you would have to wonder about is what has he be doing the 30 years between episodes 1 and 6 while Palpatine was around. Would be cool though is Snoke tells Ren 'I created Vader, your grandfather!' (the pregnancy of Shmee).[/fanboy]

 

[Jono]

There was an assumption that Han or Chewie would die and have Rey crying over their body as we see her doing so in the trailer. It was assumed it was Chewie as their seemed to be fur and a bandolier. Turns out it wasn't either of those characters she was crying over, nor was that character dead. (that character being Finn after getting cut badly by Ren)

Thought the exact same thing when I saw the trailer. Then I changed to thinking it was actually Han due to the press Ford was doing.

Also another person who fell for Finn being a Force user.

 

[DarKush]

[fanboy]The fact that Snoke has a major head injury does make me hope it's Plagueis. And, also that he can defeat death presumably. The only thing you would have to wonder about is what has he be doing the 30 years between episodes 1 and 6 while Palpatine was around. Would be cool though is Snoke tells Ren 'I created Vader, your grandfather!' (the pregnancy of Shmee).[/fanboy]

Maybe Plagueis was recuperating? Or he did a Yoda and went into exile and came back to take advantage after Palpatine's death?

 

[shapeshifter]

I was incorrect about Leia being more trained in the ways of the Force, more than just sensing things. I may still be right about that but it wasn't on display in this film.

 

[Mr Light]

I would absolutely love it if Snoke was Plageuis, I just don't think Lucasfilm will do it because they're trying to ignore the unpopular Prequels.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ Well, they didn't completely ignore it. They referenced clone armies and had Ewan McGregor do a voice over. This would be sort of the inverse of the clone reference. That took a significant prequel concept and used a simple line. This would take a simple line from the prequels (I bet there are many people who saw the prequels who don't even remember who Plagueis is) and expanding on it. I seriously suspect the backlash will be less than you think.

It was hoping that the Starkiller wouldn't be completely exploded, just disabled beyond repair. Blowing up the entire planet was really overkill. Now that they've done it, I really, really hope the third movie isn't Starkiller II

In the third movie, it'll be a Star Dyson Sphere.

 

[Ithekro]

I would absolutely love it if Snoke was Plageuis, I just don't think Lucasfilm will do it because they're trying to ignore the unpopular Prequels.

They are not. They've been using references to it all over.

However using an actual Sith Lord that has supposedly been dead since the Battle of Naboo, when the Balance was suppose to be just one force user....Luke. surviving. Though we have no idea were Snoke comes from. He is assumed to be some Imperial Admiral that was probably one of the Emperor's Hands or an Inquisitor. Palpatine had a tight grip on the Dark Side users in his Empire. There were two Sith Lords, and underlings that were controlled by those Sith Lords via fear and power. An Inquisitor was nothing next to a Sith Lord, or even a Jedi Knight.

So the whole Snoke question will be something to address as the series continues. But being a Sith Lord is unlikely. Much less one that was named in passing and claimed to have been murdered by Palpatine himself.

 

[Set Harth]

I'm hoping Snoke is really as big as his hologram.

With a giant-sized lightsaber to boot.

"Snoke crush puny Jedi!"

 

[Stevil2001]

I'm hoping he's one foot high.