Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Luke Skywalker (Force Projection) - CONFIRM
As to Rey being a Jedi, you're right that it's never stated/shown on screen. And I'll concede that calling her a Jedi might be imprecise. It just seems a bit easier than Light-side-leaning force-user.
Rey arrives before Luke. She draws a bunch of TIE's away. I think she realizes the front door isn't an option and uses the beacon thing to lock on to Finn and find the entrance in the back. Don't she and Chewbacca see the crystal foxes escaping from that area?
My take on the whole situation is this: the First Order are on Crait to destroy them all. The Resistance mounting a counter-offensive with little to no chance of success. It doesn't work. Rey shows up to support, and the FO really hate that ship, so they give chase. Unbeknownst to Rey, Luke, having had a change of heart shows up. He sees Leia. Leia probably realizes that Luke isn't really there, but his arrival gave a much needed boost in morale to the troops. She doesn't want to take that away just yet, but even so, she doesn't really have a plan. Poe comes up with a plan. Rey and Chewie see the foxes escaping. That and Finn's beacon essentially tell her that's where the resistance has the best shot of rescue. Luke never had to explain his plans to anyone and didn't. People use their own innate abilities which have been honed through practice and experience, whether it be inspiring the troops (Finn), coming up with and executing a plan (Poe), or lifting rocks (Rey). I don't know. That's just my quick takeaway.
Interesting points, and laid out in a way that makes sense.
All of this bears discussion because the movie goes out of its way to show that Luke makes a "certain-death" choice (though even that "projection'll kill ya" idea is more than a little fuzzy) to do the holo-projection thing instead of actually coming to Crait. It's a conscious decision.
So given that it's a major plot point, a huge reveal, a conscious decision and the thing that leads to the death of the hero of the entire OT... what IS Luke's plan?
You infer it was to "boost morale to the troops" - but how could Luke randomly showing up (with it unclear how he even got there past a presumed blockade, what he's going to do exactly, and then simply wandering out to stare down a wall of ATATs) actually boost morale, other than a "star-sighting" for some downtrodden rebels?
And a morale boost for what? It's not like they are in a pitched battle that some more morale would make the difference for - they are surrounded, trapped like rats. And Luke doesn't show up with some rousing speech or announce some clever plan to the group - he actually IGNORES them all, except Leia of course.
I kind of love your inference that Luke's plan is to try to draw the best from those there simply by showing up - it's getting closer to something meaningful for Luke to die for - but that's pretty abstract for a life-and-death situation.
Isn't the "distract them while you guys escape" thing a better plan than "boost morale" or symbolically inspiring people to "dig deep into their strengths" by showing up? I love your idea he colluded with Rey. But the whole plan needs to have been disseminated to at least Leia and Rey for it to have been worth Luke throwing his life away for it.
These are the questions that still dog the sequence:
1. Does Leia know that Luke isn't really there, ie is just a projection (people seem to have taken Leia's "touch" reaction to mean totally different things)?
2. Luke is in essence killing himself - presumably for a reason beyond a morale boost or inspiration - so does he project to Crait with the "distract/escape" plan in mind?
3. If this is Luke's plan, why doesn't he tell anyone (even offscreen, and having it be an audience surprise later) including, importantly, Leia or Rey?
4. Does Luke's plan somehow involve (or even rely on) Rey, who he knows is heading there to help anyway and is outside?
5. If it does involve Rey, why does she not seem to be acting in accordance with any plan?
6. If Leia knows what Luke's plan is, why does she simply stand and watch him walking out like everyone else, and not arrange the escape as precious minutes pass?
6. If the "distract/escape" idea was the plan all along, then why does the movie rely on Poe to randomly realize that's the plan much later?
The point is, Luke Skywalker DIES because of this decision and this moment, so it really is worth discussing.
