Does Rey Turn to the Dark Side In ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’?

Now that the latest movie in the Star Wars saga has finally premiered, we can bust out the scorecard and take tabs of all the predictions made in the build up to the new movie.

One of the theories floated around by fans popped up after the epic trailer debuted in October, with some wondering if Rey would turn to the dark side in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So, does she?

Warning: MAJOR spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi below.

The newest film in the franchise teases a major turn for Rey at various points in the movie. The first comes when Luke Skywalker is guiding her meditation, during which a hole in the ground representing the dark side beckons her, and she doesn’t hesitate to follow it. The resulting Force feedback nearly destroys the stone ledge she’s sitting on and terrifies Luke.

Rey then goes to that hole and receives a vision not unlike the one Luke sees in The Empire Strikes Back on Dagobah, when he hallucinates his battle against Darth Vader and sees his own face under the mask. But instead, Rey only sees her reflection when she asks to find out who her parents are, hinting at the revelation Kylo Ren provides later in the film.

After all of this, she ends up bonding with the former Ben Solo due to their connection (established by Supreme Leader Snoke, who attempts to manipulate both of them). She then goes to Kylo to get him to turn back to the light, but Kylo insists that she will turn and join him instead.

The two eventually team up to fight off Snoke’s guards after Kylo unceremoniously chops him in half, though their alliance is only temporary. Kylo offers his hand and begs her to join, but she refuses and returns to her allies in the Resistance.

It’s a tempting moment, it seems, but Rey never truly considers joining the dark side. She merely wanted to save Kylo and help her friends, but when faced with a choice she didn’t waver from her morals.

While there might be a chance that she could turn evil in the future, we think that ship has sailed. The Last Jedi presented a thematic arc for the character where she embraced her destiny, and now we expect to see her lead the charge against the First Order.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing in theaters everywhere.