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We know that Luke Skywalker vanished after

Kylo Ren killed his students.

But, for some reason, there’s a map to his location. That seems odd for someone who doesn’t want to be found, at least not by the wrong people.

vs06
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    Oooooh! Awesome question!!! I was itching to ask this for days!

    I don't have a canon answer, but the likelyhood is, he assumed that he should be reachable in an emergency. Like, y'know, evil guys blowing up the entire New Republic... Or Leia needing an emergency babysitter and nobody else is free

     – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 04 '16 at 19:55
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    I have been thinking about this too, I assumed it was actually his navigation history. The entire chart was needed to find the proper hyperspace routes. Plausible? –  Jan 04 '16 at 19:56
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    Who says Luke left the map? – phantom42 Jan 04 '16 at 19:58
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    @phantom42 - the shot where he was "hand-touching" R2-D2 in Rey's Force vision is probably the fact that most strongly hints at that. But you're correct, the "fact" that it was by his choice/design is not a fact, just a likely assumption. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 04 '16 at 20:00
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    Given that Luke lives on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere, I'm assuming it's so that Dominoes can find him before he starves to death. – Valorum Jan 04 '16 at 20:14
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    How about asking "Why does the map need a path?" If you know where he is, couldn't you just go there by whatever route you wanted? Space is mostly empty, after all. – Joel Brown Jan 04 '16 at 23:30
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    Most people who don't want to be found, actually want to be found. – Möoz Jan 04 '16 at 23:36
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    Spoiler in title. I'd say leave it, but they had me change my question on "Luke's absence" to be "Hamill's screen time". – RedCaio Jan 05 '16 at 03:32
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    @JoelBrown This is mere speculation, but I justified not being able to "go there by whatever route you wanted" by the late Solo's quip from ANH: "Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"

    Assuming they would want to go through hyperspace (and considering the distance, they'd be insane not to) it would take precise calculations and the utmost accuracy to plot the correct path. They can't just, say, enter point A and come out point B.

    Assuming they didn't choose to go through hyperspace, they would have probably reached Skywalker by the time Episode IX's credits roll.

     – slickdeveloper Jan 05 '16 at 05:50
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    @MichaelBecker According to (even Disney-)canon evidence, we know that hyperspace trips are not a simple distance / hyperdriveRating thing - some routes are inherently faster, while others are inherently slower (I assume major trading hubs exist on places that have plenty of fast routes). The former EU goes even further, and explains that hyperspace routes are discovered, rather than "calculated" - and discovering new routes is shown as extremely dangerous business. Most likely, plotting a course in hyperspace is actually finding the fastest path in a graph of known nodes and edges. – Luaan Jan 05 '16 at 09:46
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    What is even stranger is why was the "inside part" of the map not enough? It's like having a 5x5 mile part of a city map, complete with street names and all, and the biggest organization on the planet couldn't figure out where that map segment is. Even that small part contained hundreds of star systems. Are there billions of completely uncharted systems in that galaxy so that no computer algorithm can match it anywhere? – vsz Jan 05 '16 at 14:37
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    Mostly because bad story writing, and the need to drag this narrative over at least 2 more movies... – SnakeDoc Jan 05 '16 at 16:09
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    Mmmmm. Continuity, you want. Patience you must have; amateurish the editing was. If teenager you were, better scripts than this could you write, yes! – keshlam Jan 06 '16 at 01:00
  • @vsz For starters, this is a huge map in a 3d environment, detailing a course, not just a location. This is very different from part of a city map, which is almost infinitely smaller, more or less 2d and showing locations instead of paths. – Kevin Jan 06 '16 at 11:46
  • I don't think we actually know from the film that the character mentioned in the spoiler block was the "apprentice" who performed that deed. It's implied, certainly, but so were many other things that turned out to be explicit misdirection. – TREE Jan 06 '16 at 15:41
  • So someone finally asked the most burning question after 300 something questions? Interesting but it was asked in Quora before also: https://www.quora.com/Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens-2015-movie/Why-did-Luke-Skywalker-leave-a-map-of-his-whereabouts-if-he-didnt-want-to-be-found-Or-did-someone-else-create-a-map-of-his-location – ermanen Jan 07 '16 at 19:54
  • To me, the haggard look on Luke's face at the end of TFA suggested there had been repeated attempts to get away from these people for years, and yet they always manage to find him again. ;) – RobertF Jan 08 '16 at 15:35
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    This question assumes the answer in the asking of the question. There is no concrete evidence that he did not want to be found in the right circumstances or under the right conditions, and the story is only 1/3 of the way told. This is a poor question, considering how narrative works in story telling. What his actual intention is or was remains as a plot point to be discovered in subsequent episodes. Recommend closure as only speculation or opinion can fill in until the whole episode is told. – KorvinStarmast Jan 09 '16 at 06:30

4 Answers4

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Throughout the movie people kept calling it a "map to Luke Skywalker" but I think they were being a bit sloppy with their phrasing.

At one point, Han mentions that everyone believes Luke left to find

the first Jedi temple.

The map everyone is looking for, then, isn't a map to Luke. It's a map to the thing Luke was looking for. This is significant, because two different characters have most of the map already:

Kylo Ren tells Rey this, and R2-D2 displays it at the end.

Both characters got this map information from the Empire's records, so clearly the map predates Luke's journey by a long time. In fact, in the novelization, one of the Resistance members makes this same connection, after being told that the Imperial Records had the rest of the map:

'Admiral Statura nodded in agreement. “It makes sense. The Empire would have been looking for the first Jedi temples.'

What's missing from this map -- likely, missing from the Empire records -- is the last piece. However the Empire got this map, one section of it was lost/damaged/never scouted/etc. That is the thing that was found at the start of the movie and that everyone else needs to find Luke.

KutuluMike
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    The movie would have made so much more sense if they had used this perspective instead of "map to luke skywalker." Him leaving to go to the original Jedi Temple and then there being a map of that location makes so much more sense. It'd make more sense for everything, it'd make more sense why the First Order wants to destroy it/him, why a map exists at all, and why both sides care about it. – enderland Jan 04 '16 at 22:17
  • That only leaves the question: Why don't we see Luke in a temple? Star Wars has tons of architecture that lasts for ages, yet he seems to be on the top of a mountain completely devoid of human structures. – Theik Jan 05 '16 at 09:10
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    @Theik Out of universe, that location (scotland) is several millennia old. If the jedi temple is older than that it is reasonable that it has depreciated similarly – Gusdor Jan 05 '16 at 09:27
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    @Theik not all temples are Roman or Greek like in architecture :) See Stone Henge for example - its a solar temple, looks nothing like what you would expect of a temple tho. And the mountain isn't completely devoid of human structures, we see a series of stone steps, earthworks and dry stone walls on Reys trip up to Skywalker. – Moo Jan 05 '16 at 12:44
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    @Gusdor I believe it was filmed in Ireland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skellig_Michael – Bob Tway Jan 05 '16 at 13:49
  • the novelization makes it clear that there are more structures (living quarters, etc) on the island, and likely the surrounding ones, Luke is just standing in a clearing at the top of the mountain. – KutuluMike Jan 05 '16 at 14:16
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    @Gusdor That was filmed off the west coast of Ireland (off the County Kerry coast to be specific) – user001 Jan 05 '16 at 16:36
  • @enderland maybe "map to Luke" is how the characters (mis)understood it. They don't necessarily know about Luke's mission to find the temple. – jcm Jan 06 '16 at 14:29
  • Han is the one who told us that's what he's doing. "Those people close to him think he went off to find the first Jedi temple." – KutuluMike Jan 06 '16 at 17:54
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    @enderland I think "map to Luke Skywalker" made sense in the movie. Nobody cared about the first Jedi Temple tbh. Only Luke did. Kylo Ren wants the map because he's on a quest to finish what Vader started - Order 66. Leia+Han+Rey wants the map to get to Luke before Kylo and save or warn him. And no matter how much the good guys want the Jedi back, they still don't care for the temple. So yes, a "map to Luke Skywalker" is more relevant wording to the folks in universe than a "map to the first Jedi Temple where Luke Skywalker is" conversationally. – thegreatjedi Jan 07 '16 at 02:41
  • @enderland not to mention only those who truly knew Luke knew why he disappeared. Everyone else just thought he went into self-imposed exile. They know there's a map that leads them to him, but why would they care why the map existed in the first place? The dark-siders are too focused on killing Luke, and the do-gooders aren't interested in finding him (except those who know the truth already) – thegreatjedi Jan 07 '16 at 02:43
  • temple? Did someone just drop a spoiler? ratbag. – RedSonja Jan 07 '16 at 15:01
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    If you read the whole question and answer and started in on the comments, you deserved the spoiler. – KutuluMike Jan 07 '16 at 15:07
  • What a wonderful answer, thank you. – Fattie Jan 07 '16 at 18:02
  • Not only that.. but Luke disappeared before.. and without telling anyone.. when he left to search for Yoda on Dagobah.. – sksallaj Jan 08 '16 at 21:36
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I assume the overarching plot is going to be that Luke is a Chessmaster implementing a Xanatos Gambit against the Dark Side.

  1. If there is a remnant of Dark Side agency in the Galaxy, then my establishing a Light Side school will draw it out. (... especially urgently, given the Force user population bottleneck Vader/Sidious implemented recently.) Alternatively, the school succeeds and everyone lives happily ever after.
  2. If there is such a remnant, the Force has shown me the school will be destroyed. Consequently, I will need to go into hiding, much as Yoda did. (But instead of using a dark nexus as camouflage, I will use a light nexus.) Alternatively, I will be hunted down relentlessly (which is at least un-fun and possibly lethal.)
  3. I will need to cache a Force user out of the way and let events unfold so that she is eventually caught up in events to block the resurgence of the Dark. Otherwise, see the alternative to #2.
  4. I will need to place R2-D2 such that the cached Force user will (somehow) trigger release of plot-critical information. (I really do wonder how R2 was triggered to awaken -- Rey DNA sensor, R2 is Force sensitive, Luke remotely activated him following the Force ripple of the death of the New Republic core worlds, countdown timer, something else... This was the most unsatisfactorily handwaved part of TFA for me.) Otherwise, if the Dark rises and the person who comes to find me is not the cached Force user (because that user is dead or was insufficiently Force capable to stop the Force ripple (use of Starkiller Base).), I will need to wait until the Dark spreads across the Galaxy and subvert it quietly later.

Consequences: If my cached Force user arrives at my location shortly after the major Force ripple, it will be time to set out to shut down the Dark. Otherwise, continue hiding.

This answer may be colored by the pre-Disney writings about Palpatine's Xanatos Gambit regarding defending the Galaxy against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Eric Towers
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    The novelization makes it clear: R2 woke up when he heard someone else mention the map fragment and he realized he probably had the rest in his data banks, from when he plugged into the Death Star. – KutuluMike Jan 05 '16 at 01:41
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    One could argue Luke has experience with the Xanatos Gambit from the end of Jedi. The Emperor thought he was using the Gambit on Luke, since if Luke killed Vader and/or the Emperor, he would have become a new dark lord, but it turned out that Luke out-gambitted the Emperor by not killing either of them and giving up in the end. At least that's true from a certain point of view. – Todd Wilcox Jan 05 '16 at 04:33
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    This was the most unsatisfactorily handwaved part of TFA for me I actually didn't feel that it was handwaved at all. When I watched the film, I perceived R2's activation as a complete, and totally unexplained, surprise. – Dan Henderson Jan 05 '16 at 13:22
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    @Dan Henderson, I would have thought it was a surprise if C3PO hadn't said 30 minutes before, "Hey BB-8, there's no chance R2D2 has the other part of the map so don't bother trying." I don't know why they added that line. Gave away the ending. – xdhmoore Jan 06 '16 at 06:39
  • @xdhmoore I can't believe I didn't realize at the time that C3PO has a well-known penchant for attempting to talk others out of exactly what it is in their own interests to do. – Dan Henderson Jan 06 '16 at 13:13
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    @MikeEdenfield the movie could have made that clear, with no additional foreshadowing than already exists, by showing some sign of life from R2 when he was revealed... zoom in on his optical sensor and show a tiny flash of light behind it to show he's listening. Would have been more satisfying. – Jason Jan 06 '16 at 18:48
  • @Jason, exactly what I thought – xdhmoore Jan 07 '16 at 00:26
  • @Jason it absolutely could have, and I REALLY wish it had, because everyone is getting that wrong. But it's been definitively established by the director that that's what happened, so going forward we should act as if it was in the movie. – KutuluMike Jan 07 '16 at 15:39
  • @MikeEdenfield I'm fine with the explanation, I just wish it had been portrayed better. It just feels poorly thought out, which is the last thing I want to see from a Star Wars movie right now. My objections will fade if the movies overall continue to be good. – Jason Jan 07 '16 at 16:46
  • emerges from five hours spent in the TV tropes jungle Bad wuju, @eric-towers, not warning me about the TV tropes link! Nice answer, though! :D – Gunnar Södergren Oct 06 '16 at 08:49
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I took it as, "I don't want to be found, but if you really, really need me, here's where I'll be."

Sort of like giving co-workers your private phone number when you're going on vacation.

Zommuter
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user151841
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4

I think you answered your own question. He doesn’t want to be found by the wrong people, so he created a two-level authentication challenge that presumably, only the right person/people/Wookiee can complete. Finding the fragment is the first part, but anyone can do that. The second part is to get R2-D2’s approval. Those requirements are never made clear, but the implication is that R2-D2 must validate that the right person and/or Wookiee found the fragment. You can infer that Rey is the right person, as R2-D2 failed to activate until she presented herself.

Adamant
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Mohair
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    Except the First Order already has the same information R2 has. The novelization makes it clear that R2 got that information from the Death Star, so in theory lots of people might have it. It also explains why R2 woke up and it has nothing to do with Rey. – KutuluMike Jan 05 '16 at 01:40
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    It was also plainly established in dialogue that if Kylo Ren succeeded in extracting Rey's knowledge of the map fragment, he'd be able to reconcile it with galactic map information the First Order already possessed. – Dan Henderson Jan 05 '16 at 13:26