Do You Know The Dark Rey Saber Backstory?

Many fans expected Rey to have the doubl-bladed foldable red lightsaber that was first seen in The Rise of Skywalker trailer then revealed in the movie to be in her dream. However, she never actually used it, and ended up with a yellow one at the end of the film. Recently, a Lucasfilm prop expert revealed the entire backstory for “Dark” Rey’s dream lightsaber and what it means to Rey’s story.

Lucasfilm archivist Madlyn Burkert revealed details on a new segment of “The Star Wars Show” on the official Star Wars website. Burkert talks about the three lightsabers at the end of the Skywalker saga: Leia’s saber, the reassembled Skywalker family saber, and Dark Rey’s saber. She reveals interesting tidbits about all, including the idea that Leia’s lightsaber may have been inspired by Queen Amidala’s style. But it was her comments about Dark Rey’s saber that really got the fans excited.

The movie never went in-depth about Dark Rey’s lightsaber. It was a quick snapshot into who Rey might have become if she and Kylo Ren became rulers of the First Order together. But it does not show much of the story of the unique lightsaber. This led to many different fan theories and fan fiction about what might have happened if Rey had decided to turn to the dark side.

“Dark” Rey’s lightsaber is very different from “Light” Rey’s lightsaber. It also reveals some interesting points as to what might have happened to lead each of them on the paths that they took. An alternate universe, so to speak.

In the novelization of The Rise of Skywalker, it was confirmed that Rey was working on a design for a lightsaber with a hinge before she had the “Dark” Rey vision. The hinge seems like a normal thought process for Rey because she would be thinking how to reverse engineer her experience with her quarterstaff to make fighting with a light saber more efficient and effective for her.

In a new feature on StarWars.com, it was revealed that early concept art had “Dark” Rey’s lightsaber also created from her quarterstaff, but this was too much in line with “Light” Rey’s lightsaber, and they wanted to make it unique, so they scrapped it.

If we combine these two pieces of information about the staff, that “Light” Rey wanted a saber with a hinge and “Dark” Rey would have gotten rid of her staff for the lightsaber, then it turns into an awesome storyline supported by canonical material. If Rey had gone to the dark side, she would have gotten rid of her staff entirely and made her new double blade foldable lightsaber from scratch.

There is also onscreen evidence for this. “Dark” Rey’s saber has the crackly sounds and looks to it, implying that it was homemade just like Kylo Ren’s red cross guard saber. And her turn to the dark side was not entirely complete.

Burkert also mentions in the article that this was deliberate homage to Darth Maul’s double bladed sabers and also a bit of First Order influence. “There’s a lot of red details on this, and we often associate that color with the dark side, with the Empire or the First Order.”

If we look at the headcanon, fanfiction/theory world again, it would be totally feasible to see “Dark” Rey asking Kylo Ren for help making her saber. And, with the First Order accents to it, it would, hypothetically, pay tribute to the idea of them co-running the First Order together. This makes sense in theory, because in the movie, Rey tells Finn about her dream:

Rey: I had a vision of the Throne of the Sith, and who was on it.

Finn: Ren.

Rey: And me.

It seems to be highly suggested in the Star Wars canon lore that there really is no version of “Dark” Rey where she kills Kylo Ren to take over the First Order. It is always them together. Which leads us to think that one of the main reasons that Rey is tempted by the dark side is Kylo Ren and her complicated feelings toward him. It may not be explicitly concrete in the canon, but when watching the films, it is easy to see.

One of the features of this unique double bladed foldable lightsaber is that it has the ability to trap other sabers in between the two blades, like a pair of scissors.

You can barely see this in the short clip in Rey’s vision, but if you pause it frame by frame you will see that at one point in the fight, “Dark” Rey’s saber has trapped “Light” Rey’s saber in between the blades, which is one of the coolest saber tactics ever. In the “Dark” Rey headcanon, this is how she won so many battles since her blades are shorter than a normal lightsabers. It is a really cool move, and in the Star Wars universe, we have barely gotten to see it used as of yet.

Right now, nothing more exists about “Dark” Rey except for what Lucasfilm has put out, in the movies, and in the fanfiction and theories surrounding it. But what Burkert has said about this saber does make us wonder whether Lucasfilm is entirely done with “Dark” Rey or not. They have clearly put thought into it, more than what is needed for a 15-second clip. There is enough material there, and hopefully, in the future, we will see more of the alternate universe “Dark” Rey and how she got to who she is.

Written By Elizabeth Dresdow

Syndicated From Culture Slate