[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Palpatine force ghost?

I didn’t hate TLJ but this doesn’t look at all like a continuation of that story. Not sure if that’s why this trailer didn’t do a whole lot for me. I’m super excited but I don’t really have the desire to watch it over and over like I did with the previous two.

I didn't think the trailer really gave away too much one way or another, but I think the presence of Palpatine makes me think it does continue the overall theme of the movies.

Going to spoiler in case people don't want to read my speculation.

Spoiler!

This trilogy is really about the Force and it's re-emergence in the Galaxy, really the conflict between the First Order and the Rebellion is just the playground for what is really going on - the re-awakening of the force.

The trilogy has played this out.

The First movie built the universe and set out what was going to happen. It introduced us to the new characters, reunited us with the past characters, and brought the "Force" back to the galaxy.

“I used to wonder about that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good and evil, the dark side and the light? Crazy thing is, it’s true. The Force, the Jedi — all of it. It’s all true.”

Then the Last Jedi was about finding Luke and learning about the way of the Jedi. It was about Luke once again becoming a Jedi, doing what was his responsibility to save the galaxy, and facing his fears (Kylo, losing another protegy) to train Rey as a Jedi. (This was actually doubled down in the trailer: "Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. Your destiny.") In the end Rey also is now in possession of the Jedi texts and all the teachings of the Jedi.

Now I personally think this movie will be about the flip side of that coin. Rey has some Jedi teaching, and has the Jedi texts, but she has no knowledge of the Sith or actual Sith training. Also I think she has a fear of her past, and a fear of the dark side, but as the trailer said confronting that fear is her destiny.

So I think that's where Palpatine comes into play in this one. Whether it's a halocron, or Sith Ghost, or if he's physically still alive somehow, this movie will be about Kylo, and Rey racing to find out about the Sith and it's past, and any Sith teachings that will be out there, and Palpatine with be the face of the Sith in Episode 9, much like Luke/Yoda were the face of the Jedi in Episode 8.

And I think that is likely how this phase of Star Wars will end - with a balance in the force.

That is what Star Wars has been about this whole time since the original trilogy. Anakin was the chosen one in the prequel trilogy that was supposed to bring balance, but then he fell to the darkside and the OT ended with the Sith and darkside tipping the balance.

Then at the end of the original trilogy it seemed that the Jedi had won and "balance had been restored" but that wasn't balance as at the end of that trilogy the Jedi and the light side were tipping the balance.

So now Rey is the one tasked with bringing a balance and I think this is not about Jedi vs Sith needing to defeat one another to provide a balance but about both teachings being required to have a true balance.

So to conclude this saga you will have Rey with all of the Jedi teachings after the end of 8, and I'm guessing that by the end of 9 she will have whatever Sith teachings may still be out there, so now she becomes the one to balance the force by combining the teachings of the Jedi and the teachings of the Sith. Then a new term is coined as "Skywalker" to describe those beings who balance the Light (Jedi) and Darkness (Sith), and ties to the title of "The Rise of Skywalker".