By now Star Wars fans have consumed the latest and final trailer for Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, capping off a series of teaser trailers that the House of Mouse has been releasing to generate anticipation for the film. Episode IX will conclude the epic sci-fi series George Lucas started in 1977, and bring together elements from all nine films in its exciting climax.
New heroes Rey, Finn, and Poe join forces one last time with old icons Leia, Chewie, and Lando to take on Kylo Ren and the First Order one final time, the conflict of which may finally bring balance to the Force and peace to the galaxy.
One component of the recent Disney films has left Star Wars fans' tongues wagging; the appearance of "Dark Rey", complete in typical Sith garb, wielding a red lightsaber. Rey had been brought dangerously close to the Dark Side during her training with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To. Her "raw power" rivals Dark Side warrior Kylo Ren. Will she decide to join him against the Resistance? Will she defy Skywalker's teachings? Here are 10 hints from the latest trailer that Rey will turn to the Dark Side.
HER USE OF A DOUBLE-BLADED RED LIGHTSABER
In the teaser trailer for Episode IX, Rey brandishes a blade that is both familiar and unfamiliar to Star Wars fans. What at first appears to be a red lightsaber, the color of all Sith and Dark Side users, quickly turns into a double-bladed weapon with a flick of her wrist.
She could have acquired this one of two ways, and both ensure she's gone completely to the Dark Side. Either she killed a dark warrior and took it from them, or she made it herself, demonstrating her ultimate conversion to the Dark Side and peak training prowess by locating a kyber crystal and "bleeding the life" out of it. Only one other Sith carried such a blade; Darth Maul.
HER ALL-BLACK WARDROBE
Besides telltale signs that Rey has gone to the Dark Side with the use of a double bladed red lightsaber, another dead give away in the Episode IX teaser trailer is her striking new wardrobe. She's seen wearing a black and grey tunic, as well as an impressive black cowl so voluminous that it would make Palpatine jealous.
It's notable that most Jedi, when descending to the Dark Side adopt a similar wardrobe change. Anakin Skywalker's tunic famously went from brown to black leather, and even Luke, for his conflicted showdown with Darth Vader and the Emperor in Return of the Jedi wore the hue conveying his turmoil.
FIGHTING ALONGSIDE KYLO REN
Though most of the scenes in the final Episode IX trailer involve Rey and Kylo Ren facing each other in battle, there is a particular scene that shows them working together that's given rise to the theory that Kylo Ren may have finally appealed to Rey's curiosity about the Dark Side.
Ever since the establishment of their Force bond and their duel in Supreme Leader Snoke's Throne Room, Star Wars fans have wondered if she would ever accept Ren's offer of joining him and "letting the past die". Here they seem to both be destroying the pillar that held Darth Vader's charred mask, Ren's souvenir from an ancient legacy.
THE PRESENCE OF EMPEROR PALPATINE
By now, we've heard Palpatine's laugh over the teaser trailer, and we've seen him on the teaser posters. The final trailer for Episode IX finally revealed what might be him in the flesh, albeit the scenes are as shrouded in mystery as the true extent of his power. Apparently he's been able to rise from the dead.
Star Wars fans have been wondering what it could mean to have Palpatine return, and many surmised he would make a power play for Rey's allegiance. The presence of Palpatine, more persuasive than Snoke in many respects, might reveal Rey's true destiny is at his side.
SHE ISN'T SEEN IN MANY SCENES WITH THE RESISTANCE
Throughout the latest trailer, we see several scenes involving The Resistance. There are shots of Poe, Finn, and Lando on a mysterious ice planet swapping strategies, and shots of an impressively sized Resistance fleet preparing to face off against the First Order.
Rarely do we see Rey in these scenes, except aboard the Millennium Falcon. There are a few scenes involving a skiff chase, but for the most part, she seems to spend the trailer scrambling over sunken Imperial debris. She'll spend it sectioned off from her friends, and perfectly vulnerable to suggestion from the Dark Side.
SHE SEEKS OUT THE SECOND DEATH STAR WRECKAGE
Since her days vaulting across the technological chasms found in an Imperial Star Destroyer grounded on Jakku, Rey has known her way around the finest in the Emperor's fleet. And if the trailer is to be any indication, she's drawn towards the most infamous of it.
Rey seems to set out with the intent to locate the Emperor's throne room amidst the wreckage of the second Death Star, with a distraught Finn screaming at her to stay behind. The Dark Side of the Force flows through the wreckage, very possibly calling her to her true destiny.
KYLO REN COULD TURN TO THE LIGHT SIDE
Many Star Wars fans have wondered if the immense conflict in Kylo Ren would drive him towards a reunion with the Light Side of the Force. The part of him who is still Ben Solo, who misses his father and mother dearly, has always threatened to disrupt his intimidating aura as Kylo Ren, now Supreme Leader of the First Order.
In order for Kylo Ren to turn to the Light Side, there must be balance to the Force, which could result in Dark Rey finally becoming a reality. The symbolic paradox that this would represent, with a former Dark Side user now fighting for the Light Side, would entail a former Light Side user fighting for the Dark Side.
"PEOPLE KEEP TELLING ME THAT THEY KNOW ME..."
In what could be construed as a meta-message address of the real world conflagration that Daisy Ridley has suffered as a result of playing Rey, she explains to Kylo Ren, "People keep telling me that they know me...but they don't", implying that everything we thought about her character has been turned upside down.
We can understand why Rey would be sick and tired of the constant pressures to live up to an ennobled ideal, as well as use her powers for the benefit of others. Her convictions are rarely her own, and perhaps a turn to the Dark Side will allow her to tap into her own strength and use her newfound power to create her own agency.
"LONG HAVE I WAITED..."
Finally getting a shot of the Emperor's Throne Room from Return of the Jedi in the latest trailer may have felt like a punch in the gut (among many) to Star Wars fans, but it was the haunting voice floating over the imagery that made them get chills.
As Kylo Ren and Rey both meet at the same location, we hear Palpatine intoning, "Long have I waited, your coming together will be your undoing". Classic hubris from Palpatine, or the cold hard truth about the fact that he's been pulling the strings the whole saga?
SHE'S A CLONE DESIGNED BY PALPATINE TO EMBODY THE DARK SIDE
One of the dominating Star Wars theories currently circulating is that Rey is a clone created by Palpatine. Whether for himself to embody and cheat death (as Sith are want to do), or as the ultimate disciple, it's been postulated that Palpatine created her using Sith Alchemy the same way he may have created Anakin Skywalker without a father.
In this sense, the current Rey may not be the one that turned to the Dark Side, but she may have to battle a version of herself who did. It may seem like a completely far-fetched theory, but a clone connection would tie into the prequels and Rian Johnson's most recent film.