Luke still has much to learn when the Holocron version of Yoda teaches how using the Force to see the future is a dangerous path to take, essentially using the same lesson he taught Luke in ‘Empire Strikes Back’. After composing himself Luke uses the Holocron again, this time getting a new lesson that directs him to another Force hotspot, The Living Sea of Gazian.
Luke and R2 arrive at Gazian and as Luke steps onto the Living Sea which looks like a vast ocean of rocks, he is pulled under and experiences a vision of Jedi Master Elzar Mann.
Mann guides Luke through a vision of the Jedi, essentially giving him a crash course of the Orders history. Luke is shown the tree library on Ahch-To, the Temple on Coruscant, a great battle between Jedi and Sith as well as great Jedi Masters from the past.
As Luke tries to make sense of all of it, Mann tells him the the Jedi isn’t the only path Force users have to take, that there are many other sects and beliefs around the Force and as Luke awakens from the vision, still under the Living Sea he encounters a skeleton holding an old book.
Luke takes the book and manages to get to swim(?) to the surface and pull himself onto the landing of where R2 is waiting for him, claiming that he thinks the book is an invitation.
And with that, Charles Soule just dropped a whole lore-bomb on us, giving Luke a history lesson on the Jedi that I never thought we’d get in the pages of a comic and whilst we don’t get major details, more of a vague roadmap, it certainly gives us our first look at the history of the Jedi (or so I think).
When it came to further training for Luke I never even considered that this is how it would be and to be honest it was better than I could have even thought. Elzar’s lesson that through time, the Jedi have evolved to be what was needed at each point in history. Of course, the Jedi during the Saga didn’t evolve and instead became complacent allowing the Sith to finally return to power. Of course the Elzar vision only retains the knowledge that Elzar Mann had when he visited the Living Ocean so doesn’t know the fate of the Jedi and so can’t give Luke any hints as to what he can do.
An interesting plot point that comes of this issue is that Luke’s collecting of the Sacred Jedi Texts started as early as this. It makes sense that he’d get added knowledge during this time period but now he has a Holocron and one of the texts we have an idea as to what training he undergoes before returning to Dagobah after saving Han Solo.
Luke’s training between films has been something I have wondered about ever since first seeing ‘Return of the Jedi’ and getting that story here has been great. Having a guide that isn’t Yoda or Obi-Wan also gives Luke an added perspective for him to draw knowledge from, even if it is only briefly.
This issue was a great surprise, Soule has done a great job giving us a load of information but little details so that the history of the Jedi is still ripe for stores to be told.
My Star Wars Life Debt 