"Donnie Yen

While our shots of Donnie Yen are only brief, we seem him doing what he does best. Yen is one of the top action stars out of Hong Kong and the glimpse of him we see here shows us why. Armed with only a staff, he finds himself surrounded by Stormtroopers, though for him that doesn’t appear to be an issue. He may turn out to be the most interesting character of the lot. The Jedi have been the closest things to martial artists that we’ve seen in the Star Wars universe, but our understanding is that nobody on the team actually is one. It gives Yen a unique skill set."

(CinemaBlend, embedded link)

At first I was extremely tempted to suggest him as an Baran Do Sage, still am actually, but the martial art suggest a follower of Palawa, and the fact that The Followers is also said to study the Midichlorians, on the other hand the Baran Do is said to go unnoticed by Vader and the Empire. Mind you this is all speculations from a Legend(old EU) perspective.

Yen's character might be a mish mash of them both OR none of them!

The thought though, my friends, is very tantalizing . . .

Might be barking up the wrong tree totally as well ...

Followers of Palawa is Legends.

Though I respect your knowledge and your opinion, stating the obvious AND the already mentioned kinda makes you come off like a

This quote is almost exactly 2 years old: "The slight concession was made at the time to maintain the existence of the Expanded Universe under the banner of Star Wars ‘Legends,’ with writer Simon Kinberg (providing story direction for the franchise as a whole) promising that those stories could still be used as “inspiration” for canon projects."

kinda makes you come off like a

Makes me come off like a series of emoticons?

If you're going to call me something, don't hide behind emoticons. Makes you look borderline petulant.

This quote is almost exactly 2 years old: "promising that those stories could still be used as “inspiration”."

Using Legends materials as inspiration is not the same making Legends material canon.

i.e. Ben Solo instead of Jacen Solo, and the events of their lives as we know them.

You're a confused, unhappy rakghoul.

He's not saying they're canon, he's saying they can bring them back. You pointing out they're not canon is worthless as that was already understood.

Maybe he's just a martial artist?

Fair assumption I think, but to throw a random MA, monk like character, even if it's Donnie Yen, seems a bit like a waste though. As non Jedi/Sith force wielders we got the Nightsisters and Frangawl cult, the Force wielders on Mortis, the five priestesses and the Dagoyan Masters.

The force wielder on Mortis seemed to me to be last of their kind, the five priestesses did Yoda encounter as manifestations of the Force, the Nightsisters found their connection to the force through Dark energies, the Dagoyan Masters are, well, not looking like Donnie Yen!!.

From this I would argue that there is room for a Force neutral or positive Force organisation in the new canon. But you may very well be right, he might just be a MA fella!!?

He could also be a Matukai Adept. Possibility.

Could be, though if they would introduce a non Jedi/sith Force neutral organisation they probably would go with a brand new name and purpose, hence my mish-mash comment in my OP.

Viewing what now is the new canon I get a distinct feeling that we're moving towards a grey paradigm concerning the Force. Lucas seemed to be working more and more towards an absolute Good vs Evil aspect of the Force, while many others like Filoni more seems to be leaning towards the Grey aspects, Ahsoka being his greatest contribution to that line of thoughts.

From my point of view, an re-introduction of a Force sensitive/neutral based organisation, in this time of canon, would make sense.

But then again he might just be someone using martial art . . .

If anything, it'd certainly be interesting if Don's character is indeed, a force sensitive and a force user, but not trained by either Jedi or Sith methods.

To me, it seems like a chance to bring in different aspects into the entire Star Wars mythos, somewhere along the lines that seems to almost depict real world insights on religion. Throughout the past EU and Legends there have been attempts to portray and depict groups or organizations that were aware of the force, but not in Jedi/Sith way -- but so far IMO its still superficial.

If Donnie's character uses certain aspects of the force in combat, but in a different way... then this can open up the existence of "different religious views" on the force to the canonity set forth by movies! Just like how in the real world, some people believe different religions are actually different views about the same divinity, like how Christians and Muslims basically both worship the same god, but with very different views, maybe there are different people who feel and train in the force in their own way, and also with their own interpretations about the light and the dark. If this is a sign that these concepts are making its way to canon, then that'd be super cool.

I mean, what else would allow a blind man to smack around stormtroopers with a walking stick, if it is not the force?

If anything, it'd certainly be interesting if Don's character is indeed, a force sensitive and a force user, but not trained by either Jedi or Sith methods.

 

To me, it seems like a chance to bring in different aspects into the entire Star Wars mythos, somewhere along the lines that seems to almost depict real world insights on religion. Throughout the past EU and Legends there have been attempts to portray and depict groups or organizations that were aware of the force, but not in Jedi/Sith way -- but so far IMO its still superficial.

 

If Donnie's character uses certain aspects of the force in combat, but in a different way... then this can open up the existence of "different religious views" on the force to the canonity set forth by movies! Just like how in the real world, some people believe different religions are actually different views about the same divinity, like how Christians and Muslims basically both worship the same god, but with very different views, maybe there are different people who feel and train in the force in their own way, and also with their own interpretations about the light and the dark. If this is a sign that these concepts are making its way to canon, then that'd be super cool.

 

I mean, what else would allow a blind man to smack around stormtroopers with a walking stick, if it is not the force?

As someone who is legally blind and a martial artist, it's not as hard as some people think smacking people around when you can't see them, especially with a stick

As for canonizing other views on the Force, we are already seeing a bit of that in Rebels with the Lasat and their Ashla. Hopefully they bring more stuff in.