Agreed. The Lincoln Letter is basically a stand-in for the idea of "Hey, we ended slavery and passed the Civil Rights act, things are equal now!" or the lie of the post-racial world after Obama's first election.

That's not twisted logic at all, it's the definition of a red herring.

I don't think it's about intelligence or logic, it's about him doing what he thought was necessary to possibly get his son back. The Han of TFA isn't the same Han of ANH, that's kind of the point. When 70 years old you reach, act the same you will? :)

I think all the complaints about "fan service" miss the fact that sometimes Star Wars fans are pretty cool and clever and know what's good :)

lol sad, but probably true

yeah my theory is that she was one of the jedi apprentices but Ren couldn't bring himself to kill her (maybe because she was the youngest?) so he spared her and secretly hid her so that Snoke wouldn't find out. That's why he's so worried about "going to the light" and why he''s so upset when he finds out that BB8…

My theory, posted elsewhere, is that Ren left Rey on Jakku to hide his failure to kill her from Snoke, but I think this is a pretty cool idea too.

I can definitely see Mel Gibson and Danny Glover tracking down a drug dealer named Snoke, who has been selling drugs to children.

Damn, thanks man! I really appreciate the thoughtful response. I have a week at my in-laws so I'm thinking of sitting in the corner with Netflix fired up on the iPad lol.

I think so too; I'm hoping that we get much more character development in 8.

; )

i guess what i like about this idea is that somehow Snoke is something not of the Force, neither Light nor Dark, and it would take both sides of the Force to defeat him. I don't like the idea of "intentionally going to the Dark Side," because that's dumb

Daisy Ridley is so pretty she just hears what she wants

This is an interestingly batshit insane theory that definitely puts a new spin on "bringing balance to the Force." Kinda like it, though its highly unlikely.

Cool, thanks! I'm going to do that!

Damnit, the other thing that is REALLY interesting is the political situation between the Resistance/Republic. Like the Resistance is more of an offshoot militia, publicly denounced. Kinda cool. Really makes you wish they had worked that into the movie more.

of course, the question remains: if he is Darth Plagueis, why would he choose a laughably stupid name like "Snoke" as his alias? Lol.

At this point I think it would be weird if he WASN'T Darth Plagueis.

I actually haven't! But I should, I've heard good things. And TFA has restored some of my faith in Star Wars so maybe now is a good time.

yeah I think Snoke as Darth Plagueis is the best-case-scenario for that character.