Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a major Star Wars fan. Here’s a brief background before we get to my main point of this post.
I first saw Episode 1: The Phantom Menace when I was a little kid. I loved Jar Jar and always thought this was a single, standalone movie. Years later, a friend got me into Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith and eventually, I just obsessed over the prequels. It wasn’t until my middle school/high school years that I discovered this had been a series popular since the 70’s and there was more! Episode 3 wasn’t the end, so I was like DUDE I HAVE TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
Then, I watched Episodes 4, 5, and 6. I cried on Return of the Jedi (the digitally remastered version, that is) seeing Anakin Skywalker as his old, Jedi, good self again.
For me, as a Christian nerd, Star Wars has always had a very Biblical theme and lesson to it. Anakin represents any of us. Sin is often tempting, just like the Dark Side of the Force. And Satan manipulates us just like Palpatine manipulated Anakin for years. He made it seem good—all this power could save your wife, when in reality, it was the Dark Side that destroyed Anakin.
Sin and Satan does the same to us. He says, “look here. This sin will do all this good for you” when, in reality, it’s destroying you.
But there’s hope.
God is like the Force, except God is real. He’s all around us, in everything and exists everywhere. He holds us together and it’s Him that saves us from our sin, if we turn to Him.
Vader could have turned away from Luke. In fact, for a while there, he did. He turned away and drew more to the Dark Side. But it took Vader’s choice to turn away from the Dark Side and turn to the Light Side in order to redeem him.
We have to make the same choice Vader did and sometimes, we have to make that choice again and again. Turn from sin and turn to God instead.
I’m not a fan of the sequel trilogy—episodes 7, 8 and soon to be, 9. Episode 7 was a good movie, average at best, but felt like a pale remake of Episode 4 which I loved. Episode 8 was terrible and it ruined this franchise I loved and adored. You will never convince me that Luke Skywalker, the man who still held onto hope for the most evil guy in the galaxy, aka Vader, turned on his own nephew for a lesser reason. Episode 8 is also an example of lazy storytelling (instead of coming up with ideas for Snoke, Rey, and how Luke wouldn’t outshine the new MC Rey, well, let’s just do away with all of it and be lazy).
Now Episode 9 is here and Palpatine is back.
He died in Episode 6. George Lucas said so. That movie, as I mentioned before, made me cry when I saw it. The ending was perfect, the saga was finished, and Anakin Skywalker’s redemption was made complete.
Or… not?
He sacrificed himself to defeat Palpatine and fulfil the prophecy and now, Palpatine never died? Anakin Skywalker HAS to come back in Episode 9 or it will be a terrible ending and to me, the true ending of the Skywalker Saga will always be Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. I know a lot of Star Wars fans feel the same way I do.
The leaks don’t mention Anakin and in my opinion, they are terrible. I won’t get into them here, but a lot of people believe these leaks to be true. I find it hard to believe that a multimillionaire dollar cooperation like Disney and Lucasfilm would let an entire movie of the biggest franchise for over 40 years get just leaked all over the internet, but what do I know?
What do you guys think? Are you fans? Do you want to see Episode 9 or are you giving up? Do you think the leaks are true? Do you think it’s gonna be good? Tell me all about in the comments below.
No matter what Episode 9 brings to the table, Star Wars will always be a tale of family, of redemption, reminding me that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, so I could turn to Him and seek forgiveness that we all desperately need each and every day.
