Over the past time, more information has appeared about it, including concepts, so we decided to update the original publication on a large scale. Next is a detailed retelling of the original plot of the tape with some illustrations.
The story was called “Duel of Fate“(Duel of the Fates) – obviously in honor of John Williams’ famous track for The Phantom Menace.” The script dates back to December 16, 2016, that is, a week before the death of Kerry Fisher.
Desperate struggle
According to the eyeballs, Kylo Ren, as the Supreme Leader, cut the connection between neighboring systems, trying to suppress any rebellion in the bud. In parallel, Leia is trying to find a way to improve the desperate situation of the Resistance.
The plot of the tape starts at the Kuat shipyards, where the First Order builds its ships. Finn and Poe are already there, Rose with BB-8 penetrates here, and then Rei also joins them. The team is trying to blow up the mine that delivers the minerals, but their plan fails – the First Order manages to minimize the explosion.
In this version of the story, Rei created the sword. with two blades – A kind of hybrid between his staff and Luke’s weapons. At the base, by the way, it disguises itself as Tusken (the people of the sands from Tatooine). A group of heroes is fighting the Order, in the process of being able to steal the Star Destroyer.
Kylo arrives at the shipyard with his knights, but it’s too late. Wren kills the local admiral for not being able to catch Rei’s team.
Back to the roots
It further turns out that the Order, including captured Coruscantwhere he began to build his buildings on top of the classic monoliths of the Old Republic. Hux became the new Chancellor, and neither he nor the rest of the bosses have any idea where Kylo Ren went.
The supreme Sith himself is already on Mustafar. There, the ghost of Luke tries to dissuade him from dark affairs, but Ben does not listen to him. In the temple of Vader, he finds the holocron of the Sith. Palpatine’s appeal to Vader is hidden in it – just in case the first one dies.
He ordered Vader to take Luke to one of the systems (Remnikor) to Thor Valum – the master of the Sith and teacher of Palpatine. After that, the holocron explodes and burns face Kylo.
On the basis of the Resistance, Ray and Finn communicate with each other. The girl reveals that she nightmaresapparently due to a connection with Kylo. Finn is trying to persuade her to break off this connection, because “he will not change.”
Thanks to the Jedi texts that Ray stole from Luke in the eighth episode, she learns that on Coruscant, under the Jedi Temple, there is a communications system (Lighthouse of Strength) that can send a signal to 50 planets simultaneously. Thus, the entire team hopes to attract allies.
In parallel, the ghost of Luke trains Rei, and Ren with a damaged face returns to Coruscant, where he meets with Hax. In both storylines, the characters argue among themselves, and then Kaylo is about to fly away again, saying that he has found a force compared to which destroying the planets is a “trifle”
He demands that Hux destroy the Resistance, but “leave the girl to him“. Kylo flies off to Reminkor, but first breaks Vader’s mask, accusing the latter of “love eclipsed his mind.”
Two chases
At this time, the team of heroes is divided:
- one half flies after the Lighthouse to Coruscant (Rose, Finn, R2, 3PO)
- the second (Rey, Poe, Chewbacca) goes for something that should “help Rey” (details are not disclosed).
Previously, Ray and Leah have a conversation regarding the possibility of redemption Kylo.
When the first team enters the Jedi Temple, Finn and Rose notice that there are many homeless people around the building – a “sad reminder of better times.”
At this time, the First Order is tracking the stolen Star Destroyer, and the heroes on Coruscant manage to find and turn on the Lighthouse. The signal works, but it is jammed by the Order. The team runs to the lower levels of the planet.
Finn is surprised at how many people live on the lower levels of Coruscant, and C-3PO notices that he is familiar only with the upper ones, for which R2-D2 calls him “elitist”.
“The elitist? How did you even recognize such a word?“, – answers C-3PO.
The second group of heroes with Rei is chased by the Knights of Ren on their ship, reaching the planet Bonadan.
Kylo gets to Reminkor, where he passes by the old battlefield to a certain fortress. Empty armor, robes, on the ground lies a helmet of the Sith with a skull inside it.
In the fortress is Tor Valum – an alien of an unknown race. He is old, he is about 7 thousand years old. The script notes the “Lovecraftian spirit” of the character.
Kylo meets the creature and asks him if he trained Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s teacher. He replies that “this name means nothing to him.” Kylo threatens him, and Valum replies: “you want to possess the powers of those who came before you. Take your place among the gods of Mortis. ”
Valum notes that Kylo cannot call herself a Sith because they do not regret or repent, unlike a new guest who is haunted by the ghosts of the past. According to Valum, Kylo needs to break the connection with the past, otherwise the fate of the corpses around the fortress awaits him.
Living Force is food. The more you absorb, the stronger you become. To take life is to deceive death.
Thor Valum
Then he shows Kylo a way to absorb the Force from a living being (an analog of vampirism), and begins training the young Sith. In the process there is a roll call of the scene from the fifth episode with the cave, only here Kylo Ren fights with Vader – and unconditionally loses in a fierce duel.
After this, the enraged Kylo tries to find out from Valum the location of Mortis. According to the latter, it is “a well of the living Force, the source of the birth of the galaxy.” Valum himself believes that the supreme leader is not worthy of this place.
In anger, Kylo breaks down and sucks the Force from Valum himself, killing him.
Mortis and the Battle of Coruscant
In the end, Ray and Ren arrive at the same time on the planet Mortis from the Clone Wars, but they are very far apart. There are no stars around the planet, only blackness.
Ray begins to climb some sort of icy peak, where he meets the statues of the “ancient in robes.” These are not Jedi. After an unexpected meeting, a girl receives a vision where she sees a small self on Jakka.
Her father and mother are dragging her. They let her go and just leave. Mother turns to the girl, but her father stops her:
- “We can’t, it’s too dangerous,” he says.
- “Wait here. We will be back, ”says Rei’s mother.
- “Why haven’t any of you returned?” The girl screams out of sight.
Kylo goes through some forest. On the way, he stumbles upon a strange house, from the chimney of which comes smoke. He looks at a younger version of himself approaching the house. This is a vision. Young Ben opens the door and sees Han Solo. A dialogue is established between them.
- Khan: “Ben, what are you doing?”
- Ben: “This is no longer my name”
- Khan: “Your mother can no longer see you, certainly not in this form”
- Ben: “I will not be back. A greater fate awaits me ”
- Khan: “This is a lie, son. Empty promises. Everything you need is here. ”
- Ben: “What? You? She? My master says that I have an incredible power that none of you understands ”
- Khan: “Your mother understands this more than anyone else”
- Ben: “She sent me away”
- Khan: “To learn, grow. She loves You”
- Ben: “She is afraid of me”
Khan asks Ben for his sword, followed by a montage transition to Khan’s death from “Awakenings of power“.
The vision ends and Kylo begins to climb the icy mountain.
In parallel, Leia asks Lando to organize smugglers to help fight the Order, but he refuses, despite his promise to Khan to take care of his lover if something happens to him.
Once we won the war. So what good has come of it?
Lando
A group of heroes on Coruscant, meanwhile, begins to raise people to revolt. As a result, all forces are pulled together to the former planet-capital. The space battle begins.
On top of the mountain at Mortis, where the huge temple is located, Kylo meets Rei. For a short time, they swear, and then try to use the Force against each other.
- Kylo: “I’m stronger than Anakin Skywalker. Stronger than his son “
- Ray: “But you are still afraid”
- Kylo: “What? You?”
- Ray: “What you will become. The dark side took everything from you, only the shell remained
Kylo in response again invites her to join him to rule together as parts of Darkness and Light. There should be a flashback to the seventh episode – Knights of Ren in the rain and the cries of the child.
“Snoke gave clear orders. Find anyone who can destroy him. It didn’t take us long to find you.”, Says Kylo Ren, after which she admits that he killed Rei’s parents on the orders of Snowk, and his target is outside the temple’s doors.
They begin to fight again, at one point trying to deflate the Force from each other, but Kylo manages to hurt Rei, leaving a scar on her face. She screams down the steps of the temple. She is blinded. The villain enters the temple of Mortis.
Studying the temple, Kylo walks past the statues of the Ancients and reaches a stone slab, behind which … there is nothing. He examines the walls painted with runes, but finds only sculptures of faces and statues, which he destroys in a rage.
A ghost of Luke appears in front of him:
- Luke: “You are lost. Darth Vader was weak. Love for his family saved them. I wish I could save you. ”
- Kylo: “I did what I had to do”
- Luke: “You are not a Skywalker.”
Ray senses Luke’s presence while the hero tells the villain that he cannot defeat “us.” Ray tears off a piece of clothing, tying it around his eyes. Against the backdrop of mounting battles, Luke’s voice is heard.
“Strength surrounds us. Penetrates into us. Connects the galaxy together. We are bound by it and we cannot be broken“– says Luke, after which his ghost disappears. Ray continues the fight with Kylo Wren.
- Ray: “Our masters were mistaken. I will not deny my anger and will not reject my love. I am darkness and I am light ”
- Kylo: “You are nothing. You are nobody”.
- Ray: “Nobody is nobody.”
Rei manages to destroy the base of the supreme leader’s sword by cutting off several fingers at the same time.
A girl stands above him, dividing her sword into two. Around her gathers the Force that Kylo begins to absorb. He becomes stronger and more confident, his face heals. Rei, on the contrary, is weakening and asks Ben to stop.
At this moment, Leia, feeling what is happening, turns to Kylo, saying that it is time to return home. He feels the same way Vader once felt towards Luke in The Return of the Jedi. He grabs Rei’s hand, returning the Force to her. Both light and darkness flow through them, until Kylo is left with only shell.
On her deathbed, Kylo reveals Rey’s last name: Solana. Then he finally leaves.
Wounded Rey lays on stone slabs. The space around it begins to fill with light, particles of energy fly around. Light spreads throughout the frame, and then it moves the heroine to a place beyond the boundaries of familiar horizons – Astral dimension.
Yoda, Luke, and Obi-Wan appear in front of her.
- Ray“Am I dead?” Ray.
- Obi-Wan: “There is no such thing as death in this place.”
Yoda tells Rei that she succeeded where they failed.
“You let in darkness and light. Find the inner balance. ”- Luke.
The Jedi offer Rei to stay with them or return to the world of the living, where she learns love and loss. The girl chooses the last. Then they disappear.
You are a Jedi, Ray Solana, but you will not be the last of us.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
In parallel, the First Order loses the battle for Coruscant.
Seeing this, Hux opens his collection of lightsabers, taking out a purple weapon (Mace Windu?), With which he makes hara-kiri. The script also notes that he envies those who can use the Force.
The heroes, however, have their own tragedy: the empire succeeds destroy R2-D2, which is why C-3PO shows some emotions that it has never shown in nine films. Finn is crushed – he has no words. Chewie fastens the droid shell on his back to repair it.
When the heroes restore the droid and Leah inserts a memory card into it, R2-D2 begins to survive all 60 years of its life, starting from the moment of its purchase by Luke on Tatooine. Leia watches her brother and their joint adventures from the original trilogy. Viewers see this through the eyes of the heroine.
The plot ends on the planet Modest, where Finn lives with a group of Force-sensitive children. In the finals, Rei arrives there to begin their training.
What has changed in the final version of the script “Duels of Fate?
- In the first third, the names of the Knights of Ren are revealed at Kuat’s shipyards.
- Kylo does not travel to Mustafar, but Maraband. After being wounded by a holocron, Kailo is helped by local residents.
- Leia disappears into the Force after the Order attacks the Resistance base. Kylo feels it.
- In the script there is a certain new character in the style of Darth Maul – Solloni Ren. Representatives of the First Order obey her.
- At one point, Rey shoots lightning from his hands, killing one of Ren’s knights in the pursuit. Luke’s ghost later reports that the knights are his former students, whom Kylo wanted to train himself.
- In this version, apparently, there is no Valum and the planet Mortis. Rei and Kylo set off for the Jedi Spire.
- In the end, Lando comes to the rescue.
- The memories of R2-D2 we see through the eyes of Lando.
The final confrontation Kylo Ren and Ray
Ray believes that Kylo is reaching for the Light, but Luke believes otherwise. Before her death, Leia asked to relieve Kylo of pain, in response to which Luke gives Ray his sword and disappears. According to him, she will not become a Jedi until she meets Kylo.
Wren claims Snake killed the Rei family, and he believes that if Rey is killed, the Jedi will die out. A girl wounds him in the face … metal appears under the skin.
As a result, Ren severely injures Ray, leaving her to die, and then destroys the Jedi Temple, which is trying to stop the ghost of Luke. After Rei still comes back to life and again fights with the villain.
During the battle, Ray defeats Kylo, offering him forgiveness. At this moment, Solloni appears, who previously opened the Sith holocron. She almost defeats Rey, but the heroine helps Kylo. Rei shares the swords and gives a second Ren. In a fight, the villain kills Ren, and Rei kills her with all her might.
A dying Ray creeps to the top of the Spire, entering the tower. Around it moves a lot of objects, including kiber crystals. She sends a message of hope to the galaxy and calls her name.
The phrase that Rei is not the last Jedi, says the ghost of Luke, adding that he will never leave.
