STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - 5 Major New Changes And Reveals In The Novelization

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - 5 Major New Changes And Reveals In The Novelization

Copies of the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization have started popping up in stores, and we have some early reveals from that, including Ben Solo's final words and a very surprising reference...

By JoshWilding - Mar 03, 2020 03:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker divided fans when it arrived in theaters last December, and one of the biggest issues with the movie was the fact it failed to answer so many questions. Those related to both previous instalments in the sequel trilogy and this finale, so does the new novelization expand on any of those lingering mysteries?

Yes and no. 

While it certainly clears up a few different moments, there are things that Lucasfilm still need to explain. However, we have now managed to round up some intel on Kylo Ren's return to Mustafar, whether the movie ever included Force Ghosts in the final battle, Ben Solo's final words, and more on that cloned version of Emperor Palpatine. 

To take a look at these biggest reveals and changes to The Rise of Skywalker in the book, all you guys need to do is hit the "Next" button below to check them out.

Ben Solo's Final Words To Rey

Ben-Rey


In The Rise of Skywalker's final battle, Emperor Palpatine is defeated, and Ben Solo sacrifices himself in order to being Rey back to life. They shared a kiss, but no words, and the novelization reveals their final exchange (helping the scene land a more powerful emotional punch). 

"A voice came to her through the Force, clear and strong," it reads. "'I will always be with you,' Ben said. She smiled. Let the truth of it wash over her. 'No one's ever really gone,' she whispered."

Some fans aren't happy with what appeared to be a very sudden romance between Rey and Ben, but the novelization definitely leans heavily into that. 
 

No, Rey Didn't Stay On Tatooine

Rey-BB8


There's been some speculation that the end of the movie was supposed to point to Rey calling Tatooine her new home, but this book adds a little more context...and a different final line! 

After Rey reveals her name, the following takes place: "'Ah,' the woman said, unsurprised. 'See you around?' And she hobbled off without saying her own name." What that's supposed to be alluding to is hard to say, but a later paragraph sees Rey crediting her friends, the Jedi of the past, and Ben Solo for giving her the strength to overcome The Emperor. 

"Rey Skywalker headed toward the Falcon to return to her family...As she approached, BB-8 warbled that he'd had enough of desert planets." Something tells us they weren't sticking around.
 

Kylo Ren Meets Darth Vader's Oracle

Vader


After tearing his way through Mustafar, Kylo Ren meets "the Eye of Webbish Bog." It's revealed that Darth Vader left his Wayfinder in this creature's possession, and because the Sith Lord's grandson defeated its protectors, he had now earned this mysterious Sith device which will lead him to Emperor Palpatine.
 
'"It will guide you through the Unknown Regions,' the Eye said. 'To the hidden world of Exegol. To him.'"

This definitely points to Vader and Palpatine having some sort of plan to find each other on Exegol, and perhaps the latter was hoping his apprentice would find him there had Luke Skywalker struck him down on the Death Star. Honestly, it's all very confusing, and something which definitely needs to be addressed.
 

No Force Ghosts And The World Between Worlds

Obi


Before The Rise of Skywalker arrived in theaters, rumours swirled about Force Ghosts making an appearance during the movie's final battle. Instead, we just got some disembodied voices, and this novelization does not include them making their presence felt when Rey rises up to battle Emperor Palpatine.

That debunks claims they were cut at the last-minute, but there's an even more intriguing reference to the wider Star Wars canon which is bound to be of interest to fans. 

As the Jedi from the past rise up to help her, it's said that, "it was like she was staring through a window to somewhere else, a place between places..." That's an obvious nod to the World Between Worlds, a mystical plane within the Force serving as a collection of doors and pathways that existed between time and space, linking all moments in time together. 
 

Emperor Palpatine Was A Clone

Palpatine


As expected, the novelization sheds a little light on Emperor Palpatine's return, and confirms that the version of the villain we cross paths with in The Rise of Skywalker was indeed a clone of the original. "All the vials were empty of liquid save one, which was nearly depleted. Kylo peered closer. He'd seen this apparatus before, too, when he'd studied the Clone Wars as a boy."
 
"The liquid flowing into the living nightmare before him," it continues, "was fighting a losing battle to sustain the Emperor's putrid flesh." The next paragraph adds that, "Kylo could feel in his very bones that this clone body sheltered the Emperor's actual spirit. It was an imperfect vessel, though, unable to contain his immense power. It couldn't last much longer."

Unfortunately, there's no explanation regarding how his followers resurrected the Sith Master...
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MarvelousMarty
MarvelousMarty - 3/3/2020, 3:12 AM
Utter garbage. I hate everyone involved.
Skrull
Skrull - 3/3/2020, 3:28 AM
JJ & co. ascribe to the Joss Whedon theory of romance: When two people beat the shit out of each other repeatedly, they're really desperately in love with one another. Even a good one-sided beatdown can prove true love.





Yeah...no.
98raptorta
98raptorta - 3/3/2020, 4:07 AM
Suck my ad blocker and your "next button" Josh! Drop the "next button, I drop my ad blocker.
GringoPendejo
GringoPendejo - 3/3/2020, 9:01 AM
@Origame - Mah man, don't, don't shill for Disney, seriously, dont.
Origame
Origame - 3/3/2020, 9:42 AM
@GringoPendejo - ...that wasnt. Every novelization does this. https://www.cracked.com/article_19138_7-hotly-debated-movie-questions-that-totally-have-answers_p2.html

https://www.cracked.com/article_20681_5-great-movies-that-were-turned-into-terrible-books.html

Why do we think any defense is shilling for that thing? If someone said adolf hitler hated blonde people, youd say thats wrong right? Its not because i think hitler was a great guy, but we know he actively tried to make the human race blonde.
RedHood92
RedHood92 - 3/3/2020, 4:16 AM
Origame
Origame - 3/3/2020, 5:37 AM
@CaptainStark92 - dont really know about damage control. The novelization always takes liberties to expand the story and explain plot holes. Its just how this works.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 3/3/2020, 4:41 AM
Filed Under: More Next Button Bullshit/I Only Read The Main Page

Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 3/3/2020, 4:56 AM
Damn I gotta remember to buy the book next time I want my movies to be coherent.

I've also gotta start playing Fortnite so I understand the plot.
SpideyPuffsMJ
SpideyPuffsMJ - 3/3/2020, 6:15 AM
"A voice came to her through the Force, clear and strong," it reads. "'I will always be with you,' Ben said. She smiled. Let the truth of it wash over her. 'No one's ever really gone,' she whispered."

ogrodafloresta
ogrodafloresta - 3/3/2020, 6:39 AM
PLEASE, STOP WITH THESE “NEXT” ARTICLES!

Lately I visit one of these bogus posts and the “article” justs gets STUCK in a particular point, and there’s no way to move forward! (Here it stopped in “ Kylo Ren Meets Darth Vader's Oracle”).

Same bug happening either in Chrome for Windows and iOS 13.

What’s the point of this? More pageviews?
IPfreely
IPfreely - 3/3/2020, 7:30 AM
Please hit rid of the “next” button. Been on this site daily for almost a decade. Never post comments but I’m still here. The next button has me going to other sites. Give us the “view list” back. Pleaaaaaaaase.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 3/3/2020, 8:14 AM
Star Wars used to be like this big beautiful statue in the middle of town that everyone loved and Disney is basically a bunch of birds that took over and called the statue theirs so now we’re all stuck with an ugly shit covered statue that no one wants.....
Chewtoy
Chewtoy - 3/3/2020, 11:02 AM
Regardless, they had a really muddled idea of what Palpatine was supposed to represent there at the end, clone or no clone. The "I am all the Sith" thing really raises way more questions than it answers.

Rather than the collection of all of the Sith (whatever that means), maybe reveal that he was originally Darth Plagueis and he has been body hopping for ages... that was the secret to beating death that he discovered. So as each body aged, he would find the most powerful force user alive (which would often require pitting them against each other), make them his apprentice, and then when his current body was waning he'd possess the apprentice (likely through their anger and ambition as they struck his old body down) and continue the cycle... hence the whole "rule of two" with the Sith. Vader broke the cycle when he struck down his master not out of anger and ambition, but while sacrificing himself for his son.

Disembodied, Plageius was only able to possess an Imperial Officer named Snoke who was weak-willed but had some force sensitivity as that man escaped the explosion of the Death Star. As Palpatine, he had left some genetic material for cloning as a back-up plan now that cloning was a thing, but cloned bodies don't hold up well to the amount of the Darkside that resides in him. He set himself up on Exegol and worked to overcome this deficiency in the cloning solution, and in the meantime looked to rebuild his empire with the First Order. He had thought that he'd be able to jump into Kylo Ren's body when that apprentice killed him, but Kylo's link to Rey somehow blocked him. So once again, he retreated by possessing a weak-willed First Order person as a means to escape and returned to Exegol, where he took up a cloned body of Palpatine to try one last time.

And then in the end, instead of Rey being "All of the Jedi", Rey faces cloned Palpatine and defeats him, and being pure enough is able to fight off his attempts to possess her. So when the spirit of Plageius tries to escape to another body the Force Ghosts of the Jedi who learned to go on after death are there to stop him once and for all.

A bit fanfic-y, I suppose, but it ties everything together and makes a lot more sense (to me, at least.)
DarthNihilus
DarthNihilus - 3/3/2020, 12:49 PM
Lucasfilm is now a BrainFart company..
The creative department is just crap crap crap..


Kathleen Kennedy can you..please.. just go away...
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