There ’s been a moment of a strange return in Star Wars recently : more often than not , multitude just do n’t fail . The Rise of Skywalker , infamously perhaps , is predicate on the return key of the Emperor with little account as to how he got out of a one - way trip down an explode reactor shaft . Obi - Wan Kenobijust gave us not one , but two masses surviving mortal lightsaber wounds through sheer determination .
So yeah , multitude are take a bit of a hard clock time not wedge around in the beetleweed far , far away at the minute of arc . But it ’s also not exactly a fresh affair , really : Darth Maul infamously survived becoming Half Maul when he returned in The Clone Wars with some demented robo - spider legs . Anakin , of course , managed to support the departure of several limbs and being burned alive long enough to be evacuated by Palpatine afterfighting Obi - Wan on Mustafar . It ’s all kind of silly , and in a sure way , for a series that is so fascinated and burdened by its own past times , there ’s a dark humour in the commentary that Star Wars just ca n’t let some things break down . Unless they ’re random mooks or , deplorably , Han Solo , apparently .
But both those fictional character , and the character reference we ’ve determine jockey death this manner lately — Palpatine in Rise , and both the Grand Inquisitor and Reva inObi - Wan — all have something in common : they are practitioners of the Dark Side of the Force . The alibi , if any , give for them surviving fatal maimings is the emotion that they make their power from in the first place : they ’re literally just too excited to die , a sheer force of will to endure out of maliciousness and furor that lets them defy unimaginable odds .
“I was always here, Obi-Wan. You just… were not ready to see yet.”Screenshot: Lucasfilm
It ’s kind of gripping to see Star Wars tend on this idea more and more , especially because it ’s not the only means of cheating expiry we ’re see more of lately — the Light Side of this dichotomy is getting in on it too , as we see and hear more fromspirits of the Forcein these stories as well . This is image with Liam Neeson ’s last - moment manifestation as Qui - Gon Jinn , and the voices of Jedi across generations spill the beans to Rey in Rise ’s climax , alongside the feeling of Luke and Leia follow over her . If Star Wars is to be so fascinated with this thought of rendering death pretty toothless , then it is at least gunning for it at an interesting angle beyond turn down wager or a requisite to never let things go : death still matters to some people in the galaxy far , far aside … from a sealed point of view .
revolve around this thought around Force exploiter specifically — like we said , we ’ve find out people bite the bullet in Star Wars enough enough lately , they just go on to be regular folks , soldiers and bounty hunters far take away from the phantasmal engagement of the Skywalker Saga — creates this enchanting estimate of direct contrast . It ’s long been established canyon ( at least , as far as we bear on to be aware , always in motion the Force is , and so on and so forth ) that the power to certify as a Force Ghost is one open only to practitioners of the Light . It ’s why , allegedly , Palpatine spent so much of his life as Emperordesperately seeking outincreasingly arcane ways to maintain his soul beyond his original body , after all . But it also suddenly clicks into hit sense of why we ’re seeing so many Dark Siders beyond him — who lack the imagination to just pop off to a far - flung planet and set up a cult of cloners — rail against break down so much that they endure what should be deadly wounds .
But for the Jedi , death is all but a manner of an elevated signified of perspective . Qui - Gon ’s journey as a Force ghost in tie - in material as of belated has been about his grow mastery of this Modern configuration that give up him to exceed traditional position — he can eventually physically interact with the corporeal world , he can see through time itself . Yoda , in The Last Jedi , has also take in some semblance of this idea , broaden his perspective . To the Jedi , death is not the end but the beginning of something new , a persistence beyond one class as you step into , as Obi - Wan told Luke in A New Hope , a larger world . All that it ask is that a Jedi lets go , literally of their physical body but also spiritually of the construct that that torso provided all the perspective that they were able to perceive , to get ahead this vast new level of electric potential .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
If we equate this to the Dark Siders we ’ve seen “ rip off ” demise recently then , there ’s an challenging parallel . Without such a like power eff to them , the Dark Side is embraced by the deed of not let go at all , keep on to every piddling thing — ire , fear , retaliation , the fact that your legs are suddenly not tie to your body — and such a desire channel the Force itself to sustain yourself through direful combat injury . Pain as sustenance for the Dark Side is a common idea in Star Wars , in so much that it evokes the passion that grants the Sith and their acoyltes the durability they thirst . But reframing it as this idea that , given the alternative is physical and religious obliviousness , these people are simply just too infuriated to give up present a contrast to the Jedi and the Light Side that is far more challenging than the cyclic tale of good and immorality that their conflict is typically framed as . Two different perspectives on the same thing , something Star Wars hump to roleplay with so much .
It ’s made further more challenging by two of the more recent exemplar of Dark Side users move against this musical theme : thedeath of Darth Maulin Star Wars Rebels , and the survival of the fittest of Reva in Obi - Wan Kenobi . Both center on these characters confronting that decisiveness of whether or not to permit go of their long - curb grudges against their masters . For Maul , he still wants to see Palpatine destroy for vacate him , even as he masks that desire with his grandiose hatred of Obi - Wan . For Reva , she seek retribution against Vader for his mass murder at the Jedi Temple in social club 66 . Both , at the hands of Obi - Wan Kenobi , are given the chance to allow go of that hatred , and we get to see the substitute paths laid out for them : no longer conceive he needs to persist , his mission against Palpatine destined to be picked up by another , Maul simply resolve that there is no longer a place for him in the world , and fades by . Reva , meanwhile , is give the uncommon luck of redemption through just live , alternatively of the decease so many redemption electric discharge close with in Star Wars , by being convinced to let go of the botheration and anger she felt over the loss of her fellow Jedi younglings . One chooses to find another way to exist in this current world beyond their hatred , the other only lets go of it completely .
In this Force - driven conflict of Light and Dark , Reva ’s act in special is a extremist one , a possible defiance of this cyclical theme of spiritual perspective where the Dark is rooted in a strong-arm universe , while the Light transcends into a land beyond it . If Star Wars is to embrace the somewhat nonsensical thought that some people just ca n’t stay utter , physically or otherwise , reframing it around these thought of self is at least much more interesting than awkwardly handwaving fateful lightsaber wounds . After all , Star Wars itself perhaps put it best : no one ’s ever really gone . So why not play with that more often ?
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
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Screenshot: Lucasfilm
