About a week ago, I had a chance to see “The Force Awakens” for a third time, this time in glorious IMAX at the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History. 

Holy Poodoo, it was amazing and intense. But the entire IMAX review will wait for another day.

In my second viewing, I noticed something at the end of “The Force Awakens” when Rey walks upon Luke.

Luke is standing next to a gravestone.

(please forgive the quality of the images)

“But Michael, it could just be a weird random stone sticking out of the side of the cliff!

No, faithful reader, it’s not. Everything put into a film of this magnitude is meticulously done. It’s in there because Abrams wanted it in there.

Here’s a reversed view:

Does it look like Luke is looking at the gravestone? Kind of. Angles are weird. At the very least, he’s near it.

So the point of me mentioning the IMAX screening is because I got the clearest view of what’s in front of the stone – a protruding clump of dirt. It was clear as day on the IMAX screen.

Here’s a low-res image (and I apologize for not taking a picture inside the IMAX screening. I’m not a complete Rancor).

The clump doesn’t look very big – maybe the size of a basketball if it was more elliptical?

Let’s look at the 5 candidates of who Luke is mourning.

1. Han Solo

He died in the film (spoiler alert!) and Leia could feel it across a hyper-space trip. Surely Luke felt it too.

2. Anakin/Darth Vader

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing Kylo Ren had Darth Vader’s helmet because Luke had it, and stole it from him after turning to the Dark Side. Anakin/Vader saved Luke, and maybe Luke wants to keep some kind of memorial/reminder for that?

3. Ben Solo

Kylo Ren told his father that Ben Solo was dead – that he was weak. Obi-Wan told us that Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin. Perhaps it’s some symbolic item of Ben’s that Luke is symbolically burying.

4. His Wife/Girlfriend/Intergalactic Baby-Mama

This possibility is contingent on Luke having a child. Could be Rey, or hell, it could be Finn. But it would be reasonable to think someone Luke loved would get a memorial.

5. Something Symbolic

A popular theory is that Rey was also training to be a Jedi (and Luke’s daughter), and that Luke could sense what would happen with Ben. So Luke erased Rey’s memory, sent her off to a sandy planet to protect her, (remember, Anakin doesn’t like sand), and Rey lost her connection to the Force. And Luke lost his connection with her. A symbolic loss, thinking he’d never see her again?

Or it could be a monument to the younglings Kylo Ren killed.

Maybe a monument to the Jedi itself, since Luke was the last Jedi and failed in training his most gifted padawan, isolating himself, resigned to possibly live out his days.

 

Did you notice the stone in the film too? Who do you think it’s for?