Star Wars Fan Notices Changes To A Ship Between The Force Awakens And Rise Of Skywalker

Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ahead!

Even before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had been released in theaters, fans looking for clues in the trailer found a doozy. Buried in the official trailer was what appeared to be the same ship that previously carried Rey’s parents flying toward a new planet that definitely was not Jakku. With the film now in theaters, and inching closer to $1 billion worldwide, we now know that these fans were right and this ship was the very same one. New details about who was on the ship (officially known as “The Bestoon Legacy”) and even who was flying it were revealed in the film, but it’s the differences in the ship between the two movies that one fan can’t overcome.

Posted on the /r/StarWarsSpeculation subreddit, user /u/isiramteal pointed out that the ship actually has a few noticeable differences from its appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (where it debuted) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, where it was found crashed on a different desert planet. Compared to the ship’ appearance in The Force Awakens (the middle and bottom images below) you’ll see the ship has a much more square design to it throughout, especially in the rear; whereas the same ship in The Rise of Skywalker is rounder with bigger gaps above its twin thrusters.

One reason for these changes is that it’s not clear how much time may have passed between when Rey’s parents left her on Jakku with Unkar Plutt and when her parents where killed by Ochi, the pilot of the ship. As a result, changes to the ship are pretty understandable since it could be any number of years later, and since it’s in an entirely different system from where it was spotted in the years prior. Some readers on the subreddit agreed with this assessment.

“Honestly apart from memory being unreliable, there is also a chance that the guy could have “updated” his ship with modifications,” /u/datrueryacu said. “It just looks like he put more armour around the ship.”

Others were not convinced, with some simply chalking it up to a visual retcon not meant to be noticed, like Kylo Ren’s moving scar.

“IF I wanted to try and explain this away, I’d call this one of those instances in which memory is unreliable and her recollection of the event was not accurate to actual events, communicated poorly,” /u/mrsunrider said. “BUT I barely believe that myself so I’ll just got with ‘ugh.’”

What do you think happened? Will there one day be an Ochi: The Sith Assassin comic or book that tells the tale of his changing ship or will we never know the mysteries of the vessel? Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts.