*******SPOILER ALERT********
The ending of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is specific about both the victory and the damage. Han Solo goes out onto the bridge over Starkiller Base’s reactor to bring Ben home, and Ben kills him. That is the emotional hinge of the whole last act. Leia senses Han’s death, Chewie fires on Kylo Ren, and from that point on the movie is not pretending the new trilogy’s family wound can be solved easily.
The action ending is just as clear. Poe and the Resistance attack the oscillator from the air while Han, Chewie, and Finn plant explosives inside the base. Chewie detonates the charges, Poe destroys the oscillator, and Starkiller Base begins tearing itself apart. At the same time, Finn tries to protect Rey from Kylo Ren, is beaten, and Rey finally stops running from what she can do. She calls the lightsaber to herself, turns the fight around, and defeats Kylo before the planet splits them apart.
Then Abrams does the handoff. R2-D2 wakes up, the missing piece of Luke’s map appears, and Rey travels to Ahch-To with Chewie and R2. The final image is not another explosion. It is Rey holding out Anakin’s lightsaber to Luke. So the ending, very literally, is this: Han dies, Starkiller Base is destroyed, Rey wins her duel with Kylo Ren, and the story ends by finally putting the next generation face to face with Luke Skywalker.
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