With so much happening in The Rise of Skywalker, there were definitely a few cool hidden details
you missed.
Fans would need their own wayfinders to track it all down, not to mention decoding all the
characters with more meaning than you may realize.
Here's what you may have overlooked.
Emperor Palpatine looks pretty rough post-resurrection in The Rise of Skywalker, and understandably
so, but his majestic throne is a different story.
Palp's craggy chair, "The Throne of the Sith," is the coolest bad guy seat outside of Game
of Thrones, and there's a good reason for that.
The legendary Ralph McQuarrie, the man largely responsible for the look of the original Star
Wars trilogy, designed it in the '80s for Return of the Jedi.
Lucasfilm creative art manager Phil Szostak revealed this unused throne room art on Twitter
back when the final Rise of Skywalker trailer dropped, posting McQuarrie's old sketches
next to Palpatine's new throne.
McQuarrie passed away in 2012, and his obituary in the Guardian notes that "fewer of his ideas
made the cut" in Return of the Jedi.
So it's cool to see McQuarrie's work put to excellent use in Skywalker.
Diehard fans know that Darth Vader's helmet, designed by Ralph McQuarrie, was inspired
by samurai armor, and director J.J. Abrams made it clear to Entertainment Weekly in 2015
that Vader's grandson Kylo Ren's helmet is "meant to be a nod to [Vader's]," in case
that wasn't obvious enough.
Ren's helmet, smashed to bits by its owner in The Last Jedi, is back in The Rise of Skywalker,
but only after some repairs that also evoke a centuries-old Japanese tradition.
In Skywalker, an unnamed ape-like creature restores Ren's helmet using a technique similar
to kintsukuroi, or "golden repair."
Kintsukuroi is all about embracing flaws as aesthetic features, and typically involves
repairing broken pottery using visible gold seams.
In The Rise of Skywalker, Ren's helmet is reforged using a red material of some kind,
but the idea is the same.
Rather than make the helmet repair seamless, the red becomes part of the new design.
Abrams confirmed that kintsukuroi was the inspiration for Ren's Rise of Skywalker helmet
in an interview with Empire, saying,
"Having [Kylo Ren] be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing.
Like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them [...] As fractured
as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that.
There's something about this that tells his history.
His mask doesn't ultimately hide him and his behavior is revealed."
When Rey uses her Force powers to heal the underground sand snake on Pasaana, thus ensuring
a safe exit for Episode IX's heroes, it was surely a surprise to casual fans of the Skywalker
saga.
We've seen the power of the Force do some pretty insane stuff, but it's mostly used
for telekinesis and "mind tricks" at least in the eight films leading up to The Rise
of Skywalker.
"Does she do that to us?"
In the Expanded Universe, Force healing is definitely a thing, but Episode IX is the
first big-screen depiction of the Force being used in such a manner.
The small screen, however, is a different matter.
Baby Yoda attempts to heal Mando in Chapter 2 of the Disney Plus series The Mandalorian,
but is inadvertently stopped just short of doing so.
In Chapter 7, however, released on the streaming service the day before Skywalker hit theaters,
everyone's favorite 50-year-old baby heals Bounty Hunters' Guild head Greef Karga after
he's scratched up and poisoned by pterodactyl -like creatures on the lava-spewing planet
Nevarro.
Like the sand snake in Skywalker, Karga is so grateful that he decides to let our heroes
escape with their lives.
Fans of The Mandalorian likely perked up when they saw Rey (and later Kylo Ren) pulling
off the same miraculous trick a neat reward for those who caught the episode the day before.
After Ben Solo gets chucked into a seemingly bottomless pit by Emperor Palpatine just like
Anakin did to Palpatine in Episode VI a devastated Rey, who still has the Emperor and his deadly
Force lightning to contend with, meditates and hears several voices.
There's no way those voices are just random, of course, and some, like Yoda, Anakin, Mace
Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Qui-Gonn Jinn, are pretty obvious, but in the chaos of the
big final battle it was probably hard to make all of them out.
Here's a quick rundown of the more obscure "Voices of Jedi Past" featured in this sequence:
Adi Gallia first appeared in The Phantom Menace, but most fans know her best from the animated
Star Wars: The Clone Wars series.
Similarly, Luminara Unduli and Aayla Secura first appeared in Attack of the Clones, but
are both best known from Clone Wars.
Ahsoka Tano is also from Clone Wars, but The Rise of Skywalker is the character's live-action
debut, technically, even if we only hear her voice.
Same goes for Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars Rebels.
Yep: that means Freddie Prinze Jr. or his voice, at least is in The Rise of Skywalker
"You're serious?"
"As a heart attack."
The Rise of Skywalker ends with the heroes of the new trilogy celebrating in much the
same way the original trilogy's heroes did in Return of the Jedi, prefaced with much
intergalactic fanfare.
But this time around, one overlooked Wookie finally gets the gold.
In arguably the most blatant example of fan service in the film, Chewbacca, who famously
did not get the same recognition as the humans during the Royal Award Ceremony in A New Hope,
gets a medal from Maz Kanata in The Rise of Skywalker and it's not just any medal.
It's heavily implied that this award, which Leia clutches as she passes away, is the one
Han received in A New Hope.
In that first Star Wars installment, you'll remember, Chewie stands quietly in the background
while Princess Leia hangs medals on Han and Luke.
His untranslated cry is the last sound you hear in the film, and for Chewie fans, it
might as well have been subtitled, "What about me?"
Fan service or not, there's no denying that the big lug deserved it, considering all that
he's been through.
In The Rise of Skywalker, the snowy planet of Kijimi plays a key role in the adventure
as the home planet of Zorii Bliss, who ultimately helps get C-3PO to Babu Frik, the cute alien
dude who hacks his programming in order to translate the Sith dagger.
So what's with the name "Kijimi"?
Well, thanks to one observant Redditor, we know that it's the name of a synthesizer manufactured
by Black Corporation, a Japanese company who counts Skywalker director J.J. Abrams as a
huge fan.
So it makes sense that legendary composer John Williams, fresh off his ninth and probably
final Star Wars composing gig, appears in a brief cameo on the synth-inspired planet.
It's a quick, blink-and-you-miss it moment, but he's there, wearing a futuristic monocle
and shaking his head at our heroes as they enter the droidsmith's shop.
Bonus fun fact: His character's name is "Oma Tres," an anagram of "Maestro" .
X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles was one of the heroes of The Battle of Yavin in A New Hope,
narrowly surviving the daring attack on the Death Star 1.0.
He appeared again in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but The Rise of Skywalker
marks his first appearance in the new trilogy.
Actor Denis Lawson reprises the role in a brief cameo in the final battle praising Lando's
aim, to boot! but it sounds like he needed some convincing.
In 2015, Lawson told The Courier that he was offered a role in The Force Awakens, but,
believe it or not, he flat-out turned it down.
When asked about the potential gig at a screening for The Machine, Lawson told a reporter he
had no interest in the role whatsoever.
The Scottish actor said:
"I'm not going to do that.
[Disney] asked me but it just would have bored me."
We can't say for sure at this time what convinced Lawson to don Wedge's uniform once again for
Skywalker, but our guess is that Disney was perhaps a bit more generous with the galactic
credits, if you catch our drift.
As befitting the ninth film in an epic saga, The Rise of Skywalker is positively packed
with nods to past installments, some a bit less significant than others, but still cool.
Among the many mini-Easter eggs and callbacks hidden within: Rey's yellow lightsaber at
the end.
Clone Wars and Rebels feature ones of that hue, and there's an old official toy saber
that's yellow, but it's the first of its kind in the Skywalker saga.
Also, Ben and Han's implied "I love you/I know" exchange is a callback to the famous
Han and Leia scene in The Empire Strikes Back, of course.
There's so much more: C-3PO's line about the Aki-Aki celebration only happening "every
42 years" is a sly reference to the fact that when The Rise of Skywalker was released, A
New Hope was 42 years old.
Lando's blaster is the same model as the one he used in Solo, which is a neat detail.
The "Holdo Maneuver"?
A reference to Vice Admiral Holdo's daring trick in The Last Jedi.
We could go on and on, but some of the best references in The Rise of Skywalker actually
came in the form of cool character cameos.
"I guess we'll have to eat this boring oatmeal.”
“It's a trap!”
“Admiral Ackbar!"
Admiral Ackbar is more than just a meme; He was a staunch ally of the Republic during
the Clone Wars, one of the Rebel Alliance's most valued leaders during the Galactic Civil
War, and one of the co-founders of the Resistance.
He was also a brilliant tactician, a former prisoner of war, and a family man.
The last bit came to light in Marvel Comics' Star Wars: Allegiance, which bridges part
of the gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
The Resistance forces are decimated after the Battle of Crait, and Admiral Ackbar is
among the casualties of war.
Leia needs new ships, so she heads to Admiral Ackbar's home planet, Mon Cala, to recruit
some new allies, where she's greeted by his son, Aftab.
Aftab helps Leia foil the plot of a Quarren terrorist, assists in her fight against the
First Order, and forges a new treaty to get the Resistance the help it needs.
By Episode 9, he's joined the Resistance in full, offering advice during some of the briefing
scenes at Resistance HQ.
Allegiant General Pryde, played by Academy Award nominee Richard E. Grant, makes quite
an impression.
Not only is he a sour, foreboding officer in the same vein as Peter Cushing's beloved
Grand Moff Tarkin, but by the end of the film he's Kylo Ren's right-hand man, having replaced
General Hux during his rise to power.
The movie doesn't share much about Pryde's past, but we learn late in the film that he
also served the Empire under Emperor Palpatine.
According to official Star Wars lore, he also helped train, and apparently kidnap, the First
Order's legions of Stormtroopers.
He's been around for a long time, and he's down with the Sith.
"No going to the Dark side.”
“Okay!"
If you were watching TV or movies in the 2000s, you'll recognize actor Dominic Monaghan right
away.
The English actor played the hobbit Merry in The Lord of the Rings, and had a leading
role on Lost, which was co-created by J.J. Abrams.
While Abrams was writing The Rise of Skywalker, Abrams and Monaghan bet on a World Cup soccer
game.
The prize?
A role in Episode 9.
Obviously, Monaghan won the wager, and Beaumont Kin was born.
Abrams might've created Beaumont for his friend, but he didn't give the character very much
to do on screen.
Thankfully, a couple of comics have fleshed out Kin's personality.
In Star Wars Adventures #27 through #29, Kin teams up with Chewbacca to liberate the Wookiee's
homeworld from the First Order.
We learn that Kin fancies himself a historian, although he's not quite as smart as he thinks
he is.
In fact, overcompensating seems to be Kin's whole deal.
He pretends to know Chewie, a war hero, better than he does, and despite his brave façade
he's scared of ghosts.
Still, when push comes to shove, Beaumont rises to the occasion.
That's not just any Ewok watching happily as a First Order Star Destroyer blows up above
the forest moon of Endor.
That's Wicket W. Warrick, the first Ewok that Leia met in Return of the Jedi.
"I'm not gonna hurt you."
It's even the same actor in the suit: Willow and Leprechaun star Warwick Davis suited up
again for The Rise of Skywalker, returning to the role that he originated when he was
just 11 years old.
Wicket was arguably Return of the Jedi's biggest breakout star, and he went on to become one
of the most widely featured Star Wars characters throughout the '80s.
Davis played the role two more times in two made-for-TV movies, as well as a long list
of additional Star Wars characters over the years.
What you may not have noticed, however, is that Wicket now has a son: Pommet, who's played
by Warwick Davis' own teenage son, Harrison.
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