5 Major Plot Predictions For Star Wars Episodes 8 & 9

1. The Force Is (Eventually) Balanced By The Destruction Of The Jedi And The Sith

So what's the end-game of the sequel trilogy? Where will all the different story threads end? One third of the way through it's impossible to call for sure, but using everything suggested so far there's one big plot point that would pay-off not just everything in Episode VII, but everything from Episode's I-VI as well.

The Force Awakens was absolutely full of allusions to how the Force is a sliding scale, with Light and Dark the extremities and most characters falling somewhere in the grey; Luke has been described in extra material as recognising he has darkness in him, Kylo struggles to become fully evil and paragon hero Rey feels the pull of the Dark Side in the final battle. And, of course, early concept art for an Anakin Skywalker Force ghost had him as an unholy mash-up of his Light and Dark Sides. The point is clear; the Force is totally imbalanced, something which Lor San Tekka implies the return of Luke and the Jedi to the galaxy will begin to enable. But what does "balance" really mean?

This was a major question surrounding the prequels, with the Jedi assuming it meant to destruction of all Dark and the Sith the eradication of the Light (damn those hard to read prophecies), both of which seemed incredibly "point of view", "absolute" readings. With the sliding-scale of the Force from Episode VII, it's clearly something different. Balance in the Force isn't equality of Jedi and Sith, nor the total dominance of either side; it is, as the term suggests, mid-point balance. Which means both sides of the equation need to be removed - something Luke himself suggests in the teaser for The Last Jedi, saying "it's time for the Jedi to end" (although trailers can have some tricksy editing, the implication here does seem clear).

I'm not going to suggest this was what George Lucas was originally going for when he first brought all this up in Episode I (although analysis of the themes intended to be in the prequels reveal them as deeper movies than their base filmmaking suggests), but I do think this is where the sequel trilogy is heading; a conclusion that sees Light and Dark removed and leaving only a balanced Force, and a new galaxy moving forward (meaning Episode X-XII could be about facing an extra-galactic threat).

What do you expect from Star Wars Episodes VIII and IX? Share your crazy theories down in the comments.