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New Star Wars film is titled Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In this movie we can see "Kylo" has Force powers, "Rey" has Force powers at the end and Princess Leia also has Force abilities. Luke Skywalker is already a Jedi.

So, who is the "Last Jedi" referenced in the movie title? Is it:

  1. Luke Skywalker

  2. Kylo Ren

  3. Rey

  4. Princess Leia

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    @Sobrique this question answers clearly states that "The Last Jedi" title is singular and not plural. – zakinster Jan 22 '18 at 15:03
  • On temporality, if title is singular, then Luke is the current last Jedi. If title is plural, then it refers to Luke AND other future Jedi to be. – Cœur Jan 24 '18 at 05:15
  • "Titular" is the probably the wrong word, although Jedi may be a title (like Knight or Prince) for all I know. I think you mean "eponymous", referring to the name of the movie, not the title of a character. – Jive Dadson Jan 25 '18 at 09:04

6 Answers6

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Though, the title itself is quite ambiguous, but we can go through the movie plot and conclude it.

Princess Leia is sensitive to the Force, but she is not a Jedi. She didn't get training as Jedi.

Kylo Ren was trained as Jedi, but he was seduced by the dark side of the Force, so he is not a Jedi.

Rey was just learning the ways of the Force, but wasn't under actual Jedi training. She might be a Jedi in future, but it's speculation for now.

When master Yoda died in Return of the Jedi, Luke was the last Jedi left. Here is the conversation between Yoda and Luke.

Yoda: Luke...Luke...Do not...Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate, you will. Luke, when gone am I (cough), the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke, the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned, Luke... (with great effort) There is...another...Sky...Sky...walker.

When Kylo Ren fights with Luke near the end of The Last Jedi, they have following conversation,

Kylo Ren: And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi.

Luke Skywalker: Amazing.

Every word of what you just said...

was wrong.

The Rebellion is reborn today.

The war...

is just beginning.

And I will not be the last Jedi.

And the opening crawls of The Force Awakens says,

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

So, it is clear that the title is referring to Luke.

A J
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    Luke says: "And I am not the last Jedi.". "Therefore, we can conclude that the title is referring to Luke Skywalker.".... erm? Surely the implication is that both Luke and Rey are Jedi, and the title is plural? I believe that the director has confirmed that the title is meant to be plural. – Tom Bowen Jan 22 '18 at 11:21
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    Rey is not the Jedi yet actually. She was just learning the ways of the Force. And about the title being plural is already discussed in detail in the first link. I also corrected the quote. – A J Jan 22 '18 at 11:24
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    I think taking the quote "I will not be the last Jedi" and using that to conclude that he is the last Jedi requires a little more explanation than you have. To me Luke is explicitly saying the he is not the last Jedi there. If your interpretation disagrees with that I think you need to justify your position a little more. – Chris Jan 22 '18 at 11:37
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    @AJ: I can kind of see the interpretation that at that moment he is the only Jedi but I think you need to be more explicit about that in your answer. "I will not be the last jedi" reads more as "When you kill me I will not be the last jedi" - that is he is saying that Kylo Ren can kill him but he still wouldn't have wiped out the Jedi. ie equivalent to "You can delete my account from stackexchange but I will not be the last user". I'll admit that I can't remember the exact context but I don't personally agree with your last paragraph as a logical conculsion. – Chris Jan 22 '18 at 12:29
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    @Chris I guess there is conflict in what movie title suggests and what Luke says. Though, it's clear that the title is referring to Luke. I have removed the last part in order to avoid confusion. – A J Jan 22 '18 at 12:46
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    The title is intended to appear as if it is referring to Luke. Interviews with the director and several cast members reveal that the title is meant to be intentionally misleading - it is a play on the fact that Jedi could be singular or plural, and it refers to only Luke at the beginning of the movie, but both Luke and Rey at the end. – ClydeTheGhost Jan 22 '18 at 14:44
  • I don't believe that Rey became a Jedi. She's strong with the Force (as is Temiri "Broom Boy" Blagg), but the specifics of the Jedi practices are contained in the old Jedi texts. I'm of the opinion that Rey is going to start a new "religion", a new way of using the Force. So technically she won't be a Jedi; she'll just be a really strong Force user with her own way of doing things. ... Which I guess means that Luke was the last Jedi. – BrettFromLA Jan 22 '18 at 19:00
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    @BrettFromLA Rey has the texts.

    I interpreted the title as not actually being literally "true" by the end of the movie. Luke was the last Jedi, but now he isn't any more.

     – Tin Wizard Jan 22 '18 at 22:30
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    @BrettFromLA Rey's encounter with Snoke could be analogous to Luke facing the Emperor and becoming a Jedi. It's pretty ambiguous just from the movies what constitutes becoming a Jedi. – Shiv Jan 22 '18 at 23:58
  • @Tom.Bowen89: The interview with Rian Johnson says the opposite: He thinks it's singular. Whether that's the last word on the subject is another question. – T.J. Crowder Jan 23 '18 at 06:48
  • There is a scene near the end (as Rey and Fin are hugging, I think?) that, when watching, appeared to confirm for me that the "last Jedi" was referring to Rey - is that Luke's "and I am not the last Jedi" line? I'll have to watch it again to catch that detail. – BradC Jan 23 '18 at 15:32
  • @Tom.Bowen89 Obi Wan being in denial is hardly anything new. – corsiKa Jan 23 '18 at 22:45
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    @Shiv Given parallels to ROTJ and Since Snoke says that Rey has "true spirit of a Jedi" along with Luke's comments to Kylo suggest that Luke is not the last Jedi at the end. He may have been at the beginning. – iowatiger08 Jan 24 '18 at 19:36
  • Incidentally, if Luke had a Jedi school where he trained Ben Solo, where are all his other protégés? – Luke Sawczak Jan 25 '18 at 04:22
  • Actually, the French title (Les derniers Jedi) is a bit less ambiguous (and was a bit of a spoiler to me) : it is plural. Therefore, according to me, it refers to Luke and Leia. – Chop Jan 25 '18 at 05:30
  • @Chop No, it's not. Some of the translations are clearly singular, some clearly plural, some ambiguous. Have a look at that question if you want to dig deeper :) – Luaan Jan 25 '18 at 09:30
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    @iowatiger08 Snoke isn't necessarily flattering Rey when saying that. It might mean anything from your implied "Wow, you're actually kind of a Jedi" to "Bah, just another stupid girl that doesn't use and enlarge the power she has". – Luaan Jan 25 '18 at 09:33
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Luke Skywalker is referred to as "the last jedi" by the opening crawl of Episode VII: The Force Awakens:

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

The text of the Episode VII opening crawl can be found on this wiki page: "Opening crawl", Star Wars wikia

Mark Rogers
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Geekmann
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    But once he's dead, could Rey be the new last Jedi? I think that's the question / confusion. – BrettFromLA Jan 22 '18 at 19:01
  • I think the title of the movie is based on the premise that Luke is the last of the Jedi. There could be a second meaning by the end of the movie, but it should be safe to say Luke is the last Jedi at the start of Episode VIII. I think Rey could be considered the new last Jedi if the training she underwent with Luke in Episode VIII is sufficient to be called a Jedi. This seems possible because Luke was similarly trained to be a Jedi by Yoda in Episode V. On the other hand, because of the short timeline in Episode VIII, Rey's training could not have been as long as Luke's was. – Geekmann Jan 22 '18 at 19:44
  • All of your points make sense. – BrettFromLA Jan 22 '18 at 20:58
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Rian Johnson, the writer and director, seems to indicate that it is indeed Luke, though he seemed hesitant to do so in April 2017

During a chat with ABC News in April, Johnson wouldn’t confirm the title as a reference to Luke. “Well, if you say so,” he said to the suggestion. “I’m gonna take your word for it. They say in The Force Awakens that he’s going to find the last Jedi temple, and Luke is the last Jedi.”

But another interview in September shows more certainty:

“It’s in the opening crawl of The Force Awakens,” he clarified. “Luke Skywalker, right now, is the last Jedi..."

HorusKol
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At the start of the movie, Luke Skywalker is The Last Jedi. He is the only Jedi-trained individual in the Galaxy who has not fallen to the dark side.

At the end of the movie, Rey has everything she needs to become a Jedi and train a new generation. She has the will, the ability to stand up against temptation, and the Jedi tomes stolen before Yoda burned the shrine down (beside the blankets in the Falcon). There are children throughout the galaxy inspired by the tales of Luke and Rey and companions, including one who force-pulls a broom before striking a pose.

I suspect the real reason of the movie's title is the paradox it evokes:

The Last Jedi has died, but he will not be The Last Jedi.

Yakk
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As of the end of The Force Awakens, we believed Luke Skywalker to be the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Even the opening crawl of The Last Jedi calls him this:

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

However, the name of the film is a twist, playing into the surprising (?) events of the film's end:

Luke dies, and in voiceover indicates that he is not the last Jedi.

Camerawork and events happening elsewhere indicate that, instead:

Rey is.

Whether you believe this is good storytelling and/or actually makes any logical sense is quite another thing. :)

Lightness Races in Orbit
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Well. Even though the answers so far make sense, in all foreign translations into languages which differentiate between plural and singular "The Last Jedi" was translated into the plural form, indicating at least two (arguably Luke and Rey).

The fact that it happened on every possible instance indicates that this was a deliberate top-down decision, though it could just be miscommunication between writers and marketing.

http://www.gamesradar.com/star-wars-the-last-jedi-title-is-plural-according-to-multiple-foreign-language-logos/

pedrogfp
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    Not all foreign translations use the plural form, see https://movies.stackexchange.com/a/84868 . It is quite an eclectic list, at least as far as Slavic languages are concerned (Slovak = plural, Slovenian = singular, Czech = indeterminate)! – jaytibann Jan 22 '18 at 15:29