8 Things That NEED To Happen In 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'!

4. Dark-Rey Must Be Real, Not Just a Vision

Many fans, myself included, fully expected Rey to go dark at some point in this Trilogy. I thought it would happen in TLJ; many others assumed it already did. But after the trailer released at D23 in August showed Rey in a black hood and wielding a double-sided red lightsaber, we knew we had seen nothing yet! Speculation immediately abounded, arguing whether or not this was “real” or just a vision. Personally, I think it would be a cop-out for it to be just a vision. Rey has been struggling with the darker aspects of herself since the first movie, and it’s no secret that there is a LOT of trauma in her past that she has yet to fully deal with. This vulnerability makes her ripe for Palpatine’s evil schemes, who will likely try to recruit her (since he is probably 1000% DONE with dealing with those dang Skywalkers). The only way in which a “vision” plays into this, in my opinion, is that it is likely a manifestation of the vision Kylo Ren said he had in TLJ after he and Rey touched hands – that she would turn and join him. But being confronted with that reality in the flesh, though, methinks Kylo would have major reservations about it and want to stop her from falling and stop Palpatine from messing with her the way he did with Anakin and Luke. But the real value in Dark-Rey happening is Rey being able to confront the nastier aspects of herself so that she can either let them go or integrate them into herself in a healthy way.