My take on how people in the OT and ST think the Jedi are myths and whatnot.
Thirty years ago the Rebel Alliance had taken Coruscant, finally ending the Galactic Civil War. A monument to Mon Mothma had been erected to commemorate all she had done for the galaxy, she was the leader of the rebellion, the reason the Empire had been toppled. It was only logical after all. That was the official history, of course. But what the pilots and traders talked about in the cantina was far more interesting. A man named Luke Skywalker had made the greatest shot in all of history, down a narrow exhaust port barely two meters wide, and had destroyed a superweapon that had destroyed an entire planet. The Death Star. That pilot had made the luckiest shot in the history of the galaxy, they always said. Information was sparse about the years between the Death Stars. Then he was at the destruction of Death Star II, supposedly he had defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, somehow getting off the station just in time. But no one believed that, they all said it was rebel propaganda.
After that he had disappeared for years. Battles were fought and won between the Rebels who became the New Republic, and Imperial strongholds and various other groups that wanted them to return to the old ways. Everyone had heard the legendary acts of General Leia Organa and her husband Han Solo. The former even became a prominent leader in the New Republic government. Eventually their lives tapered down, focusing on rebuilding rather than conquering. So in the meantime rumors went back and forth of Luke resurfacing, using something called 'the Force', a remnant of some ancient group that predated the Empire. But again he went silent, no one knowing what had happened to him.
"I'm telling you, he stood ten feet in front of me. It had to be him!" the older man exclaimed. He had served in the rebellion in his younger years, and was keeping up the fight against the First Order, a shadowy group she was beginning to hear more and more about.
"It's impossible, that ancient cult died out before the Empire," a young woman her age countered.
"Cauterized wounds, limbs separated. A masked man with a red blade. It's Darth Vader, back from the grave!" the older man nearly shouted, attracting surly looks from other patrons of the cantina. Noticing the hostility, he leaned in closer to the fellow pilot. "I saw this when I was a young man, Luke Skywalker-"
"Luke Skywalker! The only thing I believe about him is that he made a near-impossible shot thanks to his targeting computer, the rest are just stories old man," she said, slamming her hands down on the table. "I'm gonna go check and see if the ship is ready, you have fun fantasizing about hokey religions," she said shortly, placing some credits on the counter before leaving.
"His computer was off," the old man mumbled. He looked over to where she was sitting, and waved his hand. "Come on, I know you've been listening." Timidly the girl stepped forward, unaccustomed to being called out in situations like this. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Rey," she said quietly.
"Rey, what do you know about the Jedi?" he inquired. She shrugged, unsure of what he wanted. He sighed, slightly frustrated at her lack of speaking.
"Well I want you to know it's true, all of it. The Force, the Jedi, lightsabers, the dark side. Every bit of it is real," he told her, turning back to his drink. She didn't show it, but a glimmer of hope returned inside of her.
Without a sound, she slid off the bar stool and out into the cold desert night of Jakku.