10 Moments In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker That Surprised Us All

Star Wars fans have seen it all over the past 40 years. Likewise, modern movie fans are pretty savvy about guessing what’s to come in a film ahead of time. Not to mention all the leaks that arrived online over the past couple of months. All this is to say that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had a tough task in providing a genuinely surprising ride for audiences to enjoy. But, although you have to admit that Episode IX does have its problems, a lack of shocking moments isn’t one of them as there are many twists and turns that’ll have you on the edge of your cinema seat. Some of these include the return of a few familiar faces kept out of the marketing. Others involve some unexpected character developments, while there are also a couple of pure “WTF?” moments that have left us scratching our heads. We’ve whittled down the assortment of astounding scenes in TROS to just 10 though, and you can read on for our picks for the film’s most surprising moments, beginning on the following page. The Dead Speak! The fact that Emperor Palpatine was alive again in Rise of Skywalker wasn’t a surprise, seeing as that’s been the backbone of the movie’s marketing. What was a surprise, though, was how soon this fact is revealed. In the first line of the opening crawl, no less! It was widely assumed that Darth Sidious’ return would be a major plot point, so to have this happen off-screen, with the villain revealed to have made his resurrection known to the galaxy in a mysterious broadcast - heard only by Fortnite players - came completely out of left field. Honestly, as did the rather cringe first line of the crawl - “The Dead Speak!” It’s also left unsaid exactly how Palpatine found a way back to the land of the living, which is a bit of a surprise after fans have spent the last year furiously trying to work it out. There is at least a hint at how he could have achieved his resurrection in the form of a neat callback, though. Snoke Is A Clone Supreme Leader Snoke was killed off in The Last Jedi, which left fans frustrated that we never got to learn the origins of the First Order bigwig. Despite his death, though, Rise kicks off with a major revelation about him: he’s a clone. When Kylo Ren tracks Palpatine down to Exegol, the Emperor tells him he’s the one who’s really been pulling Ren’s strings, doing an impersonation of Snoke’s voice to prove it. A couple of lifeless copies of Snoke can then be glimpsed in some kind of glass incubator, confirming that he was just a creation of Palp’s that he controlled (which We Got This Covered told you well before the movie came out). This was presumably done so that he could keep the fact of his survival a secret until he was ready to unleash his Final Order fleet onto the galaxy. Fans have been saying that Snoke is just a clone of Palpatine ever since The Force Awakens, so it’s a smart and very meta move to make this literally the case. Now the mystery surrounding him and the similarities with the Emperor in previous films aren't flaws but rather, hints at his true nature. Rey Is A Palpatine TLJ had told us that Rey’s parents were nobodies, but we were fully expecting J.J. Abrams to retcon Rian Johnson’s explanation in some way and tie the heroine into some established family in the following movie. Sure enough, that did happen in Rise of Skywalker...but the exact family she's a part of came as a big shock. Though most had previously assumed Rey is a secret Skywalker or perhaps Kenobi or Solo over the years, TROS confirms that she is actually the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine (again, something that We Got This Covered first told you months ago). Apparently, he had a son who turned against the ways of the Sith and had a daughter with Villanelle from Killing Eve. They abandoned her on Jakku, not in exchange for money, like Kylo said in Episode VIII, but to protect her from her evil grandpa’s clutches. Fair play to Abrams here, as he managed to pick the answer to the mystery of Rey’s family that packed the most punch. Being told her parents were unimportant in TLJ was pretty tough for her to hear, but discovering she's descended from the worst man in the galaxy is even tougher. General Hux Is A Traitor In the early part of the film, the Resistance is being fed useful information by a key informant within the First Order of unknown identity. When Finn and Poe are to be executed, Hux rescues them and reveals he's the mole. Not because he’s had a change of heart, though, but because he is desperate to stop Kylo Ren from succeeding. Hux has always been the most loyal First Order soldier, so it came as a surprise that he was helping the Resistance. It makes sense, though - he wasn’t happy about Kylo killing Snoke in The Last Jedi and it's been clear that he's hated him since The Force Awakens. If Kylo is now the First Order, then of course he'd want the First Order to fail. On a secondary note, it’s also shocking when Hux is unceremoniously killed off not long after this revelation. Though he attempts to cover his treachery, Allegiant General Pryde sees through him straight away and executes him with a blaster. This is certainly not the end that fans had foreseen for him. C-3PO Lives The trailers really did a number on us when it comes to C-3PO. The scene of him “taking one last look” at his friends was featured in many promos, seemingly preparing us for the end of the droid who’s been with the franchise the whole time. As it happens, though, Threepio made it out in tact. All the drama concerns the protocol droid being unable to translate the inscription on the Sith dagger that will lead them to the Sith wayfinder due to restrictions in his programming. The heroes take him to expert hacker Babu Frik on Kijimi where his memory is wiped to undo the mental block. For a while, it seems that Threepio will remain an amnesiac, but he eventually appears to get all his old memories back without much fuss, albeit it in a muddled order, from R2-D2. In this case, a character not meeting a dark fate was the surprise twist. Thanks Lucasfilm, for all the months we spent worrying about Threepio’s future. Han Solo’s Cameo Luke’s appearance as a Force ghost was excellent, but it’d long been officially confirmed that Mark Hamill was returning for Rise. A secret that was kept close, though, was Harrison Ford turning up in a cameo as Han Solo for the first time since The Force Awakens. After Ren makes the first steps towards redemption (more on that in a moment), he's visited by a vision of his late father. In an inversion of their last meeting in TFA, when Kylo killed Han, he tells his father that he knows what he has to do but doesn’t know if he has the strength to do it, and asks for his help. He then throws his lightsaber away, symbolizing the rebirth of Ben Solo. Sure, so it’s not incredibly shocking that they got Ford back, given his stature in the franchise, but this was still a surprising and highly effective way to do it. I mean, it's unclear exactly what's going on here - is this all happening in Kylo's head? Is it connected to the Force? - but it hits the emotional beats all the same. Kylo Redeemed Yes, Kylo Ren gets redeemed in The Rise of Skywalker. Again, this is perhaps not a completely unexpected development, seeing as it directly mirrors Darth Vader’s turn from the dark side in Return of the Jedi. It’s the nature of Kylo’s switch to the light that holds the real surprises, though. In contrast to Vader’s fairly brief moment of goodness, Kylo does a full-on 180 degree turn in TROS and spends the third act of the movie as a total badass, taking down the Knights of Ren, aiding Rey in defeating the Emperor and ultimately sacrificing his life for her. Given all the terrible things Kylo has done, you might feel conflicted about him pulling off such a pronounced heroic turn, but it’s hard to deny that it’s thrilling - and, in the end, heartbreaking - to witness. The Reylo Kiss There are a few “ships” to come from the Sequel Trilogy that have their passionate fans. There was much speculation prior to Rise, then, over which of the speculated romantic couples would come to pass. In the end, while there are implied moments for Rey/Finn and Finn/Poe fans to enjoy, the only one that gets a proper culmination is Rey and Kylo Ren AKA “Reylo.” Arguably the most controversial of all of them. First of all, Rey saves Kylo's life, which precipitates his redemption. He then repays the favor, giving his life energy up to save her in the film's climax. Once she's resurrected, Rey plants a passionate kiss on his lips (again, something WGTC told you about before the movie released) and the pair share a sweet moment as they beam with happiness. However, tragedy strikes when Kylo succumbs to his death and vanishes, becoming one with the Force. For Reylo lovers, this was a pretty emotionally-devastating scene. First, it looks like the pair are going to get a happy ending, and then it’s snatched away from them. Why you gotta be so mean, J.J.? Force-Healing The Last Jedi already added a few new major Force powers into Star Wars lore, but Rise of Skywalker goes even further with the creation of Force-healing. At first, this new ability is introduced when Rey heals the injured foot of a creature on Pasaana. It’s then revealed that this power can be used to heal life-threatening injuries when Rey saves Kylo from a lightsaber to the chest. Ultimately, Force-healing is shown to even be capable of bringing someone back from death, so long as the healer gives the other person all of their life energy. This is a pretty massive new power to drop in the final installment of the saga, at last confirming the rumors that the Force can be used to master death that Palpatine spoke of in Revenge of the Sith. It was additionally surprising that Force-healing was previewed in the last episode of The Mandalorian, when Baby Yoda was shown to heal a poisoned Greef Karga. We certainly weren’t expecting any sort of crossover there. The Return Of The Jedi There were all sorts of theories about fan favorite characters returning in Rise and, you know what, many of them turned out to be true. We may not have got to glimpse them in the flesh, but one epic scene saw numerous familiar stars turn up for a brief vocal cameo. In total, there were a whopping 10 of them! When all hope seems lost and Rey is losing her battle with the Emperor, she hears many of the Jedi who have come before her, offering her words of encouragement. Jedi Knights from the prequels, the Original Trilogy and even animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels can be heard. Here’s a complete list of the cameos: Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker (Prequels) Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi (Originals/Prequels) Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn (Prequels) Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu (Prequels) Frank Oz as Yoda (Originals, Prequels, Sequels) Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano (The Clone Wars, Rebels) Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus (Rebels) Olivia d’Abo as Luminara Unduli (The Clone Wars) Jennifer Hale as Aayla Secura (The Clone Wars) Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia (The Clone Wars) This was an excellent way for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to draw the whole franchise together for this last installment in the Skywalker saga, providing us with a cameo-fest that was both surprising and wholly satisfying.