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At the end of Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker, Rey is seen with her new lightsaber. She can also see both Luke and Leia as force ghosts.

I came across this post online as I was reading through updates on WordPress, and this triggered me a little (not gonna lie, probably more than a little) 😅

Following the Battle of Exegol in 35 ABY, Rey took up the family name of her mentors Luke and Leia Skywalker. Now the last Jedi, Rey Skywalker ascended to the rank of Master.
STAR WARS LATINAMERICA

The thing is, anybody can post a blog article and rant about what they think is happening in the Star Wars universe, but that doesn’t make any of it fact or canon, for that matter. However, there are many debates over what is and isn’t canon, so I try to stay away from all that. But this post got me thinking – are there fans out there that actually think Rey is a Jedi Master?

Was Rey even “The Last Jedi?” Technically, yes, Rey was the last Jedi because when Ben Solo became Ben Solo again, he had reverted back to being a Jedi but then died by sacrificing himself to save Rey. So at that point, Rey was the very last Jedi that we know of in the cinematic universe. I’d go so far as to say that she was probably the last Jedi we know of in canon as well. But a Jedi Master?

Let’s see what the sources online have to say about Rey’s status as a Jedi Master.

Taken from the Wookiepedia resource on Rey:

At some point after, while attempting to restore galactic peace, Rey became a Jedi Master.^[52]
Wookiepedia

This is listed in The Star Wars Book by Pablo Hidalgo (referred to in the Wookiepedia article). According to this reference, Rey became a Jedi Master. But is that canon?

If it is, I don’t agree with it for a couple of reasons. First, to become a Jedi Master, you have to take on a Padawan. If there were no other remnants of the Jedi Order (seeing as Rey was the last Jedi), how did this happen? Did Rey just take the title herself? And we won’t even talk about the Jedi High Council in this debate.

Secondly – Anakin Skywalker considered one of the strongest Jedi of all time, never made it to Jedi Master. How could Rey do something that Anakin couldn’t, given their age and years of experience? Anakin was trained from a very early age. Rey only discovered the force when she was in her late teens. None of that makes any sense.

To be honest, all of those so-called “sources” online are edited by people, just normal Star Wars fans like you and me. It is the same with Wikipedia (so many people, including myself, seem to forget it’s not really a legitimate source of information in that regard). That’s not to say that I am not grateful because I am. It takes a lot of effort and time to maintain a database of that size, and the fandom would be less of a fandom without it.

Art by Steve Anderson – Animated by Darkside Creative

It is important to note that this post has absolutely nothing to do with Rey not being as powerful as other Jedi or any of that garbage because she’s a woman. Frankly, anyone that thinks that or even entertains that garbage can just go right along and unfollow me because that is misogynistic and has no place here or anywhere, to be honest. Just wanted to make that clear, now moving on.

I couldn’t find a reliable source that confirms The Star Was Book as canon, and several sources online debate it, so I’m going to say no at this point until proven otherwise (Wookiepedia says it is but again, refer to my details above about Wookiepedia as a source).

It is possible that Rey did other things not shown in the cinematic universe, such as founding the new Jedi Order (again, nothing confirms this online). I can imagine many fans would not be happy about that, considering Luke tried to do this in the Legends books, which isn’t considered canon according to Wookiepedia.

I know that Pablo Hidalgo is part of the Lucas Film Story Group, and therefore whatever he writes is considered canon. But I’m still not convinced.

What do you think about Rey being a Jedi Master? Agree or disagree? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments, friends!

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Please note: the following post discusses many aspects of life and death in the Star Wars cinematic universe. It should be considered a spoiler if you have not yet seen Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker.

I got the idea for this post from a tweet I saw randomly on Twitter about the Jedi and the Sith and how differently they view death. It’s a fascinating topic. It’s something I’ve never really thought about until now. But it’s everywhere in the Star Wars universe and definitely worth discussing.

So I will break this post up into two parts; the first about the Sith and their views on death and then the second on the Jedi, how they look at death and how different they are and why.

When researching this topic, there was very little to go on. Wookiepedia has a general page on death in the Star Wars universe, but it’s basically what most fans already know. As a Jedi, you can learn how to avoid death by studying the living force. Through these teachings, a Jedi can learn how to become one with the force after the physical body passes on to the “other side”. We have seen many instances of this in the Star Wars universe and in particular, in the cinematic universe.

But you’ll notice this is only about the Jedi. Up until very recently, there was nothing concrete to suggest that the Sith could live beyond their mortal “lives”. The only original mention of Sith being able to “cheat” death is during Revenge of the Sith when Emperor Palpatine is grooming Anakin to slowly turn him to the dark side. A major part of this ploy is explaining to Anakin exactly how the Sith were able to “cheat death” and live extra long lives. The Darth Plagueis the Wise speech is, of course, Palpatine talking about himself as he was Darth Plagueis’ Sith apprentice.

So it’s safe to say that he Sith definitely do not view death as the Jedi do. Palpatine’s discussion with Anakin is actually very informative, even if you know very little about Darth Plagueis the Wise. The most important difference between the Sith and the Jedi is how the Jedi are accepting of death as a natural part of the life cycle. Whereas the Sith look upon death as a finality to all things and therefore it must be avoided at all costs.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Sith had found a way to cheat death by using a combination of the force and dark Sith magic. When Palpatine advises Anakin that “the dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural”, he is coaxing Anakin into believing that there was a way to stop death in its tracks.

Darth Plagueis therefore became a key catalyst in the turning of Anakin to the dark side. And without Darth Plagueis’ teachings, Darth Sidious would never have been able to survive the horrific fall down the reactor shaft in Return of the Jedi. Darth Sidious was able to survive or “cheat” death by mastering the technique that Darth Plagueis had discovered before his untimely death at the hands of his apprentice.

Darth Plagueis had discovered a way to transfer a being’s consciousness to another “vessel” therefore preserving that conciousness and effectively, living again once that conciousness had “died” in its host body. This is how Darth Sidious was able to “cheat” death after dying in Return of the Jedi. So cloning was also an integral part of Darth Sidious’ plan to overcome death and rule the galaxy again in The Rise of Skywalker.

Anakin’s journey towards the dark side of the force, as we know, did not involve resurrecting the dead, at least not in the cinematic universe. In a roundabout way, Anakin does “die” on Mustafar at the hands of his master and best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi and was “reborn” as Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. But in the comics, Darth Vader’s obsession with life after death is explored and expanded to include an encounter with Padme that is both shocking and interesting. If you haven’t read the Darth Vader comics, I highly recommend you do. They are beautifully written and the art work is fantastic. And the way that they tie into the cinematic universe is done surprisingly well.

The reason I mention these comics is because a) they are now considered canon and b) they discuss Darth Vader and how he manages to do what Darth Sidious could only imagine. And that is, well, you’ll have to read the comics to find out. But it is a nice way to follow up after this blog post and look further into the Sith and their obsession with death. You can check out the comic details on Wookiepedia and the comics themselves are available online from multiple sources.

If you’re at all interested in looking at a list of all the characters that died in the Star Wars cinematic universe, Time Magazine wrote an article listing all 111 deaths. Of those 111 deaths, 32 were Sith or affiliated to the Dark Side of the Force.