As we've discussed:
1) As a whole, the wrong people were involved
2) Having the wrong people meant there was no thought placed on the complete picture
3) George Lucas started the trend
4) Kathleen Kennedy is providing good direction for the spinoffs
5) Kathleen Kennedy knows
nothing about the Skywalker saga
6) JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson are just feeding off of these failures because they are lazy
This isn't the fault of JJ Abrams. It's the fault of LucasFilm as a whole. It has middling leadership that shows sparks of brilliance, which is actually a bad thing overall because they get enough kudos that they will continue to be guided by ego and arrogance—just as George was back through the prequels. There is no one around to say "no".
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As far as my version is concerned, it is based entirely on the premise that our heroes were and always will be friends. They stood for something, and that was not going to be shaken by 30 years of conflict. They have always stuck together because that is what they do! Luke was off on his island meditating and training; Han and Leia (with loyal Chewy) were off spying for the good of the rebellion; R2 is where he belongs; C-3PO would have been on the Falcon with Leia. Everyone was in their place, not off being idiots.
As the idea was bursting from my head, I tried to remember those points. They will fight together to the very end, and at the end there will be a new force on both sides—Ben Solo on the dark side, Rey on the light. Each will be guided by their master—Ben by Darth Snoke (who will be discovered to have been the secret apprentice of Darth Vader), and Rey by Luke Skywalker, who will discover her strength as a result of her lineage.
Also in my version, there is no such person as Kylo Ren. The dark side are Sith lords, not followers of random leagues of dark-clad figures. The dark side is guided by one, singular principle: Always two there are, no more, no less. Every time a dark lord takes on an apprentice, there become three and one must die (as Palpatine did, leaving only Darth Vader and his apprentice, Snoke). With the death of Vader, Snoke needed an apprentice and eventually turned to the child of Solo/Organa. There are no "Knights of Wren", so there is no Kylo Ren. I mean, how many times does he need a name change? By the way, I think it is important to keep Snoke around to build Darth Heinous into the most powerful Sith lord ever. I can see Ben absolutely going ballistic once his mother dies. The rage, the hatred, and the anger come blasting out and he feels the power of the dark side*.
Also, somewhere in this episode Luke will sense the force in Rey and begin counseling her. Likely aboard the Falcon, but perhaps a command ship or even on the island. He will sense that she is weak and vulnerable, and he must build her up before the dark side comes for her.
* I am going to update the above script as things progress, and while I sort out Act II (what we know as Episode VIII) as new ideas creep into my head. Ideas and suggestions are very welcome.
