- "He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible… He just walked away from everything."
- ―Han Solo
The destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple occurred during the reign of the New Republic. Before the temple fell, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker sensed the dark side building within his nephew Ben Solo and feared for the boy's future. One night, Skywalker looked into a sleeping Solo's mind and saw that the dark side had already corrupted him. Skywalker instinctively ignited his lightsaber before quickly realizing his error, but it was too late: Solo awakened and, believing his uncle was about to murder him, collapsed his room, and trapped Skywalker under debris. Solo raged outside the temple with his lightsaber pointed at it, and his eyes clouded with red before red storm clouds appeared in the clear sky. The storm erupted with lightning and razed the temple, killing all of the students who were there.
Solo fled the destruction and joined the First Order under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke, who had been seducing the boy from afar, and became Kylo Ren. Skywalker, distraught over his failure, abandoned his hope of rebuilding the Jedi Order and went into exile on Ahch-To, the birthplace of the Jedi Order. It was not until 34 ABY that he was rediscovered by Rey, a powerful Force prodigy who tried to convince Skywalker to help the Resistance in the war against the First Order. Skywalker was reluctant but chose to briefly rejoin the conflict and confront his nephew, sacrificing himself in the process.
Prelude
- "The Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned."
- ―Yoda, to Luke Skywalker
After the end of the Galactic Civil War, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was the last Jedi left in the galaxy.[8] With help from the likes of Lieutenant Shara Bey of the Rebel Alliance[9] and the explorer Lor San Tekka, Skywalker sought out ancient relics and texts of the Jedi Order to better understand their history and teachings.[8] Following the end of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the Sith Lords, Skywalker had come to have great hope for the future of the Jedi, coming to believe that if a single Jedi could help bring back balance to the Force, then a restored Jedi Order perhaps could maintain that achieved peace and prevent the dark side of the Force from ever regaining its hold on the galaxy.[10]
After the Galactic Civil War, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker began training a new generation of Jedi.
As the war was coming to a close, Senator Leia Organa of the New Republic and General Han Solo welcomed a son, whom they named Ben Solo. Even before he was born, Organa sensed the capacity for both light and darkness within her son.[11] After many years she sensed the influence of Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the shadowy First Order that had arisen from the ashes of the Galactic Empire. Hoping to curb Snoke's dark side influence, Organa wanted Skywalker, her brother, to train Solo as a Jedi.[6]
Skywalker took his nephew and a handful of other disciples, gathered over his many years of traveling the galaxy, and established a Jedi temple, from where he hoped to rebuild the Jedi Order.[4] This fulfilled a promise to Skywalker's own Jedi Master, Yoda, who on his deathbed told Skywalker to pass on what he had learned.[12] And so he did, training Solo and the others in the ways of the Jedi. Throughout Solo's training, Skywalker also sensed the growing darkness within his nephew, but he believed that he could contain it and keep Solo on the path of the light.[4]
The temple falls
A terrible misunderstanding
- "I saw darkness. I'd sensed it building in him. I'd seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction, and pain, and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he would become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow. And I was left with shame... and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him."
- ―Luke Skywalker, to Rey
Ben Solo believed that his master, Luke Skywalker, had betrayed him.
Solo's darkness continued growing, and Skywalker came to fear what it might mean. He went to his nephew's room to confront him and, while Solo slept, used the Force to look into Solo's mind. What Skywalker saw terrified him: Snoke's dark machinations had succeeded, his nephew's heart had turned, and Solo would wield a crackling red lightsaber as he brought death and destruction to everything Skywalker loved. In the briefest moment of pure instinct, Skywalker ignited his lightsaber to kill Solo and prevent what he had seen, but he was quickly overcome by shame for thinking of killing his nephew. But it was already too late: Solo awakened, saw his uncle standing over him with an ignited blade, knew what Skywalker had seen in his mind, and thought Skywalker was about to murder him. Solo ignited his own lightsaber to kill Skywalker first, and as they locked blades, Solo used the Force to bring the roof of his room collapsing down upon them.[4][13][14]
Enemy in the ranks
With Skywalker trapped under the rubble and believed dead, Solo left the ruins of his room and raged in anger and confusion over why his uncle had attacked him. The temple had a clear night sky above it. Solo pointed his ignited lightsaber at the temple as he screamed for answers, his pupils constricted as his eyes clouded with red, and matching red storm clouds appeared above the temple. When he saw them, the clouds erupted with lightning that exploded the temple and set it ablaze. Solo was knocked off his feet and rose to see the scattered bodies of dead students. When he attempted to run into the burning temple, he was again knocked down by an explosion. He watched the burning temple and said he hadn't wanted this. A familiar disembodied voice that often communicated with Solo told him that he had not chosen this; Skywalker had.[5]
Discovering the destruction
Tai, Voe, and Hennix confronted Ben Solo in the aftermath of the temple's destruction
Jedi students Hennix, Tai, and Voe initially survived the temple's destruction because they were away for an off-world mission. They returned to discover the temple had collapsed in flames, all their fellow students besides Solo were dead, and they couldn't sense any other presence except for Solo, who was watching the temple burn. Solo told them that Master Skywalker had tried to murder him in his sleep and now was dead. When Voe expressed skepticism, Solo replied that he was stronger in the Force than the other three Jedi combined and stronger than Skywalker. Tai was unable to defuse the situation, and Hennix and Voe drew their lightsabers to stop Solo from leaving. The three Jedi failed to take down Solo and he used the Force to shower them with debris which wounded Hennix. While Tai and Voe attended to Hennix, Solo fled aboard his personal ship Grimtaash. The other Jedi pursued Solo in their starship Verity but Solo fired a precise shot that disabled their ship's main engines. The three decided to pursue Solo for answers to the destruction. Hennix was bewildered, Tai didn't believe Solo could have betrayed or killed anyone, and Voe wanted to bring Solo to justice for the murders of Master Skywalker and the other Jedi.[5]
Luke Skywalker's despair
After regaining consciousness, Skywalker and R2-D2 stared at the destroyed temple in shock and shame.
By the time Skywalker regained consciousness, it was too late; the temple was in ruins, the corpses of his students littered the grounds, and others were missing. Skywalker, overcome with despair and shame with only his faithful astromech droid R2-D2 by his side, watched as his Jedi temple and the future of the Jedi Order collapsed into flames.[4] Skywalker and Solo had betrayed each other that night.[15] Skywalker had instinctively reacted to his nephew's darkness with a momentary thought of killing him, and Solo had responded to Skywalker's confrontation by setting the temple ablaze, destroying it and most of the other Jedi students with it.[4][15][16]
Aftermath
Ben Solo's journey to the dark side
After leaving the temple destruction behind, Solo traveled to a space station to meet Snoke, who embraced him. Snoke doubted Skywalker was dead and asked Solo what he planned to do next now that he was no longer under Skywalker's influence. Solo decided to seek out the Knights of Ren, a shadowy group of dark siders led by the enigmatic "Ren" who subscribed to an ideology based on his lightsaber, the Ren.[5] Tai, Voe, and Hennix tracked Solo to Elphrona where he had first met and been invited to learn from the Knights as a child. In their duel, Solo attempted to kill Voe and inadvertently killed Hennix. Solo left Tai and Voe behind to meet the Knights of Ren.[2]
Ben Solo embraced the persona of Kylo Ren after his fall to the dark side.
Solo told the Knights of Ren how he wanted to join them, said he had destroyed Skywalker's temple, and described Hennix's death. They were unimpressed with the story, but Ren said Solo was strong in the "shadow" and Snoke had vouched for him. Solo still failed to impress on the Minemoon of Mimban, but when Ren killed Tai, Solo gave in to the dark side of the Force. His turn was sensed by Snoke, Leia, Rey, and Darth Sidious as he dueled and killed Ren, then used the Ren lightsaber to kill Voe. With her murder and Solo's turn, none of Skywalker's students survived Solo's destruction of his Jedi Order. The Knights then accepted Solo as the new Master of the Knights of Ren, the former Jedi bled his kyber crystal, and he took on the name Kylo Ren.[7]
Kylo Ren joined the First Order under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke.[17] His actions at the Jedi temple earned him the moniker of "Jedi Killer" amongst the First Order's ranks,[17] though it was many years until the wider galaxy learned about what happened to the Jedi temple.[8] Snoke believed that Skywalker also had to be destroyed, lest the spark of the Jedi remain alive in the galaxy.[6]
Fall and return of the Jedi
- "The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi."
- ―Luke Skywalker, to Kylo Ren
For his part, a shameful Skywalker blamed himself instead of Snoke for Solo's fall to the dark side.[4] He felt that he had failed to restore the Jedi Order, to protect his own students, and to save his own blood and flesh from his family's dark legacy.[10] He believed the missing students had left with Solo and joined him in turning to the dark side,[10] unaware that all except Solo were dead.[7] Skywalker went into exile on Ahch-To, the birthplace of the Jedi Order and the home of the first Jedi Temple, where he intended to one day die, feeling that it was his fault. It was his intention to bring an end to the Jedi religion, which he believed had only a legacy of hubris and destruction in the galaxy—in his mind, it was the Jedi that allowed Darth Sidious to create the Galactic Empire and seduce his father, Anakin Skywalker, to the dark side.[4] There were many rumors and stories about where Skywalker had fled to, but those closest to him believed that he went looking for the first Jedi temple.[6]
Skywalker projected his appearance into the Battle of Crait, sacrificing his own life to confront Kylo Ren.
The First Order and the Resistance, led by General Organa, both searched for Skywalker and sought out San Tekka, who had part of a map to Ahch-To. The map was pieced together by the Resistance and given to Rey, a powerful Force prodigy, who used it to find Skywalker on Ahch-To.[6] She tried for some time to convince Skywalker that the return of the Jedi was critical if the Resistance was to prevail in it's war against the First Order, but he was too guilt-stricken. It was not until the spectral intervention of Yoda that Skywalker was shaken from his guilt and put his faith in Rey as the future of the Jedi. During the Battle of Crait, he projected his appearance into the conflict to confront Kylo, allowing the Resistance to escape from certain destruction. The effort he expended proved fatal and Skywalker passed away into the Force on Ahch-To, but, through his actions, the legend of Skywalker and the hope of the Jedi and the Resistance spread across the galaxy.[4]
Behind the scenes
- "Ultimately, the one who lies is Luke, in the very first flashback, where he omits the fact that he had a lightsaber in his hand. Kylo is basically telling the truth about his perception of that moment."
- ―Rian Johnson
The destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple was referenced in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Although the event took place in the film's backstory, its aftermath was briefly seen in Rey's vision.[6] The event's development was featured in the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, during Luke Skywalker's and Kylo Ren's flashback sequences.[4] The destruction itself was first depicted in The Rise of Kylo Ren 1.[5]
Though included in the finished version of the film, The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson made a late decision to include the three flashbacks which showed the destruction of Skywalker's Jedi Temple, as they were not present in the film's script before shooting began. Taking inspiration from the 1950 film Rashōmon, Johnson decided to divide the sequence in three parts from different points of view, instead of just doing a long flashback as he wanted something harder to influence Rey's journey in the story.[18]
Continuity
- "Did he tell you what happened? The night I destroyed his temple, did he tell you why?"
- ―Kylo Ren
Kylo Ren has been consistently and unambiguously named as the character responsible for destroying Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple and killing his fellow students, both in universe[2][4][6][10][19] and out-of-universe.[8][17][20][21][22][16][15][23] The sources released prior to the destruction's first appearance in The Rise of Kylo Ren 1 presented Ren as intentionally killing the Jedi and burning the temple. The Rise of Kylo Ren 1 visually depicted the destruction of the temple and deaths of the students without narration of the events, creating ambiguity that allowed for interpretation. This led to reader confusion and disagreements that the story had retconned earlier sources, either by making Solo no longer responsible for the destruction or causing it unintentionally instead of deliberately. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary was published two days later, and stated Solo had set the temple ablaze and destroyed it.[15] Solo told the Knights of Ren in The Rise of Kylo Ren 3 that he destroyed the temple,[2] which he also told Rey in The Last Jedi.
Prior to Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, there were no mentions that any of Skywalker's students survived, and Princess Leia: Royal Rebel stated Leia's son killed all of them before taking the name Kylo Ren.[19] Skywalker said in The Last Jedi that a handful of students left with Ren after he slaughtered the rest, and this was reflected in subsequently released sources. Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren instead showed a handful of students weren't present for the destruction, pursued Solo in the aftermath, and all died by the end; none turned to the dark side with him.
Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded stated that the Knights of Ren were involved in the temple's destruction,[24] and Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary said Ren "led its destruction,"[8] implying that at least one other individual worked with him to destroy it. However, The Rise of Kylo Ren 1 didn't explicitly feature the Knights of Ren during the destruction or show that any other individual was involved before Solo fled from Tai, Hennix, and Voe.[5]
Appearances
Non-canon appearances
- LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Mentioned only)
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ Bloodline
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Rise of Kylo Ren 3
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary states that Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple was destroyed six years before the Starkiller Incident, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates to 34 ABY. Therefore, the destruction must have taken place in 28 ABY.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 The Rise of Kylo Ren 1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Rise of Kylo Ren 4
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ Shattered Empire 4
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi
- ↑ Aftermath: Empire's End
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
- ↑ Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition
- ↑ Star Wars: The Last Jedi: A Junior Novel
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Princess Leia: Royal Rebel
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
- ↑ Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia
- ↑ Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
- ↑ The Databank on StarWars.com
- ↑ Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded