Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought the Skywalker saga to an end and made Rey part of the Skywalker’s legacy by having her take on the last name of her mentors, and it would’ve been a great ending had the film not made Sheev Palpatine part of her story. The history of the Star Wars saga can be divided in three: the original trilogy, the prequels, and the sequels. The original trilogy began in 1977 with the film now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, followed by Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
As there was more to be explored in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas expanded the Star Wars universe with the prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005. These films focused on Anakin Skywalker’s story, from his days as a young slave in Tatooine to his rise as Sith lord Darth Vader. Following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, the studio announced a new trilogy, and while it included the main heroes from the original films, it focused on a new generation of characters. Among those was Rey (Daisy Ridley), a young scavenger from Jakku whose parentage was unknown.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens showed Rey was Force sensitive and was quite skilled in lightsaber combat without previous training, which made many fans believe she was descended from one of the main characters from the original trilogy (some even believed she could have been Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter). The second installment in Disney’s sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, revealed Rey was a “nobody”, but the following film, Star Wars: The Rise of the Skywalker, retconned this by making her a Palpatine. By the end of the film, Rey decided she was more a Skywalker than anything else, and so introduced herself as one – which would have been a powerful ending had she not been a Palpatine.
Rey’s story, as told before The Rise of Skywalker happened, was that she was sold to Jakku’s economy for drinking money when she was little, and spent a big part of her life working as a scavenger and waiting for the day her parents came back for her. Kylo Ren told her she was a “nobody” in The Last Jedi, something that didn’t make fans happy. The Rise of Skywalker, in an effort to reconcile with the fandom, retconned this part of Rey’s story (and tried to make it look as a “twist”) by making her a Palpatine. The Emperor’s return ended up not being as exciting or menacing as expected, and was mostly used to give Rey a “dark” past, as she turned out to be his granddaughter.
All this made the “Rey Skywalker” moment at the end of The Rise of Skywalker a moment that didn’t have the impact nor the significance it should have had, as it’s a good concept, but the execution was truly bad. “Rey Skywalker” marked a major turning point in Rey’s arc, as she was taking full control of her life, choosing her own path, and taking on the name of her mentors and only parent figures she ever had. Rey Skywalker also tied things together and gave the Skywalker name a whole new meaning, proving you don’t have to be a Skywalker by blood to identify as one. Rey Skywalker was planned even before The Force Awakens came out, but Disney had no idea how to get to that moment, and it showed, as adding Palpatine to Rey’s arc ended up hurting the whole concept.
The problem is not that The Rise of Skywalker included Palpatine – the problem is how it did it. The Emperor was supposedly dead after the events of Return of the Jedi, where Darth Vader threw him down a reactor shaft to save his son, as he was being tortured by Palpatine. His return generated excitement among Star Wars fans, but Disney’s lack of a plan showed once more. Palpatine didn’t really do anything new, and how he survived/returned wasn’t properly explained until after The Rise of Skywalker came out. Palpatine ended up doing the same things he did in the original trilogy (such as urging Rey to strike him down so she would fully turn to the dark side), and pretty much undid Anakin’s sacrifice at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Making him Rey’s grandfather (of sorts, as her father turned out to be a failed clone, and this Palatine himself was a clone as well) was the cherry on top of a messy and unplanned return, and it ended up hurting her final decision. While it’s seen as Rey renouncing her real family name (and depending on who you ask, that can be good or a lazy solution), it also looked like a desperate attempt from Disney to “make things right” as this was the final entry in the Skywalker saga, making her decision hard to believe and lacking any of the emotional charge it could have had if done differently.
The “Rey Skywalker” twist would have still worked had she stayed as the “nobody” The Last Jedi established, and it would have actually worked better. The intention behind taking on the name Skywalker was to show that you don’t have to be a direct descendant of the famous family to identify as one, which would have had the desired impact had she not been linked to a powerful Sith lord or any other well established and relevant character. Rey’s journey would have had a bigger significance if she had been a no one, as it would have shown her building her own family with those who were by her side through this whole adventure and paying respect to her mentors.
Disney’s Star Wars sequels were full of unplanned decisions that seem to have been made as things developed and according to the reaction of the audience. Palpatine’s inclusion only ended up leaving a bunch of plot holes that the novel desperately tried to fill, but its biggest mistake was how it affected the “Rey Skywalker” ending, which can’t be fixed now no matter how hard Disney tries.
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