TOPIC: *SPOILERS* Star Wars The Force Awakens discussion

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Ro-gan wrote:
I wonder how much stock I have to own in Disney to make them listen to my opinion about SW-Zahn's novels and take me seriously.

Right around 50%+1 .

I have 33 or so shares....

Ok so that's not even a rounding error kind of number.

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Ro-gan wrote:
I wonder how much stock I have to own in Disney to make them listen to my opinion about SW-Zahn's novels and take me seriously.

Right around 50%+1 .

Not a problem,with a market cap of 178 Billion you only 89 Billion (although that was friday before this weekend so you had better buy soon before the price goes up

RIP Han. He was the best part of the movie. His death was extremely predictable.

I liked the movie a lot, it felt very much Star Wars. But I didn't buy the fact that the villain who was so well trained in the Force he could stop and freeze a blaster bolt could be beaten in a lightsaber battle by a former stormtrooper and a scavenger who, although she was force-sensitive, had no formal weapon training.

bpsymington wrote: RIP Han. He was the best part of the movie. His death was extremely predictable.

I liked the movie a lot, it felt very much Star Wars. But I didn't buy the fact that the villain who was so well trained in the Force he could stop and freeze a blaster bolt could be beaten in a lightsaber battle by a former stormtrooper and a scavenger who, although she was force-sensitive, had no formal weapon training.

I found that a bit hard to swallow as well, but he was injured and he was also likely holding back against Rey because he was trying to recruit her instead of kill her, so that could explain it.

Mike Steele wrote:

bpsymington wrote: RIP Han. He was the best part of the movie. His death was extremely predictable.

I liked the movie a lot, it felt very much Star Wars. But I didn't buy the fact that the villain who was so well trained in the Force he could stop and freeze a blaster bolt could be beaten in a lightsaber battle by a former stormtrooper and a scavenger who, although she was force-sensitive, had no formal weapon training.

I found that a bit hard to swallow as well, but he was injured and he was also likely holding back against Rey because he was trying to recruit her instead of kill her, so that could explain it.

Sort of like a half trained Jedi defeating a sith Lord in front of his master? The force works in mysterious ways

I don't think Kylo Ren was that well trained. His lightsaber is flawed, he didn't use his anger in battle (only on innocent walls). He probably learned the laser bolt grab from Luke. Most of that training was either retrained or brainwashed away by whomever his Sith lord is.
He "prayed" to Vader, when every other Jedi/Sith looked inward or to the Force for guidance.
Those are just the instances I can remember 4 days later.

darkangel866 wrote: His lightsaber is flawed

Please elaborate.

Druegar wrote:

darkangel866 wrote: His lightsaber is flawed

Please elaborate.

This picture of this lightsaber probably explains it better than I could.

Look at the clean lines on Luke/Annakin,Finn/Rae's lightsaber. Kylo Ren's "spits" light.

darkangel866 wrote: Look at the clean lines on Luke/Annakin,Finn/Rae's lightsaber. Kylo Ren's "spits" light.

Is that a flaw or just a different design choice?
I'm not suggesting I know whether that's a flaw or not, just exploring possibilities. Has that difference been stated to be a flaw somewhere that I'm not aware of? (A highly likely scenario.)

Don't forget that shot Ren took came from Chewie's Bowcaster. They played up the entire movie how powerful it was.

I agree his training was not finished. He had not yet confronted his father. His lightsaber was the equivalent of a kid coloring outside the lines. He probably was not intune with the force enough yet to get his crystal lined up correctly.

So my take.
Kylo Ren was not trained very well, that was obvious as there was mention of "completing his training".
It was also mentioned that Luke was initially training him and he betrayed Luke and went to the dark side.
Also remember that Luke Himself had very shoddy training as ne never really completed it but lets assume at some point in the 30 years he perfected a few things and did some training of others.
Clearly Kylo Ren can do the force freeze power as we've seem him do it very well several times but other force powers leave a lot to be desired. He is obviously very strong as he took a shot from the bowcaster and survived where near hits were killing troopers in armor. Easy to say the guy is tough.
He is very conflicted dealing with his light side and he tries to resolve that but I suspect its not all gone yet. He does try and draw upon some pain, by aggravating his wound punching it several times.
His saber fighting skills do suck though. That said he could have killed Rey a few times and chose not to because he was trying to turn her. He underestimated her power which lead to his defeat. This is very "sith" they often underestimate their opponents.

Kylo Ren's name before turning evil is Ben, as a tribute to Ben Kenobi.

Rey is Luke's kid. All the pieces add up to this. Sorry Zhon novel fans. I know the books were good but they aren't cannon any more they are now classified as "legacy" expect a few things from them but they will for now on be 'wrong'. Clearly Han Solo knew who she was as he told Maz Kanata, who slightly cryptically tried to tell her the truth.

The lightsaber is neat and I'm not completely sold on a theory yet but I have a couple.
So the ragged uncontrolled Sith blade could just be a neat distinguishing factor between sith and Jedi. The blade matching the user as Jedi are refined and controlled and sith are wild and emotional.
OR
Kylo's saber could be of very poor design.
Its been suggested the "cross-guard" is actually just an exhaust port to keep the crappy saber from overheating. How he came about this saber I'm sure we will learn but I highly doubt Luke taught him to make it like this, so either someone else did or he made it himself. Remember we know Luke knows how to make a saber.