Outside of a basketful of rumors, we still don’t have a good idea of what the Star Wars: Episode 8 subtitle, The Last Jedi, actually means. Will Rey and Luke discover a new Force philosophy, abandoning the Jedi Order’s prudish strictures revealed in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy? Is Luke the last Jedi? If so, what does that make Rey? According to new rumors coming out of Making Star Wars, questions of Jedi identity might just revolve around a very special Force-sensitive tree on Ahch-To, the planet home to the first Jedi temple, where Rey finds Luke Skywalker at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The tree in question has been appearing in the background of leaked Star Wars: The Last Jedi set photos for over a year, but its importance to the Episode 8 narrative has been mysterious until now. At some point in The Last Jedi, the tree gets set on fire.
So what is this tree and who cares if it gets lit up?
The tree as a symbol of Force accumulation not only jives with arboreal magic in fantasy and religion — like the Norse Yggdrasil or the fictional Great Deku Tree — but is likely inspired by the tree root cave on Dagobah where Luke Skywalker confronts his inner demons in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The new Disney continuity has built off that legacy, introducing Force-sensitive trees beloved by Jedi in both Clone Wars and the Return of the Jedi comic sequel series, Star Wars: Shattered Empire. This tree on Ahch-To might even be the same one Luke Skywalker stole from the Empire with the help of Poe Dameron’s mom in Shattered Empire.
We don’t know exactly what the Force trees do yet — they could be purely decorative or like the Biblical burning bush, allowing Jedi to speak to Force Jesus. We don’t know. We just know the Jedi like ‘em.
And, from an earlier Episode 8 set leak, we know that the Knights of Ren show up on Ahch-To to kick some ass. Could the tree be their main target, or are they just burning everything they find to the ground? This seems like the most likely explanation for the burning Force tree of Ahch-To. But you never know with Star Wars, the burning tree may be from a Force vision or dream.
All the set leaks and rumors will float around in your head like atomized half-questions until Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes out in theaters Dec. 15.
