I spent the end of 2019 watching my countdown dwindle to single digits, indicating the impending release of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. Now that the movie is out, I've gone to see it—twice. While I could spend inordinate amounts of time detailing exactly what went wrong from a storytelling point of view, I'd like to examine some of the film's thematic and philosophical fallout. Spoilers and scruffy-looking nerf herders ahead.

While I still derive immense pleasure from the new trilogy in the Skywalker saga, I found The Force Awakens to be mediocre while The Last Jedi was thrilling (with the exception of Canto Bight). The Last Jedi was a revolutionary transition in the franchise—here was a protagonist (Rey) who had no connection to the Skywalker dynasty. She sought to know her parentage and suffered for it, only to learn that it didn't matter because she had her chosen family of Resistance fighters: Fin, Chewie, BB-8, Leia, and Poe. This message of "anyone can be a hero" was an excellent step for the ailing franchise.

Then we got The Rise of Skywalker.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker both times. Still, it's a confusing about-face of the question of identity in the Star Wars universe. Identity is one of the core themes of the new trilogy (as well as the old), but The Rise of Skywalker muddles the picture. Can you make your own meaning—create your own identity? Or are your origins all that matter, whether familial or otherwise?

The philosophy of identity is mostly concerned with the physical and metaphysical conceptualization of parts, wholes, and the logical relationship therein. For example, philosophers distinguish between qualitative identity (categories and shared properties) and numerical (the relation of an individual thing to itself) identity. Also of note is the relationship between identity and temporality, namely perdurance vs. endurance theory. Modern philosophers have also phrased the identity question as existence vs. facticity, the idea that facts produce identity. Professors Cleary and Pigliucci at Aeon Magazine summarize this tension succinctly:

This is human nature: perpetually seeking to escape our natural condition, to transcend – surpassing the given – towards self-chosen, concrete goals…To be human is to live in ambiguity because we are forever caught in a tension between the facts of our lives and the will to overcome them.

These all seem to me to fall under the umbrella of ontology, the study of being. They're essentially all different ways of asking, “Who am I?” Therefore, in The Rise of Skywalker, Rey and Kylo are concerned instead with the topic of personal identity. At face-value, personal identity might appear to be an open-and-shut case. Some even theorize that identity and responsibility are merely a matter of degree of connection. Clearly, both our origins and choices influence our identity, just as our “nature and nurture” influence our behavior. I'm not arguing with that; I want to examine what Star Wars, and especially The Rise of Skywalker, has to say on the matter.

The Originals

The search for identity is a theme throughout the Star Wars saga. Luke struggles for purpose until he finds it in the Force and the Rebellion against the Empire. Obi-wan's half-truth that Vader murdered Luke's father is a potent drive to the eager warrior. Then, everyone knows by now the unforeseen twist of Empire Strikes Back:

Luke later learns that Princess Leia is his sister. The familial link comes full circle when Luke refuses to strike down Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, and Vader then saves his son from Darth Sidious.

Identity as a function of family bonds is further explored in the Star Wars prequels. Anakin's loss of his mother Shmi lights the spark of the fire that burns down the galaxy. His secret marriage to Padmé and his subsequent fear of her loss (like his mother) drives him into the Dark Side's waiting arms. Anakin's blood relationship to Shmi is a given identity, inextricable from his sandy enslavement on Tatooine. Then, his bond with Padmé is a chosen, self-made aspect of his identity. The two aspects of his identity are linked, however, as one enabled the other through a macabre self-fulfilling prophecy. Why? Because his identity and meaning are wrapped into these women, and losing them would mean losing himself. His identity, while partially self-made, is still dependent on other beings, flawed and finite like himself.

The New Ones

Fast-forward to the new trilogy. Two of the main narrative questions are: can Kylo be redeemed, and who are Rey's parents? The external battle of Sith versus Jedi is amplified by how Rey and Kylo mirror each other as shadow siblings. Rey, whose parents abandoned her as a child, gets Han and Leia as parental figures. Rey and Leia mourn Kylo's patricide of Han, and Rey takes on the couple's identity as Resistance leaders. She's later tempted by the Dark Side to learn the identity of her parents, thinking she'll find meaning in her origin.

This is sharply contrasted by Kylo Ren, who knows his parents but completely rejects his family lineage—except for his grandfather, Darth Vader, completely ignoring Anakin's redemption. His highest ambitions to become a greater Sith lord than his grandfather and overthrow Snoke points to his desire to form his own selective, god-like identity. For his identity, Kylo seeks apotheosis, or to become divine. Leander explains:

Apotheosis is the norm of what we aspire to as humans. We want greatness. We want to look within and access our own personal, secret power to do great deeds, and then to sit in triumph with the gods...‘Greatness will fulfill us,’ we believe. You can see it in our contemporary mythology [like]…Star Wars.

In The Last Jedi, the inner conflict between his given name and good identity, Ben Solo, and his chosen evil title, Kylo Ren, is reinforced when he smashes his helmet to distance himself from Vader to make himself even more unique. Echoing this desire for greatness and a unique identity, Kylo says, “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to:”

The battle of self-made identity and familial identity come to a head in The Last Jedi when Kylo reveals that Rey's parents "were nothing." Rey doesn't give up, though; she continues to fight for the light and follow the Jedi path no matter who her parents were. As I said above, Luke and the rest of The Last Jedi proclaim that heroism and triumphant good are for everyone, not just the birthright of the chosen few.

The Rise of Skywalker

Unfortunately, that compelling message is thrown out the window with The Rise of Skywalker—oh, Rey's just a Palpatine. The film does hint at this tension within Rey, some of which are:

Kylo reforges his mask; for him, this means...regression? Fixing the past? Clinging to Vader's myth again? It's unclear why he reclaimed the helm when he spurned it to create his own identity in the previous film. Ironically, the cracked and welded helmet typically reminds me of the cobbled-together feeling of The Rise of Skywalker.
Rey is called “scavenger” throughout the film; she's not worthy of a name. Even when prompted by a young alien, Rey can only say that she's “just Rey.” She has no surname, and thus, no identity.
Kylo tells Rey, “The Dark Side is in our nature. Surrender to it.” His self-deceit is as bloated as his hubris.
Rey's vision of herself as a Sith even speaks to her: “Don't be afraid of who you are.”
Luke: “What are you most afraid of?” Rey replies, “Myself.” Luke counters with, “Some things are stronger than blood.”
Ben, enabled by his parents and Rey's healing, made a choice—a new identity.
Rey and Kylo, now Ben, become true brother and sister duo like Luke and Leia.

In the end, Rey's inner turmoil and newfound family connection matters little to her—or to Sheev Palpatine himself. She takes on the mantle of “all the Jedi” and defeats her grandfather. In the final scene, she takes on the surname of Skywalker for herself.

In light of all this, one could easily argue that the message of The Rise of Skywalker is, in fact, not murky since the ending shows that Rey's parentage didn't matter and she was able to choose her own surname, and thus, identity. Within the final scene, this rings true; Luke even said so. However, examining the film from a storytelling perspective, it reveals something more troubling. Thematic messaging aside, Rey's ancestry did matter. If she wasn't a Palpatine, she ostensibly wouldn't have Force abilities, and would have had no adventures or become a Jedi. Ret-conning Palpatine as her grandfather has implications back to the opening of The Force Awakens, and nullifies much of The Last Jedi's powerful storytelling. If “some things are stronger than blood,” why make her related to Palpatine at all? That's what I mean by the idea of identity in the film being mixed—the theme says you can make your own identity, but the plot begs to differ.

Image-Bearing & Identity-Making

Finally, identity by its nature has an intrinsic connection to “making.” This concept of creating or combining into something new is common to theories of origin and choice. Origin is an identity made by others, while meaning is the identity made by yourself. Kylo tried and failed to make his own distinct identity. His failure led to his redemption, just as (much more painfully) Anakin's did. This began as Kylo attempting to make himself into the image of his grandfather. Rey names herself after her mentors. This attempted “self-making” contrasts from the image each person is given intrinsically as human persons. I believe that all people are made in the image of God. This likeness to the Creator can be seen as functional and ontological natures. The reason why I mention it is because every person, as a child of the Living God, has an unshakeable identity in His family, if he or she will embrace it. Think of this as “spiritual adoption.” This identity gives me a bedrock of hope which Anakin and Kylo needed. It informs my origin and meaning. I ask you: Who is your identity found in? Tell me in the comments below, and May the Force Be With You.

The Rise of Skywalker and the Nature of Personal Identity

The Originals

The New Ones

The Rise of Skywalker

Image-Bearing & Identity-Making