Being a Jedi sucks. Sure, you get the lightsaber, the heightened senses, the ability to turn into a ghost and some robes, but you’re also stuck being an ascetic without relationships. In the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back it was safe to assume Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda were forced into poverty and mud huts because they were in hiding from the evil Empire. The Prequel Trilogy destroyed that assumption, revealing the Jedi to be near-sexless monks who seem to live a life of asceticism and self-denial. The Jedi of the Clone Wars acted more like 13th century Franciscans than badasses straight out of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
New leaked footage from the set of Star Wars: Episode 8 suggests that Luke Skywalker will be keeping up tradition, restricting himself to dwellings more suited to Yoda and Yaddle than humans.
The video, released by Making Star Wars, gives us a look at the Star Wars: Episode 8 set in Ireland. Taken from a distance, it’s hard to discern much, but look closely at the left side to catch a glimpse of the dwellings Luke Skywalker has set up for himself and his new padawan, Rey, on the site of the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To (where Rey finds Luke at the end of The Force Awakens):
Those little houses seen briefly in the leaked set video seem to be the dwelling place for the last vestiges of the Jedi Order. They also look fairly similar to Yoda’s home on Dagobah:
Perhaps these are traditional Jedi dwellings, but it’s also possible Luke Skywalker built them himself, cobbling together his own Jedi dogma from what he’s learned from Yoda and Obi-Wan. Perhaps their Force ghosts showed him some blueprints.
How Rey, who once lived in the comparatively palatial innards of an AT-AT, will take to the Jedi lifestyle will be revealed when Star Wars: Episode 8 comes out, Dec. 14, 2017.
