It goes without saying that this article will get into MASSIVE spoilers for Star Wars: Episode VII. You do NOT want to continue reading if you do NOT want to know a good deal about possible revelations in the upcoming sequel.
There are millions of Star Wars fans who are looking forward to going into Episode VII next December with as clean a slate as possible. This article is not for you. This article is aimed at rabid Star Wars fans who enjoy poring over every clue, hearing every rumor, and placing the smaller pieces of the larger puzzle together as part of the Star Wars: Episode VII experience. If you are THAT fan, scan below this fantastic photo, and spoil away.
The Web site Making Star Wars is running with what they call an "I am your father"-sized rumor from the plot of Star Wars: Episode VII. In doing so, the site essentially spoils what could be the final moments of J.J. Abrams’ movie. Again, stop reading now if you still want to protect the integrity of the movie.
The rumor relates back to a photograph that circulated earlier of a character we believed to be the villain in the movie – and at the time, it was believed that Episode VII would lean on the characters of The Sith Inquisitors. That might not be the case. MSW refers to several "pieces" of something (footage? concept art?) floating around that tell a full picture of the significant character, saying, "All of the pieces out there show a human male, with a mask obscuring part of his face, with one red eye and a familiar cloak we haven’t seen since Return of the Jedi."
A cloak that belongs to Luke Skywalker.
The site talks about the fact that the hooded figure holds the charred mask of Darth Vader, and has a mechanic hand that calls to mind both Anakin Skywalker and Luke. The site goes into great detail about a series of pics that appear to come from a scene in the middle of the movie (set on a planet that isn’t Hoth), which involve a character named "Kira" confronting the "monster." (Their term, not ours.) They make it clear that "Kira" has been searching the entire movie for Luke Skywalker, needing his help to "vanquish" evil. Instead, as it turns out, the "evil" that everyone’s terrified of is Luke Skywalker, himself.
Making Star Wars tries to cover its bases. It talks about how we’ve seen a bearded Mark Hamill during production work on Star Wars: Episode VII, and that wouldn’t make sense if his face is going to be obscured by a digital mask and a long cloak. They suggest that if the cloaked and evil figure isn’t Luke Skywalker, then it might be Adam Driver… even though we just saw photos of him wearing the flight suit of an X-Wing pilot.
And that, in theory, points to the unusual notion that this all could be misdirection, sent out by J.J. Abrams and his team to preserve the Mystery Box atmosphere on the director’s films. Could that be the case? It would seem like a lot of trouble to go to just to protect a film’s secrets. Then again, there hasn’t been a film like Star Wars: Episode VII on fans’ radars in a long, long time. If you braved the spoilers and read the rumor, what are your thoughts? Possible? Bogus? Weigh in with your own thoughts below.
And we discuss this news further with 5 Huge Star Wars Questions here.