Star Wars: Rey Wanted to Build a Double-Bladed Lightsaber in The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought the Skywalker saga to its end. It also completed the journey of Rey, first introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as a scavenger from the planet Jakku. By the end of the sequel trilogy, she's taken the Skywalker name and built a distinct lightsaber symbolizing her role in carrying the Jedi legacy. Some wondered why Rey, who's wielded a staff before a lightsaber, would choose a single blade over a double-bladed lightsaber. Such a weapon would be a natural fit and represent the totality of her journey. The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization suggests that Rey did want to use a double-bladed lightsaber at some point.

Early in the novelization is a passage that reveals Rey's thoughts about her lightsaber. She had begun building her lightsaber after she fixed the damage inflicted on Luke's lightsaber during Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The passage reads:

"She eyed the unfinished lightsaber on her workbench. It wasn't ready yet, and the one she'd painstakingly repaired — Luke's — didn't belong to her. So her quarterstaff would have to suffice as a weapon. Which was just fine. It had served her well on Jakku for years. In fact, someday, once she had mastered this lightsaber-building business, she might design one that felt more like a quarterstaff in her hand. Familiar and hefty. Two business ends. Maybe with a hinge in the middle for portability."

The lightsaber Rey imagines is like the one she sees her darker self wielding during her vision of a fall to the dark side later on in the story. This foreshadowed Rey being the granddaughter of the deposed Emperor Palpatine (the novel also reveals Rey and Palpatine's relationship is more complicated than that).

We now know that the intent to build a double-bladed lightsaber is there. We only see one yellow blade as Rey activates the lightsaber on Tatooine at the end of The Rise of Skywalker. Rey builds her lightsaber from pieces of her old staff. It isn't out of the question that she could change it to add an extra blade if she didn't do so already.

What do you think of Rey's lightsaber? Should she wield a double-bladed weapon? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker releases on Digital HD on March 17th. It releases on Blu-ray and other home media formats on March 31st.