The Starlight Project Addendum: The Rise of Skywalker (Freeform Brainstorming Session) — Page 18

I’d prefer if we kept the term “end him” rather than “kill him”, it sounds less violent/harsh and it ties with Rey’s later line, also Palpatine’s been killed before, what Rey needs to do is put a definitive “end” to him and the Sith. Technically only Anakin and Rey were “made” to end the Sith, so even if Luke carries that mighty Skywalker blood I feel it’d be better if he just said “you were made to end him”, it’s more personal and ties more into her destiny. Alternatively “we are meant to end him” would take away some focus from her identity, but it’d better apply to Luke, and broadly to all the Jedi who help vanquish Palpatine by the end.

It’s cool you’re beggining to generate the lines, and it’s sounding good, I really like how you turned Luke’s line into a question. Perhaps you could even have him answer it and say “Because you’re a Palpatine? No, you were made to end him, Rey.” That way it’s more clear Luke is opposing the idea that she’s a Palpatine.

The reason I was testing these things is to make sure they are doable in the first place. I never had many doubts, but it’s good to make sure. I think I’ll go with: “No, we were made to end him, Rey.”

Then of course Palpatine will later claim that this is exactly what he wanted the Skywalkers and her to do for him, leaving the possibility that he still designed them. People are free to take him at his word for this, but I think Rey should deny it so the conclusion of the movie makes sense.

I think the biggest problem with dragging Leia into this part of the conversation is that it makes it seem like everyone, from the Skywalkers, Palpatine’s, and Rey herself, share the same blood. Everyone being related to each other by blood is like the last thing I want to suggest as it’s even more egregious than the original TROS. Not to mention the oncoming incest that would entail. That’s why I think we desperately need to maintain that the Force made them at this point, again. This is specifically why I worded Kylo’s dialogue earlier as “Palpatine influenced the Force itself to create life” and “You… are a rightful Palpatine”. The Force made the life, Palpatine is claiming what it made as his own because it wouldn’t have existed in the first place without him. This is an undeniable fact, even in canon. And who knows, perhaps Palpatine did boost them with an extra dose of “you need to fulfill your purpose with all your anger” because that’s what he always wanted them to do - kill him in anger. This is what’s hinted at in the scene between Rey and Finn on the Falcon, now. Rey says that she needs to destroy him in a trance-like state with Sith whispers in the background. So let’s summarize:

1. Kylo reveals to Rey that both of them only exist because Palpatine wanted them to. They are his heirs, destined for power, and must either fight each other for the throne, or put their differences aside and make their own dark order.
2. Luke says they aren’t Palpatine’s, they are the Force’s. They were always meant to end him. And apparently, end him through any means necessary since Vader took such a long time to do it. This is why he talks about some things being stronger than blood - not all offspring of the Force have the same willpower.
3. Rey confronts Palpatine armed with this knowledge. Palpatine explains that because of the hatred and anger in her for him (possibly planted there by himself), her killing him is what he always wanted for “his” creations. Even if she was never a Palpatine by blood, she nonetheless “will be Empress”. He’s basically stating that they’re destined to be family.
4. Rey’s willpower triumphs in the face of impossible darkness. Palpatine finally admits the truth: “You’re nothing! A scavenger girl is no match for the power in me” (this implies she DOESN’T have his power). She later claims herself a Skywalker as she is the offspring of the Force, just like them, and never belonged to her loser parents or Palpatine.

Potential Rey movie spoiler tag, my bad:

If the longstanding rumors of the Rey movie are to be believed, it’s understood that Rey will become pregnant by Ben despite the fact that he’s dead. Perhaps they’ll say she became pregnant when Ben poured his life essence into her. This would make sense because the camera lingers on his hand being over her stomach. I’m bringing this up because this whole Rey Chosen One idea would neatly align itself with what’s to come, given that Rey would be conceived of no father, herself. Ben would be doing the light-side inversion of Palpatine bending the Force to his will to create life such as Anakin and Rey, because Ben actually gives up his own life to create life. So while Anakin and Rey are genetically unrelated to Palpatine, Rey’s child(ren) would be authentic/genetic Skywalkers.

Fair enough. I’m biased in this way because I went into TROS day 1 knowing the whole story due to leaks from a bunch of months prior to release. I still think this approach has its merits, though, even without these other goofy leaks.

Now that we have AI voices are there any lines that we want to regenerate? I know there were a couple in TFA. Maybe Rey’s “I am a Jedi” to make the am clearer?

The reason I never bothered with that line is because she needs to say the line in a very specific way. Somewhat under her breath, whilst she’s simultaneously out of breath and exerting herself, and in a forceful and powerful way. I honestly wouldn’t rely on AI for any line that is supposed to represent a character’s entire journey. Stuff like exposition and that works, but when it’s something people will be scrutinizing I’d rather not bother with it.

If you have ideas for some other lines that can be improved I’ll give them a look. For example, I already re-did “He’s too dangerous” but without a v5 of Ascendant in the foreseeable future that will never see the light of day.

Yeah, i wouldn’t want that whole line to be AI, maybe it would work to generate the whole line and only take the “am” from it and see how it sounds.

That’s what Hal did for Kylo’s “we’ve become a dyad in the Force, Rey”. Personally, I think I preferred the original. But check out v4 there to see if that’s something you’re comfortable with.

In the meantime, I’m just gonna drop the completed dyad-duel and hangar scene Kylo lines here. I’m sure some of them will need more options (or maybe even need to be re-written), but I just wanted to get a proof-of-concept done:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FQYpAd-CS3KHYHjn2mbEK30uiNW9g59i?usp=sharing

I think the “We’ve become a dyad line” sounds good, I probably wouldn’t notice if I didn’t know. Might be worth it just to see how it sounds, and if it doesn’t work, the original is still ok.

I’m also gonna drop the newest Luke part here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbRulfz03IySD2_hX1CIB04SpSzOGpPA/view?usp=sharing

Just to clarify, Palpatine can still have a hand in how they’re created even if the Force itself was the one that made them. Palpatine uses the Force like a tool and tries to bend it to his own will. That’s the dark twist in what Luke says - they were made to end (kill) him. He wanted Anakin to eventually kill him in anger so he could possess him, and now Rey is on the same path as he was. Palpatine was twisting the Force’s good intentions for his gain throughout the entire saga.

About the Rey line, I can share a few options for people to rip the “am” off of. But it has to be sourced from her quiet(er) lines from earlier in the film.

Just assembling all my pieces in one place. This is how I’ll (roughly) be doing the Leia flashback dialogue:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W99nUXhu5iqWQY4sQjBew1IBUmPSJo3M/view?usp=sharing

OK, just one quick thought. I like most of what you guys have here, but I was struck by something. Why does Kylo say: “in the forest?”

Kylo knows that when they first fought it was in the forest. Rey knows it was in the forest. Everyone watching this knows their first fight was in the forest. So, why that clarification? It sounds very clunky and unnecessary.

Everything else is really good.

Technically their first fight in a forest was on Takodana. Granted, that was an unfair one since Rey only had a blaster and no experience with the Force. But yeah, I can change the wording there.

EDIT: I’ve changed it to “When we first fought, on Starkiller Base” only because, like I said, their first fight was actually on Takodana. So the clarification is necessary not just for the audience, but for Rey.