#how badly she handles the MULTIPLE slave owning characters as like... not an actual problem and just set dressing for their character but i

[volfoss]

i keep fucking forgetting i left off at a really bad line and having to reread it again...

[jedimaesteryoda]

Things I Don’t Like About the New Disney Star Wars

I’m a longtime hardcore Star Wars fan. I was introduced to it as a child, and became a bigger fan when I went to high school. I enjoyed the movies and the Expanded Universe, and still go to Comic Con in Jedi and Sith outfits. I was among the fans that was a little worried when Disney bought Lucasfilm and planned to make movies from the franchise. I am sorry to say my fears didn't prove to be unfounded. 

1. Luke Skywalker

The protagonist of the original trilogy that we followed on his path to becoming a Jedi Knight. We meet him in The Last Jedi as he is now a disillusioned, bitter old man haunted by his failure with his nephew, Ben Solo. Now, I love the scene where he talks to his old mentor, Yoda, who gives his signature wise words and points out Luke not being grounded in the present, but stuck looking at the past. I also like seeing this Luke show some character development, and sacrifice his life to save the Resistance. 

However, I find it hard to believe that a man who never gave up on his father when everyone else including his mentors told him Anakin was a lost cause, would give up on his nephew. I think it would have been better if instead of Han going to Ben in Force Awakens, it was Luke, thinking he could save his nephew like he did his father. He also states the Jedi record is nothing but failure, which is clearly false as Obi-wan stated that up until Palpatine the Jedi served the galaxy for over a thousand generations (25,000+ years). While there is some truth in what he said in there being arrogance among the Jedi with Yoda stating in Attack of the Clones that overconfidence was becoming common among Jedi, saying that the Jedi let a Sith lord come to power really undersells Palpatine. It wasn’t a case of the Jedi’s incompetence letting him come to power, but more Palpatine being a brilliant grand chess master who managed to outplay the Jedi, and effectively manipulate the Senate into granting more power that he was then able to use to crush the Jedi Order and crown himself Emperor. Luke stating that Jedi felt the light side belonged to them showed that Johnson’s homework left something to be desired, given the possessive attitude towards the Force was more the philosophy of the Sith who saw the Force as a tool while the Jedi philosophy was the opposite, in that they saw themselves as tools of the Force.

I can see Luke living in isolation withdrawn from the rest of the galaxy, having stopped taking on students out of feelings of guilt over his personal failure with his nephew, but I don’t see him deciding to end the Jedi and in doing so, choosing to turn his back on the promise he made to his mentor Yoda on his deathbed: pass on what you have learned. I also doubt the guy who abruptly left training on Dagobah to save his friends (and who also saved his life a few times) would abandon them and the galaxy to their fate. 

2. The Handling of Rey

I thought Rey could or rather should have been handled better as a character. The problem is how we are really unable to see her growth as a character. Look at Luke’s journey in the original trilogy. In the first film, he is pretty helpless as he needs Obi-wan’s help when he is attacked by Tusken Raiders and two criminals try to fight him at the Mos Eisely Cantina. He also needs Han’s help on the Death Star, and during the Battle of Yavin. In Empire Strikes Back, he needs his friends’ help when Han finds and rescues him on Hoth. He needs Yoda to lift the X-wing out of the swamp during their training, teaching Luke to unlearn the limits he put on his abilities. We also see Luke abandon his training on Dagobah to save his friends only for it to backfire as not only did his friends not need him to escape, but he ends up falling into Vader’s trap, and gets kicked around by Vader. He finds himself stuck in a precarious situation with his right hand cut off and hanging on an antenna. It is only contacting Leia for help that saves him. He knows he screwed up badly. However, in A New Hope you see him use the Force to fire proton torpedoes successfully into the exhaust port. You also see him use the Force to pull the lightsaber from the snowdrift and save himself from the wampa in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. The beginning of Return of the Jedi, he doesn’t need Obi-wan’s help as the first scene shows him easily subduing two Gamorrean guards with simply a wave of his two fingers. He also manages to kill a rancor with a rock and his wits and later take on an entire barge full of armed men with the whole thing being a plan he came up with to rescue Han Solo that works. The end of the film has him winning a duel with Vader, and managing to turn him back to the light side. You can chart his progress throughout the films, and see his journey going from a helpless farm boy to a powerful Jedi Knight. 

In Force Awakens, Rey manages to successfully use a Jedi mind trick on a stormtrooper and pull a lightsaber from a snow drift despite no training, even though with Luke it clearly took effort to pull a lightsaber from a snowdrift in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. She also managed to defeat Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel when she should have lost. Firstly, even if she did have some ability with the Force, Kylo did too, and unlike her, he actually had years of experience and training in using the Force and dueling with a lightsaber. He was injured when he fought her, but even injured he managed to defeat Finn who unlike Rey was a soldier with likely years of training in melee combat, so logically Kylo should have won. Secondly, it made more sense from a story perspective for her to lose for the same reason why Luke had to lose his first duel with Vader: to show that even though she was strong and had potential, she still had a long way to go. If she loses her first duel, it makes it that much more meaningful when she beats him in their final duel as it shows how much she has grown. However, winning her first duel with him makes her defeating him in their final duel have less impact, given if she defeated him the first time, how is it surprising if she defeats him the second time?

In The Last Jedi, she managed to move literally hundreds of tons of large boulders easily without any strain, again despite any training, even though Luke struggled to get his X-wing out of the swamp in Empire Strikes Back, and unlike her, he had some training. She also managed to take on multiple Elite Praetorian Guards at once, who along with outnumbering her, as the word in the name “elite” suggests, were also exceptionally trained and skilled in melee combat, the best of the best. With Kylo it makes more sense given he actually had training under both Luke Skywalker and Snoke while she should have been able to do that and move those boulders only after having undergone extensive training. Having her try lifting some heavy objects on Ach-To with some apparent difficulty would have made her moving those boulders more meaningful as it would have shown a clear progression in her abilities, and created a payoff due to her hard work and dedication. Having her spar with Luke with him giving her some tips would have helped to explain her taking on some of the members of the Elite Praetorian Guard, and even with that, she should have taken them on with more difficulty. Hell, you could have had Kylo taken them on easily to show that on Starkiller Base, he was deliberately going easy on her in their duel as he intended not to kill her but turn her. In the Rise of Skywalker, to Abrams’s credit, we do see her train, but a scene like that was needed in the previous films.

That’s because using the Force isn’t supposed to be like superpowers, where like Superman and Spiderman, one gets and is able to use it easily. There is a reason why both Jedi and Sith spend years training to use the Force. It is a power that requires an extensive amount of hard work and discipline to be able to hone and use. Showing her train, and her astounding abilities coming as a result would have been not just more realistic but better for her character story as a whole. 

The trilogy also tries to avoid the fact that she made a mistake in coming to Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi as it proves to be a decision that nearly got her killed. She needs to make mistakes to both humanize her character, and as a form of progression as we see her learn from them. I would go so far as to say that Luke had more character development and growth in The Last Jedi than Rey did in the entire trilogy. 

As for her backstory, Abrams likely intended for her to be Luke’s daughter only for Johnson to retconn that, and make her a nobody of any special lineage. Abrams then rectonned that, and made her Palpatine’s granddaughter. In my honest opinion, Abrams would have done well to keep Johnson’s change. It was better with Rey as a nobody. Especially when combined with the scene of a child using the Force to pull a broom, it sent the message that the Force pays no attention to bloodlines when choosing who is worthy, and that anyone can be a Jedi, anyone can have the power to make a difference. That power can be found even in the most obscure places like a scavenger on Jabiim or a child slave on Canto Bight. It also fits with Maz Kanata telling Rey that her path is not behind her but in front of her. 

She also chose “Skywalker” as her surname at the end, when I think she should have gone with her actual name “Palpatine.” Luke didn’t exactly go around calling himself “Kenobi” after Return of the Jedi. Rey could have gone by her actual surname, signifying that she acknowledges and owns where she came from, but at the same time, she isn’t going to let her grandfather’s dark legacy define her. I think that would have been the better angle. 

3. The Plots of the Sequel Trilogy Films

Force Awakens was basically a copy-and-paste of A New Hope. I would have been okay if it was new characters with some old characters going on a mission to a distant planet to destroy a facility, but not one of the good guys carrying plans for basically a bigger version of the Death Star hidden in a droid on a desert planet, and it ultimately culminates in a final battle with said superweapon destroyed (and a mentor figure killed by the new Vader). That was a bit lazy on Abrams’s part. He played it too safe to the point that the whole film felt generic. 

Johnson took a lot more risks in The Last Jedi, and some I felt were good like making Rey a nobody, but it was also the plot of Empire Strikes Back: begins with battle that hurts good guys, hero goes to train with Jedi Master on far-off planet while the others are chased by the Empire and the latter group is betrayed while the hero comes back to save them. He also failed to do what Empire Strikes Back had and even Attack of the Clones had: end the middle film on a cliffhanger. Empire Strikes Back ended with Han captured and Vader having revealed to Luke that he is his father. Attack of the Clones ended with the beginning of the Clone Wars as Palpatine overlooked clones marching and being deployed, the war being revealed to be a machination with Dooku acting on the orders of Darth Sidious from the previous film and Anakin and Padme being married in a secret ceremony. The Last Jedi ended with Luke dying and the Resistance having escaped, but no plot point is left unresolved. Johnson also made the short-sighted decision to wrap up so many plot points that should have been saved for the final film that he basically left Abrams with little left, and played a role in Rise of Skywalker’s foundering. An example being that Snoke was killed off so he couldn’t be the final villain, and Abrams likely decided to make Palpatine the final villain instead of Kylo Ren given the handling of Kylo didn’t leave the impression that he would make a great final villain. Essentially, Abrams had been painted into a corner. 

Rise of Skywalker, I already covered here. Abrams was again a bit generic with Rise of Skywalker feeling like Return of the Jedi: more superweapons that are destroyed with one shot while the hero fights Palpatine and turns his subordinate to the light side. I had low expectations when I heard Abrams decided to have Chris Terrio help him write the script, the same man who wrote Batman v Superman and Justice League for the franchise of DCEU, both films being critical flops that were considered big letdowns for the the newborn DCEU. Rise of Skywalker ended up having some of the same issues as those films in the form of poor pacing, too much plot convenience and characters being resurrected in a ham-fisted way. Also, if Palpatine was controlling Snoke and was building a fleet of planet-destroying capital ships, then why have Snoke go through the trouble and expense of making Starkiller Base? Hell, why didn’t they wait until after the Sith fleet was finished, and send the fleet out into the star systems with Palpatine sending the message that he had returned, and blown up a planet (the New Republic capital) to demonstrate his power? That would have effectively checkmated the galaxy. 

Rey is apparently Palpatine’s granddaughter, which creates so many questions. If Snoke was being controlled by Palpatine, and Palpatine knew Rey was his granddaughter, then why did Snoke try to have Kylo kill Rey if Palpatine intended to use her?

Disney also made the mistake of having another director make the middle film, The Last Jedi, whose vision was at odds with the previous (and later succeeding) one, instead of keeping one director and ensuring the films have a single vision. The three films felt like each was their own thing instead of feeling like part of a larger narrative arc with each sequel retconning the previous film. You can see it in Rise of Skywalker with Luke grabbing the lightsaber that Rey threw away, and saying that is no way to treat Jedi’s weapon as a reversal of Luke tossing away the lightsaber in the previous film. You can also see it when Kylo’s helmet is reforged after it was shattered in the previous film even though the ship it was on exploded. Would Kylo really have gone through the trouble of going into the elevator to gather all the pieces on a sinking ship? Abrams clearly originally intended for Rey to be Luke’s daughter, but after Johnson’s changes, felt he had to change that to her being Palpatine’s granddaughter and choosing to call herself “Skywalker.” That’s what happens when you use two directors with two competing visions. 

While the prequels had plenty of flaws, they at least felt like someone was trying to tell a story instead of being a company trying to cash in on a successful franchise.  Another issue is that Lucas was a fan of Dune, Flash Gordon and samurai films, and then he mixed all that together along with some other stuff and made Star Wars while Abrams enjoyed Star Wars as a kid, and then made Star Wars. 

4. The Background to the Sequel Trilogy

It is established in the new Disney canon that the Rebel Alliance managed to take control one year after the Battle of Endor, and crush the Imperial military. I’m sorry, but I find it incredibly unrealistic that a fascist government (a kind which historically has placed a great emphasis on the military) with a military large enough to control an entire galaxy could have been subdued in such a short amount of time by a force as small as the Rebel Alliance. Even without the Emperor and the second Death Star, the Imperials clearly still had the military advantage against the Rebels in both numbers and resources. 

Legends, for all its flaws, was more realistic in how the Rebel Alliance/New Republic took control of the galaxy and subdued the Empire. Killing the Emperor without him having named an heir basically had them dealing with a snake with the head cut off. The Empire, like many empires throughout history once central authority disappears, fell to factionalism with different Imperial generals and Moffs declaring themselves the rightful heirs to the Empire, fighting each other as well as the Rebels and New Republic. This proved to be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the Rebels didn’t have to fight a united Empire, and were able to deal with smaller, splintered factions as the Empire gradually weakened and the New Republic gradually grew in strength. On the other hand, this also made defeating the Empire a more prolonged struggle since they needed to subdue each Imperial faction and warlord, and there were occasional reversals of fortune where it looked like the Empire was winning. It ended up taking three years after the Battle of Endor to take the capital of Coruscant, and fifteen years until the last Imperial faction surrendered, finally ending the Galactic Civil War.

Instead of the Resistance fighting the First Order, it could have been the New Republic fighting against the remnants of the Empire led by a newly appointed Emperor or Supreme Commander. 

5. Bendu and the Ones

In Star Wars Rebels “Steps Into the Shadow,” we are introduced to the Bendu, a giant being that is the personification of the center of the Force. In Star Wars Clone Wars “Overlords,” we have the Ones, a family of beings who are the embodiments of the Force with the Son and Daughter representing the light and dark sides. They are all immortal, indestructible beings that serve as representations of the Force, or they are essentially gods. 

I’m sorry, but whoever proposed these characters clearly doesn’t know anything about the mystique of the Force in Star Wars. In the original trilogy, we were never given an explanation for what the Force was other than Obi-wan’s brief explanation and Yoda’s speech of the Force being a mystical energy force that binds the galaxy together and flows through everything. As acclaimed fantasy/sci-fi author George R.R. Martin noted, you need to “keep the magic magical — something mysterious and dark and dangerous, and something never completely understood,” and Lucas understood that to an extent as he was usually intentionally vague when asked to describe the Force. The idea was that the Force was something so infinitely big and vast that no one, not even the wisest and most skilled Force users like Yoda, could truly comprehend it. It’s true power and scope was simply beyond imagination, and one could only scratch the surface of it. What made the Force have such a powerful effect on the imagination of the viewer is the sense of mystery and magic coming from the unknown. Putting in, essentially, deities who are personifications of the Force actually wrecks that unique aspect that gives the Force so much of its power and mystique. 

6. Clonetroopers’ control chips

In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Conspiracy,” it is stated that all the clonetroopers on Kamino have control chips planted into their brains as an explanation for why they carried out Order 66, and killed off their Jedi commanders. I felt that was completely unnecessary given we were already given a satisfactory explanation in Attack of the Clones when Lama Su stated: "You'll find they are totally obedient, taking any order without question. We modified their genetic structure to make them less independent." In other words, the clones were bred and trained since conception for complete obedience, taking literally any order without question. What’s more, this order was given to them by none other than the Supreme Chancellor himself, the commander-in-chief. Few soldiers would have refused a direct order from the highest authority, especially if they were trained for obedience since childhood. 

It wouldn’t be the only time they answered a question that didn’t need answering. Rogue One had the guy who designed the Death Star intentionally build an unstable reactor to explain how firing a a pair of proton torpedoes into the exhaust port destroyed it. 

7. Solo

I am not in the minority when I say that Solo wasn’t a particularly great film. It was a film that no one asked for, and was completely unnecessary given we had all the information needed about Han Solo from A New Hope: a loner smuggler. For starters, if Solo isn’t his real surname, then a random Imperial official shouldn’t have given him that name, but rather, it would have been more fitting his character if Han himself picked that name. I also think where the movie started was a mistake with a teenage Han fleeing from a crime boss, the beginning should have either spent a good deal on Han’s childhood, or started in the present with Han and Lando planning the heist with background info filled in through flashbacks or dialogue. 

The biggest offense was Han actually helping to fund the forerunners of the Rebel Alliance in the end. That actually made his decision to help Luke in the Battle of Yavin less meaningful. It was supposed to be a self-interested smuggler who only looks out for Number One making the selfless decision to risk his life to help people he just met in the midst of a seemingly hopeless space battle. Now, it’s a guy getting back into the game of helping the Rebel Alliance. If Han was going to help any rebels in Solo, they at least could have done it in a way where he suffers a huge personal loss, ie a close friend (like Qira) dies in the effort, and after that, an upset Han basically tells Chewie something along the lines of “From here on out, it’s just going to be you and me. We’re not going to get involved with anyone or anything, it’s just us from now on.” That at the very least wouldn’t have taken meaning away from his decision in the Battle of Yavin. 

8. Bringing Back Darth Maul

I liked Darth Maul as a character, and I think he should have gotten more lines in Phantom Menace. However, I may be in the minority on this, but I don’t think he should have been brought back. That he managed to survive being cut in half, falling and survived by himself despite missing the lower half of his body stretches credulity. Even more so when Palpatine thought he was dead, which creates a continuity error. In the Last Jedi, Rey and Leia were able to sense when Luke died despite how far away he was, and in Revenge of the Sith, Yoda was able to feel the deaths of all the Jedi killed in the Jedi Purge, so it isn’t unlikely to say that Palpatine would have known if Maul survived or died given he would have felt his death in the Force. What’s more, Mother Talzin knew Maul was alive, and we’re supposed to believe that she knew, but Palpatine somehow didn’t? As for after Palpatine learns Maul survived years later, I don’t think Palpatine would have allowed another Sith to survive either given it violates the Rule of Two. Maul had also just tried to kill him, making Maul a clear threat, and Palpatine isn’t one to leave any loose ends. 

I’m not against having Darth Maul on-screen again, but I think it would have been better if instead of Maul miraculously surviving his duel with Obi-wan, he was shown in a prequel to the Phantom Menace. We would have gotten to see some of his backstory, his relationship with Palpatine as well as be given a look at how Palpatine operates in the shadows behind the scenes. 

9. Time Travel

In Star Wars Rebels “A World between Worlds,” Ezra comes across a chamber in the Jedi temple on Lothal with different portals to time periods and space. Ahsoka Tano is rescued through one of them. I’m sorry, but time travel doesn’t belong in Star Wars. I’m okay with seeing visions of the future or premonitions, but being able to travel through time seems out of place, and makes the whole universe feel less grounded. 

10. Lightsaber color explanation

I’ve written about this before, but I think making kyber crystals choose the Jedi wielder is a rip-off of Harry Potter with wands. The Sith blades being red, because kyber crystals are attuned to the light-side of the Force and turn red because they are forced by dark-siders to be used is gilding the lily. I felt the original Legends explanation was good enough: the reason Sith blades are red is because their kyber crystals are synthetic while the Jedi kyber crystals are naturally occurring. It fits the whole nature vs. technology dichotomy of the Jedi and Sith. 

11. The Villains

Kylo Ren

As far as villains go, I find Kylo Ren to be pretty disappointing. They were clearly going for a combination of Anakin Skywalker from the prequels and original trilogies with a confused young man and the Darth Vader aspects. Darth Vader did well, because in A New Hope, the first scenes we see him are all the introductions needed: his deep voice, his large, imposing black masked figure as he casually and confidently strolls down the hallway of the Tantive IV and choking a soldier to death helped to firmly establish him as the enforcer for the tyrannical Empire (combined with John Williams’s score), and is able to even harm and kill people without touching them in the case of the meeting with the generals. Kylo Ren doesn’t have the same power in his introduction, hell, he doesn’t have the same effect as a villain. While I admit that stopping a blaster bolt in mid-air was impressive, he generally lacked/s the imposing figure and calm, controlled demeanor of his predecessor. Vader was always subtle and controlled with his actions and movements, usually doing little more than extending an arm to either physically choke someone or Force choke them from a distance, and we never saw him bring out his lightsaber until another lightsaber duelist came his way, generally leaving his subordinates, the stormtroopers, to take care of the Rebel soldiers (except in Rogue One, which i felt was out of character for him). Kylo, by contrast, brought his lightsaber out even when there weren’t any enemies around, just so he could wreck a control panel when he threw a tantrum. He got more temperamental in The Last Jedi as he called for the First Order forces to fire on Luke, constantly telling them to fire "MORE!” and Force choked Hux for telling him to stop as opposed to Vader who only Force choked his subordinates if they either failed him, or showed blatant disrespect towards him. Kylo is just a temperamental, overgrown man-child while Vader was largely a cold, calculating and controlled man. 

Yes, I think that might have been the point, that Kylo doesn’t measure up to his grandfather, but it still could have been done in a way that made him a more memorable villain. Having a calm, controlled demeanor would have made him more intimidating as a villain, and behind the mask we could have seen a more vulnerable young man. Abrams was kind of going for that, but he made some missteps and Johnson faltered. Vader also wasn’t defeated in a lightsaber duel until the final film, which helped to sell the idea that this guy was invincible while Kylo was defeated in his first duel by Rey, reducing the size of his threat and making him less believable as a final villain. 

Vader’s story in the original trilogy is also more compelling as he starts out as the blackest of villains, with his connection to the main hero of the story later established when it is revealed that he is Luke’s father. This affects Luke’s story in having him deal with the temptation of following in his father’s footsteps and turning to the dark side. Vader, on the other hand, has a layer of complexity added to his character, and by the end, he surprises the audience by turning on the Emperor, and saving his son. Whereas with Rey and Kylo’s connection, she is just a complete stranger to Kylo with no real past or ties to him the way Vader had with Luke. Kylo and Rey’s connection is just some Force connection, and it feels quite forced (no pun intended). 

I think his gradual conversion back to the light side might have been okay, and his final decision to sacrifice himself to save Rey. Although, Kylo telling Snoke in Force Awakens he feels stirrings from the light side of the Force was too on the nose. Vader didn’t need to say he felt stirrings of that light, as we could tell through scenes and dialogue such as the long pause at the end of Empire Strikes Back and turning and leaving the bridge without saying a word after Luke escapes without Force choking his admiral like he did throughout the film, as well as telling Luke in Return of the Jedi “It is too late for me.” Abrams would have benefited from using more subtlety and nuance. 

General Hux

Hux’s character was mishandled. He could have been the new version of Grand Moff Tarkin, a villain from A New Hope portrayed by the great Peter Cushing who would have benefited from more screen time. He and Kylo were set up as rivals, and could have been taken as representing the two sides of the First Order/Empire with Hux representing the the military hierarchy/practical military side and Kylo representing the dark side of the Force/mystical side. The fact that the trilogy had two directors really showed in how his character was handled. In the first film, with the exception of his passionate speech, he for the most part came across as a cold, disciplined military man akin to Tarkin. In the next film, he came off as pretty hammy, lacking the subtlety and nuance of his character in the previous film as he got emotional pretty easily such as in the beginning of the film when dealing with Poe Dameron. He also hardly got any screen time in the final film, and was revealed to be the spy only to be dispatched easily as if he was just a side character rather than a major supporting character. His performance also felt like he was trying too hard to impersonate a Nazi officer with a kind of faux-German accent. 

Snoke

Supreme Leader Snoke is the leader of the First Order, and Kylo’s dark mentor. He is supposed to be Palpatine’s new counterpart. Unfortunately, Palpatine is a villain not-so-easily replaced (something Abrams realized, and tried to over-correct to disastrous results). 

In the original trilogy, Palpatine isn’t seen in the flesh until the final installment, and up until then, he had been mentioned in the first film and seen through a Holonet in the second. Snoke was introduced much earlier in the first film, Force Awakens, via Holonet and seen in the flesh in the second. When we finally see him, he dies in the second film, without really making a lasting impression. Palpatine’s threat was largely implied through the other characters’ reactions and McDiarmid’s subtle performance and dialogue, making it more effective. The only hint we get to his character before we see him in Return of the Jedi is Vader telling an Imperial commander that the Emperor is coming for a tour, and the Imperial commander changes his position from complaints about being understaffed in making the second Death Star operational to stating nervously “We’ll double our efforts.” Vader adds that the Emperor is less forgiving than he is (Vader having killed several of his subordinates by Force choking for failing him). Just the commander’s reaction is enough to send the message to the audience that the Emperor is a scary guy. However, when we see him, he is a seemingly frail, old man who uses a cane. For most of the film, Palpatine never showed anger or disapproval, if anything he seemed genial and calm, but with an undercurrent of menace. However, like it was with Yoda, one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, as this appearance was just a front. Palpatine demonstrated how dangerous he actually was when he did get angry, and shot lightning from his fingertips at Luke as his true nature came out. He chillingly stated “And now young Skywalker, you will die,” showing a certain coldness towards the act of killing this person, and then he gave a slight smile right showing that he was enjoying inflicting pain on him. It was a look that in a matter of seconds went from one of sadistic pleasure to uncontrollable rage as he resumed electrocuting Luke. 

Snoke’s treatment lacked that subtlety and nuance. We just see him bully Hux and Kylo around with his Force powers, as opposed to keeping his power hidden until the final moment, and we don’t see any of the characters give any real reactions towards him when he is mentioned that make an impression. Having him shown only once briefly via Holonet in Force Awakens at the end when Hux goes to him for instructions once Starkiller Base is blowing up, and having Hux in the next film show some fear when told Snoke wanted to speak with him after the loss of the Dreadnaught and the Resistance’s escape would have done a better job of selling the threat of this villain.

There is also the case of how Snoke dies, as Kylo killing him doesn’t have the same impression or impact as Vader killing Palpatine. For starters, it wasn’t surprising given how horrible he had been to Kylo in the film, going so far as to use Force lightning on him while Palpatine on the surface seemed to be very chummy with Vader, addressing Vader as an old friend and acting like the wise mentor to him. It made it that much more surprising when Vader turned on him. Snoke is killed when Kylo manipulates the lightsaber on his throne to cut him in half. While I admit that is a cunning and creative maneuver on Kylo’s part, it comes a little too easy. When Palpatine was electrocuting Luke, the camera focused on Vader’s face, and even though we couldn’t see his face through the mask, we could tell he was being affected by seeing his son writhing and screaming in agony. Vader then looked back and forth from Luke to Palpatine, showing he was choosing between his mentor and his son. Kylo had no such moment with Rey. 

But then it is revealed that Snoke wasn’t the true villain of the series, but Palpatine. Abrams tries to have Palpatine become the main villain in a way that is pretty half-assed, as he basically just shoehorned him in.

12. Bringing Back Palpatine

The main villain of the Rise of Skywalker turns out to be the main villain of the previous two trilogies: Palpatine. Admittedly, Palpatine is one of my top two favorite characters in Star Wars, and it was always great to see Ian McDiarmid play him on-screen. He was the main highlight in the prequels; I could look at each scene he’s in, and write an essay or at least a few paragraphs about just that one scene. His character seemed out of place in this one. 

For starters, they just shoehorned him into this film without him even being mentioned in the first two. At least in the original trilogy, by the time we see him in person in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine had previously been mentioned in the first film, A New Hope, and later introduced via Holonet in Empire Strikes Back, which provided plenty of build up towards his appearance in the third film. He played a key role in the story as he was the dark side counterpart to Yoda, founder of the tyrannical Empire, the one who turned Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader, and was seeking to do the same to Luke. He was the personification of temptation towards the dark side and the Empire, the devil himself, who along with Vader was the final trial Luke needed to face before becoming a Jedi. In the prequel trilogy, Palpatine was the main villain in plain sight all along who was masquerading as the friendly Supreme Chancellor while he was Darth Sidious in the background pulling strings, and slowly turning the Old Republic into the Empire. In the sequel trilogy, he is introduced at the eleventh hour just to give Kylo and Rey something to unite against, and serve as the main antagonist. He didn’t contribute at all to the plot in the first two films. 

In my opinion, he should have stayed dead. It seemed more fitting in that despite being the most successful Sith lord in history, having gone where no Sith has gone before by conquering the Galactic Republic and wiping out the Jedi Order, Palpatine still succumbed to the tradition of the Rule of Two, and like his predecessors was killed by his apprentice. The man who destroyed countless lives and betrayed so many people in his rise to power as well as after from the Separatists and senators to his apprentices, himself met his end by betrayal. By making him alive, Abrams also made Vader’s sacrifice in Return of the Jedi less meaningful. Vader originally found himself in choosing between the light (Windu) and the dark (Palpatine), chose the latter largely to save someone he cared about, his wife, and nearly wiped out the Jedi Order. He found himself in the same situation again, choosing between the light represented by Luke and the dark, again represented by Palpatine, and he chooses the former this time for the same reason: to save someone he cared about, his son. In the end, he turns again and in his last act destroys the Sith line, killing the last of the Sith lords, and ending Palpatine’s reign of terror for good and all. He thus fulfills his role as the Chosen One . . . only, whoops, turns out Palpatine survived, and the Chosen One didn’t actually do shit. Some do argue that Anakin did bring balance to the Force for a time, but if Palpatine was the cause of the imbalance and he survived only to be defeated permanently by Rey, then Anakin didn’t truly bring back balance to the Force, Rey did. 

Also, I had trouble following his plan. I mean in the prequels you could follow his plans and actions, and see the logic behind them. In the Phantom Menace, he had the Trade Federation invade his planet of Naboo so he could simultaneously get Supreme Chancellor Valorum removed from office, and use the sympathy vote over his planet being the one blockaded to win the race for Supreme Chancellor. In Attack of the Clones, he had Dooku hire Jango Fett to assassinate Amidala, since he was the cloning template for the clone army, and he knew Obi-wan would eventually track Fett down to Kamino and discover the clone army that would be used to fight the Separatists. He had Dooku create the Confederacy of Independent Systems so he could ignite a galactic civil war, and use it to have the Senate give him emergency powers that combined with the clone army could eventually be used to crown himself Emperor and wipe out the Jedi. In Revenge of the Sith, he revealed to Anakin that he was a Sith knowing that Anakin would tell the Jedi, and they would come to try and arrest or kill him, providing Palpatine the purported justification for issuing Order 66.

In Rise of Skywalker, he told Kylo to kill Rey. He then told Rey he expected her to come, and that his plan was for his spirit to go into her body. He then used both Kylo and Rey’s life forces to heal fully. I’m sorry, but what was his plan exactly? If the plan involved Rey in any capacity, why didn’t he just tell Kylo to bring Rey to him? If he needed to use both their life forces, sending Kylo to kill Rey would just result in at least one of them dying, and if it was just Rey he wanted, it would risk her being killed.

I wouldn’t have opposed seeing Palpatine in Rise of Skywalker, but as a Force vision a la Luke’s experience in the cave on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back. 

Then, there was the way Abrams handled him. Instead of not mentioning him, and just saving his reveal for the third act after some building up, Abrams just reintroduces him in the opening. It doesn’t have the same effect. Palpatine also was most effective by being subtle and nuanced with an undercurrent of menace, which clearly wasn’t present in this film. He didn’t feel as threatening as he did in Episodes VI and III. He was also disposed of too easily, all it took was Rey to cross two lightsabers in front of her, to deflect his Force lightning back at him. 

With Palpatine, Abrams and Disney just brought back something beloved by fans with no real reason to other than as a cheap throwaway to sell tickets, and proceeded to use it in a half-assed way without any real regard for or understanding of it’s role and importance. The way they treated Palpatine is a perfect symbol for how they treated the entire Star Wars series.