Rey’s Choice of Weapon
From the get go of the new trilogy, we learn that Rey is quite handy with a staff. We see her aptly defend herself with it on Jakku whilst protecting BB-8 from Unkar Plutt’s thugs. So it stands to reasons that when she settles on a lightsaber of choice by the trilogy’s conclusion that her lightsaber be a double bladed one ala Darth Maul’s in The Phantom Menace. It would also add another element to her duels with Kylo Ren’s cross-guarded lightsaber throughout the trilogy.
Rey.. Palpatine?
This revelation came out of absolutely nowhere! There was no foreshadowing throughout the trilogy to suggest Rey would be Darth Sidious’ granddaughter. I know by The Rise of Skywalker’s conclusion that she announces herself as Rey Skywalker as a tribute to both Luke and Leia who mentored her, but I think a more sensical option would be to have her a descendent of Owen Lars, Luke Skywalker’s adoptive parents, and Obi-Wan’s “brother”. It would make it at least a feasible explanation as to why it was Obi-Wan’s voice that called out to her as she picked up Luke’s blue lightsaber in The Force Awakens, as opposed to anyone else’s voice.
side note; Rey’s appearance is also very reminiscent of Lars and Kenobi, who’s clothing and colour scheme very much resembles theirs.
Kylo Ren
Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren is by far the most interesting character in the new trilogy. A conflicted character torn between the dark side and the light, his arc is well realised over the course of the trilogy. However I feel like The Rise of Skywalker gave the character the short end of the stick when it came to his demise. I think the roles should have been reversed and Rey, not Ben, should have been the one to give their life for the other’s. Speaking of which..
Ben and Rey’s Kiss
Ben and Rey’s kiss in The Rise of Skywalker came out of nowhere! I know that throughout the trilogy their characters had a lot of tension, being the primary protagonist and primary antagonist that makes sense but to me it felt really forced (no pun intended) and didn’t land at all. I could buy Finn and Rey sharing a kiss before the film’s conclusion as that would have felt much more natural, but not the former.
Knights of Ren
I feel like most people would agree with me that the Knights of Ren, which were glimpsed at in a vision in The Force Awakens, turned out to be one of the most disappointing aspects of the sequel trilogy. The Knights of Ren could have made for great secondary antagonists but they just weren’t fleshed out at all and given very little screen time. The Rise of Skywalker did it’s best to amend this but it was too little too late, after having no presence in The Last Jedi, having the Knights of Ren be of any significance was near impossible.
Supreme Leader Snoke/ Palpatine
After being introduced to Snoke in The Force Awakens, many were intrigued by the character’s origins. Very little is revealed about him in the first two entries in the sequel trilogy, and then when he’s killed in The Last Jedi it can’t help but feel like a wasted opportunity. To try and salvage Snoke’s character, it’s revealed that he’s a creation of Emperor Palpatine. This is just straight up bizarre to me after Palpatine’s clear demise at the end of Return of the Jedi. What would have made more sense was to have Snoke revealed to be Darth Plagueis, the master of Palpatine and legendary Sith Lord with power over death. After his apprentice’s demise, Plagueis returns to power to become the primary antagonist of the final trilogy.