Who does the movie title refer to?

I think Rey the girl with no last name and the new legend/hero of the story takes the Skywalker name. I don’t think that is complicated at all.

 

But why would her being related to Shmi's family be of any significance at all if she is not a descendant of Anakin? The Skywalker's are important because they were presumably created by the force and their very strong connection to it, not because of the name itself. For all we know Shmi could have had a very large family and there are hundreds of Skywalkers somewhere, but that shouldn't make them special at all.
Or perhaps you are right and Shmi had a paternal cousin "Mary Skywalker" who was also impregnated by the force and Rey is descended from her.
Perhaps Anakin's second name is the baptist and Rey actually comes from "Rey de los jedi(judios)"

 

Because I love to use my signature:

Kylo Ren is about to strike down Rey, but he hesitates while the Emperor is laughing.
Emperor: "Good. Good. Kill this foolish scavenger and your turn to the dark side is complete."
Kylo Ren deactivates his lightsaber.
Kylo Ren: "No. You failed. I am a Skywalker, like my grandfather before me."
Emperor: "So be it, young Skywalker."

=> The Rise Of Skywalker, done in JJ's style

 

I've been on the same line of thought. Im not a 100% on board with Luke coming back completely other than a force ghost. However, It just dawned on me we have seen an evolution of jedi interacting from the Beyond. AOTC and ROTS, Qui Gon is able to speak from the beyond. It was the same with Obi Wan in the end of ANH but in ESB it went a step further with Obi Wan manifesting in a force ghost form. TLJ shows Yoda in force ghost form but goes further and is able to physically interact with the living world. ROS could show us the next step and Luke rises to this. What "this" is and how they will show it is yet to be seen.

 

They even left the door open by Rey saying “Luke’s gone” not “Luke’s dead”. I want Luke to Rise and Rey to take his name start a new Jedi Order with Skywalker becoming a Pre-fix similar to the Siths Darth title.

 

Also, if we go back, Luke and Anakin have have been referred to as Skywalker by that name alone.

In ESB during Vader and Palpatine's holo chat, Luke is referred to the son of Skywalker.

Later, after Han and Lea are tortured, and Lando comes in the cell, he says "He doesn't want you at all. He's after somebody called ... uh ... Skywalker."

Also, in talking to Boba Fett, Vader says "You may take Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt after I have Skywalker."

I think the title refers to Luke in some way but also has greater meanings.

 

Yes to all this, but I'd argue that the turning point for Ben Solo's return began as soon as he killed Han Solo. The look on his face on the bridge after Han falls says it all and he hasn't been the same since. If redemption doesn't happen, Han Solo died in vain and I'd argue that Han knew he may not come back off of that bridge on Starkiller Base, but he was willing to take the chance to have his son back.

/end rant

 

Although I don't deny it's likely Luke, there are other possibilities and I don't necessarily agree with some of your points.

1>I like this one and I think that is the best of your 5.
2>I agree with you here.
3>I don't think it would be that hard to retcon that if JJ wished. FG Luke could simply tell her early on, that he never knew but the veil of death lifted that mystery also.
4>Palpatine as Anakin's creator is not yet canon imo. It's been an interesting theory that be thrown around, but it's fully in books. I don't believe books have the same weight on canon for a minute.
5>I don't like this because it treads too closely to our religions. I hope they don't go this way.

However, possibly Skywalker could become a rank within the Jedi order. Not necessarily superior, but a path taken. Padawan, Knight, Master or Skywalker... just as I remember from my rpg days they had Jedi Guardians as well as Consulars...maybe Skywalker is a third option of those. Either way, I'd think Skywalker would be a subsect of the Jedi, not a whole knew ideology.

 

After reading master and apprentice. I’m even more convinced it refers to Anakin. It brings up Anakins vision of freeing slaves. It brings up that Anakin is the chosen one and most important is the prophecy of the most dark being brought back to life by its greatest apprentice. I believe all three will be addressed in episode 9.

Palpatine is already back. Lucas has always said Anakin is the chosen one. And I believe he will free all the slave after his resurrection. Slaves like broom boy.

 

Anakin is important because he was a vergence, but Shmi wasn't just randomly chosen to be the "Mother of the Force"; something about her bloodline has to be significant beyond Anakin and his direct line or else she wouldn't have been the person chosen to give birth to the prophesied "Chosen One".

 

If this happens I might kill myself.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 20, 2019, Original Post Date: Apr 20, 2019 ---

How?

 

Don’t know but in master and apprentice Obi wan states he will be the chosen one if he does come back and free the slaves. It’s a random line and may not mean anything or it might be foreshadowing. I’m merely saying that in my view these are clues that it’s Anakin. But who are the slaves. Is it metaphor. Don’t know. Could be literal like broom boy. Don’t know.

 

According to Star Wars Fandom (which may or may not be canon), Shmi was "At the age of six, Shmi and her family embarked on a space voyage to the Outer Rim Territories, where they were captured by pirates and sold into slavery"

Kinda makes me wonder if the vision Rey saw on Jakku of her parents leaving was actually a vision of Shmi instead...

Cheers, KH

 

Only if Shmi wore her hair like Rey, lost her accent, and her slaver was Unkar Plutt.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 21, 2019, Original Post Date: Apr 21, 2019 ---

She was chosen by Palpatine because she was a slave on an Outter Rim planet with no family or ties to anyone. Her child wouldn't be tested for midichlorians by the Republic and thus go under the radar.

 

A female clone of a male? "Clone". I don't think that word means what you think it means.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 21, 2019, Original Post Date: Apr 21, 2019 ---

"Darkness Rises, and Light to meet it"

 

As has been stated, those panels do not represent the literal truth of how Anakin was created and were not intended to be seen or interpreted in that manner, as per the Lucasfilm Story Group, and so it is therefore Canonically incorrect to state that Palpatine was responsible for Anakin's creation in any way.

 

I don’t think the title refers to Palpatine. However, he is the only character to ever use the verb, “rise.”

@1:49

I think that there is some significance to that being in the title. Instead of the rise of Vader, a sith, it is the Rise of a Skywalker, not a sith.

 

A couple of years ago at Comic Con Chile Hidalgo gave his version of the story.
Something that he discussed with GL.

Until then I always believed that people were seeing too much on that conversation between Palpatine and Anakin from ep. III and basically that in that scene Sidius was manipulating Anakin.

But the truth is that GL always envisioned Anakin’s birth as the result of Sidius (and Plagueis) manipulation of the force.

Beside that, if you want “close the ring” linking ep. I and IX ( and in doing so, closing all the story) addressing
the issue of Anakin’s birth is the theme/issue you have to address.

Like I said here or in another thread “Rise of Skywalker” most likely has different meanings.
And one of them may actually be about the actual circumstances of Anakin’s birth.
And it may also be about his coming back.
The “return” of the hero, is the 3rd act of the hero’s journey. The ST is the 3rd act of the Saga and Anakin has been
the overall protagonist of the Skywalker saga.
(No matter the title, Return of the Jedi from this point of view, is the “apotheosis”, the achievement of the hero’s quest, and that is the culmination of the second act of the hero’s journey, in fact it closes the OT. The middle chapters).

So to me, Rise of Skywalker is - mainly- about Anakin’s return.
A “spiritual” return, his “metaphorical victory or his legacy’s victory.
Or his actual return in flesh and bones.

His rebirth. His rise from the death.

Skywalker has always been him. Luke was “young Skywalker”. That until TFA.
When Snoke says “ If Skywalker returns, the Jedi Order will RISE again”.

Personally, that, the first line of the movie being “this will start to make things right”, Maz speaking about
seeing the same eyes in different people, the visual parallels between Rey and Anakin/Luke in a movie that imo doesn’t support the idea that she is blood related to them (those visual parallels excluded), the fact itself that Anakin’s lightsaber called to her... always gave me the idea that she’s connected to Anakin and more precisely somehow to his birth. How exactly I don’t know. But if we entertain the idea of Palpatine coming back, of Rey as a clone, etc... that idea to me looks far less crazy, more in line with the lore (Sith cannot become FG, and the Chosen One can be even more “special” than an ordinary Jedi), less dumb and more emotionally satisfying.

That Snoke’s quote, that in TFA is unmistakably about Luke, I always took it as something that was meant to foreshadow the endgame.

In all honesty, after TLJ, I was far less sold on this idea... but when I heard the title of ep. IX, when I noticed all the links to ep. I... I couldn’t help to think that no matter how crazy it seems something under those lines, can be coming...

 

^ Revenge of the Sith itself reveals that Palpatine did not in fact know Plagueis' secrets despite leading Anakin to believe that he did, and that has always been the primary Canonical stance on the matter that Lucasfilm has operated under both before and after Lucas sold the company.

Edit: I do feel the need to clarify my previous comments regarding Charles Soule's comic by stating that I have now learned that Matt Martin (whom I have confirmed was the person responsible for staying that the images in Soule's comic were not intended to be taken literally) went on to specify that he was not confirming whether or not Palpatine did in fact have a hand in Anakin's creation, but merely clarifying that Soule's comic was not in fact confirming that such was the case despite beliefs to the contrary by fans.