'Rise of Skywalker' prequel comics tease the seeds of Dark Rey

Obi-Wan Kenobi famously said, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them!” In the world of Star Wars, this can often mean characters and situations aren’t exactly what they appear. Darth Vader was secretly someone else in the classic trilogy and Palpatine was secretly Darth Sidious in the prequels. So, could the monster Rey fights in a new prequel comic be a secret Jedi master in disguise?

The new Marvel four-part series Star Wars: Journey to The Rise of Skywalker: Allegiance traces multiple various storylines that take place between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. The first two issues seem to hint that some of Rey’s dark tendencies are coming out in very Anakin-ish ways. Along the way, one of the she fights could be a hidden Easter egg with roots in an old-school legends concept, according to an eagle-eyed Redditor.

In the first issue of Journey to The Rise of Skywalker: Allegiance, Rey fights a monster that blocks her access to the Force. While vaguely reminiscent of the Ysalamir reptiles used by Thrawn to block Force-users in the Timothy Zahn Legends novels, this monster is more obviously evocative of a non-humanoid Jedi master named Thon. In the old comic series Tales of Jedi, Thon trained Nomi Sunrider.

Take a look — here’s the panel from Rey fighting this monster in Allegiance #1.

Now, here’s Jedi Master Thon from the ‘90s Tales Of Jedicomics.

It’s not a one-for-one match, but the fact that Rey is having a hard time using the Force against this creature is somewhat telling. In Rebels, Ezra and Kanan encountered another weird-looking Force creature called the Bendu, a creature that existed in “the middle” between the Light and the Dark sides of the Force. Again, the Bendu doesn’t look exactly like this creature Rey fights in the new comic, but there are two precedents for similar looking critters being secret Force-users.

There are still two issues left in Allegiance, so it’s possible that monster Rey fights could be able to manipulate the Force. But even if that’s not the case, both issues of the new prequel comic suggest Rey is impatient and full of anger pretty much all the time. In issue #1, Rey regrets “picking this fight” with the monster. We all know that Yoda said a Jedi “uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack,” but Rey seems to be starting a ton of brawls.

In issue #2, just out this week, Rey straight-up has shades of Anakin Skywalker by losing her cool during a diplomatic mission. Rey is sick of everyone screwing around and says “They don’t seem to be very diplomatic.” She then uses the Force to call her staff and says, “It’s good for you I don’t have my lightsaber.”

If we’re meant to take these prequel comics seriously as a lead-up to Episode IX, the fact that Rey is so pissed-off in both of these issues could be literally laying the groundwork for Rey either turning to the Dark Side of the Force, or at the very least, losing her shit at some point in the movie.

After all, it wouldn’t be a Star Wars movie if the hero didn’t get ridiculously angry at some point in the film. Rey has spent two films being relatively chill about all the crazy things have have happened around her. She’s complained less than Luke or Anakin ever did, which is a credit not only to the character, but also an interesting choice. Because if Rey is picking fights with monsters, and having a hard time accessing the Force, then the person we could meet at the beginning of Rise of Skywalker might seem unfamiliar, and perhaps even a a little scary.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out in theaters on December 20, 2019. The next issue of Star Wars: Journey to The Rise of Skywalker: Allegiance is out on October 23. Cross your fingers for Jedi-monster twist!