By now Luke Skywalker's self-imposed exile has been talked to death by fans based solely on theories without many real concrete facts. Disney has said in the past that nuggets for major story lines going forward are often planted in some of their supplemental Star Wars material (TV Shows, Books, Comics, etc.). One of the new rumors making rounds involves the latest Darth Vader comic, which is telling the story of how the recently christened dark lord gets his crimson lightsaber.
Warning: Potential spoilers for the Darth Vader comic and Star Wars: The Last Jedi follow:
Just to set things up, here's the scenario. Darth Vader is just getting started, and Order 66 has purged most of the Jedi from the Galaxy; the optimum word being "most." Vader is in need of a Lightsaber, but as it turns out, Sith have a very different way of going about getting one. Since they are all about strength, power, and domination, they take what they require rather than finding it. So The Emperor sends Vader on a quest to find a Jedi, kill them, and take their lightsaber.
To accomplish this, Vader finds an Old Republic station which is packed with Clone Troopers who have been killing anyone and everyone with Force powers. Since they don't know who Vader is, they attack him before being over-powered by the Sith Lord.
Now, here's where The Last Jedi could potentially come in.
Upon killing the troopers, Vader goes into the station's database to try and locate a Jedi who has taken something called a "Barash Vow," which according to the comic is the reason that the Jedi who survived the Purge did nothing to fight back.
Here's a panel from the comic with Vader explaining what the "Barash Vow" is:
Since the Barash Vow is a type of penance, according to Vader, it could be possible that Luke Skywalker takes the vow in an effort to go completely off the grid as his nephew, Ben Solo grows to power within The First Order as Kylo Ren after destroying Luke's attempt at reviving the Jedi Order. This would, in theory, explain why Luke is so willing to let Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke run amok through the galaxy as he remains in exile the planet of Anch-To.
Then again, this is all just a theory that could just as easily be wrong, but we won't have to wait long to find some answers as Star Wars: Episode 8: The Last Jedi releases in theaters on December 15th, 2017.
Sources: [ComicBook.com, Reddit]
