3. Violent Physical Metaphor
Its a little surprising that no-one got their hand chopped off during The Force Awakens. In both earlier trilogies, the violent removal of a hand and the fitting of a robotic replacement was used to foreshadow the possibility of central characters falling to the Dark Side. Men becoming machines is an overarching signifier of potential evil in the Star Wars universe. Of course, its possible that we didnt see this in Episode VII because Lucasfilm are saving such an event for Episode VIII. It was in The Empire Strikes Back that Luke lost his hand, and in Attack Of The Clones that Anakin lost his, so maybe the powers-that-be are intending to slot a similar scene into the second film of the new trilogy for mirroring's sake. But who could it happen to? Rey is currently the protagonist, so it seems most likely that shell be the one fitted with a metal hand come the end of the movie. But Rian Johnson could choose to switch it around. Maybe hed rather give Kylo Ren some robotic attachments, to play into his obsession with Darth Vader. Itd be interesting to see how Kylo would react to such an injury. Hes such an admirer of his grandfather that hed probably relish the opportunity to become more like him. Thatd certainly be a new way of presenting the loss of a limb within the Star Wars universe. Heck, maybe he'd even do it voluntarily.