Star Wars: 3 lessons The Rise of Skywalker failed to learn from The Last Jedi
3. “To say that if the Jedi die, the light dies, it’s vanity.”
One of the most powerful messages in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is that the Force does not belong to the Jedi. When speaking to Rey, Luke asks her what she knows about the Force. “It’s a power the Jedi have that lets them control people and make things float,” is her response.
“Impressive,” Luke replies. “Every word in that sentence was wrong.” As their training continues, and Rey’s understanding evolves, Luke finally elaborates a bit more. “And this is the lesson. That Force does not belong to the Jedi. To say that if the Jedi die, the light dies, it’s vanity.”
While The Rise of Skywalker may have learned a little about how the Force does not belong to the Jedi, it got lost in the vanity of their need to be the ones who snuff out the darkness. Finn is apparently Force Sensitive, a point that was very poorly communicated in The Rise of Skywalker.
However, aside from that, The Rise of Skywalker seemed to make the Force all about the Jedi. In fact, it’s as if Abrams actively decided that Rey’s initial definition of the Force was correct all along, because the Force is primarily used in The Rise of Skywalker to control people and make things float.
On top of that, as mentioned in the first lesson about letting the past die, the decision to make Rey a Palpatine rather than sticking with The Last Jedi‘s explanation took her immense Force power and made it all about her lineage. The Rise of Skywalker heavily implies that, were she not a Palpatine, Rey would never have such extensive or powerful Force abilities.
The Rise of Skywalker even goes as far as to bring the entire battle between The First Order and basically the rest of the galaxy to Exogal, where Rey is going to confront Palpatine, and the Sith, as a Jedi. The film desperately wants to give that power back to the Jedi and make sure we know that they’re exactly as necessary to this galaxy as they were once believed to be.
Next. The Rise of Skywalker: Let’s talk about Hux. dark
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently playing in theaters.