- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." Do not read this if you haven't seen the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.
- After viewing the latest "Star Wars" movie, Insider gathered every lingering question the last three movies left unanswered about Palpatine, Finn, the Force, Snoke, and more.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" closes out 42 years of "Star Wars" films with some long-overdue answers. Unfortunately, it also leaves a lot of lingering questions.
After you're done grappling with the reveal of Rey's true identity, you're probably going to start wondering about Palpatine, Finn, the Force, and more. How did the emperor survive? Who exactly were Rey's parents? And did that broom boy at the end of "The Last Jedi" even matter?
Whether you left theaters satisfied or frustrated, Insider rounded up a list of burning questions we still have after the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.
1. How does Luke Skywalker's lightsaber get fixed?
The saber was cracked in half at the end of "The Last Jedi" and was perfectly fine at the start of "The Rise of Skywalker."
Though it appeared the Kyber crystal, which powers the saber, was cracked, we're guessing it must have been intact for the Resistance to easily repair it. It's not like Kyber crystals are easy to find.
2. Who exactly are Rey's parents?
We know Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, but who exactly are her mom and dad? This is glossed over so quickly it's easy to miss if you're not paying close attention.
Though we're never given names, Rey's father is supposed to be Palpatine's nameless son. He and Rey's nameless mother (played by Jodie Comer) leave their daughter on Jakku so Palpatine can't find her. They then wind up killed by an assassin who is supposed to bring Rey to Palpatine.
We break down more of Rey's reveal and why it was the right choice for the saga here.
3. How does Rey have a yellow lightsaber at the end of the movie?
As we mentioned, Kyber crystals aren't easy to find. Yellow crystals were pretty rare to get a hold of and were usually reserved for Jedi sentinels.
There was a character named Jaden Korr who used an unstable red crystal to create a yellow lightsaber. By using the Force, he was able to purify it into its yellow color.
In the new trilogy, we know Kylo Ren's red lightsaber is made using a cracked Kyber crystal. Is it possible that Rey found his lightsaber and used it to help her construct a new one? Yes, we saw Ben Solo dispose of his saber near the end of "TROS," but, as we saw with Luke's lightsaber, none of them stay lost forever.
Rey's not only a good scavenger, but her strength in the Force easily could have helped her find it. Otherwise, we know Rey went back to Luke's island on Ahch-To in "The Rise of Skywalker.""Star Wars: The Last Jedi — The Visual Dictionary" tells us Luke was also in possession of a broken red Kyber crystal, which hung from a necklace he wore. Perhaps she found it during her visit.
It would be a pretty symbolic gesture if Rey continued using one of the red kyber crystals following their deaths. After the kiss Ben Solo and Rey shared at the end of "TROS," it would be romantic if she carries his saber's crystal. It's also poetic if Rey has a red Kyber crystal that's purified. She's the granddaughter of the greatest Sith lord who ever lived. Instead of carrying in his footsteps, she has, in a sense, been purified to the light side of the Force.
4. Was Leia a Jedi?
In "TROS," we see Luke training her to become a Jedi. She only stopped her training when she realized she sensed her death at the end of her Jedi path. Of course, she also had her son to worry about, too.
Still, this helps explain why Leia was able to Force fly in "The Last Jedi" and was then able to help train Rey in the latest film.
5. What was Finn going to tell Rey?
As they were sinking into quicksand Finn was about to share some deep, dark secret with Rey. But then they were swallowed whole. When they came through the other side Finn never fessed up. Throughout the film, Poe bugs him about it but he never breaks. We, and presumably Rey, frustratingly never learn Finn's secret.
Was he going to tell her he loved her? It was hinted in "The Force Awakens" that Finn had real feelings for Rey. If so, he waited a bit too long because Ben Solo made his move and then died in Rey's arms.
6. Is Disney using this film as an ad to sell holocron toys?
A Sith wayfinder becomes a big part of the film to find Palpatine's exact location. The device looks a lot like the Sith holocrons Disney Parks started selling exclusively at Galaxy's Edge when it opened earlier this year in California's Disneyland and Florida's Disney World.
Its insertion into the film felt like blatant marketing for the $85 toy.
7. How did Maz Kanata ever wind up with Luke's lightsaber?
The lightsaber Luke lost in "Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back" somehow winds up in Maz Kanata's palace in "The Force Awakens" decades later.
When Kanata was asked how she came into its possession she simply, and annoyingly, said it was a good question for another time. Unless we get the answer in a "Star Wars" show or another film, it looks like this mystery will go unresolved.
8. So, Snoke was a clone?
It sure seems like it! "TROS" ever so briefly glosses over the fact that Supreme Leader Snoke, who Kylo Ren killed, was nothing more than a clone Palpatine puppeteered. Palpatine had more Snoke look-alikes hanging out in a creepy tube.
Who was he a clone of, though? Was he a bad clone of Palpatine? Unclear.
The bigger question is if you're making clones why do they all look old and decrepit instead of lively like the top-notch life forms that were created in "Attack of the Clones"? Is this some black market clone job?
You can read more on the Snoke reveal here and how "The Wizard of Oz" may have helped influence Palpatine's reveal in "TROS."
9. Why was there even a need for Snoke at all?
Why wasn't the Emperor overseeing the First Order? It seems like that would have been easier. Was the Emperor waiting to become stronger and to rise up before making his presence known?
At least it makes more sense now that Snoke was so obsessed with finding Luke Skywalker. The Emperor always had a fascination with their family since Anakin was seemingly willed to life by the Midi-chlorians.
10. How did Palpatine survive that fall at the end of "Return of the Jedi"?
At the end of "Return of the Jedi," Darth Vader threw Emperor Palpatine down a shaft and an explosion followed. In "TROS," Palpatine is seemingly alive, clinging on to life by being hooked up to a giant machine. Like Vader, he seems to be more machine than man. But is this really him? Did he really survive that fall? Or is he also a clone, like Snoke?
We're pretty sure Palpatine is the real deal, but he's purposely vague in his responses to Kylo Ren when he inquires about how the Emperor is alive and well. Palpatine tells Kylo he has died before, which leads us to our next question.
11. Did Palpatine figure out the path to immortality?
While speaking with Kylo Ren he tells him the path to the dark side leads to powers that some may consider unnatural. If that sounds familiar, it's because we heard Palpatine give a similar speech in "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" to Anakin Skywalker when discussing the tale of Darth Plagueis the wise.
Plagueis was Palpatine's master who he claimed learned the path to immortality and could stop people from dying. Did Palpatine do the same?
12. Who has been looking after the Emperor for all this time?
Palpatine was missing half of his fingers. Surely he couldn't take care of himself. We see him hooked up to a bunch of tubes, but who hooked him up? What is he even hooked up to and who's replenishing and swapping out these tubes on a daily basis?
If you were watching the first 10 minutes of the film closely, you could see Palpatine had some alien servants hanging around. They were likely his caregivers.
13. Why didn't we hear about Palpatine's return until now?
Bringing Palpatine into the third film of the trilogy seems like an afterthought, but the idea to weave him into the story was there from the beginning of "The Force Awakens."
In "The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens," concept art shows they considered showing the Emperor's chamber crash-landed after the second Death Star explosion into a sea of water. Rey, then named Kira, would have found a hidden map inside of the Emperor's tower that told her where the Jedi are and where Luke was hiding.
"Part of the journey of the story is that they take the Falcon, go underwater, and find the Emperor's tower," wrote concept artist Doug Chiang in the book.
14. Why were Kylo Ren and Rey able to save each other using the Force?
In "The Rise of Skywalker," Rey says she simply transferred some of her life force to Kylo Ren after stabbing him with his own lightsaber to save him. Kylo Ren later uses the same Force power on Rey to save her. If this seemed outlandish, it was hinted in "Episode III" that powerful Sith could learn how to prevent people from dying.
Palpatine said his master Plagueis used the Force to influence the Midi-chlorians to create life. Whether or not Rey was a Sith, she is a Palpatine and showed she could tap into the powers of the Sith when using Force lightning earlier in the film.
If you're not buying that, Disney Plus' "The Mandalorian" suggests that Jedi also had the power to heal. In episode seven, the series shows the small "Baby Yoda" character heal an injured man, suggesting it's not a power that's limited to the dark side. (Of course, unless the Child turns out to be evil. Kidding. That perfect little munchkin can't be bad.)
15. Who were the Knights of Ren?
Kylo Ren's followers seemed so cool when they were first introduced. They were the mysterious guys who helped him take down Luke's Jedi temple. Who are these intimidating warriors? What are their motivations? We never found out!
After "The Force Awakens" they were discarded until Abrams returned to direct "TROS." Though they had more screen time in this film, we leave the trilogy knowing little more about them than when "TFA" began in 2015.
If you do want to know more, Marvel just launched a comic book called "The Rise of Kylo Ren." This is frustrating because the "Star Wars" franchise effectively introduced a multitude of side characters never intending to give answers but instead hoping they were intriguing enough for you to find answers to every piece of the universe through a myriad of comics, books, and other ancillary media. If you want to know more about Poe Dameron or Rose, there are comics and books about them, too.
16. Is Captain Phasma really dead?
Yes. John Boyega confirmed this at "Star Wars: Celebration" in April.
17. Why was Kylo Ren so obsessed with becoming the next Vader?
It's easy to understand where Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is coming from in his hate against the Jedi. His own uncle considered killing Ben (something which still doesn't make a lot of sense for Luke's character). Naturally, he wouldn't want to be a part of the Jedi. But it's a bit unclear why he's so motivated by his grandpa, Darth Vader.
Did no one give Ben Solo a history lesson? There is absolutely no reason he should feel the need to finish what his grandfather started. If Leia and Luke taught him anything about Anakin Skywalker, Ben would have known his grandfather was seduced by the dark side, but turned back to the light in a moment of clarity.
In three films where Force ghosts speak to Rey, it's frustrating that Anakin's Force ghost never spoke to Ben and told him to quit being an angsty Vader poser and go home to Han and Leia.
18. Does Finn have Force powers now?
At least twice in the film, Finn appears to show some Force sensitivity. At one point he says he feels Rey's presence.
Yes, we know the Force is supposed to flow through everything. But it seems odd that all of a sudden Finn, a former Stormtrooper, is having Force-sensitive feelings this late in life.
19. Why couldn't C-3PO read the Sith text on the knife?
It seemed silly to make the group go on a side journey just to translate some text on a knife. But there was a pretty good reason for it you may have missed. C-3PO quickly says that years ago a rule was put in place by the Senate that protocol droids couldn't translate Sith language. It seems like C-3PO is about to say the Emperor Palpatine put the rule in place, but he gets cut off.
By "Star Wars: Episode III," Palpatine pretty much had control of the senate. Naturally, Palpatine wouldn't want any droids to be able to translate anything Sith related because he was the leader of the Sith and it could put his identity in jeopardy.
20. Who wrote the first words of the new "Star Wars" opening crawl?
The first three words seen on screen for "Episode IX" read, "The dead speak!" For a second, it seemed like this was a joke or that our eyes deceived us. If only.
We were so caught off guard by the first three words that we could barely read the rest of the first full paragraph on screen. The very un-"Star Wars"-like words were quite distracting.
21. What is the extent of the powers of the Force?
You can fly, you can heal people, you can Force Skype with others. There seems to be no limit. While some of the extensions of the Force may seem bothersome in the newest film, if you go back and watch the first eight films in the Skywalker saga, there have always been some questionable, far-reaching uses of the Force.
In "The Phantom Menace," Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi Force run so fast at the film's start that they look like the Flash or a Looney Tunes character. In "The Empire Strikes Back,"Luke flies up out of a hiding spot to avoid Vader at one point.
If we're saying Kylo Ren and Rey are descendants of the most powerful Jedi and Sith houses then who's to say they don't have immensely strong powers? The film suggests the two are a dyad and that when their powers are combined that they're even more powerful together. Sure, why not?
22. Whatever happened to that broom boy at the end of "The Last Jedi"?
It seemed like "The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson was making a big sweeping statement at the end of the eighth film when it ended on a young boy from Canto Bight who was revealed to be Force-sensitive.
He lifted a broom up and then looked longingly at the stars, wearing a Rebel Alliance ring. Some took the scene to believe that anyone could be Force-sensitive and be a Jedi. But nothing came of this scene in "The Rise of Skywalker." As far as we know by the end of the film, Rey is "the last Jedi." All of the Jedi who apparently live inside of her even seem to verify this at the film's end.
If they're so strong though, shouldn't they be able to recognize that there are other Force-sensitive people out there?
Broom boy, whose name is Temiri Blagg, isn't the only Force-sensitive person. A new book "Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Force Collector" follows a teen who is apparently Force-sensitive. Perhaps Disney and Lucasfilm are using these youngsters as stepping stones for the next series of "Star Wars" movies.
23. And, perhaps, most importantly, was balance brought to the Force?
Was Anakin actually the chosen one who was supposed to bring balance to the Force, or was it Rey or Ben Solo, or Rey and Ben Solo working together? And has order finally been brought to the galaxy?
It's all still a bit unclear.
It always seemed like a true balance of the Force would have meant realizing that neither the Jedi nor the Sith can exist without the other. But neither should exist under the belief that they're superior to the other. Instead, the two need to coexist in order to create a true balance. Perhaps Rey, as a Palpatine who takes on the name Skywalker at the film's end, is representative of that idea.