VII
Opens over the planet Jakku, goes down to meeting a scavenger named Rey. We learn about her life. Rey encounters a mysterious droid named BB-8 near the junkyard settlement where she lives. Finn, a former stormtrooper on the run, encounters Rey and BB-8, but the First Order is tracking BB-8 and launches an airstrike. Finn, Rey, and BB-8 flee the planet in the Millennium Falcon, which they steal from the junkyard settlement.
Somehow the falcon escapes the First Order ship in orbit. They want to take the droid to the resistance. But they are captured by a larger ship piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca, looking to reclaim the falcon. The crew ditches the larger ship and travels to the planet Takodana in the falcon.
The Falcon crew determines BB-8’s map is incomplete. Han explains that Luke attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order but exiled himself when an apprentice turned to the dark side, destroyed the temple, and slaughtered the other apprentices.
On Takodana they meet with cantina owner Maz Kanata, who offers assistance getting BB-8 to the Resistance. Rey is drawn to a secluded vault and finds the lightsaber that once belonged to Luke and his father, Anakin Skywalker. She experiences disturbing visions and flees into the woods. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber for safekeeping.
At the First Order’s Starkiller Base, a planet converted into a superweapon that harnesses star energy. Snoke questions Kylo’s ability to deal with emotions relating to his father, Han Solo; Kylo says Han means nothing to him.
The First Order attacks Takodana in search of BB-8. Han, Chewbacca, and Finn are saved by Resistance X-wing fighters led by Poe Dameron. Leia arrives at Takodana with C-3PO and reunites with Han, Chewbacca, Rey, and Finn.
At the Resistance base on D’Qar, BB-8 finds R2-D2, who has been inactive since Luke’s disappearance.
R2-D2 awakens and reveals the rest of the map, which Rey follows to the oceanic planet Ahch-To. She finds Luke and presents him with the lightsaber.
Meanwhile, Rey arrives on Ahch-To with Chewbacca and R2-D2 aboard the Millennium Falcon to recruit Luke Skywalker to the Resistance. Disillusioned by his failure to train Kylo as a Jedi, and under self-imposed exile from the Force, Luke refuses to help and believes the Jedi should go extinct. Unbeknownst to Luke, Rey and Kylo communicate through the Force, puzzling the two enemies. As Rey and Kylo learn about each other, both have visions of themselves as future partners.
R2-D2 persuades Luke to train Rey. After Kylo tells Rey what happened between him and Luke that caused him to choose the dark side, Luke confesses that he momentarily contemplated killing Kylo upon sensing that Supreme Leader Snoke was corrupting him, causing Kylo to destroy Luke’s new Jedi Order in retaliation. Convinced that Kylo can be redeemed, Luke prepares to burn the Ahch-To Jedi temple and library, but hesitates. Yoda’s ghost appears and destroys the temple by summoning a bolt of lightning, claiming Rey has all she needs to learn, and encourages Luke to learn from his failure.
End VII
VIII
Opens with starkiller base.
Meanwhile, Kylo captures Rey in a forest on Ahch-To and takes her to Starkiller Base, but she resists his mind-reading attempts. Discovering she can use the Force, Rey escapes by using a Jedi mind trick on a nearby guard.
As Starkiller Base prepares to fire on Hosnian/D’Qar, the Resistance devises a plan to destroy it by attacking a critical facility.
Using the Falcon, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrate the facility, find Rey, and plant explosives. Han confronts Kylo, calling him by his birth name, Ben, and implores him to abandon the dark side. Kylo refuses and kills Han, enraging Chewbacca, who shoots Kylo. Starkiller Base fires and destroys the Republic capital star system and a portion of its fleet. Chewbacca sets off the explosives, allowing the Resistance to attack and destroy Starkiller Base.
The injured Kylo pursues Finn and Rey to the surface. Kylo defeats Finn in a lightsaber duel, leaving him badly wounded. Rey takes the lightsaber and uses the Force to defeat Kylo before they are separated by a fissure as the planet begins to disintegrate.
Rey and Chewbacca escape with the unconscious Finn in the Falcon. Snoke orders Hux to bring Kylo to him.
Following the battle of Starkiller Base, On D’Qar, the Resistance celebrates while Leia, Chewbacca, and Rey mourn Han’s death. Leia leads Resistance forces to flee D’Qar when a First Order fleet arrives.
Poe Dameron attacks the First Order dreadnought, but after the Resistance escapes to hyperspace, the First Order tracks them and attacks the Resistance convoy.
Kylo Ren, Leia’s son, hesitates to fire on the lead Resistance ship after sensing his mother’s presence.
Meanwhile, Kylo brings Rey to Snoke, who says he facilitated the mental connection between her and Kylo as part of a plan to destroy Luke. Ordered to kill Rey, Kylo instead kills Snoke and defeats Snoke’s guards alongside Rey. Rey believes that Kylo has returned to the light side of the Force, but he instead invites her to rule the galaxy with him. Refusing, she fights Kylo for possession of Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, which splits in two.
Leia allowing the evacuation to begin. Holdo remains on the ship to mislead Snoke’s fleet as the others flee to an abandoned Rebel Alliance base on Crait. The evacuation transports are slowly destroyed.
Holdo sacrifices herself by ramming Snoke’s fleet at lightspeed; Rey escapes in the chaos. Meanwhile Kylo declares himself Supreme Leader.
When the First Order arrives, Poe and Finn attack with old speeders. Rey and Chewbacca draw the TIE fighters away with the Falcon. The First Order siege cannon subsequently penetrates the Resistance fortress.
Luke appears and confronts the First Order to enable surviving Resistance members to escape. Kylo orders the First Order’s forces to fire on Luke, to no effect. He then engages Luke in a lightsaber duel; upon striking Luke, Kylo realizes he has been fighting a Force projection of him. Rey uses the Force to help the Resistance escape on the Falcon. Luke, exhausted, becomes one with the Force and dies peacefully on Ahch-To. Rey and Leia sense his death, and Leia tells surviving rebels that the Resistance has all it needs to rise again.
End VIII