Marvel’s current Star Wars series is bridging the yearlong gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. One of the biggest mysteries from this unseen era of Star Wars lore is how Luke becomes the fully capable Jedi Knight he is in Episode VI. Star Wars #4 takes another important step in that journey, suggesting Luke may have had a third Jedi mentor after Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
Read on to learn more about the progress of Luke’s hunt for his lost lightsaber and his new Jedi benefactor, but beware of spoilers for Star Wars #4 ahead!
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=star-wars-how-marvel-continues-the-story-of-the-empire-strikes-back&captions=true”]
The new series’ first major story arc deals with Luke, Leia and Lando returning to Cloud City in the aftermath of Episode V. Each character has their reasons. Luke is trying to make sense of a Force vision showing a mysterious robed Jedi catching his blue lightsaber. With Luke’s connection to the Force weakened after learning the truth about his father, he hopes that recovering his saber and finding this mystery Jedi will put him back on the path toward true Jedi Knighthood.
Unfortunately, Luke never actually retrieves his saber, which has landed somewhere in the midst of a giant pile of trash in the bowels of Cloud City. Sensing his friends are in danger, Luke chooses to help them rather than continue his search, an act which reawakens his connection to the Force and results in another vision of the mystery Jedi.
After rescuing his friends and retrieving his lost X-Wing, Luke decides to venture out on his own in search of this mysterious benefactor. Luke senses this character is a woman, giving us our first real clue as to their identity. Members of Reddit’s StarWarsLeaks subreddit are already speculating this character could be Verla, a Jedi previously introduced in writer Charles Soule’s Star Wars: Darth Vader series. Verla was depicted as a Jedi Padawan who survived Order 66 and battled Vader’s forces on Mon Cala. She went into hiding after that battle, meaning she could still be alive and working to guide Luke on his journey.
However, the mystery Jedi seems to be drawn with an unusually tall head in the image above, suggesting they could be a nonhuman Jedi. That brings to mind several iconic prequel Jedi like Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano. We know Ahsoka survived the Clone Wars, thanks to Star Wars Rebels, though her exact whereabouts in this period are unclear. Shaak Ti’s post-Episode III fate is currently a mystery. The 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed established she survived and went into hiding on the planet Felucia, but that game was rendered non-canon in Disney’s new Star Wars timeline.
Whomever this character may be, she could well become Luke’s newest Jedi mentor as the series progresses. Will she be the one that helps him complete the training he left unfinished back on Dagobah?
As for Luke’s lightsaber, the missing weapon is instead discovered by an Ugnaught on Cloud City. Somehow, the saber will make its way from Bespin into the hands of Maz Kanata. But as for how that happens or if that story will even be told in the pages of this series, that remains to be seen.
The good news is that Luke won’t be saber-less for much longer. The cover for the upcoming Star Wars #6 shows Luke wielding a yellow-bladed lightsaber, a twist Soule confirmed is intended as an homage to the classic Kenner action figures. The hilt design and blade color both suggest this saber was once wielded by one of the Jedi Temple Guards on Coruscant.
Star Wars #4 does solve another long-running Star Wars mystery, as we finally learn how Luke recovered his X-Wing from Cloud City.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/27/star-wars-the-high-republic-explained”]
For more big developments in the Star Wars universe, find out all the new plot details revealed in the Rise of Skywalker novelization and learn more about the brand new Star Wars era being explored in The High Republic.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Star Wars: Did Luke Have A Third Jedi Mentor?