Star Wars: The Last Jedi may resolve a lot of The Force Awakens' dangling threads, but there is one peculiar plot hole J.J. Abrams created which Rian Johnson refuses to answer: the mystery of Luke's lightsaber.
Episode VIII is an almost perfect sequel to both the classic era films and The Force Awakens, continuing the story and developing the characters in a wholly faithful way. And it answers many of the big questions. We finally get some resolution to the mystery of Rey's parents, why Kylo Ren turned to the dark side, why Luke went to the First Jedi Temple and even how the upstart First Order funds itself, all while the story continues apace towards a new and exciting dawn.
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However, there's one dangling question from The Force Awakens - one so major that it's basically a plot hole - that isn't even addressed: the Skywalker saber. The laser sword that reappeared magically in Episode VII plays a pivotal role in its sequel, both symbolically and narratively, yet not once is how it can even still exist after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, a film that came out almost four decades ago, explained.
Why The Skywalker Lightsaber Is A Plot Hole
The Skywalker Lightsaber Shouldn't Exist
The Skywalker saber - originally Anakin's used in the Clone Wars, later taken by Obi-Wan Kenobi and given to Luke - was seemingly lost on Bespin when Darth Vader chopped off Luke's hand, sending it and his weapon into the bowels of Cloud City - and, based on what happened to Luke when he lept a few moments later, presumably towards the gas giant's surface.
Yet in The Force Awakens, it appeared seemingly out of nowhere in Maz's castle, giving Rey a Force vision that nodded to the Vader-Luke showdown but never showed what happened after. The only response given by Maz is that the origin was "a good question, for another time". While it's true her home was under attack from the First Order and so things were a little rushed, it felt like an incredible cop-out. That's especially true as the saber became more important later on, being the object of Kylo Ren's desire in the final conflict with Finn and Rey, as well as what the latter presents to Luke Skywalker in the film's final shot.
The accepted solution is that the saber got caught somewhere in Cloud City and was picked up by some lower level worker, with it passing through hands across the galaxy until eventually winding up at Kanata's. This was what happened in Legends, where the saber and hand were obtained by Grand Admiral Thrawn, who cloned Luke. In canon, though, that's one major coincidence in a film already heavy with them, and looking behind-the-scenes we get an idea why.
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Why The Plot Hole Was Such A Problem
The original opening of The Force Awakens was going to have Luke's severed hand floating through space before it dropped into a planet's atmosphere (either Takadona's and straight into Maz's backyard or Jakku where it, not the map, would be the film's MacGuffin). That's an even bigger coincidence than what we got, presumably changed when it was pointed out Cloud City isn't in space and so made little sense (Kylo Ren's attack on Jakku also has much greater plot momentum as a post-crawl beat, anyway). Less weird but just as intriguing, an entire section of Episode VII where Maz went to the Resistance base on D'Qar and gave the weapon to Leia was cut. Quite what this would have happened here is unknown, but it certainly could have been set to provide an answer and there simply wasn't time in the finished edit.
Basically, they struggled to make the saber work in multiple ways, and it's not difficult to see why; while it's obviously not as big a question as many of Episode VII's other dangling plot points, the saber is a greater problem because it links directly to previous movies. Rey, Kylo and Snoke were all freshly introduced, so had freedom and audience favor on their side. The lightsaber was pre-existing and so a lack of answers created a logic gap: a plot hole. One we likely won't get a solution to.
The Last Jedi Continues (And Amplifies) The Lightsaber Problem
In The Last Jedi, the saber is if anything even more important: it's a symbol of Luke's rejection of the Force, gives Rey her first taste of being a Jedi, and is finally destroyed; a representation of how Rey and Kylo are two sides of the same coin and that the film is moving past the long-standing Skywalker myth.
Yet through all this, there's never a query from Luke about how it was recovered, nor an actual suggestion of why. Maz does have a very brief cameo via video message, rumors of which had stoked hope this would be explained. However, in practice it's more of a hat-tip role, honoring her place in the galaxy as an underground expert but in a totally plot-driven way; she tells Finn and Rose to go to Canto Bight without any time spent on her past possession of the weapon. That's annoying, but it's how this entire thread resolves where the real issue lies.
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That destruction of the saber is a big deal in the wider story - the weapon has been around for over fifty years in-universe and been used by three generations of heroes - but poses a problem for answering the mystery. Plainly, there's now no longer a reason to explain it. The saber isn't important anymore, and with it gone there's very little reason to explain how it came back. That would be like the plot of Rogue One being relayed in Return of the Jedi; the driving point is defunct.
Now, The Last Jedi is all about moving beyond and letting the past die, so it totally fits the themes of the tale being told for us to go beyond the saber; to be clear, the destruction isn't a bad thing. However, the film nevertheless tries to introduce finality when we can't quite let go just yet.
Will We Ever Get An Answer?
So, after The Last Jedi, we're left wondering if this will ever be resolved. In the movies, it looks unlikely. The only real chance comes from Rey wanting to rebuild the saber - that would provide a direct connection to its creation, which opens up a discussion on its previous existence. But that's still a stretch; as already stated, The Last Jedi was all about moving past the Skywalker's, and presumably, that includes their originating ephemera (that said, it would be humorous for Johnson to have put off an explanation and left it for J.J. Abrams to answer).
If it happens, we're more likely going to get it through some expanded material. It's not difficult at all to provide some passing reference to Bespin, the saber or other in one of the many books or comics (video games seem unlikely at this point) that Lucasfilm is publishing (that's how they resolved Jar Jar). All you need is a tertiary connection mentioning it and we have a solution. That would at least clear things up and take the worker idea from fan theory to canon, although it does bypass the unavoidable fact that most non-movie canon material plays to a much smaller audience than the films.
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The Skywalker lightsaber is a gaping hole in the sequel trilogy that really needs to be addressed on film for everything to truly make sense. Rian Johnson himself said, a movie is not a Wikipedia page, but this isn't one small backstory detail; it's an unelaborated turn that defines two movies so far.
If Star Wars: The Last Jedi wasn't otherwise so good, this could be a problem.
Next: Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Ending Explained
