It’s taken five years, butStar Warshas finally confirmed how dangerous Dark Rey would have been fromThe Rise of Skywalker- and even hinted how Daisy Ridley’s Rey could have become a villain in the first place. Grossing $1.077 billion in the global box office,The Rise of Skywalkerwas panned by critics. Although it’s far from a perfect movie, it does nevertheless include a lot of ideas that sadly went underdeveloped; concepts such as theForce Dyad, or Rey’s tantalizing vision of a future in which she turned to the dark side.
The latest update forEA Games’Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroesfeatures Dark Rey; all lore is always overseen by Lucasfilm, so the details of her abilities shine a light on both the story and potential power of the character.
Dark side
Attacker, First Order, Sith
Ability Names
Surrender to Darkness, Corrupted Reflection, Malevolent Lineage, Don’t Be Afraid Of Who You Are, In Our Nature
The striking thing about Dark Rey’s powers is thatthey synergize with Kylo Ren, but do not with Palpatine. This seems to suggest that Dark Rey was not simply a vision of Rey possessed by Palpatine; rather, this was a Rey who had indeed surrendered to the dark side, and who had actually become a Sith.Kylo Ren was no Sith, but Dark Rey would have been, and she’d have been all the more powerful because she ruled the First Order alongside him. The power of the Force Dyad would have granted them some very dangerous synergies.
What Star Wars' Dark Rey Hints Really Mean
She synergizes with Kylo Ren - not Palpatine
The Dark Rey scene inThe Rise of Skywalkerwas clearly patterned afterThe Empire Strikes Back, when Luke Skywalker discovered a vision of himself in the Darth Vader mask when he entered theForce vergenceon Dagobah. The core problem, though, is that the idea felt much more ephemeral and ill-defined, leaving many to wonder whether this was indeed a vision of Dark Rey - or one showing what Rey would have become had she been possessed by Palpatine. The lack ofGalaxy of Heroessynergies between Dark Rey and Palpatine suggests the former.
The chilling thing is, though, thatDark Rey is in fact a Sith. It’s unclear whether, in the timeline that created Darth Rey, she would have been Palpatine’s apprentice - or his killer. The latter option is the more intriguing, because this really would have meant she was a parallel of Kylo Ren, who killed his own mentor. As exciting asStar Wars' new reveals about Dark Rey are, they’re also more than a little frustrating, because it would be thrilling to see this timeline.
Our Take On Dark Rey
A story that’s begging to be told
The Rise of Skywalkerwas a far from satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga. It’s greatest weakness lay in the fact there were so many ideas tossed in; Force Dyads, Sith redoubts, resurrected emperors, and so much more besides. Any one of these concepts was rise for further exploration, but the movie itself only gave cursory attention to them. Frankly, it’s great to learn a lot more about Dark Rey - and to hope someone decides to do aStar Wars"What If" story showing how things would have played out.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Cast
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released in December 2019, follows the surviving Resistance as they confront the First Order. The film continues the journey of Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron as they harness the power of past generations to engage in a climactic battle against the forces of tyranny.
