Star Wars: The Last Jedi (SPOILERS)

[Diddly]

Wonder if this uses the singular or plural form of "Jedi"

[GrandMoffNick]

Wonder if this uses the singular or plural form of "Jedi"

Exactly what I was wondering.

[Dave]

At what point does someone become a Jedi?  I would assume that they need to be officially accepted as an apprentice to be considered a Jedi?  If that is the case, then Luke has been "the last Jedi" for quite some time since Rey isn't really a Jedi apprentice until Luke agrees to mentor her.

[Phrubruh]

They are breaking with wording tradition. It should have four words not three. Each middle movie had four words.
Attack of the Clones
The Empire Stikes Back
The Last Jedi

[tmanthegreat]

Number of words or not, it just seems a blunt and sort of final-sounding title.  Like we're going to wind up with only one person standing in the end or something along those lines.  But there may be more to it: Yoda called Luke the last of the Jedi in ROTJ and since this is going to be a Luke-centered movie, perhaps that is what the title refers to?

[Jesse James]

That's what I was thinking, kind of.  I figure it's just more about Luke than Rey there. 

This suits me fine, or not, whatever.  I didn't care for TPM or AOTC as titles go for some reason, but I didn't hate them either.  Just doesn't matter to me enough to flip my wig over it like I've noticed some guys have.   

[Nicklab]

The phrase is what caught me, really.  I remember when people were trying to analyze the prequel titles, and looking for these patterns where Episode IV and Episode I had 3 word titles, and then Episode V and II both had 4 word titles, etc.  I think that's probably more of a tangent than anything substantial.

I think the phrase has infinitely more significance than the word count.  And I think it even goes as far back as Yoda saying it to Luke in ROTJ.  He told Luke "When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be".  That same phrase turned up in a couple of places in TFA, as well.  It's used in the opening crawl, and IIRC Snoke also referred to Luke as the last of the Jedi, too. 

Then there's the whole 'Balance of The Force' thing to consider.  We learned in TFA that Luke attempted to establish a new Jedi order only to see it destroyed.  The end of Return of the Jedi also saw the end of the Sith, and from what we've come to learn Snoke is likely a Dark Side of The Force user as is Kylo Ren.  Both of whom do not appear to be Sith, but something else.

So, what is Rey?  If Luke is truly the last of the Jedi as Yoda said, will Rey become something else?  It's very clear that The Force is with her.  But seeing how the Jedi failed in the prequels and Luke's new generation of Jedi fell, maybe Rey is destined to be something other than a Jedi?  Something that this new Sequel Trilogy era, along with the Clone Wars have illustrated is that The Force is much bigger in scope than this binary situation of Jedi or Sith.  We've also seen Dark Side users like the Night Sisters of Dathomir and the trio of Force users that were embodied on Mortis.  There may be some light side users who are not Jedi, too.

These are some of the questions that I have to take from the big picture when you take this title into account.

[EdSolo]

They are breaking with wording tradition. It should have four words not three. Each middle movie had four words.
Attack of the Clones
The Empire Stikes Back
The Last Jedi

They already did that last time:

A New Hope = Luke (or the Death Star plans according to Rogue One)
The Phantom Menance = Sidious and/or the Sith
The Force Awakens doesn't refer to anything specific

[Nicklab]

The Force Awakens doesn't refer to anything specific

Really?  Did ANYONE watch the Force vision scene in TFA?  Because when Rey touched the Skywalker lightsaber was the precise moment when The Force awoke within Rey.  That's what the title refers to.

[EdSolo]

The Force Awakens doesn't refer to anything specific

Really?  Did ANYONE watch the Force vision scene in TFA?  Because when Rey touched the Skywalker lightsaber was the precise moment when The Force awoke within Rey.  That's what the title refers to.

The previous two movie titles refer to a person or persons...TFA refers to something that happens to Rey.  That is quite a bit different.  The number of words comparison is for the second movie isn't the true comparison.  TESB and AOTC are both titles in which a group is performing an action.  TLJ is referring to either Luke and/or Rey.  If it were The Last Jedi Rises or something similar, then it would be in line, but they really didn't stay in line with Ep. VII. 

[Nicklab]

I see the pattern between the OT and the PT title structures.  But those titles are also rooted in the overall story direction of each of those movies.  IMHO, story direction does seem like it should be the chief factor in determining a title.  Seeing where the story of THE LAST JEDI goes is only fair before casting judgement on the pattern that titles have followed in past movies.

[Jeff]

But those titles are also rooted in the overall story direction of each of those movies.

And they are also rooted in George Lucas... who is not here for these titles.

I have no problem with the titles or Disney doing things slightly different than the past 6 movies.  Disney can call it whatever they want as long as it doesn't suck.

[Nicklab]

George did like that whole narrative concept of the "tone poem". And you see a lot of echoing events that take place in both the PT and OT.  We saw some of them in TFA.  I'm curious to see if we can expect those sorts of echoes in Episode VIII, too.

[Phrubruh]

George did like that whole narrative concept of the "tone poem". And you see a lot of echoing events that take place in both the PT and OT.  We saw some of them in TFA.  I'm curious to see if we can expect those sorts of echoes in Episode VIII, too.

They kind of over did the echoing in TFA. Hopefully TLJ will be mostly original.

[Darby]

Going to go all the way back to 2015 in another thread on Rebels because I think this is where it's going:

I'm more and more excited for the arrival of Ahsoka the more I think about it. It has staggering implications for the show and the future. Kanan and Ezra may expect a fellow Jedi, but she's not a Jedi and I wonder what impact her perspective will have on them. What does her agnosticism mean for Kanan/Hera? As Kanan embraces more of the Jedi way, does that mean his relationship with Hera is in trouble, or does Ahsoka advocate a different path? Maybe Ahsoka, Kanan and Ezra don't go down in flames at the end of this series. l'll go ahead and predict they don't. What if they form the nucleus of a non-Jedi light side movement? I've been on the potential of Ahsoka's journey outside of the Jedi order ever since the end of CW, but this excerpt from Dave Filoni's interview with SW.com last night really got me going:

StarWars.com: I have a bit of a continuity challenge for you. In Return of the Jedi, Yoda tells Luke, "When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be." But now he knows that Kanan and Ezra are out there. We obviously don't know at this point what will happen to them, but is that something you're aware of?

Dave Filoni: I don't see it as a challenge at all. It's what the Sith call an absolute. When Obi-Wan says to Luke, "Your father was the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy," is that true? Or is that something you tell a kid because you want him to believe his father was great? It doesn't have to be empirical or absolutely true. Saying Luke is "the last," is that a singular thing, or is he the last of a group? I don't know.

It definitely is something that comes up, and we discuss that moment all the time for what it could mean. It is possible to interpret it as, Luke is the last person that's following the path as laid out by the Jedi Order, which we knew. The way of the Jedi is not the only way to use the light side of the Force. Luke is taught by Obi-Wan and Yoda, who very much followed the dogma of the day. So, he is the last of that line for sure. That's absolutely true. But you don't have to be a Jedi to use the Force. You don't have to be a Sith to use the dark side.

This I think has massive implications for what may be happening in the ST era, where at least we can say with certainty that the post ROTJ Jedi order Luke established in the comics/books is NOT happening. What is or isn't actually happening with Luke and his successors remains to be seen, but in any event, Luke would have to confront the failures of the old Jedi Order in creating a new one and a great counterpoint and balance to that would be the perspective that Ahsoka, or perhaps her disciples, embody.

I think Luke is literally and figuratively the last Jedi because Rey will not be trained as one. She will be trained as the first disciple of something new. We've seen a LOT of non Jedi force users / devotees in Rebels, Clone Wars and now Rogue one. Could be leading somewhere. The PT  was effectively an indictment of the Jedi was they were in the moment; they had become about their own bureaucracy. The denial of emotional attachment created a distance between them and the people they served that contributed at least to Anakin's downfall, and theirs. Emotional attachment is what salvages Anakin and the Jedi. We don't know right now, but did Luke attempt to reinstate the order along the old precepts? What if that really didn't work? We don't know completely what turned Kylo toward the dark side, but letting go is not something he was able to do in the extreme. Luke may have discovered in his journey to the first Jedi temple that the order has been many things over its history and can be many things in the future. He may have decided that fidelity to the order does not have primacy over fidelity to the force. In fact, he effectively alters the path of the Jedi at the end of ROTJ when he throws away his lightsaber. His mission is kill your Dad, become a Jedi. Luke chooses love over hate, peace over war and destroys both the Jedi and Sith in one moment. His failure with his new order may have been going back to the precepts of the old order, or fumbling the rollout in a way we just don't understand yet.

I'm excited by the prospect of what could be happening. I think it would be provocative to step out of the Jedi / Sith binary (which they've done already with the Knights of Ren) and complete the circle by bending back to the themes and concerns of the PT.