It's an unfortunate universal truth of the Star Wars universe that there must be balance: as long as there is great Light, there must be great Darkness. As long as there is power at one end of the scale, there must be equal power at the other end. So it shouldn't really have been too much of a surprise to anyone that in the vacuum created by Darth Sidious and Darth Vader's deaths, a new power would rise to balance the existence of Luke Skywalker. The question now is how that power is going to be distributed. Will it all fall to one terrifying Sith to reveal himself or herself? Will Kylo Ren be the new devastating force? Or Supreme Leader Snoke? And with so many villains introduced, where will their balance come on the opposite side of the Force? Will the rumoured arrival of a second generation of Skywalkers and Solos (probably three, possibly four) complete the power loop? And at the end of things, who will emerge as the most powerful characters in the new Star Wars timeline?
13. The Droids
Traditionally, droids might have been important (both narratively and in terms of merchandising sales), but they've never actually proved to be particularly powerful (ok, General Grievous is an exception, but his classification is murky at best). Even the ones with guns were walking cannon fodder. But you still have to admire the way R2-D2, C3PO and now BB-8 (who has inevitably leapt to vaunted status even before the film's bloody come out) have shoe-horned themselves into fandom appreciation. They're mostly bumbling - even occasionally defying prime directives and programming - but the films invariably rely upon them for heart and comedy value. The Force Awakens is likely to follow suit: though R2 and Threepio both have compelling backstory elements that need explaining (that red arm, and the vague suggestion that R2 is out of commission entirely), their powers will still remain muted. BB-8 meanwhile will likely play a part in the Starkiller Base attack, but if it's as anything other than a mech-droid, it would be astonishing.