A Galaxy Big Enough for All of Us: A Brief Defense of "The Rise of Skywalker" (Spoilers)

After seeing "Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker," the final installment in the Skywalker saga, I left the theater awash in a mix of euphoria at being born at the right time to personally experience something so momentous and also in the inevitable bit of melancholy over the close of a story that has captivated my imagination and my heart almost all my life.  I'm sure there were many Star Wars fans like me, but, like me, if they have any exposure at all to the Internet, might have had their Star Wars geek glow promptly stomped on by critics both professional and amateur, eager to tear apart what we all have to recognize was a nearly impossible creative endeavor.  I say impossible because Star Wars has millions of fans across the world, all with their own favorite characters and films, and all with their own perspective on the saga's history and the direction they hoped it would go.  There are spoilers below, so only proceed if you have seen the film!


I loved the film - it was everything I needed it to be - but to be sure, there were elements even I would tweak.  For instance, I would have loved for Ben Solo to survive.  I would have loved to see a glimpse of him and Rey founding a new Jedi academy - maybe we could even have been given a shot of Luke and Leia's sabers encased in glass for all Jedi-in-training to admire while daydreaming about the glory days of our beloved original trilogy characters.  Contrary to this, at the end of TRoS, Rey buries the two sabers in the sand on the Lars' abandoned moisture farm.  My first impression that this was a place filled with trauma and frustration for Skywalkers, and therefore a strange choice as the final resting place of such iconic and personal belongings.  We can chalk this up to fan service, I thought.  We fans love to see sets from the original trilogy recreated.  (Cough - "Mandalorian" - cough!)

However, herein lies an opportunity - an opportunity to contemplate one of the most robust, vibrant, complex fictional mythoi in existence.  Yes, at first it seems strange that Rey would bury Luke and Leia's sabers at the place where Luke felt stranded and later found the charred corpses of his aunt and uncle.  But upon further reflection, Tatooine is where it all started for the Skywalkers.  Shmi Skywalker herself, mother to the immaculate conception of Anakin, is buried probably just steps from where Rey crouches to bury the sabers.  Additionally, Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, uncovers a clue with her article "Star Wars: The Troubling, Hidden Clues in Rey's 'Rise of Skywalker' Ending."  She points out that the bit of score playing while Rey rides a piece of scrap metal down a sand dune into the courtyard of the Lars homestead has been titled: "A New Home..."  Hmmm.  (It's a great article, by the way - worth the read!)

Another plot point of TRoS that seems strange on a surface level is that the host of Star Destroyers conjured by Palpatine rely on a single navigational tower to be able to navigate away from the storm-surrounded planet Exegol (although to have an obvious point of technological weakness is not totally out of character for Imperials).  The team over at Red Letter Media recently posted this video review of TRoS in which they make humorous jabs at this seemingly ridiculous crux of the Destroyers' navigation.  Rich Evans jokes that they just need to put the planet behind them and drive!  Again, further investigation into the Star Wars mythos is fruitful.  Wookiepedia confirms that planet Mustafar, the volcanic planet home to Vader's castle, was subject to electrical storms from a neighboring gas giant, which was problematic for navigational equipment.  There is precedent, then, that a planet as troublesome to locate and access as Exegol would present the same difficulties even to Star Destroyers.

Palpatine can apparently "conjure" fully constructed Star Destroyers from the ocean...

I raise these examples to petition Star Wars fans that if there is a plot point or story element in TRoS, or any other Star Wars film that irks you, ask yourself the question: why?  Build your argument - not for the sake of being a troll online (there's enough of that already), but for the sheer joy of exploring some of the best and most extensive science fiction worldbuilding known to cinema, gaming, and literature.

Yes, this galaxy is big enough for all of us fans.  It is big enough for Abramses and for Johnsons.  It is big enough for timeless practical effects and terrible CGI.  It is big enough for a host of characters so huge we don't get to see all their storylines resolve.  It is even big enough for those of Skywalker blood and those adopted into the Skywalker family.  This wonderful, colorful, dangerous, exhilarating, heartbreaking, exquisite, weird galaxy far, far away invites us as fans to delve deeper.  Read.  Listen.  Research.  Learn more.  And for a Star Wars fan, this pursuit  - this thirst to know more - is always rewarded.

"My heart is broken," I said to my sister, exiting the theater.  "The Skywalker saga is over."

"Yes," she answered, "but we got way more Star Wars then we ever thought we would get."

And of course, she's right.  Let's be grateful.  Happy Life Day, everybody.