How long ago did Kylo Ren fall to the dark side? This is perhaps one of the most important questions to me. Because it sets everything else in motion. I get the feeling it's been approx 5 years.

We know that this event spun everything else in motion. Luke was training a bunch of new Jedi. They may or may not still be alive. (I suspect they are). We know that when Ben Solo turned to the Dark Side, he "destroyed" the whole thing, IE Luke's Jedi Academy. Luke then blamed himself and went into hiding.

I'm also under the impression that Luke's departure lead to the rise of the first order. His absence somehow allowed them to flourish. Now we don't know how strong the 1st order actually is. We know they built an amazing weapon, but we don't know if perhaps, in the new canon, the Emperor had already started in years ago.

I've also heard some compelling theories about Rey, and some of them are strictly dependent on when Luke went into hiding, because if she was in ANY way involved with that situation it would have had to have been close to 15 or so years ago. (Assuming Rey's character is around 21 yrs old -ish?) And Ben looks to be roughly the same age as Rey, so if it happened 15 years ago, he'd have been almost a baby - and I have a hard time believing that a child that young could effectively ruin Luke Skywalker.

So It seems like Ben became Kylo Ren only a few years ago. He hasn't been evil for THAT long. And if I'm right on that, than Rey's orphanage would seem to have nothing to do with Ben Solo's turn to the Dark side.....

However he KNEW who she was... which makes me wonder.

What I am curious about is Rey and Leia hugging there at the end. Within the movie, the two of them had never even seen each other. How did Rey know who needed comfort? Why did Leia seek comfort from her instead of Chewie?

Unless they knew each other before that bit makes no sense at all.

I get the impression that they just have an infinity as force users who have known and lost Han.

She can't be Leia's Daughter - Leia would know. Again, if all this happened only 3-5 years ago, (The flashback of Kylo Ren cutting people down with the Knights of Ren, seems to confirm that this couldn't have happened THAT long ago), then Rey would have been still a young adult when she was taken away from her parents.

One thing I saw that suggests it's been quite a bit longer, is that Kylo's saber shows his training stopped before he built his first one, and was in fact never shown how to build one.

That supposedly comes fairly quickly in a padawan's training. So he would've had to turned quite some time ago.

The flash back could be Kylo coming back some 10 or so years after he left Luke to kill Luke. He could be as young as 10 or so when he fell to the darkside. Luke could quite easily consider the fact that Ben fell to be proof that the Skywalker line was cursed and cause him to chuck it all away. In the vision it looked like Luke was alone.

There was a vision or flashback that showed Rey being dropped off on Jakku, she looked be around 8 or so... So that means she's been there for around 10 years or more.

They are both Force sensitive so likely have an affinity that let them know.

One thing I saw that suggests it's been quite a bit longer, is that Kylo's saber shows his training stopped before he built his first one, and was in fact never shown how to build one.

That supposedly comes fairly quickly in a padawan's training. So he would've had to turned quite some time ago.

The flash back could be Kylo coming back some 10 or so years after he left Luke to kill Luke. He could be as young as 10 or so when he fell to the darkside. Luke could quite easily consider the fact that Ben fell to be proof that the Skywalker line was cursed and cause him to chuck it all away. In the vision it looked like Luke was alone.

There was a vision or flashback that showed Rey being dropped off on Jakku, she looked be around 8 or so... So that means she's been there for around 10 years or more.

Looked more like 5 to me. Agreed that he was never shown how to build a saber, but figure that was one of the LAST things that Luke did, so I'd wager that saber training came later in Luke's new Jedi order.

I also feel like the First Order isn't THAT established. They seem fairly new to me. They seem to only have ONE star destroyer. I realize we only see one and there are probably more elsewhere, but I think it is reasonable to assume that if they had a VAST fleet - Starkiller base would have been better defended. They probably have very few ships. Granted that ONE ship is HUGE - but it's got to be one of their only capital ships if Ren, Hux, and Phasma are all stationed on board the same ship.

Agreed that he was never shown how to build a saber, but figure that was one of the LAST things that Luke did, so I'd wager that saber training came later in Luke's new Jedi order.

Hard to say. In the Marvel comic book, luke finds a huge trove of jedi stuff, owned by a Hutt. Much of that I think was taken by Vader, but Luke might of gotten ahold of it after Endor.

So there's a question on just how much Luke learns about the how the old order worked. While it's true that Luke learned how to build a saber latter, he had very little training as a Jedi when he did. Unlike most Jedi, he didn't start training until he was an adult.

We don't know young Ben was when he started training with Luke, but as I remember it, the Solo twins weren't that old... But Ben could of been as young as a pre-teen or teenager when he gave Luke a big FU and ran off. I think given Luke's lack of a support system, no formal training and what happened to Anakin it wouldn't take much to push him over the edge and believe he wasn't capable of training Jedi.

Could see him deciding it might be better off if the Jedi died off completely.

What I am curious about is Rey and Leia hugging there at the end. Within the movie, the two of them had never even seen each other. How did Rey know who needed comfort? Why did Leia seek comfort from her instead of Chewie?

Unless they knew each other before that bit makes no sense at all.

Leia and Han are legends; I feel like Rey must have known that they were married, or at least that they fought together. And really, I didn't see that as Rey seeking comfort; I saw it as her telling Leia, "I'm sorry, but Han died." And Leia already knew that to some extent, thanks to the Force; but Rey gave her confirmation.

And Chewie is more of a loner. He's a social loner, but when it gets down to it, he doesn't want to share his pain with anyone -- except maybe his closest friend. Who's dead now.