The Shadows of the Past Trilogy
Episode 8: The Last Jedi Part 7
Rey is to eject in an escape pod towards the Supremacy, just as in the movie, but this time Luke is with her.
This is all a part of his plan, but Rey seems quite nervous about
it. As they stand before the escape pod,
Rey says, “Are you sure about this?”
“No,” says Luke with a playful
grin. “I told you already. My time is almost over. This could be it.”
“How can you be so flippant
about it then?” asks Rey.
Luke chuckles. “I’m old, Rey. When you get to be my age, you’ll
understand. I no longer see life the way
young people do. To me, death is
welcomed…it is a release from having to continue the struggle and the
fight. I know that if I die…it’s for
something important…something meaningful.
This may be my last chance to do something to make up for what I did. This may be my last chance to try
to influence Jacen, for good. I’m willing
to die for that chance. Are you?”
Rey then nods, but she is clearly anxious. “I'm ready.”
Luke puts his hand on her
shoulder reassuringly. “Are you sure? I need you there
with me, Rey. I do. I believe our success depends on
it. However, I want you to always remember that you make your own
choices. I’m not forcing you either
way.” Then he climbs into the escape
pod. “So, are you sure you're coming?”
Rey nods and climbs into the
pod as she says, "Someone has to do something to keep you alive, and I CHOOSE to not let you die."
Luke smiles at her, but he addresses
Chewie via comlink. “Now remember, Chewie. Drop out of hyperspace, give us the signal,
we launch, you jump back into hyperspace.”
Chewie growls his acknowledgement, and when the hatch closes, the scene
ends.
The scene plays out with the First Order capturing the escape pod. Then Luke and Rey are
captured and brought before Snoke by Kylo. On the way, Luke sincerely apologizes. "Jacen, forgive me. I was wrong."
"Save it," Kylo snaps. "Jacen Solo is dead."
"What I did to you was inexcusable. You have every right to be hurt and furious and..."
"I will not be manipulated as Vader was."
"I leave myself open to you," says Luke. "Sense for yourself. I will hide nothing from you. Nothing. I am NOT manipulating you. None of US are." Tears well up in his eyes. "I was stupid and proud and arrogant and I did the exact opposite of what I intended to do. Jacen! Don't let our foolishness cause you to make the same exact mistakes Vader made."
At this, Kylo says nothing. Just
before the doors open to Snoke’s throne room, Luke concludes, “Jacen…no matter what
happens today…your mother, your father, Chewie, and I…all of us! We love you. We truly and genuinely never meant to hurt you. No
matter what else happens, don't let Snoke or anyone choose your destiny for you. Do what you KNOW is right.”
Kylo just looks at him stoically as the doors open and they step up to Snoke’s throne. There, Snoke dialogues as he did in the
original movie with Rey and so forth.
However, afterwards he laughs and mocks them both. Snoke then reveals to Luke and Rey that he is
none other than Darth Bane, the one who initially founded the Sith Order that Vader and Sidious belonged to, the Order of Two, a Master and an Apprentice, over a thousand
years ago.
"I learned at that time, you see, how
to use the Dark Side to extend my life beyond normal years by manipulating the midi-chlorians in my body. Throughout the centuries
I have hidden in the shadows, manipulating Dark Lords, Senators, Jedi, Kings,
Emperors…everyone. I have only emerged
now because I can sense a shifting in the Force such as I have not felt since
the days that the Sith and Jedi warred so terribly - the war that decimated the Old
Republic - and the Old Republic had to be rebuilt into the Galactic Republic…over
a thousand years ago."
“And, you see, I am really your
master as well, MASTER Skywalker. You
would not even have been born if it wasn’t for me. It was I who convinced Plageuis that cheating
death was the only thing worth striving for.
He was obsessed with Shmi Skywalker so much. He didn’t want to lose her. You see, she was sick, and dying. He had to do something to save her. So I helped him learn the secrets of
manipulating midi-chlorians. I helped
him save her life…and her son’s. You see,
she had already been pregnant with his child.
She had already been pregnant with YOUR FATHER…Anakin Skywalker…Darth
Vader.” He then cackles in delight at
this.
“The altering of the
midi-chlorians enhanced the boy’s already incredible powers. It sure did mess with the heads of the Jedi,
didn’t it? And so did that
prophecy…eh? The prophecy of the “Chosen
One who would bring balance to the Force.”’
He laughs again. “I was the one
who created that prophecy as well, and the fools believed it. Like fish on a line…they were so easily
manipulated…all of them!”
Luke calmly looks up at Snoke
and nods, showing no sign of being impressed.
“And I suppose you manipulated Palpatine to kill Plageuis and take his
legacy…and you manipulated everyone to boost Palpatine into power…and you
manipulated Palpatine, who sparked the war, playing both sides against the
other. Essentially, you are saying you
manipulated the master manipulator…right?”
“And let’s not forget Vader,”
adds Luke, somewhat mocking Snoke now, who is no longer laughing but who is
growing quite annoyed. “I suppose you
also manipulated him when he was nine to run off and help his future wife, to then join the Jedi, to fly a
fighter up to a Trade Federation Battle Cruiser and blow it up, to fall in love with my mother, to
get married and have twin children, and so on and so forth? Interesting. I didn't know YOU were the Force.”
“You don’t believe me,” says
Snoke in awe.
“No one has that kind of power,”
says Luke, continuing to taunt him.
“You’re just taking credit for what others have done while you sat back
and stole from people and hid like a creature in a dark hole. All you’ve done is watch and laugh, like a
fat Hutt watching holovids all day long.”
Snoke becomes a mask of fury and
rage as he rises from his throne. “I
have grown tired of your stench in the Force, Skywalker! Let us see you escape THIS time!” He then ignites his own, crimson, lightsaber
while the Knights of Ren and his royal guards surround Luke and Rey. Meanwhile, at the edge of the group, Kylo
stands, weapon out, but he appears hesitant.
“You will soon see how powerful I truly am!”
The throne room then becomes
chaos as Luke and Rey battle the Knights of Ren and Snoke’s guards while Kylo
and Snoke watch on the sidelines. Snoke
cackles with glee as he watches, but Kylo is dark and brooding. The royal guard is cut down first. Then Luke and Rey focus on the Knights of
Ren. Though terribly outnumbered, Luke
and Rey seem to hold their own fairly well, even gaining ground. Mostly this is due to Luke, who wields the
Force and his lightsaber with incredible prowess. Enemies fly and are tossed about by Luke even
as he deflects attacks from others. He
even temporarily casts images of himself and Rey around the room to confuse his
enemies so they strike at phantoms.
Then Luke strikes down the first
Knight of Ren, whose helmet (just the helmet. She still has her head) flies across the room to reveal a young Mirialan woman
beneath. Luke freezes, as does everyone
in the room. Only Snoke remains laughing
mockingly. Luke just stands there,
staring down at her, horrified.
“Yes!” says Snoke with delight. “Now you understand, don’t you,
Skywalker? How can you win this
fight? Will you slaughter all of your
last surviving students?”
Rey spins to look at the woman
and then at Luke. “What?” she asks,
breathing heavily. “What is happening?”
“This is Altaria,” says Luke
with grief. “She was one of my students
at my academy. I…I thought she was…”
“Dead?” finishes Snoke for
him. “Yes! Of course you did. They were the only smart ones, though. They believed Kylo and helped him butcher the
other students. They followed him to me. Why do you think they are called the Knights
of Ren? They are Kylo Ren’s
Knights! HIS students! HIS followers! ALL of the Knights of Ren are your former
students, Skywalker!” He laughs
maniacally again. “And he took them from
you because you weren’t fit to teach them.
Will you kill them too?...even as you tried to kill YOUR OWN
NEPHEW?” His laughter never seems to
cease. It echoes all around them
hauntingly.
The woman rolls away from Luke,
getting to her feet and using the Force to retrieve her weapon. She turns to Kylo. “Are you GOING to join us, or not, Master? I thought this was the moment we’ve all been
waiting for.”
Kylo nods. “It is,” he says with stoic
determination. “My former master
dies…today.” Then Kylo flicks his wrist,
and a weapon that is lying on the floor just behind and to the left of Snoke
flies through the air, impaling the dreaded Dark Master. Snoke, stunned and horrified, stares down at
his chest, at the blade pushing his robe up like a tent right where his heart
should be. A moment later, without a
word, he slumps to the floor.
“No!” cries Altaria. “Traitor!” She then turns on Kylo and brutally assaults
him. He deflects her attacks as if they
are nothing to him.
“No!” Luke cries. “Please wait!” But it is too late, the Knights of Ren all
attack once more with renewed vigor.
At that moment, Holdo plows the
Raddus into the Supremacy, just as in the movie, and because if it, the entire throne room is torn
apart. Knights of Ren go flying. Most disappear from sight immediately, and
their fates are unknown. Those that
recover recognize immediately that the ship is, for whatever reason,
dying. They retreat out of the room,
realizing that they cannot win.
As for Kylo, he does not
leave. Instead, he confronts Luke and
Rey again. “I must finish this…now!” he
tells them.
“Finish what?” says Rey. “Jacen…what are you doing? I thought…”
“You thought what?” says
Kylo. “Did you think I was joining
you? Did you think I believed any of his
words of “love” and “forgiveness?”’
“Jacen!” cries Rey. “It’s not too late.”
“Don’t do this, Rey,” says
Kylo. “Don’t listen to him. Let the past die…right now. Help me kill him, and then we can unite our
powers. I can train you. I can help you far better than he can, and I
won’t manipulate you. I have been honest
with you the whole time, haven’t I?”
“So has he,” says Rey, torn by
emotions. “I feel your pain, Jacen. I don’t want to fight you.”
Luke also adds, “We can fix
this, Jacen, if you’ll let us.”
Kylo sneers at them both with
ferocity. “It’s too late for me.”
“I’ve heard that before,” says
Luke. “Vader said the same thing to me.”
Then a sudden fit of rage shoots
into Kylo at the mention of Vader, and he lashes out with the Force once
more. Luke goes flying backwards,
smashing into a pillar and falling through a newly formed crack in the
floor. He then tries to take Vader’s
lightsaber from Rey, but just as in the original movie she stops the saber
halfway to him. “No!” Rey screams as she
fights with all she has to stop him from getting the saber. “Stop it! Jacen!”
“Stop calling me that!” says
Kylo as the entire room keeps splitting and cracking all around them. “This is your last chance, Rey. Join me.
The next time we meet…I can’t promise you that I will hesitate. I WILL kill
you.”
Rey sets her jaw and nods, tears
still flowing. “We will both do what we
must then.”
And with that, the lightsaber
explodes in two, just as in the original, sending both of them flying. Rey hits her head and is momentarily dazed. Kylo darts out of the room, vanishing from
view to save his own life from the exploding throne room.
After collecting herself, Rey
rushes to the crack where Luke fell, but there is no sign of him. Wiping tears from her eyes, she is about to
climb down the crevasse when she suddenly hears Luke’s voice. “Run, Rey!
Run!”
Taken aback, Rey complies
without thought. She darts out of the
chamber through the same door Kylo ran through, and the camera pans over to
Snoke, lying dead on the floor while fires burn all around. And then, mysteriously, Snoke’s body
vanishes, cloak and all, as if he had never been there at all.
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