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At the end of the film we learn that Luke
wasn’t actually on Crait and had projected himself along with Han’s metal dice-on-a-chain.
After the game is up and he stops
projecting himself, the dice stick around for a while longer.
Why did he do that? It seems that was the only thing he continued to
project. If his intent was to buy time, why continue to exert the effort needed for the dice
after he accomplished that purpose?
He showed up to Kylo Ren for as long as he needed to create a distraction, and when he felt he had accomplished his goal he had no more reason to stick around, he disappeared.
But the dice weren't a part of that distraction. That was his own gift to Leia, to remind her of Han and give her hope. Either he intended it to last until she got to the falcon, or otherwise it may have have just disappeared as a consequence of his becoming one with the force (and the moment we see it happen would coincide with that event).
The dice don't disappear until just after Kylo Ren finds them. It's fair to assume that Luke kept "projecting" them so he could torment Kylo Ren with the memory of his father.
Luke basically tells Kylo that he's going to haunt him after death, "like his father" (Han Solo). I think Luke can sense that Kylo is already haunted by the ghost of his father, and leaving the dice just long enough for Kylo to find them is Luke's way of reinforcing that conflict in Kylo's mind.
