The Star Wars Cycle of Storytelling

I've been surprised to learn that there are people who are quite unhappy with
The Last Jedi. One of the complaints is that none of the original heroes remain.

This article makes the point clearly that it is painful for fans to have heroes age and become secondary characters. There are also complaints that the film did not meet the expectations of fans, that we didn't really find out about Rey's family, didn't find out where Snoke came from, and many other complaints about details.

On the other hand, there were complaints that The Force Awakens was too much of a retread of A New Hope.

I see Star Wars as recurring cycle of tried and true storytelling, and The Last Jedi fits right in.

I have written before about "A Heroes Journey", the standard formula that pervades ancient Western myth, identified decades ago by Joseph Campbell, and which we see so often in stories today. A young reluctant hero is called to a journey that takes him out of his ordinary experience and discovers a villain or threat to which he has a hidden connection.  He has companions who help him as he is tested, and an older mentor.  The older mentor is "taken away", and the young hero most stand up to the villain alone, eventually triumphing and returning to his ordinary life.  (Note: In the ancient myths studied by Campbell, the hero was always male.)

Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings are all basically this same "Hero's Journey" story.

In The Force Awakens, most of the focus was on the young hero, Rey, and her companions.  Han Solo became her older mentor, and he was "taken away."  In The Last Jedi, more of the focus is on Luke, now Rey's older mentor. In due course, he also leaves the stage, in a way that is similar to how Obi Wan left in A New Hope.

We know that Leia will not return for the next film, and other possible older mentors, like Vice Admiral Holdo, are also gone. In perfect keeping with Campbell, it is time for the young reluctant hero to stand up and directly confront evil.

We also know that the older mentors have histories in which they were likely the younger heroes.  We got the history of Obi Wan in episodes 1, 2 & 3.  The Fantastic Beasts movies will tell us more about Dumbledore's youthful adventures.  Gandalf implied past adventures with the family of Bilbo.

So in a story spanning decades, it is not surprising to see changing roles.

When we look at Star Wars as a recurring cycle of storytelling, which I am convinced is how the writers and producers see it, it allows us to project things we might see in the final movie of the trilogy:

1.  Luke will return in astral form.  Han might also.

2.  Rey WILL be revealed to have some sort of hidden family connection to Ben, in spite of what will turn out to be Ben's misdirection about her heritage. This also means a hidden connection to all of the Skywalker and maybe Solo ancestry. Whatever the answer is will explain the symbolism of Rey seeing multiple versions of herself, receding into the distance, in the mirror.

3.  Ben will have some sort of redemption and atonement, as Anakin did before him.  I still think that he wants to complete his grandfather's work by "balancing the force."  Nobody is clear what defines this "balance" but he presumably has his own ideas about it. 

Of course, these points leave out a wealth of detail, but they are the recurring plot elements to be expected from Star Wars as a Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey.  Remember, however, that as Campbell also said, it is not what is similar that defines a story.  Creativity is in innovation, i.e. how the formula is used in a way that feels new and fresh.