History Fridge / TheRiseOfSkywalker

* We see Rey, and later Ben, using the Force to heal others. Palpatine can do the same trick, except he doesn't ''give'' of his life force, he ''takes'' it from others to sustain himself, not unlike one fan theory as to how Darth Vader ended up surviving his injuries while Padme "lost the will to live."

* The death of General Hux is constantly criticized as one of the most silly and corniest from the saga and a disservice for who could have been a great villain in the sequel trilogy, first appearing in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' as a serious bad guy and then reduced to a comic relief ButtMonkey in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. However, this was a fitting and well-deserved way to finish Hux's story arc from a certain point of view: for someone who had high ambitions for powers and believing himself to be destined to greatness, no matter how many should have to die to achieve his goals, Hux ended up suffering an indignant and ridiculous death.

* Palpatine's return gets only a HandWave explanation in the film but makes sense: Force users can retain individual consciousness within the Force, and even manifest as Force Ghosts. Only Jedi have been seen to do so, perhaps because an existence of enlightenment and wisdom within the Force is one only a Jedi would want. If a Sith achieved that power, motivated by hate and anger and ambition, would his Force Ghost content itself with acting as a mentor to others? No, the first thing a Sith Ghost would do is go to its followers and tell them to start cloning a replacement body immediately. Palpatine always seemed a level above the few other Sith seen in the films, willing to study both sides of the Force, it's in character that he would be prepared to ensure his immortality in that way, and then following up with the GrandTheftMe he intends for Rey.

!!FridgeBrilliance :

** 'Luke' comes from 'Lucius', meaning 'bright one,' and 'Rey' is an alternate spelling of 'ray', as in 'ray of light', continuing the [[MeaningfulName MeaningfulNames]] ''Star Wars'' characters are sometimes given.

* The existence of Jannah and her team help answer the question of whether it is right for our heroes to have killed countless Imperials who were only doing their jobs. Like Poe, Jannah defected, showing that other Imperials had the same choice. (This is a gross simplification but at least it advances the discussion.)

** WordOfGod is the page in ComicBook/DarthVaderDarkLordOfTheSith interpreted as confirmation [[https://screenrant.com/star-wars-anakin-father-emperor/2/ "Palpatine is Anakin's father"]] did not depict a direct connection between [[https://mobile.twitter.com/missingwords/status/1208973509134671872?s=19 Palpatine and Anakin's birth]] and that "the Dark Side is not a reliable narrator." Maybe nobody has to worry about accidental incest? GodNeverSaidThat Palpatine definitively did not create Anakin (and not that he did, either). Anakin's conception remains a StarWars mystery.

* The title "The Rise of Skywalker" is a subtle callback to ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' - after all, in that movie, Anakin Skywalker's original personality and light-side allegiance returned from decades of being Darth Vader, so one might easily say that Skywalker rose within Vader. Also, the title of the film [[ThemeNaming follows the traditional]] "R of the X" pattern the previous trilogy-enders used -- ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' and finally ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. Only the "the" has changed place.

** Anakin could still be the Chosen One for three reasons:

* If Palpatine had succeeded in stealing Rey's body, then he would have ended up with a womb. And if he had a womb, that means that he now has the ability to impregnate himself every time he is close to death and just transfer his mind to his newborn child. And if this is true then logically, if he just used genetic engineering to ensure that the child was female, then he would effectively have immortality as he could just repeat the trick ad-infinitum.

* While Rey being a Palpatine might be a ShockingSwerve, keep in mind that her life story is still part of ''Skywalker Saga''. So, imagine if her being a nobody remains unchanged, imagine that you watch Skywalker Saga chronologically from Anakin's childhood, Palpatine's manipulation of him, Anakin being redeemed by his son and died, his son and daughter got old and died, and then their family saga is finished by some random girl whose only connection to the Skywalkers is being Luke and Leia's apprentice. That could be somewhat of a letdown, from a certain point of view. On the other hand, making Rey a Palpatine got the saga to end in the most unexpected way because... who would've thought that the Skywalker Saga would be finished by a grandchild of the ''BigBad''?

* Much was made in the fandom about Rey "copying" Force abilities used on her by Kylo Ren in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''. He tries to Mind Probe her, she learns the JediMindTrick; he tries to pull Anakin's lightsaber to his hand, she pulls it to hers; he channels the Force to drive her back with his lightsaber, she channels the Force to drive him back with her lightsaber. Now, come this film, Rey uses the Force to heal and revive Kylo Ren. . . then Ben Solo later uses the Force to revive and heal Rey. Kylo Ren inadvertently taught Rey her first Force tricks, she inadvertently teaches Ben Solo his last.

* Leia realising Rey's lineage but keeping it a secret makes perfect sense: she knows exactly what it would do to Rey if the truth were discovered, but it's exactly what happened to ''her''. ''Literature/StarWarsBloodline'', a prequel nove to the Sequel Trilogy, shows that when Leia's relation to Darth Vader became public knowledge, it not only ruined ''her'' life, but her family's lives as well. As far as Leia knew, Palpatine was dead and staying that way, so what point would there be in forcing that AwfulTruth upon the girl?

* In their final fight, Rey starts unknowingly shifting into the Dark Side by fighting in blind rage, while Ben starts unknowingly shifting into the Light Side by fighting composedly and calmly and ''not'' out of rage for the first time in the series. It takes Rey stabbing Ben to realize she has fallen to the Dark Side, and it takes Ben getting stabbed to realize he can return to the Light Side.

* For that matter, their final battle in this film is reminiscent in tone to Anakin Skywalker versus Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Anakin went all-out on Obi-Wan, demonstrating improved skill and a deeper connection to the Force (the Dark Side) than ever before, and Obi-Wan continuously fell back before him... not because he was outmatched, but because he was more in tune with the Force and letting it decide when, where, and how it would all end. Now, Rey is going all-out, demonstrating vastly improved skill and a deeper connection to the Force than ever before, and Kylo Ren is letting the battle flow towards its ultimate conclusion. The symbols are the same, the meanings reversed, as happens all the time in ''Star Wars''.

* The death of General Hux is constantly criticized as one of the most silly and corniest from the saga and a disservice for who could have been a great villain in the sequel trilogy, first appearing in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' as a serious bad guy and then reduced to a comic relief ButtMonkey in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. However, this was a fitting and well-deserved way to finish Hux's story arc: for someone who had high ambitions for powers and believing himself to be destined to greatness, no matter how many should have to die to achieve his goals, Hux ended up suffering an indignant and ridiculous death.

* By the time Ben makes it to Palpatine's throne room, he's already pretty badly injured--the crash-landing into the pit alone would have been enough to kill an ordinary human, and he takes a good beating from the Knights of Ren before Rey gets him a lightsaber. Then Palpatine literally tosses him away, and we see him brutally slam into the edge of the cliff before falling down a ravine. He would have horrific internal injuries at minimum by the time he was climbing out of the ravine--which, from the looks of it, he did with a broken leg on top of everything else. By the time he made it to Rey, most likely the Force was the only thing holding him together. It's a wonder he survived as long as he did.

** Rey’s Father could be an unaltered clone of Palpatine. We know Palpatine has Dooku visit Kamino. Who's say as Chancellor, he paid for an unaltered clone of himself.

** Note that Palpatine did the same thing in ROTJ: he kept telling Luke that giving into hate and trying to kill him (or later killing Vader ) would cause him to fall to the Dark Side, which kept reminding Luke to reject that path whereas if he'd just kept his mouth shut, the odds of Luke taking that step would have been far higher. In other words, when he has his primary opponent face to face and he's on the verge of total victory, Palpatine can't help gloating. And he doesn't learn from the first time that didn't work out for him.

* What happened to [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse the porgs]] aboard the ''Millennium Falcon''? There were several of them on the ship at the end of ''The Last Jedi'', but they're nowhere to be seen a year later. Considering that the few dozen Resistance survivors were low on supplies and on the run for some time until they established a new base...yeah, maybe those porgs started to look quite tasty...

** Similarly, for much of the film (and series), Ben Solo is an identity that Kylo Ren has abandoned as part of his past - he has "been Solo."