And yes, the shot always felt too dramatic to me. This is more directed at TROS itself, on the one hand they tried to be very sensitive about Leia’s death, and yet that shot with its movement and movie-esque arm going limp plays sort of like drumroll… ta-daa! if you know what I mean. Anyway, lots of love!
I know exactly what you mean lol. What a perfect way to describe that.
I will say that the uncertainty there, initially not being sure if Leia was talking to Rey or to Ben, was deliberate on my part. I feel like resolving that uncertainty - revealing that Leia’s last words to be for him specifically - would mean a lot to Ben, showing him that he was always Leia’s first priority. If she’s saying it to both of them… I don’t know, it almost feels like they’re fighting for her love or something. I worry it would have made Kylo more resentful of Rey.
That said, I definitely see the value in making it more ambiguous too, from a meta perspective. I’ll ponder over it.
And yes, as Hal points out, the dice that Luke gave Leia were fake. As far as we know, the real dice were last seen on the Falcon…