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LOS ANGELES (CNN) — Where is Luke Skywalker?
The Internet is bothered by the fact that the beloved "Star Wars" character does not appear — at least not openly — in either the trailer or the poster for the forthcoming and eagerly awaited "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
And when the web is bothered rest assured that there will be theories aplenty.
The one lots of folks appear to be rallying around is that Skywalker, played by actor Mark Hamill, is now one of the bad guys.
"One evening, while geeking out with my daughters, I decided to share a theory I had with them about Star Wars — specifically Return of the Jedi: Luke Skywalker turned to the Dark Side at the end of the trilogy," writes Rob Conery on Observer.com. "I shared this story with them because I think my theory is reinforced by trailer for the new movie."
Skywalker as Sith? Say it ain't so!
"The theory is that Kylo Ren, the new "totally not a Sith" bad guy with the cross-guard lightsaber, is actually Skywalker, who's now fighting for the Dark Side," wrote Nick Romano of CinemaBlend. "I know, it sounds a little crazy, but fans have been finding evidence to support it — the least of which is that it sounds like something Abrams would do."
Luke is "missing" from the poster *and* the trailer. Luke as Sith Lord confirmed! https://t.co/r8qjn3frOVpic.twitter.com/NSSrgY0Rfh — Mike Moore (@blowmage) October 20, 2015
Conery offers up as evidence Skywalker's failure in "Return of the Jedi" and Yoda's warning that "Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his emperor. If you end your training now...if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did...you will become an agent of evil."
"There it is: Yoda said it point blank," Conery writes. "How many times has Yoda been wrong in the first six films? He knew Luke was on a path to become his father and, by leaving, he failed at preventing it."
Other theorize that Skywalker — who may be the figure with the gloved hand seen reaching out to touch R2D2 in two of the trailers — could simply be in hiding.
Esquire gathered 12 possible theories for his absence including the tongue-in-cheek (we hope) one that "Luke is Jar Jar Binks, so we'll never see him again."
Director J.J Abrams told The Associated Press that the missing Skywalker is no accident.
"These are good questions," Abrams said when pressed about it. "I can't wait for you to find out the answer."
The film hits theaters in the U.S. on December 18.
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