"The Story Lives Forever."
Ah, the Death Star, there is nothing scarier. A super weapon capable of destroying entire planets? And there's THREE of them? Must be terrifying to the people of the Star Wars Galaxy. There has been three Death Stars, the first being Death Star I seen in A New Hope. This was the Galactic Empire's first attempt at this battle station, which of course only got to destroy one planet (and a half, thanks to Rogue One!) before the daring Rebellion destroyed it. Then we have Death Star II (how do they come up with such original names?) as seen in Return of the Jedi. When we saw it, production was behind schedule making it only half finished, so we never saw it destroy a planet. But it was said to be more powerful (and bigger!) than the original Death Star, which of course still got blown up. Finally, we get to The Force Awakens, with Starkiller Base. This station belonged to The First Order, and was capable of destroying entire systems, up to FIVE planets at once! But again, it was still destroyed by, this time, the Resistance fleet led by Poe Dameron and his Black Squadron.
The final trailer for the NINTH Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, was released on Monday, October 21st, 2019, where we did see a Death Star, just not like we've seen before. First shown to us in the teaser trailer in April, this Death Star sits in the middle of an ocean in an unknown location, completely destroyed. When we saw this trailer, fans speculated it had to be the second Death Star, and that this location is Endor, or one of Endor's moons, which was seen in Return of the Jedi when the rebellion compromises the Empire's base there, and ultimately results in the destruction of the Death Star II. But now that we have seen the newest trailer, clues lead us to believe it could be either one of the Death Stars made by the Galactic Empire. What are these clues, what do they mean, and which Death Star is most likely the culprit? In this article, we will speculate (RESPONSIBLY!) as to which armored battle station is seen in these trailers!
"Long have I waited, and now, your coming together, is your undoing" -Emperor Palpatine
Let's start with the first Death Star, that was last seen in A New Hope, when it was destroyed seconds before it's attempt to destroy Yavin IV, the fourth moon of Yavin. Yavin IV held the rebel base for the Rebellion, but as we know, the Death Star was right next to Yavin and its moons, which means we can assume that debris from it landed on the planet, it's moons and the surrounding planets. So is the Death Star we see in The Rise of Skywalker trailer the first one, and is this ocean planet one of Yavin's moons, or better yet, is Yavin IV itself? Let's take a look as to why it may Death Star I.
In the first sequence of the trailer, we see Rey jump from a cliff in a forest to the interior of the Death Star crash site. Inside this, we see the Tractor Beam control tower that Obi-Wan had once shut off in A New Hope. So then it's settled, right? I mean, we clearly see this in the trailer!
Well, not exactly.
What is interesting about both Death Star I and II is that, despite the original failure, they are nearly identical to each other. For example, we know Palpatine had a throne room in the first Death Star, just like the one seen in Return of the Jedi. This actually helps our conclusion, but also sets us apart from the conclusion as well. This is because we see Rey and Kylo in different locations that we have only seen exclusively in either of the Death Stars. For example, we see Rey and Kylo in Palpatine's throne room. You would assume it's from the second Death Star, but look at the *minor* differences in this picture here:
We see that Palpatine's throne sat on a stage, with stairs leading up to it. He was risen, so that he could be at the top of his throne room. Yet in the trailer, we see no stage, or stairs, but see his throne behind the exact circular window that we see in his throne room. Does this mean that it's Death Star I, and that's why there is those minor changes? Or is it because it's been 30 plus years since it was destroyed over Endor, and the destruction is what caused this disappearance of the stairs?
Then, I got to thinking. We see Rey jump from location to location in the trailer. Why though? I believe this is setting up something. I believe Rey and Kylo aren't actually with each other in these scenes, and that neither of them are actually there. I believe this is their force connection. Both Adam Driver, the actor of Kylo Ren, and Daisy Ridley, the actress of Rey, have said their force connection "runs deeper" than we had originally thought. Are they using their force bond to discover different locations that they can't actually be at, and is the trailer foreshadowing this? I believe so.
But why does that matter? It's simple, they visit BOTH Death Stars, instead of just one. This perfectly explains why we see elements from both Death Stars in the trailer. So, my final guess is that they are in a force connection, visiting location to location, even outside of the Death Star. This would also be a way to connect this movie to the previous EIGHT episodes.
Remember, this is all just a theory, in no way am I saying this WILL happen, it is just my best guess. Let us know, which Death Star do you think this is?
Thank you all for the support! May the force be with you, always.
Star Wars Editor (Austin)
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