Question: How could the Allegiant General know for sure that General Hux was the spy? Was there something that revealed Hux?
Sammo
26th May 2020
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
21st Dec 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Question: If Palpatine wanted Rey alive, as he says to her on Exegol, why did he repeatedly order Kylo to kill her earlier in the movie?
Answer: Palpatine has been manipulating Rey and Kylo Ren from the very start, bringing the pair together and instigating fights between them. He is trying to make Rey stronger so that when he takes over her body, she will be powerful. Palpatine can partially see the future and knows that Kylo will not be successful in actually killing Rey, but that their constant fights will cause the two to grow more powerful. Because he can see part of the future, he knows that eventually Rey will triumph over Kylo and "kill" him, and then come to confront him directly. He doesn't count on Ben Solo coming back to face him which winds up being his undoing.
Answer: Not just earlier in the movie, but in the trilogy itself since he is technically also behind Snoke. Yeah I wondered the same. For that matter, why does he not clue her in of his whereabouts but just hopes (what a very Jedi thing to do!) she'll just find the thing that leads it to him? Feels like a plot hole but I didn't bother sending it because I am sure some answer for it will come in the expanded universe or whatever. Of course one could just say it's the Sith way and if Kylo managed to kill her it would completely erase the very last Jedi and erase anything good remaining in Kylo, making the victory of the Dark Side complete. And likewise, if Rey kills him (which she does, in a way!) that will make the Dark Side in her stronger. Curious enough, notice how Kylo wants them both to go to Palpatine, to kill him, instead, so Palpatine's order is meant to make him do something he does not want to.
Answer: Emperor Palpatine is a lying bastard. Earlier he wanted her dead because he feared her power. Now that she's actually showed up in the flesh he's trying to flatter her to convince her to join with him (literally in this case). The Emperor is the Star Wars version of Satan/Lucifer; his word is worth less than nothing.
Answer: He saw through the trick that Hux was pulling, being shot in a non-vital spot. He probably did not know 'for sure' but it's a scene that has the purpose to depict him as astute and ruthless. Let's say chances were very high that Hux was the spy (high ranking, with a disdain for the Supreme Leader, and now he conveniently lets the prisoner escape) and he had such disregard for human life that he had no second thoughts about a slim chance of murdering an innocent - and in best case scenario, incompetent - officer.
Sammo ★
The way they handled it was deus ex machina. It looked like the filmmakers wanted to end this plot point as fast as possible, and the way the spy was dealt with was an asspull. Logically speaking, it should have taken them some time to find out who the traitor was.