Things You Only Notice In Rise Of Skywalker After Watching It More Than Once

"Star Wars" fans have all heard this threat before: "Come to the Dark Side or die." Just add in a couple of "mwahahas," and you've got yourself a Sith Lord. In "A New Hope," Darth Vader gives his own version of the Sith Lord Recruitment Speech, but as we know, Luke spurns his offer. Despite Vader's threat, however, the bonds of family are strong enough to eventually break the Dark Side's hold on him, allowing Vader to sacrifice himself for his son. In "The Rise of Skywalker," Kylo Ren follows in his granddaddy's footsteps by threatening Rey with death for refusing to yield to darkness. He says, "Such pain in you. Such anger. I don't want to have to kill you. I'm going to find you, and I'm going to turn you to the Dark Side. When I offer you my hand again ... you'll take it."

Yet in Kylo's dramatic attempts to become his grandfather (remember him playing Hamlet with his melted helmet?) at his most evil, he actually ends up mirroring Vader's heroic redemption. Vader and Kylo not only save the person they initially threaten, they both give their lives for that very same person. Kylo foreshadows sacrificing his life for Rey the minute he mimics Vader's speech from all those years ago. And while Anakin probably isn't proud of all the destruction his grandson causes in his name, he can finally be proud of him for the selfless sacrifice he makes.

At second glance, the bombshell that Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter isn't exactly subtle. Yes, Kylo's throwaway line retconning his previous assertation that Rey's parents were nobodies is a bit of a clumsy maneuver. Yet J.J. Abrams' attempt to rewrite the events of Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi" isn't without its own buildup. "The Rise of Skywalker" offers plenty of moments that foreshadow Rey's Palpatine connection — they're just much more noticeable after the big reveal happens.

When our favorite heroes gather around Poe to discover that good ol' Palpy has been (sort of) alive and kicking this entire time, Leia gives us our first clue. Because the film recycles unused Carrie Fisher footage from "The Force Awakens," fans have to suspend their disbelief a bit with the editing process. However, given the way Leia's scenes are cut together, it almost looks like she's staring right at Rey when Poe makes his announcement. Was that intentional? Probably.

Later, Rey displays lightning Force abilities when she battles Kylo on Pasaana. It seems irrelevant to Palpatine during the first go-around, because it's one moment in a series of scenes that build up Rey's wild Force abilities. Sure, Force lightning is a specific Palpatine trait, but you might not notice that while watching. In hindsight, though, it's clear that she got that particular characteristic from dear old grandpa.

Rey's entire arc hinges on the young Jedi discovering who she is. She spends so much time thinking of a family she never knew that she doesn't fully embrace her found family — at least, not until "The Rise of Skywalker." When the rebels crash the Festival of the Ancestors on Pasaana, Rey tells Nambi Ghima that she doesn't know her last name. While the scene is clearly significant to the first-time viewer, its importance becomes even more evident upon rewatch.

Rey's unknown origin story and family history clearly still haunt her. This moment specifically foreshadows her choosing her own name — Skywalker — when she's asked the same question on Tatooine, at the end of "The Rise of Skywalker." The similarities between Leia and Rey are staggering, so it's not surprising that Rey's deep connection to her mentor would make her want to explicitly carry on the Skywalker legacy. However, Rey also has the chance to restore honor to the Skywalker name, which has become so deeply tarnished over the years. It takes a long journey for Rey to find herself, but she finally does, and it all ends with the words of a young alien and a little self-reflection.

When Poe and Finn want to risk wiping C-3PO's memory for good in order to translate a Sith dagger, Rey does something shocking: She lets him weigh in. Specifically, she asks if they have a choice, to which he tilts his head back in surprise for a millisecond. No one ever really considers his thoughts or feelings in this way — in fact, we've never really seen C-3PO treated with any kind of dignity or respect before. Even R2-D2 tends to drag C-3PO around everywhere, without listening to his pal's objections on the matter. Almost every other droid in the "Star Wars" universe is treated better than the golden humanoid — and he knows it. Though his surprise is fleeting and minimal when Rey consults him, it's there.

Rey weighing in on the odds also directly counters Han's "Never tell me the odds" philosophy. Throughout the entire franchise, Han, and even Luke at times, generally treat C-3PO like an expendable nuisance, despite his loyalty. This marks the first time someone has given him any sort of autonomy, and with that blink-and-you-miss-it head tilt, we see how much it means. Finally, we see C-3PO make the right choice instead of running away, as he has historically been wont to do, because Rey actually allows him to make that choice for himself.

Sure, "Star Wars" may seem like a fun, campy space story, but its darker connotations are right there in its name. It's not called "Star Peace," after all. In war, there are casualties — and the franchise certainly doesn't shy away from killing off fan-favorites.

Back in "A New Hope," we see Leia, who just watched her entire planet blow up, pause her grief, because she has a mission. It's not the first time she's lost someone to the war, but she loses her adoptive parents and her planet all in one fell swoop in Alderaan's destruction. Still, she keeps going, because she has to. She even takes time to comfort Luke, who's lost Obi-Wan (a guy he just met), ignoring her own grief. 

In "The Rise of Skywalker," Chewbacca does the same thing. Chewie is utterly devastated when he learns of Leia's passing, letting out a chillingly grief-stricken howl. At this point, he too has lost everyone he loves — but his grieving is cut short without a word of objection. There's so much going on during this sequence that it isn't blatantly obvious, but the minute he's told that he's needed, Chewbacca immediately jumps up, nods, and goes into action, abandoning his pain for the cause. This small, seemingly insignificant call to action speaks to the trauma soldiers have to bury to carry on the mission. He and Leia are very similar in that way.

Few things tell you more about a Jedi than their lightsaber, and the ones Rey and Ben wield when they battle Palpatine have much deeper meaning than might be apparent. When Rey equips a newly good Ben Solo with one of the Skywalker sabers, it's difficult to tell who has Luke's and who has Leia's. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that Rey handed off Luke's lightsaber and kept Leia's for this high-stakes battle.

When Ben becomes willing to fight with Luke's lightsaber, leaving his petty revenge behind, it solidifies his redemption arc. Finally, he achieves closure and forgiveness when it comes to his uncle and old Jedi Master. He's long blamed Luke for his descent to the Dark Side, but in this moment, he's finally able to move on.

For Rey, wielding Leia's lightsaber is similarly significant. It symbolizes that while we may have lost the strongest and most brilliant woman in the galaxy, Leia's spirit lives on in her powerful and deeply moral successor. While the young Jedi was certainly close with Luke as well, Rey is everything Leia might have hoped for in a daughter. When Rey takes her surrogate mother's last name, she truly becomes that child Leia never had. And let's face it: Nothing ever ends well when it comes to the Skywalker men. It's only fitting that a woman is given the chance to carry on the legacy. We need less Anakin energy and more Leia energy in the galaxy.