Sunday 10 January 2016

Star Wars: It's all about family

WARNING: To those of you who have not yet seen it this post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, among other movies of the franchise. If you keep reading I accept no responsibility for spoiling any aspect of the movie for you.

Here we go...

As any fan of the Star Wars saga knows, the movies underlying tone is one of family. In the first trilogy (the originals) we learned about Luke Skywalker and, in A New Hope, received tantalising tidbits about his father. Luke is living with his adoptive Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine and is being watched over by Jedi Master (in exile) Obi Wan Kenobi. From very early on in episode 4 we are introduced to two major characters and (potentially) family lines that will span all the films.

Then we meet Han Solo who, as we know goes on to marry Leia, also a Skywalker. Here's another two major family lines that now interconnect via marriage. Then, in episode 5, we have the big reveal that Darth Vader is Luke and, therefore, Leia's, father. Another Skywalker and we later learn that his name is Anakin.

I know, I know, none of this is news to you but bear with me because I think the family connection is far more ingrained than we might think.

I'm going to talk about the prequel trilogy (sorry) but only briefly. They are important because we learn of Anakin's origins. Anakin's mother is Shmi Skywalker-Lars, of the same Lar's family that look after Luke on Tatooine. Lars is the surname of the man she married so she is a Skywalker by birth. Shmi states that Anakin has no father, that she simply became pregnant. THEORY: I believe that Anakin did actually have a father (no immaculate conception here, thanks) but that he was a powerful force user and erased Shmi's memories of him. The question here is, why? The answer is obvious; Jedi are forbidden from forming romantic attachments. So I believe Anakin's father was a Jedi who possibly turned to the dark side much like his son would.

Skip ahead, now, to The Force Awakens. There are more family connections here. Kylo Ren is actually Ben Solo, the son of Han and Leia, so therefore has Skywalker blood in him. We also have Rey, who's origins remain a hotly discussed mystery. There's a great article by Ben Ostrower on Huffington Post about this which I really like (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-ostrower/rey-is-obi-wan-kenobis-granddaughter_b_8911656.html).

So, if the article is right then we have the Solo and Skywalker family and the Kenobi family represented in these characters, but there's one character of the films who remains a mystery. Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

So here's the point to this entire post, I think Supreme Leader Snoke is...... Anakin's father.

Andy Serkis, the actor who plays Snoke in the film has stated that "He’s a new character in this universe: very much a newly-introduced character". Many people are proposing that the Supreme Leader is actually Darth Vader's force ghost, citing that the scars on his head are very similar to those on Vader's head when Luke removes his helmet at the end of Return of the Jedi, but that's exactly what makes me think Snoke is the father of Anakin Skywalker. For a start, Vader is not a newly introduced character and secondly...

...family traits. In episode 2 Anakin Skywalker, who is treading a dangerous path between the Light and the Dark side, gets a hand cut off. In episode 5, Luke Skywalker, who is treading a dangerous path between the Light and Dark side, gets a hand cut off. Here we see Luke beginning to walk the same path as his Father, quite literally becoming another Vader.

The Skywalker's battle is with their own emotions which, in turn, dictates which side of the force they fall into. Luke eventually wins over his emotions and becomes a Jedi. We all know that Anakin went the other way. I believe Anakin's father did also. The scars on Snoke's head are eerily similar to Vader's own scars because they followed the same path and so suffered the same (or at least very similar) fates.

Part of the beauty of this theory is that it means each subsequent trilogy casts a focus on a different generation of the family. The original trilogy focused on the son (Luke), the Prequels on the father (Anakin), and this trilogy on the grandfather (Snoke, for want of his actual name).

What do you think? Feel free to leave your thoughts on this theory, or one of your own, in the comments below.