So I'm new to star wars (and this website) and I recently watched The Last Jedi. I really enjoyed the movie and would like to understand it more since it has many "Star Wars concepts" I have no idea about.
Can someone please explain to me how Kylo Ren and Rey can communicate to each other in the movie.
The ability for one powerful Force user to communicate directly with another Force user (especially one with whom one shares a personal connection) was shown in Star Wars: The Empires Strike Back when Vader speaks briefly to Luke.
"Luke, It is your dest..tiny"
Last Jedi Director Rian Johnson spoke to both the in-universe methodology and also the filmmaking rationale in an interview.
“It was always through the demands of the story. With the Force connections between Rey and Kylo I thought, ‘OK, I need to get these two talking. But if I put them face to face they’re going to either fight, or one of them has to be tied up.’ So I knew I wanted them to talk, and to talk enough to where we could go from ‘I hate you,’ to her being forced to actually engage with him. That’s where the idea of these ‘Force connections’ came from, which is kind of a new thing. It’s a little bit of a riff on what happens with Vader and Luke at the end of ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ but it’s entirely new in some regards.”
The Last Jedi: Rian Johnson Explains Kylo/Rey Force Connection
Snoke claims that he did this intentionally, in order to lure Rey into his clutches.
Snoke: Young fool. It was I who bridged your minds
They are connected through the Force, which is the magical energy field that the Jedi make use of. It's the same mystical power Rey can draw upon to move rocks with her mind, and that allows Luke to project himself across space.
This particular power is not defined very specifically, but in the sixth season of the TV show "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" it's shown that these bonds can form between people who are close, though Snoke claims to have created the bond between Rey and Kylo.
It was allegedly Snoke who bridged their minds to lure Rey into a trap so that he could find Luke and end the Jedi for good.
Snoke: Young fool. It was I who bridged your minds.
However, there is some debate over whether Snoke actually did this or just claimed too, especially considering at the end of the film
when Snoke is dead
that the two seem to share the connection again. Though this could be explained by their minds having already been linked.
As for if they could see each others surroundings, well they couldn't.
Kylo Ren: Can you see my surroundings?
Rey: (something, can't remember)
Kylo Ren: I can't see yours
I did some research on the Mind-Bond Through Force subject, because there are several new canon books (where the story develops better than in the movies, for obvious reasons) and apparently, despite what Johnson says, it is NOT a new concept within the Universe. There are two fairly long articles about it on Wookieepedia, divided in Canon and Legends (R.I.P.).
Being objective and keeping it within the new canon, it's definitely happened before (yeah, that's how much Johnson actually knows about what he attempted to write...) and mentions the mind-bond between Ezra and Darth Maul in the Rebels animation. It also mentions a bond between Master Yoda and his former apprentice, Count Dooku (a.k.a. Darth Tyranus). If you're really curious, I recommend you read both articles, they give you "real" examples of how the bonds happen and how can one side or the other manipulate it to instill determined emotions on the other party or pass on feelings and messages (like in ANH, as cited above).
Snoke bridges there minds together in order to lure Rey into coming to see and face both Kylo Ren and Snoke. Snoke makes Rey see Kylo Ren's (Ben) light future, when Ren sees Rey's dark future. The reason why they cannot kill each other, like when Rey hit Ren with a bullet into his stomach is because they are spirits, like Luke surviving 1000 bullets in his face with the AT-M6’s.
