Is the Climax of The Rise of Skywalker on Ahch-To?

Is the Climax of The Rise of Skywalker on Ahch-To?

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The Trios’ lines in the TRoS trailer are clearly meant to tell us what their arc, their character’s focus, will be in the movie.

We hear first from Finn, the Poe and finally Rey, words that are meant to tell us how this is going to go.

Poe’s and Rey’s are by far the most clear cut. 

Poe’s words about leading and those who wishes to fight will follow them, clearly is a continuation of his position and arc from the last two movies and the comics as the new leader of the Resistance.

Rey says that people always say they know her but no one does, telling us that her arc about identity and finding out who she is, is not at an end. Secondly it might herald a possible opening to the Dark side for in a rebelling against a role who has been foisted on her, but she never wanted. Unlike Anakin and Luke she never wanted to save the galaxy or have much in the way of adventure, she wanted her family. But now she designated galactic savior and she may be quietly revolting against it. Kylo’s appearance at the end and his claim that he does know her feels like a mallet heavy hint at her being a Skywalker or a Solo (and Kylo possibly being involved in her original disappearance).

Finally there’s Finn, whose words seem mysterious as to his role. And then again not.

The trailer starts out with him saying “It’s an instinct. A feeling,” and it sounds like he’s describing the Force without Jedi dogma or indoctrination. His voice is soft, like he’s trying to put into words something he doesn’t quite have words for. 

Then it continues, “The Force have brought us together”.

His voice is still soft but there’s more firmness and far more conviction here. It sounds to me like it comes from a different place in the movie than the first part and almost like he’s giving a speech. Either way he speaks with the conviction of a Jedi but without the arrogance of one.

And here is what I think this tells us about Finn’s part in this movie.

At the end of the day what brought down the PT era Jedi were their arrogance, their certainty that they alone were right and them putting systems, institutions and dogma above the needs of living people. This isn’t something TLJ invented, we have two trilogies and I don’t know how much extra material telling us as much already.

If the Jedi are to come back and be a constructive part of the galaxy they need a different path than what the PT era Jedi walked (and what might be written in the sacred texts). They need someone who puts compassion and humanity above institutions and systems and dogma, someone who will rebel against it and tear it all down if necessary.

In short, the future Jedi if there’s to be a future for the Jedi at all, need Finn.

He’s a man with no Jedi training and hence no dogma induced in him, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know the Force and the trailer tells us that indeed he does. He has shown already that he will question and outright rebel against any system he finds wrong, no matter how dangerous it is.

Rey would never be able to bring back the Jedi alone and with only the old texts and what little Luke gave her, there’s far to great a chance that she would repeat the mistakes that the PT Jedi and then Luke in turn, made. And it’s a job she doesn’t really want to have anyway.

But with Finn’s humanity, compassion and his complete lack of reverence for authority and institutions it might succeed. His traits are the key missing to unlocking a better future for the galaxy and a possible future a Jedi Order who is doing what it was supposed to be doing all along, protecting the people and all living things in the galaxy from dangers. Especially when those dangers comes from their rulers.

Evidence for Finn’s Force Sensitivity throughout the Sequel Trilogy

I have always believed Finn to be Force Sensitive ever since the teasers and promotions for The Force Awakens started appearing. Even after TFA, I believed it even more. This is my case for Finn’s Force Sensitivity, the evidence throughout both TFA and TLJ and even in the canon comics. There is a very good article detailing more in support of Finn’s Force Sensitivity, I recommend it!

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Finn awakening the Force is one of my FAVORITE theories and IMO it suits his unique position in the sequel trilogy better than being another Jedi. This is a great post compiling the canon evidence ❤

Stormtrooper Rebellion in TROS

On the off chance that Finn will not become a Jedi in Episode IX(he should), I have one hope that can elevate him as importance to Rey. Let Finn cause a Stormtrooper Rebellion.

In the TFA novelization, it’s stated that Hux ordered that  Finn’s mutiny is to be hidden from the rest of the Stormtroopers out of concern that the potential mutiny within The First Order  and for others to start catching ideas like “independence” and “individuality. The vibe I get is Phasma would want it to be personal. Hux wanted it to be a quiet execution. And Kylo being the dramatic slut that he is, would want it to be a public spectacle. From this post it’s clear The First Order would prefer quiet executions to deal with traitors and deserters. Hux is all about control, of himself and others, while Ren is just an asshole who wants to destroy the things which make him upset. He wants to put the fear of the Force into people while Hux just doesn’t want them thinking anything other than the thoughts he put there. 

Finn had to fight against one of his friends in his unit, FN-2199 or “Nines” as Finn called him. Nines was unaware of why he defected and I’m sure Phasma fed Nines lies, so Finn was forced to fight his own friend. How much do you wanna bet that Finn will be forced to fight the last member of his squad, Zeroes?

As for Finn’s time in the First Order, he was one of their best Stormtroopers and one of the elite. Highly valued by Phasma and Hux, yet his defection shocked them.

Phasma’s deleted death scene 

I will never understand why this was deleted. Finn calls her out about her betrayal of lowering the shields and when this information is revealed, the Stormtroopers near her look suspicious and it looks as if they are going to turn on her. Phasma like the ultimate survivalist she is kills them with no hesitation. Finn cuts her hand off and blasts her into the abyss, giving Phasma a more deserving and better send off. Seriously, this is way better than their actual confrontation.  What I really like about this scene is its direct connection to The Force Awakens plot point and that it acknowledges Phasma’s survivalist attitude which was introduced into her novel.

Now finally to the Rebellion itself. This all ties into it. Hux hiding it from those who needn’t know, Phasma’s killing everyone who dare believe her treachery, Kylo’s tyranny as the Supreme Leader will all lead to Finn leading a Stormtrooper Rebellion. I think Finn will possibly use his force sensitivity and letting everyone in the FN corps feel what he felt when he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. What he felt when Starkiller Base committed genocide and what he felt when he stood his ground and fought Kylo Ren. This will inspire everyone to rebel, the first one to throw off his helmet will be Zeroes and everyone follows through. Humanizing Stormtroopers and having one become a hero is was a stroke of genius, but the way they did it in Episode 7 made it seem like Finn was the ONLY good Stormtrooper, which has to be an impossibility. If one Stormtrooper can suddenly switch sides, what’s to say that others couldn’t? And since Episode IX will most likely see the fall of the First Order, I personally think that Finn should convince all (or most of) the Stormtroopers to turn against Kylo and Hux, leading to a cool final scene where the First Order is ultimately destroyed by their own henchmen. That would be cooler and more unique, I think, than another Resistance vs. First Order space shootout, or Rey and her possible Jedi apprentice army taking them down. The children they abducted and trained against their own will finally taking back their narrative and fighting back against their oppressors.  And finally Finn will stand by Rey’s side as he fights Kylo Ren one last time. The First Order will be burned down from the inside, and I think that’s beautiful.

Exactly! It would be an awesome commentary on current politics, too, with the people forced and cowed into going along with fascism rising up to say, no more. Also as long as they gave us three other members of Finn's fire squad with 2 dead, it makes sense that each plays a different role--Slip dying and becoming a catalyst for Finn's defection, Nines remaining a stalwart Stormtrooper and dying in battle with Finn, and Zeroes coming around and representing the Stormtroopers who are inspired by Finn's example.

Honestly, I 100% believe that Force Collector is a new Force Sensitive character not related to anyone (in keeping with the theme everyone seems to be denying). But if he IS related to anyone, he’s the son of Luke and Sana.

(Art by @auroralynne )

For four years, a segment of the Star Wars fandom (u kno who) trashed Han Solo, saying he and Leia were horrible, abusive parents who led little BS to the Dark Side. Now a rumor comes suggesting that Han Solo wasn’t Father of the Year – even giving Ben a reason, at least in his mind, to despise Han. This aligns with what that segment has been wanting, ie: a justification for his anger toward Han, something to twist into an excuse for what he did.

And yet, this segment is suddenly in fiery outrage, calling the rumor “character assassination” against Han, because it would mean Rey and Kylo wouldn’t be fucking.

Do they think we forgot the whole last four years?

Call it bad writing, say it makes no sense (despite the fact that it was hinted at in TFA), but no one’s buying the sudden deep concern for Han’s good name.

They’re so transparent. I mean I don’t like the rumor myself and strongly hope it’s not true, despite my parentage theory leanings and objection to a certain ship, but this crowd never gave a shit about Han’s good name and still don’t. Plus Kylo and Rey ain’t fucking no matter who her parents are, are these nitwits still on that 😂

And like, MSW talks about all kinds of rumors. Some turn out to be true, some don’t, but the entire point of MSW is to have discussions about what might happen in the next episode.

Reylos don’t even want the discussion to be had. They’re telling Jason Ward he needs to debunk it so people will stop talking about it (he hasn’t, and what difference would it make if he did? The movie is what it is at this point, he’s not TPTB).

I don’t love the rumor, but not because of “character assassination.” What hypocrisy that the segment that goes on the loudest about “purity wank” can’t handle a parent having kids with more than one person or having sex while estranged (a word taken directly from the rumor’s phrasing) from their spouse. Not to mention, having an imperfect marriage is not a character flaw.

I stopped rooting for Rey Solo (despite the many hints) because I want the idea of blood supremacy Kylo pushes to be put to bed. The thing about this rumor is that it still has the potential to do that (she’s not of the Skywalker line, has “lesser” blood than Kylo) while explaining and fixing a lot, and giving things like the prominence of the dice a lot more context (I really wasn’t a fan of the theory that Qi'ra is Rey’s mother, but if she is, Kylo looking at the dice as Rey shuts the door on him makes a lot of sense – way more than the dice represent them fucking on the Falcon or whateverthefuckever).

(Also, Chris Gore of Film Threat who potentially predicted this in 2017 with a doubling down on the “light/dark dichotomy” fandom CLAIMS to love also confidently predicts that Finn will play a major role in IX, including a mass unmasking of Stormtroopers who pledge their loyalty to him. (Link)).

Over on Reddit, I’ve seen people walk away from threads, regretting posting something less than negative about the rumor – on a sub designed to discuss rumors freely.

The death of Han Solo was rumored months before TFA, and people were able to discuss the possibility without freaking the fuck out and muzzling fans talking about it in the appropriate forum.

The worst part is, this behavior is only further confirming to a lot of fans that women ruin fandoms, and reylos acting like male criticism of their bad behavior is hating on women in general only compounds it.

Like any cultlike group that depends on living inside their own reality bubble, hardcore canon reylows cannot bear dissent or conflicting information. They have to silence and drown out anything that threatens their preferred narrative, hence the hypocritical policing of fan spaces.

I’m with you that it doesn’t reflect poorly on Han if he had sex, possibly rekindling an old flame with a Problematic ex, while he was separated from Leia. And it’s been said in the extended material that he dipped a foot back in the seedy criminal underworld, possibly during the estrangement, which would have had a high chance of putting him in Apostrophe Chick’s path again. Maybe he dipped a lot more than his foot.

What you say about Rey Solo-not-Organa makes an unfortunate amount of sense. While I accepted Rey Random after TLJ, it seems that Rey Solo actually gained new adherents with the Rey and Kylo Force bond paralleling Luke and Leia’s. I truly wonder whether such a revelation can be made without being melodramatic and taking over yet a third movie after consuming the first two, which is my major objection to it.

Also, I loved Rey Solo more for the connection to Leia than to Han so it loses much of its charm for me if she’s not Leia’s daughter. While she could become--and arguably already is--Leia’s adopted/spiritual daughter which has emotional resonance of its own, it seems like yet another cruel turn for Leia’s son to go so horribly wrong and for her to find solace in her late husband’s daughter by another woman. OTOH Leia herself was a child who had lost her biological parents (father not in the picture, mother dead) and was adopted by the Organas, so it might be coming full circle for her to also adopt an orphaned young woman (mother not in the picture, father dead). That scenario would be a lot less painful if Rey truly were a Random, though, and I just want Leia to catch a break at some point, like ever.

Speaking of Rey’s parentage consuming three movies--if the rumor is true the three movies would be dealing with Rey’s relationships with three members of her family: Her father in the first, her brother in the second, and her adoptive mother in the third.

welcome to my theory corkboard with strings and pins and stuff have you stopped today to think……

finn and jannah on those horse things for the VF photos… one white horse one black horse… yin and yang, balance, interconnected halves…. 

long lost force sensitive twins trope rise

I am speculating that they might represent different aspects of the relationship to the Force, but I love that idea, too!

oh that would be especially badass! these movies don’t get enough into how people actually like, relate to the Force and different ways that manifests, etc. 

Like, I was originally thinking of Rey as a priestess and Finn as a prophet of the Force: Rey as the one who preserves and brings back the sacraments of the Force (the lightsaber, the sacred texts) and obeys its will even when she doesn’t understand or agree (don’t kill Kyle Ron? ugh but ok), and Finn as the one who has a unique relationship with the Force and renews its covenant (seems to have Force immunity, may have awakened the Force in Rey and possibly the stable children) while treating the Force in an intimate, even irreverent way (”We’ll use the Force!” “May the Force be with you” as a playful throwaway line).

Then I stumbled onto Jannah’s name meaning “paradise” in Arabic--seriously, most of the search results are about Islam and not SW--and really looked at her picture, and now I’m thinking of Jannah as more of the prophet figure and Finn as a regal one. She is the voice in the wilderness, staring into the far distance at a future only she can see, and while Finn has elements of Force spirituality his primary domain is war and defense, as a king’s has been throughout history. Saying things like the galaxy will rise up against the First Order, is willing to die for that belief? Definite political figure, with an even broader view than Poe whose primary concern is with the Resistance and its enemies. Poe leads; Finn rules. His possibly having unique connections to the Force is no hindrance to his being a kingly figure, since kings can have unusual spiritual powers such as healing hands.

*joins you in front of theory board, adding new pictures, rearranging strings, and gesticulating wildly*

welcome to my theory corkboard with strings and pins and stuff have you stopped today to think……

finn and jannah on those horse things for the VF photos… one white horse one black horse… yin and yang, balance, interconnected halves…. 

long lost force sensitive twins trope rise

I am speculating that they might represent different aspects of the relationship to the Force, but I love that idea, too!

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, JJ Abrams, and others talk about TROS.

My personal favorite bit from this is John going over his initial reaction to reading the script. 

“When I read the script, I stopped, and then I had a conversation with JJ and I was like ‘Thank you, man. I’ve been waiting for this,’ and I can’t wait for you all to see this.” John Boyega on the his first reading of the TROS script.

Does this mean Force Senstive Finn? Could we even get a sneak peak of this in the official trailer? I hope so! I’d love it if we see Finn using Luke’s iconic green lightsaber! 

I already know we’re getting Rey Skywalker, so I gotta hope for something, don’t I?

Yeah, I think if you pay attention to Finn’s story and all the clues, and knowing that John was disappointed that the TLJ script disregarded all of that (he said Mark tried to make him feel better by telling him that the big reveals weren’t in the script in the OT days – of course, RJ never gave Finn anything resembling a reveal because he was too busy deciding which YouTube beauty tutorial to use for Rey’s meeting with Kylo Ren), I feel fairly confident that Finn will either be confirmed FS, his family will be revealed, or maybe even both. IDK if Jannah is a long lost relative of Finn’s or not, but Naomi literally can’t say anything about her, so she’s a reveal of some kind. Naomi said that the photo said it all:

As much as people are speculating that Jannah is Lando’s daughter or Finn’s sister, I think Jannah is the villager who escaped the slaughter on Tuanul in TLJ and a member of The Church of the Force. (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Unidentified_female_Jakku_villager).

That image says survivor to me. And it doesn’t rule out Finn being related to her – maybe the planet he’s complained about so much is his birthplace, and he was born into the Church of The Force. Remember, “unnamed female Jakku villager” escaped with a baby, possibly the reason Finn let her go. It very well may have been a village the FO stole babies from.

Jannah, being one if the few (if not only) member of the Church of the Force left, could become an architect of the “rising” group of non-blood Skywalkers, including Finn of course, who fight the tyranny that attempted to wipe the religion out.

This would bring the ST full circle and highlight the importance of the village scene at the beginning of TFA, which few really talk about anymore in terms of Lor San Tekka and the church. (Mostly because it’s an inconvenient scene for bendemptionists).

Rey is crucial to this too of course, because she has the Jedi texts, and she’s also from Jakku. She could be from Tuanul, born into the Church of the Force, too. “Sold for drinking money” is probably a lie, but her parents may have been Jakku villagers (although having a tie to Tuanul most definitely doesn’t rule her out from being a Skywalker or Organa/Solo).

Maybe they will rebuild the village and call it Skywalker.

I would LOVE it if Jannah were the villager who escaped, because it would be a great case of a victim coming back as a hero. Also Kylo Ren’s extermination of Force sects is a confirmed pattern throughout canon, like the massacre of Kel and Eila’s home village in Star Wars: Resistance. The Empire had a similar policy with destroying the Jedi and later the moon of Jedha, and with Palpatine’s possible return that’s another continuity between the Empire and the FO we might be seeing.

I have speculated at length about Kylo and Finn’s staring match at Jakku wrt Finn’s possible Force sensitivity/immunity (link), but there could have been more than just Finn’s individual ability at play here. What if Kylo was sensing in Finn the rise of a Force tradition that the FO had attempted to wipe out? An awakening in the Force indeed, and an existential threat to him and the FO.

Yeah. Kylo definitely sensed something with Finn, and it (along with several other clues) was just ignored in TLJ.

I remember after seeing TFA for the first time and realizing that Lor San Tekka and the villagers were followers of the Church of The Force, I thought OMG this is huge. Then, again, because Rian Johnson didn’t care about what was established in TFA, it was like that important plot point never happened.

But TLJ did have the Force Sensitive stable children who see Luke Skywalker as a kind of god and, I believe, saw Luke’s final battle through a Force vision, not via word of mouth. These children, too, may be from villages that follow The Force like Tuanul (or Tuanul itself). There was a connection made between Finn and the stable children, most viewers just chose to believe that whole arc was irrelevant – even though it’s ultimately a Force Arc.

I think the stable children were put forward by the story group because the idea that Rey and Kylo are the only Force users in the post-Luke generation fundamentally goes against not only the ST, but George Lucas’ original vision of The Force.

Holy… I just thought of something OP @themandalorianwolf said about Finn possibly awakening the Force in others like the Exile in KOTOR 2 (link). I mean it’s certainly a suggestive pattern, isn’t it? Finn locks eyes with Kylo Ren: Kylo Ren talks with Snoke about an awakening. Finn spends time with Rey: Rey awakens to incredible Force powers. Finn makes a connection with the children in the stable: At least one of the children shows Force powers, and more than one if you’re correct that the story of Luke’s last stand was a Force vision (which makes a sight more sense than hearsay…).

The only commonality between these incidents is Finn. As many others pointed out Kylo had not met Rey when he was talking to Snoke about an awakening. Neither Kylo nor Rey ever met the children. Finn is the one who’s prompting people to talk about awakenings, and it’s Finn a disproportionately high number of young people awaken to the Force after meeting.

If the above connections check out Finn not only awoke to the Force himself but awakens the Force in others. The shared link between these characters may be membership in the Church of the Force, a group that the FO seems intent on wiping out. We’ve been comparing the FO to Nazis and neo-Nazis, which is entirely valid, but on a spiritual level they may also be the Space Inquisition. Is it any wonder Kylo was stressed about the escaped Stormtrooper? His snarl of “What girl?” takes on a whole new meaning, too, because by then he knows or suspects that an organic being spending quality time with Finn is very bad news.

So if Jannah is the unnamed female villager, maybe meeting Finn at that critical moment awakened the Force in her, too, and she grouped up with other survivors to fight back. The Resistance is badly in need of allies after their essential annihilation in TLJ, and the heroes could go meet with her group. Wouldn’t it be cool if Finn and Jannah mutually recognized each other despite Jannah never having seen his face with physical eyes? And as the first living Church member we meet who grew up in that heritage, she could tell Finn who he is and what his heritage is.

Whoa.

I guess one could argue that why, then, are Poe and Rose not FS? But ever since I heard the title I’ve been convinced that it means ALL of the heroes of the ST. Poe and Rose were both extremely affected by meeting Finn either way.

Honestly, I think a twist where it was all about Finn the whole time would cause a massive meltdown in the SW fandom (though I think the curatives would be generally OK with it – they tend to me far more frustrated about the treatment of Finn in TLJ than transformatives). Which I’m here for. I’d be surprised if they went that far (sadly), but I do think there’s something to these observations.

I mean if you go with my Force-Sensitive Five headcanon (link, this was before Jannah’s name reveal) they really are all Force sensitive ;) Even aside from that, though, I can answer that objection with the Church of the Force connection. The only people so far who visibly woke to the Force after meeting Finn were young, disadvantaged people of unknown parentage like Finn himself. You know, the kind of people who could have scattered across the galaxy after losing their parents and communities to a massacre like the one we saw in Tuanul, who were vulnerable to poverty and exploitation as a result. The forgotten children, if you will. Poe and Rose are not of particularly distinguished birth but they know their parents and they’re also older than Finn, meaning they may have been born before the purge against the Church of the Force began if we assume Finn and his cohorts were victims of the first wave of massacres and kidnaps.

(Notice how this also ties into a possible Stormtrooper uprising plot, since a significant number of Troopers could share Finn’s background and heritage. Also I really, really want to meet Zeroes, the only other surviving member of Finn’s fire squad. Could he have awoken as well?)

And certainly I’m not the only fan to suggest that the new “Jedi” would not be Jedi at all but would have to run on completely different principles (link). Jedi like Rey would have a vital role to play, but would no longer be the only game in the galaxy when it comes to an order of beneficial Force users. It would be a really nice way to tie things off if the key to that transformation is the Church of the Force, genocidal actions against which kicked off the sequel trilogy and Finn’s awakening.

John did say something big was coming for Finn and tbh it would be a massive letdown for me if the reveal wasn’t something on this level. I mean if nothing else I’m happy that John is happy, and he certainly seems sincere in this sentiment throughout. But for me, it’s go big or go home. Also I would be endlessly entertained by fandom’s racist meltdown lmao.

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, JJ Abrams, and others talk about TROS.

My personal favorite bit from this is John going over his initial reaction to reading the script. 

“When I read the script, I stopped, and then I had a conversation with JJ and I was like ‘Thank you, man. I’ve been waiting for this,’ and I can’t wait for you all to see this.” John Boyega on the his first reading of the TROS script.

Does this mean Force Senstive Finn? Could we even get a sneak peak of this in the official trailer? I hope so! I’d love it if we see Finn using Luke’s iconic green lightsaber! 

I already know we’re getting Rey Skywalker, so I gotta hope for something, don’t I?

Yeah, I think if you pay attention to Finn’s story and all the clues, and knowing that John was disappointed that the TLJ script disregarded all of that (he said Mark tried to make him feel better by telling him that the big reveals weren’t in the script in the OT days – of course, RJ never gave Finn anything resembling a reveal because he was too busy deciding which YouTube beauty tutorial to use for Rey’s meeting with Kylo Ren), I feel fairly confident that Finn will either be confirmed FS, his family will be revealed, or maybe even both. IDK if Jannah is a long lost relative of Finn’s or not, but Naomi literally can’t say anything about her, so she’s a reveal of some kind. Naomi said that the photo said it all:

As much as people are speculating that Jannah is Lando’s daughter or Finn’s sister, I think Jannah is the villager who escaped the slaughter on Tuanul in TLJ and a member of The Church of the Force. (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Unidentified_female_Jakku_villager).

That image says survivor to me. And it doesn’t rule out Finn being related to her – maybe the planet he’s complained about so much is his birthplace, and he was born into the Church of The Force. Remember, “unnamed female Jakku villager” escaped with a baby, possibly the reason Finn let her go. It very well may have been a village the FO stole babies from.

Jannah, being one if the few (if not only) member of the Church of the Force left, could become an architect of the “rising” group of non-blood Skywalkers, including Finn of course, who fight the tyranny that attempted to wipe the religion out.

This would bring the ST full circle and highlight the importance of the village scene at the beginning of TFA, which few really talk about anymore in terms of Lor San Tekka and the church. (Mostly because it’s an inconvenient scene for bendemptionists).

Rey is crucial to this too of course, because she has the Jedi texts, and she’s also from Jakku. She could be from Tuanul, born into the Church of the Force, too. “Sold for drinking money” is probably a lie, but her parents may have been Jakku villagers (although having a tie to Tuanul most definitely doesn’t rule her out from being a Skywalker or Organa/Solo).

Maybe they will rebuild the village and call it Skywalker.

I would LOVE it if Jannah were the villager who escaped, because it would be a great case of a victim coming back as a hero. Also Kylo Ren’s extermination of Force sects is a confirmed pattern throughout canon, like the massacre of Kel and Eila’s home village in Star Wars: Resistance. The Empire had a similar policy with destroying the Jedi and later the moon of Jedha, and with Palpatine's possible return that’s another continuity between the Empire and the FO we might be seeing.

I have speculated at length about Kylo and Finn’s staring match at Jakku wrt Finn’s possible Force sensitivity/immunity (link), but there could have been more than just Finn’s individual ability at play here. What if Kylo was sensing in Finn the rise of a Force tradition that the FO had attempted to wipe out? An awakening in the Force indeed, and an existential threat to him and the FO.

Episode IX predictions

StarWars.com just announced a set of novels and anthologies that’s set in or around Batuu, the setting for the Disney Parks experience. Not at all surprising as they’re of course going to promote the hell out of that place, but among the books I noticed something.

Delilah S. Dawson, the writer who among others wrote the Phasma novel, has a novel titled Black Spire for this. It’s coming out on September 9th and has as of yet no cover, but I could the description of it intriguing.

This is very terse. All the others have much longer descriptions. Not to mention that except for the anthology we get the name of the lead character(s). So why not here? I mean, if it’s a character we already know it’d create hype, if it’s someone new whom we’ll likely never meet again then again there’s no reason not to.

Or maybe we will meet that character.

Everything Delilah have written for Star Wars so far have been about female characters and we do have one actress announced for IX who’s character we know nothing about.

Is Naomi playing the as yet unnamed lead of Black Spire? As I said Delilah wrote the Phasma novel, so it wouldn’t be the first time she wrote a trilogy tie-in novel for a character.

Given how incredibly closed lipped that LFL and Disney have been that would certainly explain why we’re not getting the lead’s name.

I am almost certain the protagonist of Black Spire is Vi Moradi from Phasma. There aren’t a lot of people who fit the description of Leia’s top spy (I can think of Poe and Vi off the top of my head), and Dawson has written her before. It is rumored that the woman in a piece of Galaxy’s Edge merchandise is Vi (link), and her entry in the Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy book places her on the Black Spire (source, cropped and emphasized by me).

[Image excerpt: Before heading to Disney Parks’ Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’s Black Spire Outpost on Batuu for a new mission, Vi Moradi, the spy with the code name “Starling,” worked for General Organa’s Resistance . . .]

Could it be that Naomi is playing Vi? I have no definitive source on Vi’s age but there’s nothing that places her as significantly older than Naomi (who is about 26). Vi mentions having a stuffy dignitary older brother, which at least means she’s younger than a sibling who could be considered settled and respectable. The way she talks about her brother seems to indicate something of an age gap, too (”You can tell me all about the new job and lecture me about my lack of focus once I’m done with this mission . . .”).

The casting call for “Caro,” if it’s real, sounds a lot like Vi. “Captivating naturalness and ease to her manner.” A “leader and problem solver, smart with a great sense of humor and a strong will. All this comes to her effortlessly.” This was pretty much Vi’s characterization throughout Phasma.

Also, does anyone else see a certain resemblance in Vi’s entry for the Women of the Galaxy book?

This was probably pre-haircut and for my money she looks a lot like Naomi. Vi even has the same smile here as the picture you used.

A very interesting video about Finn by Collider Jedi Council, started by the photo of his hands John posted on his Instagram.

I mean I’m pretty cynical when it comes to how Star Wars treats Black women and mothers so I know I’m all too likely to be wrong. But there’s just enough off about how Yeager constantly separates the fate of his family from the fate of the spectators that I feel I can justify it. So until canon confirms it one way or there other, I’m going with this one.

Not to mention a dead family is just lazy storytelling and ends the story right there, while a living family have so many possibilities in it. Like where are they living now? Did they settle on a planet that has fallen under the First Order’s power? And if so, how can Yeager reach them?

Heck given Yeager’s connection, however fragile, to the Resistance, if he does go into FO territory he may have to end up relying on Kaz and the Resistance to get him and his family out. Sooo many possibility here.