Rey's new 'Rise of Skywalker' lightsaber may have ties to a prequel villain
If you think that saber looks familiar, you might be right.
The ending of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will certainly be a subject of debate among Star Wars fans for years to come. But we can all agree that lightsabers are nifty. So, let’s talk about that lightsaber moment at the very end of the movie, and why it might have an unexpected origin.
Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
At the very end of the movie — after burying the lightsabers of her two mentors, Luke and Leia — Rey Skywalker ignites her own, new blade, which has a super-long hilt and makes you wonder if it is, indeed and in fact a double-bladed lightsaber. (If it is, we only see one side lit.)
The hilt is reminiscent of Darth Maul’s lightsaber in The Phantom Menace, and even his newer blades in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Is it possible Rey scavenged Maul’s saber for parts to make her new one? After all, Darth Maul died on Tatooine in Star Wars Rebels, it’s possible she found it there.
Obi-Wan finally kills Maul. But did he snatch that saber?
In the Rebels episode “Twin Suns,” Obi-Wan and Maul’s final showdown ends in the latter’s demise. Obi-Wan likely did something with his opponent’s weapon after that. So maybe Rey — using her Dark side heritage — was able to track it down, turn those kyber crystals into a new color, and boom, she’s got a new saber.
This potentially works for three reasons. First, Rey seemed to prefer fighting with a staff-like weapon for much of The Force Awakens. Second, she needed to get some working lightsaber parts from somewhere. Third, a similar theory that suggests Luke Skywalker built his lightsaber from leftover parts Obi-Wan had from either his weapon or Qui-Gon’s saber.
Now, I happen to agree very strongly with my colleague Eric Francisco when he pointed out that Rey almost certainly used her old staff as the basis for a brand-new hilt. But her weapon really does look a lot like Darth Maul’s, too, and the question of where she got ahold of the kyber crystal to power it hasn’t really been answered.
Plus, we know Rey saw a dark version of herself holding a double-bladed lightsaber. So, again, if she got parts of Darth Maul’s saber, the puzzle could be completed, somewhat.
She also could have been inspired by some Jedi knowledge that she downloaded into her brain, thanks to all the Jedi ghosts she communicated with at the end of the movie. In The Clone Wars, the guards of the Jedi temple had double-bladed yellow sabers, that, like Dark Rey’s saber, were also foldable.
Too bad this saber wasn't "real."
It’s possible that at some point, some future Star Wars story will make the creation of this saber 100 percent canon. Until then, we can all be happy that Rey finally has her own saber with a nice DIY quality to it, just like the homemade lightsabers we made when we were children.
P.S. Back in 2017, Inverse writer Corey Plante randomly predicted Rey would have a yellow-lightsaber that was super-long and maybe double-bladed. He did this based on the idea being cool, and it’s amazing he was right!
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out everywhere now.
