Your Unanswered Questions

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has left us with many unanswered questions. Luckily, you won’t have to wait until Episode 8 to get some answers; there’s a plethora of books and comics that contain important details about the film’s new characters and universe. Join us as we give you the answers to these questions and tell you where to find them!

Who Was the Old Man That Died at the Beginning of the Film?

The old man that Poe Dameron spoke to during the beginning of the film is named Lor San Tekka. He’s a longtime ally of the New Republic, having helped Luke Skywalker sometime after the Battle of Endor to recover the secret Jedi lore that the retreating Imperials were attempting to erase. He spent most of his life traveling the galaxy as an explorer and mercenary, which earned him quite a reputation. According to Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization, Poe had even been told many stories about Lor’s adventures when he was younger. It’s also worth noting that Lor was a member of the Church of the Force, believing in its Jedi tenants despite not being Force-sensitive himself.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Novelization, Star Wars Data Bank

Who’s the Storm Trooper That Fights Finn With a Baton? Does He Know Finn?

The Storm Trooper that fought Finn with a baton during the film’s second act was introduced as a character in The Force Awakens companion novel, entitled Before the Awakening. His name is FN-2199, nicknamed “Nines,” and he was one of Finn’s comrades in the First Order’s FN corps of Storm Troopers.

Source: Star Wars: Before the Awakening

What Is the Starkiller Base and How Did It Get Built?

The First Order’s Starkiller base had once been an ice planet located in the outer rim of the galaxy’s Unknown Regions. However, the First Order converted it into a base of operations 30 years after the Battle of Endor, using it as a platform for a superweapon capable of destroying entire star systems. According to a tweet by Lucasfilm Story Group Member Pablo Hidalgo, the base is also mobile.

Source: Star Wars Data Bank, Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Novelization, Pablo Hidalgo Twitter

Why is Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber so Ragged?

According to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary, Kylo Ren’s lightsaber contains a cracked kyber crystal, which causes its plasma blades to appear ragged and crude. As a result, its design necessitates lateral plasma vents to better disperse the overwhelming power it releases. It’s also worth noting that the lightsaber is based on an ancient design dating back to the Great Scourge of Malachor.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary

What Happened to Poe on Jakku After the TIE Fighter Crash?

The novelization of The Force Awakens details exactly what happened to Poe on Jakku. While Finn ejects from the plummeting TIE Fighter used to the escape the First Order Star Destroyer, Poe regains consciousness in time to set the craft down for an emergency landing. He then tries to find a new ship and contact the Resistance. In his journey, he encounters a Jakku native named Naka lit, who Poe manages to convince to get him a ship from the nearby settlement of Blowback Town. He then joins up with the Resistance and gathers the squadron of X-Wing fighters we see fending off the First Order attack on Maz Kanata’s castle in the film.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Novelization

How Did Rey Learn to Fly So Well?

The companion novel Before the Awakening revealed that Rey found an old Y-Wing computer display during her time spent scavenging. With it, she was able to run various flight simulators that were included in its programming. She also used the computer to learn a number of alien languages, as well as study Republic and Imperial starships schematics.

Source: Star Wars: Before the Awakening

How Did Poe Learn to Fly So Well?

Poe Dameron learned to fly thanks to his mother Shara Bey, an ace straighter pilot who served as a lieutenant for the Rebel Alliance. He started learning at the age of six under the guidance of his mother, who’d take him up on flights with her in her A-Wing interceptor.

Source: Star Wars: Before the Awakening, Star Wars: Shattered Empire

How Did R2-D2 Have the map?

As we saw at the end of The Force Awakens, R2-D2 has a map that details nearly all the locations of the first Jedi temples. According to a Q&A with J.J. Abrams and co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt from Entertainment Weekly, R2-D2 obtained this information back when he plugged into the Imperial archives on the Death Star during the events of A New Hope.

Source: Entertainment Weekly interview with J.J Abrams

What Was the Battle of Jakku?

The Battle of Jakku was an intense last stand by the remnants of the Empire against the Rebellion, which at the time had recently organized into a government called the New Republic. It took place a year after the Rebellion’s victory at the Battle on Endor. While there were severe losses on both sides, the conflict ended in the Empire’s defeat. Wreckage from the battle still exists on Jakku in an area known to the locals as the Graveyard of the Giants. In the film, Rey is seen spending time there scavenging for parts.

It’s also worth noting that the Star Destroyer in the image above actually has a name; it’s called the Inflictor and it’s featured in the novel Star Wars: Lost Stars. Its captain crashed the ship on to the surface of Jakku as a last-ditch effort when New Republic soldiers boarded it and disabled its self-destruct mechanism.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary

How Exactly Did the First Order Come to Be?

According to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary and the novel Aftermath, the First Order came about after the Battle of Jakku. With the Empire forced to sign an armistice effectively reducing them to a rump state, those left reorganized under the new leadership of Supreme Leader Snoke. In the 30 years that followed, the First Order worked in secret to rebuild its military strength and expand into the Unknown Regions, seizing resources from new, underdeveloped worlds and setting up industrial infrastructure.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary, Star Wars: Aftermath

How Did Maz Kanata Come to Know the Force?

In an interview, The Force Awakens SFX supervisor Chris Corbould stated that there’s a deleted scene from the film that shows Maz Kanata using the Force to bring down a ceiling on a unit of Storm Troopers. According to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary, it’s unclear how Maz Kanata gained an affinity with the Force, having kept the ability a closely guarded secret for most of her life. Interestingly enough, she has met many Jedi Knights and Masters in her travels, but has never chosen to walk the path of a Jedi herself.

Source: Collider interview, Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Visual Dictionary

What Planet is Luke on?

According to a tweet by Lucasfilm’s Story Group Member Pablo Hidalgo, the aquatic planet we see Luke on at the end of The Force Awakens is called Ahch-To. It’s the location of the first Jedi temple and one of the few left that the Empire didn’t destroy. The planet’s name can be found in a version of the film’s script that was sent out to the Writer’s Guild of America.

Source: Pablo Hidalgo’s Twitter

Why Don’t TIE Fighters Shoot Backwards Later in the movie?

In The Force Awakens, there are actually two types of TIE Fighters: the classic model from the original trilogy that holds a single pilot and the Special Forces model that supports two. In the beginning of the film, Poe and Finn use a Special Forces model, which has a rear gunner cockpit and is primarily used by the First Order for long-range missions. This model is distinguished by the bold red marks that adorn its design and its thicker solar array wings. You can see an example of this in the image above.

Source: Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Incredible Cross-Sections