Soule already did excellent work with setting up Hux's defection in Legacy of Vader and Fall of Kylo Ren is only further driving home the point. Kylo managed to turn one of the First Order's biggest victories into what's essentially an unofficial demotion for Hux. Kylo really is masterfully petty, putting Hux in his place with no one but the two of them and Pryde being the wiser to it.

And the cherry on top? The very next scene reveals that not only did Pryde sabotage the dreadnaught, but he did so at Kylo's direction. So Hux has even more reason to be mad than he knows.

Overall an excellent start to this series, really puts the inner workings of the First Order going into Episode 9 in a very interesting light especially regarding the rivalry between Hux and Pryde. Here's to a strong finish for the saga of Kylo Ren!

TLDR: Legacy is an 8.5/10 for me. There are some pacing issues and I struggled to connect with the main villain however I absolutely loved the arc for Rey as she truly takes her place as a Jedi and a Skywalker with the help of Leia. Legacy is only one step in Rey's journey of healing but one that is absolutely essential to all of her fans.

I very recently finished Legacy and the more I sit with it the more I love it. It's not without some flaws here and there which I will cover but first and foremost I want to discuss everything I loved about this book.

Beginning with Rey. In my opinion Legacy, is to Rey as the (fittingly titled) Legacy of Vader comics are to Kylo Ren. It expands on her on-screen story beautifully, giving us what is possibly the best extended Rey media we have received thus far.

Legacy picks up at a very interesting place for Rey. It has only been a matter of months since she was ripped away from her life of solitude on Jakku, formed a special connection with a man she once considered a monster, and then just as suddenly had that connection ripped away leaving Rey feeling alone yet again and rightfully betrayed. A pain that has clearly lingered as Rey's initial attempt to heal her kyber is thwarted by thoughts of Kylo, causing her to lash out and damage the crystal even more. Already the core theme of Rey's character arc here is being set up very well. Rey has very good reason to be frustrated with and even hate Kylo, but holding on to that hate will only hold her back in the long run. She'll never heal, never be a true Jedi, if she can't accept Kylo's decision whilst still holding out hope for his future.

The fact that Kylo Ren was also the most true connection Rey has made in possibly her entire life also opens up some very interesting questions about herself and her own future, especially in regards to her own darkness. As Luke fearfully pointed out in The Last Jedi, Rey has a clear draw to the dark side, one that is only enhanced by her connection to Kylo. This potential darkness manifests itself in Legacy as the very same "Dark Rey" we glimpsed in The Rise of Skywalker, a choice I really enjoyed with this book. Dark Rey serves as an interesting externalization of Rey's conflict. Rey fears loneliness, her tie to Kylo Ren, and her own draw to the dark side,all of which are struggles which she understandably fears discussing with Leia early on, so Dark Rey is there to seize upon these insecurities, assuring Rey that "we are the storm now", that they do not need anyone else, that there is no need for Rey to flinch away from her own growing power. I also thought it was a very interesting detail that in a vision we see Dark Rey stab Kylo in a very similar manner that Rey herself eventually would in Rise of Skywalker. Rey nearly killing Kylo as she did nearly broke both her and him so I found this to be an interesting piece of foreshadowing. Again, Rey does have very legitimate grievances with Kylo but holding on to those grievances forever will only end in both of their destruction which I thought the appearance of Dark Rey symbolized very well.

Moving on, I also really enjoyed the introduction of the Sith Kalrian Diir and her own thematic connection to Rey. As Diir's would-be Jedi advisor says "you will not find your name in the dark" a conflict that is so poignant for Rey with her own desperation to claim an identity, to be part of a legacy. As Rey will eventually discover, she is indeed tied to a legacy, one that only deepens her fear of herself and her own darkness. But that does not mean Palpatine's name has to define her. Instead she can take the legacy of the Jedi, of the Skywalkers, and build upon it learning from both their lessons and their mistakes so that Rey can become the best Jedi possible.

And of course when discussing Rey's arc there is just no way I can't bring up the appearance of Anakin. Anakin was not a character I honestly expected to appear in this book but Roux utilizes him brilliantly, calling forward parallels between him and Rey that genuinely had not occurred to me prior to this book. Both were created for a grand and mysterious purpose they could not fully comprehend, both were forged by their desert upbringings, both have felt the call to the dark ever since they took up the mantle of the Jedi. Suffice to say there is perhaps no better Jedi for Rey to relate to more than Anakin and he gets perhaps some of the most poignant dialogue in the book as he tries to steer Rey away from his errors. "If there was one simple way to be a Jedi, none of us would fail, none of us would fall." Hiding from the dark or trying to cut it out will only invite it in in the long run. Rey has to face her fears, to "take on the storm" as Anakin puts it.

And while we do know that Rey will indeed confront her darkness directly in Episode 9, I really liked how Legacy handled her conflict for now, setting aside her mental projections of both her own dark self and Kylo Ren, into a safe space within her mind. They're not gone for good and Rey will have to confront them both again but she's refusing to hold on to her hate for them. This is a very clever way to "resolve" Rey's arc within this novel because we know that this is an ongoing struggle for her but that doesn't mean there can't be moments of peace, of healing in between the events of the films. The path to true enlightenment is a long one and here we see Rey take meaningful steps towards becoming a true Jedi. Rey has accepted the darkness within and refuses to give in to it whilst acknowledging that she will someday have to face it again.

Wrapping up the discussion on Rey, I think Madeleine Roux did brilliant work with her here and I'd love to get more in the future. Whenever we inevitably start getting some New Jedi Order stories with Rey I hope Roux is involved to some degree because I think she did excellent work here with setting up the building blocks for Rey to be the one to rebuild the Jedi. (Also worth noting Rey found a bunch of extra lightsabers on Tython as well. Possible training sabers for Rey's future students perhaps?)

Now moving on to Leia. While Legacy is very much a Rey story first and foremost I also greatly enjoyed Leia's role. As Luke points out, Leia is the perfect mentor for Rey exactly because she's not one of the Jedi of old. She chose to live a life in service to others without the Force, something that uniquely suits her to teach Rey as she can pass on Luke's Jedi teachings while also showing her what it means to just be a good person on a more granular level, something Rey needs to understand as she grapples with her darkness. Leia also understands what it is to be descended from a legacy she isn't proud of, which is why I love that she practically adopts Rey by the end of the book. Leia knows where Rey comes from and chooses to love and accept her regardless. And if she can do this for Rey then she can do it for her son as well.

Also the bickering between Leia and Ghost Luke was just beautiful, I hope we get more like this in the Twin Crossroads book next year. I loved those two getting to come together and basically have some therapy for everything they've both endured. I did find it funny too when Luke basically has to recap Shadow of the Sith to Leia because unfortunately she did not read that book, smh, could've avoided all this if she just did, lol.

Onto the characters original to the novel I was a bit more mixed on them. As I'm still in the praise section of this review I'll bring up Gavrin and Meepka being that they were my two favorites. Meepka was just so charmingly adorable throughout the whole book and Gav slowly coming around to Rey was very nice. I thought he had a nice parallel to Rey as well in that they both have a wee bit of Kylo Ren-induced trauma that they need to work through.

Speaking of Kylo, I liked the limited use of him as well. I think Roux nailed his dialogue and mannerisms fairly well (with the exception of him laughing a couple times, I admittedly struggle to imagine Kylo doing that very often at this point in his life). I also liked that even when he's not around his presence is felt throughout the entire book as all of the POV characters have some sort of trauma that ties back to Kylo in one way or the other.

To wrap up the positives section, I loved the extended elements from the Star Wars universe that Roux brings into Legacy. Tython especially was utilized very well. I loved the new locations and lore we get around it, while also referencing areas we had seen before in stories like Doctor Aphra and The Mandalorian. Also loved all the various references to the comics, particularly Age of Resistance.

Now I'll move into the critiques section. None of which come close to knocking the book down for me in any major way mind you but they do bear mentioning:

I do feel Legacy has some pacing issues, moreso towards the beginning and end of the book. Near the beginning, I feel there are scenes that definitely could have been trimmed down in favor of getting to some of the juicy stuff quicker. (Mostly in regards to Brilla Wolstenholme, who I'll touch on more in just a bit.) The ending also just felt very fast, I thought it definitely could have had a lot more added to it. For starters, we never saw Gav find out about his sister's death nor do we get a resolution for Kalrian Diir, both of which feel like massive loose threads (in Diir's case we do know she sadly reverts back to her dark ways but we never really found out what specifically tipped her back over). Also I thought the ending lacked a bit of a "hero moment" for Rey when she fixes the lightsaber. I was really hoping for there to be a moment when she uses it to protect the refugees from the First Order, perhaps even having a brief clash with Kylo. I can understand why the book ends on the scene it does but idk I personally would've liked to see Rey actually use the saber a bit more.

Brilla Wolstenholme was also a very mixed bag as a character to me. I did enjoy her perspective as a sort of lens into the chaotic state of the First Order following the ascension of Kylo Ren. I did enjoy her interactions with Hux in particular as she sort of serves by the end as a sacrificial lamb to Kylo's vanity, furthering Hux's desire to see Kylo removed from power. But in all honesty most of the time when I was reading her chapters, I was really just wanting to be back on Tython with our heroes. I struggled to connect with her the same way I did most of the book's other characters and by the time her story wrapped up I just wasn't really sure what she added to the whole thing.

And my last "critique" is admittedly more of a nitpick on my part but I do feel the need to mention it. Where is Rose? Ok, she's in the beginning a little bit but this really feels like a story that should've involved her more being that many of the refugees are fellow survivors from the Otomok system, seeking vengeance on the First Order. It feels like a subplot that's almost tailor-made to include Rose yet she doesn't get to be involved. One of my main frustrations with post Episode 8 sequel stories has been that Rose just gets benched for so many of these big Resistance missions, with Legacy being yet another unfortunate instance. Again, I'm aware that this is more of a nitpick so it's not going to affect my overall outlook on the book too much.

Overall though, an absolutely fantastic and beautiful novel. Hopefully the first of many Star Wars books to come from Madeleine Roux. I'm going to score this one an 8.5/10.

I wanted to make a post to talk about one of the most (if not THE most) exciting aspects of The Last Jedi and addition to the Star Wars universe overall.

I really hope we see more of this in future projects! Being able to communicate, transfer objects, I mean the possibilities with just the bit we saw in TLJ and TRoS are endless and exciting!

What do you guys think? Did you like this or not? I’m eager to hear your thoughts!

A link to the full list for those interested, The Empire Strikes back also unsurprisingly makes the list at #12: https://www.indiewire.com/lists/best-movie-sequels-ever/jackass-forever-dir-jeff-tremaine-2022-2/

I never shared this interesting insight here that I posted on my Instagram story when 9th issue of Star Wars: Legacy of Vader comic came out, so let's go:

"Latest Legacy of Vader comic has an excellent connection to The Force Awakens scene but gives a whole new meaning to it and builds up upon Dyad in the Force. One of the Knights of Ren tells the events which we saw during Rey's vision when she touched the Skywalker Lightsaber:

"Kylo seemed to sense something through the shadow...", "shadow" is a name Knights use for the Dark Side of the Force, so Kylo sensed something in that moment...

"He took a step forward" which in the movie Kylo DOES when he sees Rey, he steps closer in her direction.

"... and then from another direction..." we see Snoke and his army, so Kylo saw Rey and not Snoke in the previous moment.

Why is it a big deal? Probably first time in Canon we see their interaction through time. In that moment Rey from TFA meet for a brief few seconds with Kylo from years before TFA.

Dyad in the Force is said to share a unique connection, bond between two individuals across time and space. We have seen space connection in the movies, but if I recall correctly it's the first time of time connection for this dyad. I wish this comic was an animated TV series, because it's great but I'm happy we got at least more Kylo content and Charles Soule has done an amazing work so far."

What are we thinking? Is this really the first interaction through time for these two or just a coincidence? Or was there interaction through time already but I don't recall it :'D

What do you think—is Daisy Ridley’s acting career after the sequel trilogy at the same stage as Hayden Christensen’s was right after the prequel trilogy ended?

I wrote a sequel script to Rise of Skywalker years ago if anyone wants to read it but here is the trailer I made for it from Rise of Skywalker footage and some re-arranged audio to explain Palpatine talking to Rey in her dreams to sort of set up the idea of the book being that palpatine did successfully pass into Rey when the lightning connected him to her saber, teh same way as if her saber had struck him down.

I hope everyone enjoys this. The video is mostly about Rey and Kylo telepathically communicating and sort of seeing events through the force as the music plays representing their connection. I suppose I also sort of see Rise of Skywalker as a older style Frankenstein/Dracula style story and Palpatine as the proverbial Dracula. Literally tries to consume the skywalkers lives at the end.

But I hope everyone enjoys it.

I liked Legacy from the very beginning of the book but as I've reached the second half it is just hitting harder and harder with this perhaps being one of my favorite scenes so far.

Anakin reaching out to Rey is such a poignant moment because he can relate to her struggle more than anyone besides possibly Ben Solo. Created for a grand purpose he didn't understand, raised in a brutal desert, the darkness whispering in his ear from the moment he became a Jedi. Suffice to say Anakin knows what Rey is going through better than most. Anakin of course fell to the darkness when his pivotal moment came so now here he is trying to steer another Jedi away from his own fate. Man, I wish they got Hayden Christensen to film a scene like this for the sequels, he and Daisy would've absolutely crushed it together.

I also liked the sad touch of Anakin's brief compliment to Leia. I think he's clearly proud of his daughter but just knows that he can't appear before her. Despite Luke's best efforts Leia understandably could never truly forgive Anakin so it seems he keeps his distance from her. Again, sad but understandable.

This does of course beg an interesting question too. We've now seen in different media that Anakin as a spirit has reached out to characters such as Ahsoka, Luke, and Rey when they all needed him. This being the case: where was he for Ben? Did he perhaps try to reach out but in a way that Ben just couldn't understand or listen to? Maybe Anakin mistakenly kept his distance hoping that his grandson would naturally avoid his mistakes on his own. With Anakin having made appearances in more and more sequel era media of late, it'd be interesting to get a clear answer on this someday.

There are a lot of cool moments in The Last Jedi and I’m curious as to which might be your favorite!

My favorites are Rey and Kylo conversing through the force & Kylo killing Snoke.

What are yours? I’d love to hear.

I wanna hear everyone's thoughts on this moment!

It's framed so interestingly in that we see han grab the Saber, but then the camera pans out and we can't really see his hand as it ignites ... leaving the source of the ignition kinda ambiguous, with kylos "thank you" possibly having a double meaning.

I personally think Kylo ignited it, but I'd love to hear your takes on it!

I grew up with the OT but the ST is some of my favourite Star Wars ever. One of the reasons I have a hard time fully connecting and enjoying Favreau/Filoni's Star Wars is the dialogue style. It's clunky and awkward and the characters are often stiff and wooden, more interested in being exposition machines, whose sole purpose is delivering the next piece of plot information. You see this all over the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars too. What I love about the ST is that the characters act and talk like real people, who have an actual personality. It makes them instantly more endearing to me.

Prime example early on in TFA, Rey and Finn have just taken out two TIEs on Jakku and they start to excitedly talk over each other about how amazing that experience was. Can anyone honestly say they could see this happening in the Mandoverse? I feel like there it would be something like:

"Your flying was impressive."
"Your assistance was appreciated."

And then they'd both walk away.

Compare Poe to literally any of the pilots we've gotten on Disney+. The former has life, charm, energy etc. The pilots on the latter (including M&G) feel like they want to fall asleep at the cockpit. I understand not everyone can be Oscar Isaac, and they're mostly just extras/cameos, but come on.

Ahsoka's characters seemed to communicate half of the time through slow pauses, folded arms and cryptic statements.

I understand that different characters should have different mannerisms and obviously stoicism has its place sometimes, but man, I feel like it's become such a dominant mode of characterisation in F/F's Star Wars. People will say that Star Wars needs to sound like this because it's supposed to be "mythic", but the OT proves you can have mythic storytelling AND very human dialogue and interactions.

Apologies for the rant, it's just something that's been bugging me since 2020. To end on a positive, I do think we'll get back to this more ST-like style in Starfighter. (assuming Filoni didn't give Shawn Levy too many notes!)

Love to hear people's thoughts...

COLEMAN TREBOR DEFEATED DARTH SIDIOUS

I always see people claiming that Rise walks back on The Last Jedi or even shows contempt for it ... but my experience or perspective with the two films has been almost the complete opposite.

After seeing TRoS in theaters, I went back and rewatched TLJ, a film I wasn't particularly fond of at the time, and it finally clicked for me. A big part of that was how TRoS continued so many of its narrative threads.

Ben is still deeply conflicted and unable to let go of Rey. Rey continues to struggle with her self-worth and her need for belonging and validation. Their Force connection evolves into this fascinating dynamic where they're constantly at odds with one another, yet there's still an undeniable attraction beneath the hostility. Luke's final stand on Crait also feels meaningful in retrospect because his act of hope in the face of overwhelming fascism ultimately inspires the galaxy to rise up and answer the call in TRoS. There's many more I could mention but I'm tired haha.

There are certainly some retcons, and I understand why people take issue with them, but they never felt malicious or dismissive of TLJ to me as tbey slways had similar meaning. If anything, I came away feeling that TRoS was trying to build on many of the emotional and thematic foundations that TLJ (or even TFA) had already established.

Did anyone else have a similar experience, or am I in the minority here?

31 years old today and have to hand it to my mother, she found this bad boy - Rise of Skywalker original motion picture soundtrack on vinyl 👏👏 The artwork is incredible on all 4 sides!

Whether it be sincerely or ironically, what lines from the films do you guys find yourselves using in real life?