True, I definitely don’t want to overdo the AI for any Ascendant version. The version I said only has ~3 AI lines though, so with some mask distortion I think it would work.
Repost from other thread about dialogue for the Ascendant Rey nobody version:
“Rey, I’ve seen the rest of your story.”
“Tell me.”
"I saw what you would become. The darkness in your future. Face Palpatine alone, and you’ll be giving him what he wants. You’ll kill him, and take the throne.”
"But you don’t have to go alone. Palpatine only wants us to fight so the strongest can be his heir. What he doesn’t know is we’re a dyad in the force, Rey… two, that are one. We can end him and the Sith, and create a new order, together…”
Thoughts on this? This way, the vision Rey and Kylo have can be true, because Rey doesn’t go alone. In the end, she has Ben with her. He appears right as Rey is about to kill Palpatine. The force duel doesn’t really need to be changed as Spence’s is already good. This would also use Spence’s removal of Rey’s line where she says she wants to destroy Palps.
Cool, that was just a first draft too, so if anyone has anything to add, go for it. Idk how much it costs, but if you run out of characters, maybe we could crowdsource some funds.
Yes, I think what we have is a great alternate version that keeps the spirit of TROS. I think we should make the dark vision dialogue anyways though, since that’s what I believe Hal wants for a Nobody edit. Nothing crazy, but gives the scene a little more to chew on going into the final act.
“Rey, I’ve seen the rest of your story.”
“Tell me.”
"I saw what you would become. The darkness in your future. Face Palpatine alone, and you’ll be giving him what he wants. You’ll kill him, and take the throne.”
"But you don’t have to go alone. Palpatine only wants us to fight so the strongest can be his heir. What he doesn’t know is we’re a dyad in the force, Rey… two, that are one. We can end him and the Sith, and create a new order, together…”
Thoughts on this? This way, the vision Rey and Kylo have can be true, because Rey doesn’t go alone. In the end, she has Ben with her. He appears right as Rey is about to kill Palpatine. The force duel doesn’t really need to be changed as Spence’s is already good. This would also use Spence’s removal of Rey’s line where she says she wants to destroy Palps.
It can still be a moment like that, the music that plays just frames what Kylo said immediately prior as a big revelation when we already sort of know the info he’s saying in this version. I think putting a more subtle track like Kylos theme or maybe a slower imperial March cue could work there instead. The I am your father scene had a similar score instead of the big buildup reveal cue that TROS has.
While we do this I may try to make a better version of the current nobody edit, splicing in the new Ascendant lines and some stuff from Spence. The big thing I want to do is rescore the reveal, as it’s not much of a reveal in the film. If anyone’s good with audio and would like to attempt it that would be amazing, I’ll try it but I’m not sure how it will turn out.
What Kylo says doesn’t have to be true, he’s just playing things up to get in her head. But, Rey’s parents could have totally been afraid of a baby that they didn’t conceive, especially one that exhibited strange powers as a child, like Anakin did with his racing. Maybe this is an result of Imperial propaganda painting the Jedi as evil. Rey didn’t even know if Luke is a real person in TFA, so their access to information is probably restricted on Jakku. Although, perhaps using “mother” or “family” instead of “parents” because I can’t imagine Rey’s dad believing his girl saying she got pregnant for no reason. The lines about Palpatine using the force’s reaction to his resurrection is sort of hard to grasp because it’s not really tangible, at least for me. I think it’s better to just leave it vague.
Here’s another slightly different draft. I think going into the force reaction aspect is a little confusing, and I’d rather spend those lines on drawing the connections between Rey and Kylo.
"I pushed you in the desert because I needed to see it… I needed you to see it… who you are. The dark side is your birthright, Rey…”
“You’re lying.”
“I’d never lie to you. Your parents were no one. Junk traders with a child they never expected.”
“Don’t!”
“But they had no part in your conception…”
“I don’t want this!”
“…just like Vader.”
“No!”
“You’ve seen it, haven’t you? Your destiny.”
(Rey sees the vision of herself on the Sith throne)
“Your parents sold you because they were afraid of you…”
“Stop talking.”
“The same way Luke was afraid of me.”
(Cutaway to heroes capture)
“The force showed me glimpses of you long before we met. When we fought for the first time, in the forest, the power inside of you awakened. You revealed yourself not only to me, but to the Emperor… just as he’d intended.”
(Visions of Rey beating Kylo on Starkiller, falling into the dark cave, etc.)
“No!”
(A pedestal shatters and the mask of Vader falls to the ground)
“So that’s where you are.”
“Our fates have always been intertwined."
“No…”
"I’ll tell you why.”
—
“Palpatine told me the rest of our story.”
“Tell me.”
"He influenced the Force itself into creating life. First my grandfather, and then you. You were The Emperor’s chosen heir. You… are a rightful Palpatine.”
"The Emperor wants us to fight each other, so his most worthy heir can claim the throne. But he hasn’t realized the strength of our connection, Rey… a bond, not of blood, but of raw power in the Force. We can end him and the Sith, and create a new order, together…”
I think the truth of the reveal is that Palpatine did indeed do something to create Anakin and Rey, but in reality they were a counter to whatever he did, and are just creations of the force. Palpatine then believes that he is their creator because he’s narcissistic and thinks that he has complete control of the force. That way, the canon timeline of events lines up. This can all stay ambiguous, though. The dialogue we have now doesn’t refute this either, so idk if it warrants a change.
That all sounds great to me. This scene will go in the rewrite hall of fame next to the TFA crawl.
The only point of contention is the current canon novels which state that he transferred his spirit before his body even died in the reactor shaft of the Death Star. At least this way Anakin actually killed Palpatine. It’s only because of his followers that he returned, and then a new chosen one was created.
I think I like the idea that Palpatine returns immediately after his death in ROTJ because if he can be resurrected after 10 years, what’s stopping someone from resurrecting him in the future? Palpatine survives because he has a whole clone operation on exogol prepared for this moment, and without a backup, his spirit has no where to go at the end of TROS and dies for good. But I do like the idea that Rey is a reaction to Palpatine’s return, so idk.
I like all of those changes. I can’t wait to watch the whole trilogy again with all these edits.
While I definitely agree that her parents aren’t relevant at all, I think including that line does a lot for Rey’s self doubt, and that instead of her thinking that she was abandoned because her parents were assholes (which they still are), she can now believe that she was abandoned for a reason, because there is something evil inside her. Which is cemented in her head when she stabs kylo, causing her to go to the island. This also makes the Skywalker’s acceptance of her mean a little more. But it can also just be implied and her parents never mentioned.
So in this version Palpatine is lying and the force alone created Rey/Anakin? Or did whatever dark ritual/experiment Palpatine did cause the force to react and he’s just taking credit? I think I prefer the second. Also, I would stick with the original dialogue, since kylo is trying to convince Rey of this lie that she’s destined for evil. Saying she’s a reaction to Palpatine’s ressurection kind of waters down the reveal. I like the new Luke dialogue, though. Makes Palpatine telling Rey his plan actually make a little sense. And I think it would be a shame to lose the bit about her parents abandoning her because of her dark power, that feels like something that would truly hurt Rey in the moment.
I like that better, too.
That all sounds good. Although I prefer the wording of “The force alone made us…” or “We’re a creation of the force…”
We should make a list of all the dialogue changes for this version and maybe start generating some of the lines and see how they sound. Not that we should stop brainstorming, there’s potential for so many different variations of this scene that I’d love to see.
The line for Luke you suggested is great, I think I would include that over the Leia stuff. It’s already implied by Leia’s dialogue earlier in the movie that she can tell Rey is struggling with something.
I do like the Leia part of that but having Luke specifically talk about the reveal in more depth would help sell the edit more. If the Leia stuff was kept, I think it should just be that Leia saw the same visions of Rey and the throne, not that she knew exactly what her origin was.
True. I think the only line that feels weird with this version is Luke saying “Because you’re a palpatine?” I feel like he wouldn’t call Rey a Palpatine directly like that knowing he came from the same method of creation. So maybe we could change that to phrase it slightly differently.
I think that’s solid, probably as good as we’re gonna get with the force creation idea. I don’t think it’s too complicated at all and ties everything together nicely. I think I’d only have a question on why she’s referred to as a Palpatine when the Skywalkers aren’t when they were created in the same way.
I think besides a true Rey Nobody version, the force creation with no parents angle is my favorite. The only wrinkle is that it’s not explicitly said that the force chooses a random woman in the galaxy, but I think you can infer that. Below is basically the same with a couple lines changed. I like the idea that maybe Rey’s parents saw the darkness in Rey and sold her because they were afraid of what she was. I would probably freak out too if I were them.
“I pushed you in the desert because I needed to see it… I needed you to see it… who you are. The dark side is your birthright, Rey…”
“You’re lying.”
“I’d never lie to you. Your parents were no one. Junk traders expecting a child they never wanted.”
“Don’t!”
“Your parents, Rey… they had no part in your conception…”
“I don’t want this!”
“…just like Vader.”
“No!”
“You’ve seen it, haven’t you? Your destiny.”
(Rey sees the vision of herself on the Sith throne)
“Your parents were afraid of your power.”
“Stop talking.”
“The same way Luke was afraid of me.”
(Cutaway to heroes capture)
“The Force showed me glimpses of a girl like you long before we first met. When we fought, in the forest, the power inside of you awakened. You didn’t just reveal yourself to me… you were exposed to the Emperor… just as he’d intended.”
(Visions of Rey beating Kylo on Starkiller, falling into the dark cave, etc.)
“No!”
(A pedestal shatters and the mask of Vader falls to the ground)
“So that’s where you are.”
“Before you chose the Jedi, Palpatine wanted you alive."
“No…”
"I’ll come tell you why.”
“Rey… I know the rest of our story.”
“Tell me.”
"The Emperor manipulated the Force itself into creating life. First my grandfather, and then you. You were his chosen heir. You… are a rightful Palpatine.”
"The Emperor only wants us to fight each other, so his most worthy heir can claim the throne. But he hasn’t realized the strength of our connection, Rey… a bond, not of blood, but of power in the Force. We’ll end him and the Sith, and create a new order, together…”
I like the version Hal shared too, although I would prefer to keep her parents irrelevant. I don’t know if the horcrux idea can be properly explained in such a short space for it to work.
I’m not sure, I was under the impression that is was RL or Hal or both of them.
I agree, but I’d love to see 2 get made eventually. Do we have a clean version of the scene? I’m not sure if it exists since the current Rey nobody edit just cuts out much of the dialogue.
I think for a true Rey Nobody edit it makes sense for her power to awaken on Starkiller. But I don’t know if it would work to have that be true and have her connected to the emperor.