Perhaps below we will find the real answer to the loss of Rey and Kylo’s power. Enjoy!
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ACT III
The spires of the Jedi Temple still reach into the Coruscant night sky, illumined by the lights of workers far below in the city square. From the council chamber Hux, flanked by his royal guards and the eleven knights, surveys the work taking place thousands of feet below. The doors open and Thrawn steps into the chamber. A group of darkened figures moves behind him, and Thrawn bids them wait. Hux shows Thrawn the preparations for the ceremony where the Knights of Ren officially pledge loyalty to him, observed by all the planets in the galaxy.
Thrawn asks why he was summoned and Hux relates his odd experience on Gramelon. He says that he could have sworn that for a moment he saw the face of one Kylo Ren, but surely Thrawn made sure that the supreme leader was dead. Thrawn says that nobody could have survived the injuries sustained by his ‘accident’, but more than this he knows of a simple test to prove that Kylo Ren is no more. He suggests that the knights demonstrate their mastery of the Force in a simple act, say, raising up this fruit. He holds up a small piece of fruit before him, and stands at the very center of the council chamber floor. Surely the great Knights of Ren…Hux…could do such a thing. Hux sneers in derision, saying that Thrawn insults them. Thrawn then says for him to humor his hunch. Hux rolls his eyes and asks one of the knights to do this. The knight says that such party tricks are beneath them, but Hux’s suspicion is raised and he orders them on pain of death to obey and activates Luke’s green saber in warning. The knight raises his hand toward the fruit and closes his eyes, but after a full ten seconds he lowers his hand. Hux demands to know the meaning of this, and Thrawn goes to the window, eating the fruit.
He says that during his long exile in the unknown reaches, defeated by a boy trained as a Jedi, he was consumed by the question of how the Jedi and their powers came to be. He says that records exist from before the time of the Jedi and no such powers are there documented. He found it curious that, on a galactic timescale, the Jedi and the Sith arose in opposition to each other at exactly the same time on a mysterious island on a lonely planet in the unknown regions of space. When he retook Coruscant he searched the bowels of this temple as well as the palace of the Sith Emperor and found that the first Jedi was secretly a Sith, who was excommunicated along with one of his followers. He says that the powers of the Jedi arose in response to the Sith, who took this mystical power by force.
Hux responds that the last Sith was Palpatine, who died thirty years ago. Thrawn counters that if this were so, the Force would have returned to balance and the Jedi would be no more. That the power of the Jedi remained was proof that the Sith remained. He says that the Sith have gained immortality of a kind through transferring their collective spirit into a willing apprentice, and this has continued unbroken for a thousand generations. Some believe that the apprentice must strike down the master in hatred, but it is merely enough that the master has a willing apprentice filled with the dark side into which their spirit can enter.
‘Snoke, a secret apprentice?’, Hux says, understanding. Thrawn nods, adding that when Snoke was murdered the power of the Sith went into Kylo Ren. Snoke believed that by cultivating a number of apprentices for Ren that the legacy of the Sith would endure even in the event of Ren’s death, but it is clear that these knights are true students of the Jedi. Noble, even. A knight intones the name of Luke Skywalker and how his order has achieved victory merely by remaining passive, which is the true spirit of the Jedi.
Hux grimaces in disgust. He rounds on Thrawn, accusing him of orchestrating the Supreme Leader’s demise to further his own ends. Thrawn points out that it has given Hux control of the galaxy and the most noble Knights therein. Thrawn affirms that Kylo Ren cannot possibly have survived because after a thousand generations the Force has finally returned to balance. It exists again only as an impersonal energy field beyond the reach and manipulation of mortals.
Hux seems to age many years in a single moment. He turns back to the window, judging again the lights and activity below. He grips the saber tightly, as if he will fly into a rage like Kylo Ren, then relaxes his grip and stands straight, turning to the knights and Thrawn. He declares that there will still be a ceremony, but the knights will demonstrate their impotence in the Force for all to see and upon the steps of the Jedi temple they will bequeath to the First Order all control of their planets and people. Hux asks if Thrawn’s ships are in position, and Thrawn says that by the time of the ceremony tomorrow they will be. Hux then declares that tomorrow will be the first day of this new galaxy, more momentous than he could ever have hoped for. He asks if Thrawn has brought the traitor FN-2187 as requested and Thrawn nods. The doors open again and Finn is brought into the room. Hux turns the saber onto Finn, saying how long he has waited to do this. He lowers the saber almost unwillingly, musing that Finn’s public execution is his only fitting end.