What we received in The Rise of Skywalker a redemption arc for Kylo Ren and a romantic
connection between him and Rey was a fairly logical path to take, despite its divisive
nature.
A long, long time ago in an alleged script far away, however, their dynamic was very
different.
YouTube user and former screenplay reader Rob Burnett posted a video in which he claims
to have acquired a defunct draft of The Rise of Skywalker's script.
The script, called Duel of the Fates, was reportedly written back when Colin Trevorrow
was attached to the film as director in 2016.
Of course, there's no possible way to know how genuine the alleged script is, unless
the director himself or Disney officially releases a statement.
The thing his, the director himself kinda did.
Trevorrow confirmed on Twitter that leaked concept art is indeed from “Duel Of The
Fates” - even using that alleged movie title.
But the script leak happened before the concept art did, and so did that title.
So did Trevorrow just sort of “low key” confirm the script leak?
Kinda?
Sorta?
Well, let’s just say that you can believe what you’d like about the following Reylo
info.
The biggest single difference in characterization choices for this alleged early draft is the
fact that Kylo Ren isn't redeemed.
At one point while assessing the crushed Darth Vader mask, Kylo acknowledges that what changed
Vader at the end of his life was love and that was a weakness and failing on his part.
He destroys the mask and vows that he will succeed where his grandfather failed in achieving
power and becoming the strongest Force-user in the galaxy.
That doesn't mean that people don't make a similar effort to save Kylo Ren. Rey spends
most of the film believing Kylo Ren can be saved.
The alleged script seems to make a big deal of separating Ben Solo from Kylo Ren, to the
point that it might be a literal separate personality.
Additionally, Luke Skywalker has a significant part to play in this theoretical story as
a Force ghost haunting Kylo Ren.
Luke makes a lot of efforts to sway Kylo himself, sometimes even reaching out to Rey through
the Force to make them connect and convince Kylo to walk away from the dark side.
Unfortunately, none of it works.
Apparently, Duel of the Fates was interested in making Rey's journey even more difficult
than the one she went through in The Rise of Skywalker.
Rey has recurring, undescribed nightmares in this alleged script and though Burnett
doesn't go into a lot of detail, these dreams are meant to lead Rey to the mysterious realm
Mortis.
The ethereal realm was last seen in The Clone Wars animated series, where it's implied to
be the birthplace of the Force.
A crisis of confidence is at the heart of Rey's character struggle as the weight of
her responsibility bears down upon her.
She has a conversation with Luke's Force ghost while training in which she argues that the
demands of the Jedi path ask too much of any one individual.
Luke says her destiny is to be the last Jedi and attain greatness; Rey replies that maybe
the last Jedi has already been lost, referring to Luke's death.
Overall, this theoretical story puts a lot more effort into presenting Rey as a Grey
Jedi, similar to Ahsoka Tano, who's unsatisfied with the paradigm of the traditional Jedi
mantra.
Another deviation in this alleged script is that Kylo Ren and Rey never seem to have any
romantic interest, one-sided or mutual.
Though Rey does seem to express sympathy for Kylo Ren and wants to bring him back from
the Dark Side, that interest seems to come from the experiences she had in The Last Jedi.
That said, she does kill Kylo Ren at the end of Duel of the Fates, though Burnett doesn't
specify in his summary how Rey feels about the action.
One of the most frustrating aspects of The Rise of Skywalker for critics was seeing director
J.J. Abrams seemingly throw away many of the themes and plots of The Last Jedi.
When J.J. Abrams returned to the director's chair after Trevorrow was let go, any previously
existing script was discarded and re-started from scratch.
However, Duel of the Fates apparently maintained at least some of the character themes presented
in The Last Jedi.
For one, there's no Force dyad in this script at all.
Kylo Ren and Rey are indeed the two most powerful Force users of their generation, but this
isn't borne of a genetic destiny or prophecy.
They both will have to work for it, which is what the trip to Mortis is for.
The ultimate expression of their powers is learned there: the ability to give and take
pure life energy through the Force from other living creatures.
This ability is the main tension of their final lightsaber fight in which Kylo Ren dies.
The two of them are working toward this apex of ability for themselves, not in pursuit
of titles or even necessarily for the political systems they each represent.
Kylo supposedly mocks General Hux, for his aspirations to rule the galaxy and goes AWOL
on the First Order in pursuit of his own interests.
Rey simply needs to understand if she is everything everyone believes she is.
The last point of interest is that Duel of the Fates remains true to The Last Jedi's
revelation that Rey has no important lineage.
The only fact we ever learn about her parents is that Kylo confesses to murdering them at
Snoke's behest.
Rey even reiterates dialogue she had in The Last Jedi that she is nobody, from nowhere.
"Where are you from?"
"Nowhere."
"No one's from nowhere."
"Jakku."
"Okay, that is pretty much nowhere."
That fact is part of what drives her crisis of faith in the film: how can she possibly
be this important person if she's really no one?
"They're dead in a pauper's desert in Jakku.
You have no place in this story.
You come from nothing.
You're nothing.”
Regardless of this alleged script's veracity, we'll never see another version of The Rise
of Skywalker.
Still, that doesn't mean we can't entertain ourselves with different ideas about what
happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
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