Destruction of Luke Skywalker ' s Jedi Temple The destruction of Luke Skywalker ' s Jedi Temple occurred at the hands of his nephew and apprentice , Ben Solo , sometime between 28 ABY and 34 ABY . Before the temple fell , Jedi Master Skywalker sensed the dark side building within his nephew and feared for the boy ' s future . One night , Skywalker looked into a sleeping Solo ' s mind and saw that the dark side had already corrupted him . Skywalker instinctively ignited his lightsaber before quickly realizing his error , but it was too late : Solo awakened and , believing his uncle was about to murder him , collapsed his room and trapped Skywalker under debris . Solo then razed the temple and murdered the rest of the Jedi . Solo fled with a handful of other disciples and joined the First Order under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke , who had been seducing the boy from afar , and became Kylo Ren . Skywalker , distraught over his failure , abandoned his hope of rebuilding the Jedi Order and went into exile on Ahch - To , the birthplace of the Jedi Order . It was not until 34 ABY that he was rediscovered by Rey , a powerful Force prodigy who tried to convince Skywalker to help the Resistance in the war against the First Order . Skywalker was reluctant but chose to briefly rejoin the conflict and confront his nephew , sacrificing himself in the process — and reigniting the legend of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Order across the galaxy . Prelude . After the end of the Galactic Civil War , Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was the last Jedi left in the galaxy . With help from the likes of Lieutenant Shara Bey of the Rebel Alliance and the explorer Lor San Tekka , Skywalker sought out ancient relics and texts of the Jedi Order to better understand their history and teachings . As the war was coming to a close , Senator Leia Organa of the New Republic and General Han Solo welcomed a son , whom they named Ben Solo . Even before he was born , Organa sensed the capacity for both light and darkness within her son . After many years she sensed the influence of Snoke , the Supreme Leader of the shadowy First Order that had arisen from the ashes of the Galactic Empire . Hoping to curb Snoke ' s dark side influence , Organa wanted Skywalker , her brother , to train Ben as a Jedi . Skywalker took his nephew and a handful of other disciples , gathered over his many years of traveling the galaxy , and established a Jedi Temple , from where he hoped to rebuild the Jedi Order . This fulfilled a promise to Skywalker ' s own Jedi Master , Yoda , who on his death bed told Skywalker to pass on what he had learned . And so he did , training Ben and the others in the ways of the Jedi . Throughout Ben ' s training , Skywalker also sensed the growing darkness within his nephew , but he believed that he could contain it and keep Solo on the path of the light . The temple falls . Ben ' s darkness continued growing , and Skywalker came to fear what it might mean . He went to confront his nephew in the boy ' s room and , while Ben slept , used the Force to look into Solo ' s mind . What Skywalker saw terrified him : he saw Snoke ' s dark machinations and the death and despair that his nephew would bring . In the briefest moment of pure instinct , Skywalker ignited his lightsaber to kill him and prevent what he had seen , but was quickly overcome by shame for thinking of killing his nephew . But it was already too late : Solo awakened and saw his uncle standing over him with an ignited blade . Thinking Skywalker was about to murder him , Ben ignited his own lightsaber and the two sabers clashed , as Solo used the Force to bring the roof of his room collapsing down upon them . With Skywalker trapped under the rubble , Ben left the ruins of his room and lit the Jedi Temple aflame before attacking his fellow students , murdering all but a handful who left with Ben as they fled the Jedi Temple . By the time Skywalker regained consciousness , it was too late ; the temple was in ruins and the corpses of his students littered the grounds . Luke , overcome with despair and shame with only his faithful astromech droid R2 - D2 by his side , watched as his Jedi Temple and the future of the Jedi Order collapsed into flames . Aftermath . Ben joined the First Order and fell under the tutelage of the Supreme Leader , taking on the new name of Kylo Ren — master of the Knights of Ren — in the process . His actions at the Jedi Temple earned him the moniker of " Jedi Killer " amongst the First Order ' s ranks , though it was many years until the wider galaxy learned about what happened to the Jedi Temple . Snoke believed that Skywalker also had to be destroyed , lest the spark of the Jedi remain alive in the galaxy . For his part , a shameful Skywalker blamed himself and went into exile on Ahch - To , the birthplace of the Jedi Order and the home of the first Jedi Temple , where he intended to one day die . It was his intention to bring an end to the Jedi religion , which he believed had only a legacy of hubris and destruction in the galaxy — in his mind , it was the Jedi that allowed Darth Sidious to create the Galactic Empire and seduce his father , Anakin Skywalker , to the dark side . There were many rumors and stories about where Skywalker had fled to , but those closest to him believed that he went looking for the first Jedi Temple . The First Order and the Resistance , led by General Organa , both searched for Skywalker and sought out San Tekka , who had part of map to Ahch - To . The map was pieced together by the Resistance and given to Rey , a powerful Force prodigy , who used it to find Skywalker on Ahch - To . She tried for some time to convince Skywalker that the return of the Jedi was critical if the Resistance was to prevail war against the First Order , but he was too guilt - stricken . It was not until the spectral intervention of Yoda that Skywalker was shaken from his guilt and put his faith in Rey as the future of the Jedi . During the Battle of Crait , he projected his appearance into the conflict to confront Kylo , allowing the Resistance to escape from certain destruction . The effort he expended proved fatal and Skywalker passed away into the Force on Ahch - To , but , through his actions , the legend of Skywalker and the hope of the Jedi and the Resistance spread across the galaxy . Behind the scenes . The destruction of Luke Skywalker ' s Jedi Temple was referenced in the 2015 film . Although the event took place in the film ' s backstory , its aftermath was briefly seen in Rey ' s vision . The event ' s development was featured in the 2017 film , although mostly during Luke Skywalker ' s and Kylo Ren ' s flashback sequences . Though included in the finished version of the film , " The Last Jedi " director Rian Johnson was the one who decided to add the three flashbacks which showed the destruction of Luke ' s Jedi Temple as a late addition , given the fact that these sequences were not present in the film ' s script before shooting began . Taking inspiration of the 1950 film " " , Johnson decided to divide the sequence in three parts from different points of view , instead of just doing a long flashback as he wanted something harder to influence Rey ' s journey in the story .