Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Is Spoiler Really Dead?

Warning! Major Spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens follow!

If you haven't yet watch Episode VII, I strongly recommend you stop here and come back to this article having seen the new addition to the saga.

Since you're still here, we'll continue.

After a screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I found myself in disbelief. I was racking my brain for happy ending answers to the question, "Is Han Solo really dead?" And to be honest, growing up Star Wars was never at the top of my obsession list but it still shook me down to my spine and made me scratch my head and look at the limited number of people around me to see they were all going through the same instant grief. So, for folks who had their childhoods devastated with one quick flick of a three-headed light saber, I can only imagine their horror.

In any case, I sat in the car on the ride back to my office looking for an answer to that question other than, "Yes, he is dead." Let's look at the facts here. Han was impaled by his son's lightsaber. It went clean through his abdomen and out of his back. Then, he fell a seemingly infinite distance to the point that we couldn't see him anymore or possibly ever again.

It doesn't stop there, though. The Starkiller Base would first collapse after Chewie's vengeful pressing of the remote control's button which exploded all of their planted bombs, then explode as a whole after Poe, Rey, Finn, and Chewie narrowly escaped.

To top it all off, the Force appeared to have reached Leia at the moment of his demise, her deep personal connection to Han shaking her upon the events. This, if nothing else, seems to be the confirmation of Han's death.

Time to start looking forward. Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters May 26, 2017.