The Subtle Foreshadowing in ‘The Last Jedi’ Many Star Wars Fans Didn’t Catch
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters in December 2017. The Star Wars franchise has attracted millions of fans since its first epic space-opera media film was released in 1977.
While many individuals enjoy watching the film series, not all fans are able to catch the subtle foreshadowing that writers and producers of the franchise love to sprinkle throughout the films. Read on to learn more about some of the subtle foreshadowing you may have missed in The Last Jedi and what other fans had to say.
The star of ‘The Last Jedi’
The main protagonist in the sequel film trilogy of Star Wars is the character, Rey. Rey is played by the actress Daisy Ridley.
Ridley stars as Rey in the 2015 film, The Force Awakens, the 2017 film, The Last Jedi, and the 2019 film, The Rise of Skywalker. The character Rey is introduced as a scavenger who was left behind on the planet of Jakku when she was a young child. As a child, Rey is taken in by the Skywalkers and is trained to be a Jedi under Luke Skywalker and General Leia.
Training as a Jedi, Rey must face a variety of adversaries along her journey. Some of the main adversaries she faces in the film trilogy series are Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo Ren, and Emperor Palpatine. In the third film in the trilogy, it is revealed that Rey is the biological granddaughter of one of her primary challengers, Emperor Palpatine.
What do fans have to say about Rey?
Like all Star Wars films, there are a lot of big revelations, subtle foreshadowing, and parallels that are present throughout the trilogy series that Rey stars in. One major scene in The Last Jedi contained what some fans consider foreshadowing, and others call a parallel. The scene in question centers around Rey’s lightsaber training.
Fans took to Reddit to further discuss the scenes in question. One fan wrote, “Rey’s lightsaber practice is a foreshadowing of the showdown between Luke and Ben (Kylo Ren) on Crait.” Other fans agreed, chiming in with “yes” and “super cool.” However, some fans didn’t agree that the training montage scenes could be considered foreshadowing. One fan wrote, “It’s not foreshadowing, but it’s a great intentional parallel.”
Ultimately, the scene of Rey’s training montage incorporates both parallel aspects and elements of foreshadowing of what will come in the following films.
A significant scene with some subtle foreshadowing
The subtle foreshadowing that some fans may have missed in The Last Jedi is sprinkled in the scenes of Rey’s training montage. The scenes of Rey’s training montage actually foreshadow the climactic battle that goes down between Luke and Kylo Ren later on in the film.
In this montage, Rey trains with the Skywalker lightsaber to test her skills and self-control. The montage shows Rey failing to accurately control the lightsaber as she slashes into a rock and chops the top off. Luke is coaching Rey through this training and is less than impressed with Rey’s performance.
The parallel in this scene is that the moves Rey is practicing during this scene are almost identical to those that Kylo Ren utilizes against Luke at the end of the film. Ultimately the parallel training methods of Rey and Kylo Ren illustrates that the two combined bring balance to the Force.
Rey is tempted by the darkness, but commits to the light. Kylo Ren is attracted to the light, but chooses to follow the darkness. The film foreshadows that the two characters are equal and opposite forces, with this bond being further explored in the follow-up film.
