So I just finished watching the third to last Star Wars: Rebels episode, “World Between Worlds,” and this is going to be a pretty heavy theory of what I think happens to conclude the Skywalker Saga. In one fell swoop, this theory:
a) could explain who Snoke is
b) explain why everything has gone wrong
c) explains why we still feel like we are so in the dark at this point.
I’ll structure my thesis based on the above and throw in a final part, which will specifically explain:
d) what will Episode IX be about and how I expect it to end.
A) WHO IS SNOKE?
This is easy. Snoke is essentially an “undead” Minister Hydan from Rebels.
When the Lothal Jedi temple was destroyed, he got sucked in the World Between Worlds, was possessed by the Son, and stayed in the portal for years, watching events play out. He literally witnesses “the Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire” through each of the portals. He gains the knowledge of all that has come and all that will come. And then one day, there is a scene he sees in one of the portals that seems to center on the Battle of Jakku; the entire planet is supposed to be destroyed by Counselor Gallius Rax and with it the utter destruction of the Empire’s remnants. This is also part of Palpatine’s great Contingency.
And that’s when he decides to interfere, just as Ezra did with Ahsoka Tano, by giving Fleet Admiral Rae Sloane a forceful push to be in the right place at the right time to complete her killing of Gallius Rax. Then Snoke finds another portal, this time showing the Unknown Regions, and jumps in, which explains how he seemed to have just “shown up” there one day.
WHERE TO SHOW THIS: A bit too much exposition and backstory (from the Aftermath: Empire’s End book in particular) for Ep 9, so I think the best thing they could do is actually have this all be shown either at the end of Season 1 or the the premiere of Season 2 of Resistance. Then not only does Filoni get to be the one to tell it, using a concept he originally introduced with the World Between Worlds portal, but we have this information going into the final chapter.
B) WHY HAS EVERYTHING GONE WRONG?
This is where it gets fun. Everything in the ST non-movie canon, pre films but post ROTJ, has seemed to center around the Battle of Jakku, which occurred in 5 BBY. And there is another monumental event that also occurred in 5 BBY — the birth of Ben Solo. My crazy theory is that when Snoke gave Sloane that extra push and prevented the destruction of Jakku, which would have permanently eliminated the final remnants of the Empire, he also stumbled upon another parallel event that was occurring — the birth of Ben Solo (if it hasn’t been clarified what his exact birth date was, let’s say it was during the Battle of Jakku). While he does not seem to be able to interfere here, he is able to leave a whisper or echo from behind the portal that stays with Ben from when he takes his first breaths and will eventually lead to his corruption.
A huge claim now: from the point of the Battle of Jakku onwards, the Empire was supposed to die out much more rapidly, the New Republic would stabilize, the Jedi would emerge again, and all would be right with the galaxy. In essence, the “everyone lived happily ever after” ending that we all thought we were going to get and should have gotten was actually how things were supposed to go. It’s only because of Snoke’s interference from beyond space and time that everything changed and went wrong. All of it is wrong — Ben Solo turning to the dark side, the rise of the First Order, the self-imposed exile of Luke, the breakup of Han and Leia, the destruction of Hosnian Prime, the very existence of the Resistance and collapse of the Republic. This is a “Yesterday’s Enterprise” level of wrongness that the Star Wars galaxy has found itself in, and it’s all thanks to Snoke aka Hydan giving a simple Force push from within the Worlds Between Worlds to stop the destruction of Jakku and saving the Imperial Fleet. However, I believe the phrase “let the past die…kill it, if you have to” will manifest itself in an even greater way in Episode 9.
WHERE/HOW TO SHOW THIS:
Depending on how well they can pull of the cinematography and special effects for this, you could start Episode 9 with the following, but subtlety is the key here.
Start the film flashing back to the birth of Ben Solo. Just show the baby in full and for others around him, just arms, hands, voices. Find a way to incorporate Carrie and Harrison’s voices soothing and comforting, and Luke’s chiming in with some comment like “I sense that your son will grow up and make both of you very proud” and then suddenly you hear Snoke’s voice come out of nowhere, louder than all of them, “What was that again, Master Skywalker?” before a blue haze envelops the baby Ben and then you hear the same scene play out again, but when it comes to Luke, his comment changes where he says “I sense…a great power.”
C) WHY ARE WE STILL SO IN THE DARK?
This is pretty straightforward, at least to me. If we’ve established that none of what has occurred since the Battle of Jakku was supposed to happen (or at least happen the way it did for major events), then it would also make total sense as to why, almost 3 years after the launch of The Force Awakens and almost 6 years since the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm, there has been an almost eerie embargo on stories set in the period of time between the Battle of Jakku specifically until right before the Force Awakens. Specifically, we have had one novel (Last Shot) starring Han Solo and another novel (Bloodline) featuring Leia. There is nothing showing what Luke was doing in the 23 years from the Battle of Jakku leading up to the destruction of his academy. Even on screen, there’s so annoyingly little showing us what the world is like and what effect the Resistance/First Order conflict is having on the larger galaxy.
In a nutshell, why waste ink or screen time on a time stream that is “wrong” and only exists because Snoke essentially put it into being with his actions? Which leads to the final part:
D) WHAT WILL EPISODE IX BE ABOUT AND HOW WILL IT END?
I’ve talked a lot about Ben in this article. Now it’s time to talk about Rey.
Since the Last Jedi came out, a good chunk of the fanbase has been disappointed. Many people were furious that Snoke died so early, others felt that with him out of the way the ending was inevitable, that Rey seemed too superpowered, and in general most of the threads that should have been held till Episode IX were already taken off the board in Episode VIII. I would have probably been right there with these folks, and in fact I was, until I thought about and put my faith in this theory.
Much like Episode VIII got to the Snoke confrontation much sooner than we would have thought (or hoped), and pushed him aside, I predict that in this case we will get Kylo and Rey face to face to engage in a rematch from their battle in Episode VII, about midway through the movie. However, what will matter is where they are battling. My prediction is that their final confrontation (and perhaps a corresponding battle in the sky/on the groun between First Order and Resistance) will take place on Jakku and they somehow fall into the borehole that leads to the planet’s core, and suddenly they are in the World Between Worlds as shown in Star Wars: Rebels. They see Snoke there, about to interfere with the timeline, and they get into a battle with him and as he is about to overpower them, in an epic “final scene” they are joined by various Force ghosts including Luke, Yoda, Anakin, and Obi-Wan to separate the spirit of the Son from Hydan’s body. They are successful and Hydan’s body deteriorates while the Son’s spirit is pulled back to where it’s supposed to be. Rey then seems to remember who she is, and explains to Ben that she was created by the Force as a result of Snoke’s tampering with destiny, much like Anakin was created as a result of Plagueis’ tampering with the Force. She not only was meant to redeem Kylo but also bring him to the place and time where he could “restore the past to save the future.” She then guides him to a portal, and she says that her work is done, and she will now pass into the Force, and she and Kylo finally kiss as she fades away. Kylo then wakes up and finds himself in a bed, in some home, and then he sees a kid run into the room, call him “dad,” and Rey walks in after that, smiling. The Force has decided to give her back to him.
Happy ending, the PT/OT/ST is brought together with the Force Ghost assistance to stop Snoke, fixed timeline, Reylo achieved, no need for any sort of carrying by Luke/et/al, and stage set perfectly for the next saga. Will certain characters fade into the background, i.e. Hux, Poe, Finn, Rose, etc? Yeah, but they kind of need to. Most importantly, so many new questions to answer i.e. “what actually happened/was supposed to happen?” Opens the door to an almost unlimited possibility of stories with these new characters, before and after the time of the saga films.
You’re welcome, Disney.
