Episode IX: Spoilers and Rumors

@DeeBee

You are right, people always want more information. There’s actually an interesting video someone sent to PH on Twitter about knowledge vs information. The guy in the video is talking about wrestling but as mentioned by the one posting it, it could easily be about fandom. I actually like it when not everything is explained. I just want a certain consistency in the story and character development. For the Sith thing, it could easily be him looking to know more about what they knew about the Force - and there I imagine the KoR will play a role in looking for artifacts and information - without following their ideology like me visiting churches for art and history (it’s very Thrawn of me ) but not being religious.

I have this idea in my head that the KoR, or at least some of them, will survive TRoS and be with Ben Solo the ones restoring peace in the OR. If indeed they already existed before Kylo Ren became their master, maybe they are an ancient group used by the Jedi long ago for more delicate missions, but the righteous Jedi order deemed them at one point too grey and ditched them. They then leaned more to the dark side. But what or who is “Ren” then? Maybe the first Jedi

I should sleep now instead of boiling up scenarios in my head.

Someone transcribed the Empire article in full. Lots of good stuff here, though I do think the author is projecting his own thoughts about how the films were made, and who did what to who, onto the article, and the effect is rather annoying and seemingly meant to provoke and be a bit salacious. Some of the assumptions made sound like a lower-level clickbaity site. https://thewayofthetrashcompactor.tumblr.com/post/188050896118/november-2019-empire-magazine-the-rise-of

Terrio:

“Rian did something that any good second act will do, which is create the antithesis. In The Force Awakens Luke Skywalker is a myth Rey’s obsessed with and there’s a warm embrace of the past. What Rian suggested is the past is a mixed bag and you can’t rely upon it to tell you where to go in the future. What we’re doing with Episode IX is trying to create a synthesis between those two points of view.”

Like... balance.

JJ:

“Having him be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing. Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself. As fractured as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There’s something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn’t ultimately hide him, and his behaviour is revealed.”

Ren’s temptation by the light, like Rey’s temptation by the dark, forms the spine of a moral ambiguity that Johnson build on in VIII and very much carries over to IX, bringing with is a sense that George Lucas’ more clearly defined duality might be a relic of a simpler time. Neither light nor dark, The Rise of Skywalker and its characters exist more within what could be considered the grey side of the Force – something underscored by the tantalising footage of ‘Darth Rey’ (complete with cowl, hangover pallor and double-bladed red lightsaber) that closed Abrams’ D23 Expo footage presentation in Anaheim in August.

“I’d rather let that one lie,” he deflects, when pressed on the subject. “But I will say that the movie has a number of things that you wouldn’t expect to have happen and you wouldn’t expect certain characters to do. There are surprises along the way.” He smiles, mischievously. “And that’s one of them.”

“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” Abrams concedes. “But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

@californiagirl Was about to post it! I think most important parts have already been shared apart from the one regarding the grey - neither light nor dark side of the Force.

By the way, there’ll be more articles about TRoS in that issue, right? Like in Vanity Fair?

I love what Terrio said about the past and basically how the new generation has to create a new future. Sounds like he wasn't a hater of Luke's demise.

This isn't the leak you're looking for but Temiriblagg1 is back with apologies  

@OrionStars
Well, that's...  interesting...

@OrionStars I love how he calls them non-spoilers, lol. At least he's not as 115% ridiculous as JP. And I've been wondering where the heck Dominic has been, and who he's even playing. I'm still not sure how the Lando's daughter thing is supposed to work out, and how that does or doesn't tie into Finn or the supposed escaped stormtrooper background, but hey.

Also, here's that poster from earlier, but in higher-quality color, and with Rose and Maz added. Rose has a gun!

californiagirl wrote:

“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” Abrams concedes. “But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

@californiagirl

Unless JJ can somehow connect Palpatine to everything that happened in the ST so far, I'm afraid this claim is going to sound like a bunch of hoooey. Like, imagine creating a new Middle-earth trilogy with a brand new arch-villain and a whole different threat, and then in the last film Sauron is back out of a blue, because don't you know he had two Rings to Rule Them All.

As for "surprises"... let's hope it's not "Daenerys torches the city" kind of surprises.

Sorry still laughing that they made a point of mentioning that Terrio was at Jane Campion retrospective and watching The Piano when JJ started texting him asking for help. Or to throw in a shout out to Michael Nyman's score and the theme, The Heart Asks Pleasure First



If you've never seen it, it's gothic romance shot through the female gaze by a feminist director which includes a secret/transgressive romance. Like 2016 we talked about the gothic romance genre but it's incredible/unbelievable to see it referenced in print 3 years later. As with JJ mentioning Lawrence of Arabia setting some expectations for some very plausible plot details, now I'm wondering if the lines "I am sick with longing for you" will be included in the dialogue



ETA - remembered this essay which has some quotes about Ada & George which sound an awful lot like another set of movie characters

Saracene wrote:

californiagirl wrote:

“Some people feel like we shouldn’t revisit the idea of Palpatine, and I completely understand that,” Abrams concedes. “But if you’re looking at these nine films as one story, I don’t know many books where the last few chapters have nothing to do with those that have come before. If you look at the first eight films, all the set-ups of what we’re doing in IX are there in plain view.”

@californiagirl

Unless JJ can somehow connect Palpatine to everything that happened in the ST so far, I'm afraid this claim is going to sound like a bunch of hoooey. Like, imagine creating a new Middle-earth trilogy with a brand new arch-villain and a whole different threat, and then in the last film Sauron is back out of a blue, because don't you know he had two Rings to Rule Them All.

As for "surprises"... let's hope it's not "Daenerys torches the city" kind of surprises.

@Saracene

Lol about your LOTR reference, true. I was also thinking though it you take the whole middle earth story starting from the Hobbit there's some similarities with Sauron coming and going from the plot. I'm not a LOTR expert, only seen the movies lol but vaguely just remember that when it comes to Sauron. I think it's more of the idea of this really major evil source who isn't destroyed so easily, can linger for years in a weakened form, waiting for another time to get strength and reemerge. Feel like that happens a lot.

Snoke was def a waste of time though. No development with him so that was super lame. He'd be a tad more interesting if he had some connection to palpatine (or maybe the movie will reveal that...?)

@rey09 Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some connection between the two. We know Palpatine was aware of Snoke from the TLJ book, yes?

I've thought a lot about Sauron and Voldemort both, the exact same dark lord/embodiment of evil trope, so powerful that destroying their physical form didn't actually destroy them entirely. Hence the one ring/Mordor, the horcruxes etc. And thus the speculation about the DS, Vader's mask, Snoke's ring, etc.

At least now we have official confirmation of Rey’s true feelings for Ben, even after she banged the door shut in his face      

Mana wrote:At least now we have official confirmation of Rey’s true feelings for Ben, even after she banged the door shut in his face      

@Mana
So I found someone on twitter said this:
"Kylo Ren and Rey canonically lost sleep over each other. Thinking and worrying about the other." idk where he or she got this but waiting for the proof lol.

I haven't read any SW books that came out but might actually read resistance is reborn, good prepping for 9. It'd be cool if it did also had Kylo.

@californiagirl yes sauron and voldemort, I can only think of those two but I feel that there must be other examples...

motherofpearl1 wrote:Regarding the released still.....
Didn't they mention something called the "Harmattan Winds" in the supposed leaks?

@motherofpearl1

That would be borrowing the name of an actual weather phenomenon from the continent of Africa. Per Wikipedia: “The Harmattan is a season in the West African subcontinent, which occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry[1] and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara Desert over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.[2] The name is related to the word haramata in the Twi language.[3] The temperature is cold[1] in most places, but can also be hot[4] in certain places, depending on local circumstances.[5]”

I never knew that.....thanks for the info.
Regarding Leia saying Ben might not want to be saved.....it makes me think about someone battling depression and suicidal thoughts. Someone in that position has to have a reason to go on living. At the moment Ben's life isn't a good place. If he is to change, there has to be something that makes him want to. Someone to live for.

@snufkin
Chris Terrio, writing his thesis on Virginia Woolf, and watching Piano, and then co-writing the story of a female Jedi and her lonely counterpart, this can't be coincidence, can it?

(I like how in the end of the first clip, Baines joins the traces in sand that Ada and her daughter made, never noticed that detail before. )

rey09 wrote:Lol about your LOTR reference, true. I was also thinking though it you take the whole middle earth story starting from the Hobbit there's some similarities with Sauron coming and going from the plot. I'm not a LOTR expert, only seen the movies lol but vaguely just remember that when it comes to Sauron. I think it's more of the idea of this really major evil source who isn't destroyed so easily, can linger for years in a weakened form, waiting for another time to get strength and reemerge. Feel like that happens a lot.

Snoke was def a waste of time though. No development with him so that was super lame. He'd be a tad more interesting if he had some connection to palpatine (or maybe the movie will reveal that...?)

@rey09

Sauron in the Hobbit prequels was basically a forced attempt to make the two trilogies feel more connected, give Gandalf something to do and an excuse for fanservice. He wasn't there in the original book, which is a very different beast to LoTR and didn't warrant a trilogy in the first place.

With Palpatine, I get it, writing in a new Big Bad is the easiest way to solve Kylo's redemption story by giving him and Rey a threat to fight, plus it's instant OT nostalgia boost and a hook to pull the audience in after TLJ's hookless ending (in many people's minds). But they have an uphill battle to make it work so that it doesn't feel like the last film in the trilogy introduces and resolves a brand new storyline unconnected to the first two films where we had to have a Palpatine knock-off.

So does it look suspiciously like the end of the leaks? Two lightsabers, forceghosts are giving Rey the power? Hmm, did they get this idea from this marketing image?[/url]

@AhsokaTano - very interesting regarding the secret base on Bakura! I guess we'll see if it gets mentioned in any Journey to the rise of skwalker content..
very interesting thoughts re bindings and marriage -wasn't there an arm or hand binding ritual of some kind if dooku jedi lost? It was to bring back balance or something?? anyone? I can't remember..

special_cases wrote:@AhsokaTano You can read it here: https://www.starwars.com/news/resistance-reborn-exclusive-excerpt

So does Leia know what happened between Ben and Luke? I don't understand.

@special_cases
-thanks for sharing! I was initially thinking this was spark of the resistance as it's being released later this week.. I think pre orders for resistance reborn just opened but lol it's not released for another month!

Rey cares about Ben. Oh my. too perfect..
aside from that - the way the excerpt starts is interesting

- more hints that Leia is unwell..

SanghaRen wrote:@DeeBee

You are right, people always want more information. There’s actually an interesting video someone sent to PH on Twitter about knowledge vs information. The guy in the video is talking about wrestling but as mentioned by the one posting it, it could easily be about fandom. I actually like it when not everything is explained. I just want a certain consistency in the story and character development. For the Sith thing, it could easily be him looking to know more about what they knew about the Force - and there I imagine the KoR will play a role in looking for artifacts and information - without following their ideology like me visiting churches for art and history (it’s very Thrawn of me ) but not being religious.

I have this idea in my head that the KoR, or at least some of them, will survive TRoS and be with Ben Solo the ones restoring peace in the OR. If indeed they already existed before Kylo Ren became their master, maybe they are an ancient group used by the Jedi long ago for more delicate missions, but the righteous Jedi order deemed them at one point too grey and ditched them. They then leaned more to the dark side. But what or who is “Ren” then? Maybe the first Jedi

I should sleep now instead of boiling up scenarios in my head.

@SanghaRen
sounds good to me! I think there's an appetite for some KOR at least to live on beyond TROS - I'm guessing (not based on anything!) that some KOR are redeemed.. and some die..
Yeahhhh I"m really looking forward to finding out more of their backstory - if this is in comics that's okay with me.. but we'll see what TROS gives us!
Coming back to that cool KOR image.. I found this one on starwars.com:

Looks like the KOR labelled 'The Armoury' to me..

californiagirl wrote:@OrionStars I love how he calls them non-spoilers, lol. At least he's not as 115% ridiculous as JP. And I've been wondering where the heck Dominic has been, and who he's even playing. I'm still not sure how the Lando's daughter thing is supposed to work out, and how that does or doesn't tie into Finn or the supposed escaped stormtrooper background, but hey.

Also, here's that poster from earlier, but in higher-quality color, and with Rose and Maz added. Rose has a gun! ...

@californiagirl
Ahhhh this is an official update by the artist Brian Rood?! That's so exciting!! being employed by LFL I think it's wonderful he has added these two characters! [SOURCE]
so interesting, he hasn't updated his blog post - just switched out the old image (minus maz and rose) and swapped in the new one. oh well why draw attention to it I guess! Still love it anyway!
It's quite interesting to compare the two versions..

It looks like not only Maz and Rose have been added..
the positioning of Jannah has been moved. mean anything? who knows!
Looks like the blue side is more blue too!

@snufkin - I have a sudden wish to watch the piano again! I love that song.. so beautiful!


edited to add:
Not sure if this has been mentioned here.
Looks like JJ has said Klaude is "a friend of the resistance and somebody Chewie has brought in." SOURCE - Chewie brought him in?!
[rofl. does Klaude know Ben Solo?!whahahahaah that would be so funny!]

I just came across something that helps me with the order of the movie.. a little..
I’d quote myself but now it’s archived and I can’t.. and I don't have time to insert the photos again now sorry.. [ COMMENT ]

Anyway, I previously came up with these two rough orders based on info so far (no leaks):
Either this: 1)
-Jungle lush location - Batuu? - training, preparing for adventure.. saying goodbye to Leia..
?
-desert planet Pasaana (I think this is act 1 as there was a spoiler about a party at the marketplace early in the movie no?)- Poe's not injured
-?
-droid factory (where they pick up D-O) [-may be the snowy location? Kimji?]
-?
-grasslands/death star wreckage [we can see D-O is with them] - Poe is injured

Or this: 2)
-desert planet Pasaana (I think this is act 1 as there was a spoiler about a party at the marketplace early in the movie no?)- Poe's not injured
-?
-Jungle lush location - Batuu? - training, preparing for adventure.. saying goodbye to Leia..
?
-droid factory (where they pick up D-O) [-may be the snowy location? Kimji?]
-?
-grasslands/death star wreckage [we can see D-O is with them] - Poe is injured

I said earlier that I lean toward order 1) because if they went on mission then back to Batuu/jungle they would have been more likely to change outfits before heading off on their next adventure - and it seems so far like they don't.

But I just came across some info that adds to this! I could have known this back in April?! Lol. I think it's gotta be order 1)!!!
Watching the star wars celebration TROS panel... and.. JJ gets asked when does TROS start.. ( This image is up on the screen

...and JJ says not straight after the previous film, and then adds the following: "in this movie, and you can tell by that picture, it’s the very beginning of it. But this is an adventure the group goes on together. And it’s a story that I think , one of the great things about the movie getting to work on it was the dynamic between the characters. They are the most wonderful together”
For me this confirms – this photos is the start of the film!

@special_cases


It's from Roberto Venegas, he posted it on twitter on Aug 23. I think he's just a random SW fan who can draw. Besides, it is known that dudebros' dream is Anakin, Luke force ghosts show up to aid their baby girl Rey

@OrionStars Oh it's not official? Then yes, I'm wrong. Thanks for pointing it out!

I can't help but think Luke's little speech seems to apply to Ben as well as Rey.
'A thousand generations live in you now'....okay, maybe he's saying it to Rey. But the 'we'll always be with you' part sounds more like something he'd say to family.

Just posted my Empire SW TROS scans in Maz Castle section

MrsWindu wrote:Just posted my Empire SW TROS scans in Maz Castle section

@MrsWindu

Nice! Thank you, will go check out!

@motherofpearl1
Logically, he has to say that line to Ben as a symbol of reconciling their relationship, but there is always a possibility that JJ will "f*ck it, the flop of Ophelia isn't a matter anymore because Daisy will have it all in this movie!"


@special_cases
But you have the right point, this newly published article  https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2481282/how-much-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-merchandise-is-being-held-back-to-avoid-spoilers

said TROS merchandise have a lot of spoilers. And, as a Christmas tradition, the toy company usually smoked weed and did this