Blade Edge

Spoilers! Obviously!

I’m going to address the largest flaw in the sequel trilogy – Rey’s origin. Although her being a descendant of Palpatine is a good twist, it fails to tie into any of the previous movies and just burdens the viewer with unseen exposition. At no point was there ever any mention of or even suspicion of Palpatine having sired children. It’s certainly plausible that he had mistresses as a Galactic Senator, Supreme Chancellor or even as Emperor and one or more of them became pregnant, who had a child, the Force skipped that generation, then they had a child who was Force-sensitive and Palpatine somehow found out yadda yadda yadda who cares – the problem remains that no material in the movies ties into this idea of Rey being a Palpatine.

On the one hand this is what makes it so surprising, since even people who thought prior to Episode IX she might be a Palpatine were wondering how she could be. On the other hand, Rey’s entire purpose to the sequel trilogy as well as the surprise of Palpatine himself still being alive can be written using material from the past movies, to much better effect. In fact you can leave Rise of Skywalker largely untouched from a script standpoint with this alternate origin, which makes its lack of inclusion all the more frustrating.

The Skywalker Saga

Let’s recap the important plot points from the prequel and original trilogy written with George Lucas that will be used for my sequels trilogy plot fix.

The Birth of Skywalker

Shmi Skywalker was a slave to the hutts on the remote desert world of Tatooine who suddenly became pregnant and gave birth to a child. As any loving mother would, she raised the boy as her own despite having no idea how he was conceived, granting him the surname of Skywalker. Anakin would first make himself known to the galaxy as an integral aid to the Jedi in the first overt battles of the Sith’s centuries-long secret war to overthrow both the Republic and the Jedi. He was recognized personally by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, a secret Sith Lord, as someone whose career would be “watched with great interest”.

Although Master Yoda remains unsure of the boy, the Jedi Council agrees to let Obi-Wan Kenobi train him as a Jedi.

Palpatine the Plotter

Ever since the Sith Empire collapsed and they numbered only in 2, they have been uncharacteristically but necessarily patient while working in the shadows to once again regain control of the galaxy, putting an end to the Republic and the Jedi Order. Each new Sith Lord has stood upon the shoulders (dead body, really) of the last but it is clearly recognized that Palpatine (AKA Darth Sidious) and his master Darth Plageius were the ones instrumental to bringing the centuries of machinations to a close and begin to shatter both of their long-held enemies. Palpatine was the master schemer, using the dark side to peer into the future in addition to his already well-imbued talents for politics, skullduggery and intrigue. Utterly evil, he was able to do things like arrange for the kidnapping and torture of Shmi Skywalker as part of his plot to turn Anakin to the dark side.

The Tragedy of Darth Plageius the Wise

As Palpatine uses his Force vision talents to blind the Jedi Masters (“The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see the future is.” – Yoda) and set his hooks into Skywalker, part of the scheme was to project into Anakin’s mind the death of his beloved Padme giving birth to their child. He then starts to reel him in with promises of arcane Sith knowledge gleaned from his master on how to prevent someone he loves from dying. Even more interesting however is how he begins their conversation at the opera with mention of his master’s ability to influence the midichlorians of the Force to create life.

This comment seems to sail right over Skywalker’s head but we can clearly take it to mean that Anakin was possibly conceived by the Sith. Given his potential, that he was not immediately seized by them for training could mean Plageius may have thought his attempts to create life had failed, so no one ever looked for the child. Or, Plageius may have known he had succeeded but was not able to control where the conception took place and was unable to locate the child before the Jedi stumbled across him. If he knew he had succeeded but couldn’t locate the child, it’s likely he would have not told Palpatine.

Alternatively they may have purposefully never sought out the boy. Darth Tyranus, the former Jedi Master Count Dooku and apprentice to Darth Sidious, made it clear that the Jedi Archives could be tampered with when he erased Kamino. Despite a whole division of their order devoted to meticulous record-keeping the Jedi prophecy of The Chosen One could have been planted or tampered with by the Sith centuries ago, hoping one day they would succeed in learning how to create the life they needed to see it fulfilled. In their eyes, the Force was completely out of balance with all the Jedi that existed when they were only numbering two. Master Yoda began to suspect this when he mutters to his fellow Jedi generals near the end of the Clone Wars “a prophecy, that misread, could have been”.

The Fall of Skywalker

Ultimately, Palpatine’s master scheme comes to fruition when he succeeds in manipulating Anakin to turn completely against the Jedi Order and become his new apprentice, Darth Vader. In bringing the new Sith Lord into the fold Palpatine admits “to cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but – if we work together… I know we can discover the secret”. This somewhat flies in the face of an earlier statement at the opera when he tells Anakin his master taught him “everything he knew” before Palpatine killed him. This could have been a complete lie just for the sake of the story he based on real events meant to pull Anakin closer to the dark side, he could have simply been understandably cautious of his new apprentice and was holding back information at the time, or he really didn’t know the secret.

None of that matters anyway because Vader’s existence causes Padme to no longer wish to live, and her death means Palpatine no longer has to work with Vader at discovering how to save someone from dying nor does he ever have to admit to Vader that he knows or has discovered how at some point in the future.

The Death of Emperor Palpatine

Despite his success at overthrowing the Republic and practically wiping out the Jedi, the new Emperor’s reign on the galaxy falls under threat when it is discovered that Padme gave birth to a son powerful in the Force. More annoyingly, some old Jedi Masters still seem to be around to train him. Although he attempts to use his Force vision to crush the growing Rebellion once and for all to assert absolute control over the galaxy (twice) he is unable to foresee Vader’s return to the light and ends up being chucked down a reactor shaft by his former apprentice regaining the mantle of Anakin Skywalker. The resulting energy storm that blasts back out is attributed to his ongoing use of Force lighting at the time of his descent coupled with the power of the reactor vaporizing the last Sith Lord.

Luke Skywalker now fully takes on the mantle of Jedi Master and begins to consider how to rebuild the Jedi Order.

The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi

Now for the major plot points from Episodes VII and VIII, leading with those derived from between Episodes VI and VII based on what was revealed in Episode IX.

Palpatine Lives On

While the Rebellion celebrates their victory, the disembodied spirit of Emperor Palpatine that shot out of the reactor shaft as a burst of energy flies across space into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, drawn to the Sith home world of Exegol. Although he may not have foreseen his death, he had certainly planned for it. Using Sith techniques he was able to not only carry over his essence but also reconstruct his body – to a point. Unfortunately the final battle on the Death Star II had taken a lot out of him, especially having his Force lighting turned on him (again) and he was left even more morbidly disfigured, blind and ironically dependent on life support equipment. This was not acceptable. He immediately begins to use the hidden Sith resources to figure out how to replace his body and do what he does best – plot his return to power.

Creation of the Dyad

Han Solo and Leia Organa marry. From their union a child is naturally conceived, but at the same time in the Unknown Regions Palpatine advances his own schemes. He doesn’t know about the new Skywalker descendant and uses the knowledge of Darth Plageius to will into existence a new life for himself. The mutual conception links the two children in the force with a powerful connection. Like Plageius, Palpatine is unable to control where the child is born and spends years searching for it in the Force, gradually narrowing down the location.

The Abandonment of Rey

The child created by Palpatine is born to a junk trader couple on the remote desert world of Jakku. Whether they think it is their own or are surprised by the birth is inconsequential. If they were surprised, it’s likely they would have not told their daughter or even if they wanted to she never got old enough to have understood before Palpatine’s minions found them. Although her parents had no idea who was trying to take their daughter they did as any loving parents would and hid her before blasting off Jakku, drawing away the Sith hunters who thought she was still with them. The entire ordeal is traumatizing for Rey, especially feeling the raw Force energy of the Sith so close. Having barely used or understood any of her internal power she unknowingly shuts herself off from the Force.

The Seduction of Ben Solo

Palpatine has been foiled! His hunters caught the parents but were unable to locate the girl. She is no longer visible in the Force and he has no way to find her. However while his followers were back in the known galaxy they brought him news that Luke Skywalker was training a new generation of Jedi and one student in particular was a direct descendant of Darth Vader. Palpatine still sees a chance if the power of Skywalker resides within this boy. He reaches out and is gleefully pleased to find that Ben Solo is everything he could need – if only he could be turned to the dark side and his full power unleashed. If not, perhaps the Kamino cloners can help…

As the hidden Emperor works on Ben, Luke gradually begins to suspect that a darkness lurks in his young student. He is correct, but not being aware of Palpatine’s existence he mistakenly thinks the darkness comes from Ben being a descendant of Vader. When he probes the boy’s mind he actually links to Palpatine, who cannot resist the opportunity to show Luke all the dark hopes and dreams he has for Ben’s future. Thinking he is receiving a vision from the Force, Luke feels compelled to act, coming to his senses too late. Ben awakens to find his master standing over him as if to strike him down and all the fears Palpatine has placed in his head have come true. He retaliates and destroys the Jedi academy, taking what followers are loyal to him and killing the rest.

Kylo Ren is born.

Supreme Leader Snoke

Satisfied though he may be that he was able to once again lay low the Jedi Order, Palpatine realizes he has also done so prematurely – Kylo Ren still has much to learn about the Force. Other aspects of Palpatine’s grand plan present an opportunity however in the form of Supreme Leader Snoke, who is the failed attempt by Kaminoan scientists to clone Palpatine, thanks mainly to complications from the Force itself. The Snoke clones are decanted with disfigurement, short life spans, basic Force abilities and weak minds, which fail to serve the Emperor as a new host body. He can, however, manipulate them and channel his Force energy through them from afar, well enough that they serve as his puppet in command of the First Order, which is what remnants of the Empire he has managed to organize together. Snoke swoops in to take Kylo as his apprentice, making Leia (almost) realize who had been responsible for the downfall of her son.

Luke Skywalker Disappears

Although he survived the destruction of the Jedi Academy, Luke is broken with failure at losing a student to the dark side. He turns his back on the Force, shutting himself from it and ventures into the Unknown Regions himself in search of the ancestral Jedi home. Unlike Obi-Wan Kenobi he goes into seclusion without hope, without knowledge of a hidden presence that could one day save the galaxy. He goes to die and allow the Jedi to die with him.

The Force Awakens (in Rey)

After years still spent on Jakku, hoping against hope her parents would return, Rey has settled into the life of a scavenger, picking parts off crashed ships from a battle between the First Order and the Resistance and selling them for food. Suddenly she is swept up in the Resistance fight and dire circumstances causes her innate Force ability to begin overcoming the block she placed upon it as a child. She still doesn’t understand what it is, because she doesn’t remember ever feeling it before, but she meets Han Solo, who affirms the Jedi are real and can help.

In her adventures while attempting to get BB-8 back to the secret Resistance base and while aboard Starkiller Base she continues to develop her instinctual use of the force to save herself from danger and assist her allies in thwarting the Sith-backed First Order, much like Anakin did as a child against the Sith-backed Trade Federation.

If Leia were content to leave Luke in peace it’s likely she would have trained Rey herself. Sensing the power in the young girl and desperate to get her brother back, Leia withholds from Rey how much potential she has and instead uses Rey’s own desire to send her in search of Luke. Leia thinks she is sending Luke the hope he needs to return to the fight.

Meanwhile, still lurking in the Unknown Regions and working to build up his Final Order, Palpatine as Snoke gets word of the girl who bested Kylo Ren in lightsaber combat. He asks himself – “could it be?” If the girl finds Skywalker, then he needs to be ready and therefore begins the final stages of Ren’s training to become the new vessel for his Force essence.

The Last Jedi

Rey locates Luke on Ahch-To, expecting to receive his help but is instead turned away. Luke remains cut off from the Force and cannot sense Rey’s potential, so he has no reason to listen to her and reverse his decision to let the Jedi die. After spending time observing Rey, especially as she practices with his father’s lightsaber, he begins to suspect that she wasn’t just a simple messenger sent by his sister and had sought him out for her own reasons. Finally after she tells him she is in fact Force-sensitive and at the prodding of his droid friend R2-D2 Luke agrees to teach her enough to make her understand why he has chosen to seclude himself from the galaxy.

The first lesson does not go well. Rey learns to open herself up willingly to the Force and is drawn to a dark nexus on the island. She unleashes enough power when the darkness tries to pull her under that Luke doesn’t need to feel anything to know what he is dealing with. His own eyes see that Rey has as much if not more potential than what was in Ben Solo. It didn’t scare him enough then, but it does now.

As Rey continues to open herself more to the Force the Dyad bond between her and Kylo Ren begins to manifest itself as shared experiences where they can see and talk to each other. During the first instance she attempts to blast Kylo and only ends up shooting out the wall of her stone hut. Luke appears to accept her lame excuse but is actually starting to become more and more uneasy about her presence. He decides that to properly grasp the situation he must open himself fully to the Force again. When he does so he reaches out and touches his sister, stirring her from her medical coma.

After Rey’s last bonded encounter with Kylo and being confronted with the possible truth of her parents, she seeks out the dark nexus Luke said was trying to offer her answers. Inside she is faced with only the image of herself and fails to comprehend its meaning because she never knew or could have guessed she lacked biological parents.

Fully awake to the Force once again Luke senses the next time Rey and Ren are having a discussion in her hut and intervenes, but not before their bond grows to the point where they are able to make physical contact. They each get a glimpse deep into the other and Rey senses conflict within Ren while Ren senses the singular entity of Rey. In the ensuing argument Rey casts aside her desire to be taught by Luke and instead goes off to attempt to turn Kylo Ren back to the light. Before leaving she swipes the Jedi texts from the hollow tree.

Luke, distraught at his continued missteps, goes to destroy the hollow tree and the contents he still believed lied within. He hesitates but Master Yoda visits him as a Force ghost to do it for him and also pass along some wisdom: “Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure, also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”

Rey delivers herself to Supreme Leader Snoke’s flagship and Kylo Ren is there waiting for her, having already explained to his master what had happened and Snoke explaining that she would be coming to them soon. He likely says “She will come to you, and then you will bring her before me”. In the throne room Snoke takes credit for luring Rey there by saying he co-opted their connection in the Force, coupling that with the view of her Resistance friends being destroyed, much in the same way he once attempted to sway Luke. Although she predictably resists, at this point Rey remains but a pawn in Palpatine’s grand scheme. His true goal is to get Kylo Ren to kill Snoke and assume absolute power, fully taking on his Sith mantle and unknowingly preparing himself to become Palpatine’s new vessel.

And yet once again, for all his success – the plan goes somewhat sideways when Ren fails to also kill Rey afterwards. Instead he offers her a place at his side, a place where she can belong. Where she can be someone. He misinterprets the look he got into her as being alone and in need of somebody. But Rey came to join Ben Solo, not Kylo Ren, and refuses. While battling for control of Anakin’s saber it explodes, knocking them both out. Rey comes to first and despite her complex feelings for Kylo Ren and the hope of saving Ben Solo she leaves him to rush to the aid of her Resistance friends.

In the final confrontation down on the planet Crait, Luke finally comes out of seclusion to battle Kylo Ren so that his sister and the few remaining Resistance fighters can escape during the distraction. The effort of projecting himself in such a manner drains Luke to death, but he becomes one with the Force while at peace with a fulfilled purpose of giving Rey the chance to help the Resistance win.

The Rise of Skywalker – Revisioned

Now, take the entire movie as written and change only the references made to Rey being Palpatine’s grand-daughter. In the Death Star II wreckage Kylo is right about Rey’s parents being nobody. Palpatine didn’t want them, they were inconsequential. He wanted the life he created to renew himself. Upon Rey confronting Palpatine he doesn’t refer to her as his grand-daughter but still as his rightful heir.

This alteration to Rey’s origin makes Palpatine much more of the grand architect he is supposed to be. It also makes Rey’s character more purposeful instead of being the random grand-daughter that was simply a fortuitous outcome from some relationship some time ago completely unknown to the viewer. It not only better explains the existence of the Dyad but keeps it as a surprise to Palpatine, who now no longer has to transfer his essence but can instead renew his own body. Rey’s assumption of the Skywalker identity was more of a choice than Anakin’s but given they come from similar origins it fits nicely. Finally, as stated in the beginning, it ties directly into the previous movies without having to cause people to ask questions like: When, exactly, did Palpatine fuck?

The Rise of Skywalker – Reimagined

There remains so much more potential for Rise of Skywalker. Here are the major plot beats tied into the previous two movies that I would have liked to have experienced in the third, while changing as little of the current plot as possible.

To begin things, at long last the Emperor has prepared the might of his Final Order and is ready to unleash it upon the galaxy. He announces his presence, knowing that Kylo Ren would see it as a threat to his position and seek him out. But when Ren finally makes his way to Exegol he finds more than just Palpatine, who explains he was behind Ren’s training from the beginning and offers him the Final Order to command if he can but kill Rey. Since Palpatine can transfer his essence into either one, he needs one or the other dead so that when he does so he will face no contest. He warns Ren that the girl is not what she seems to be.

The Resistance meanwhile is hit with the rumors of Palpatine’s survival while mourning the loss of General Leia Organa Solo, recently passed away as despite her Force power the exertion taken to rescue herself from the cold grip of space some time ago had a lasting effect. In the time since, she trained Rey in everything she had learned from Luke after the Rebellion before giving up the Jedi way and focusing on rebuilding the Republic. Rey also seeks guidance from the Jedi texts she saved from Ahch-To and R2-D2 is also able to lend assistance as he often stood by Luke’s side during training sessions at his academy.

After the Resistance learns the rumors are true, Rey sets out with Finn, Poe, Chewie & Threepio aboard the Falcon to track down a Sith wayfinder as described in one of the ancient Jedi texts so they can locate the Emperor and send forces to destroy him once and for all. On this quest they come across Lando who offers assistance, taking the Falcon on his own hunt with Poe, Chewie & Threepio while Rey and Finn track down a separate clue. Together in private, Finn reveals to Rey that he is Force-sensitive, asking Rey if he would be able to train with her. Rey is unable to give him an answer, unsure if she even trusts herself still with the power inside her. Finn hands her a pendant with a Kaiburr crystal, saying it was forced upon him by a crazy old hag on Nar Shadda. When Rey was ready, she could give it back after training him to use it.

Ren meanwhile returns from the Unknown Regions and makes use of their force bond to track down Rey, although with some trouble as her growing strength in the Force allows her to block him out. With the stress from the troubles she gets into on her quest for the wayfinder however she often lets down her guard enough to allow Ren to burst in, eventually learning her location. They meet while Rey is still accompanied by Finn. In the ensuing battle Ren knocks out Finn before reaching a standoff with Rey. He reveals the truth of her birth to her and how they could be powerful enough to rule the galaxy together. Rey becomes so revolted and angry at her existence she unleashes her full power, incapacitating Ren. Unable to bear speaking to Finn, she loads him on their ship and sends him back to the Resistance. She then steals Ren’s ship, which has the wayfinder aboard, to lead the Resistance into the Unknown Regions after Palpatine. Ren steals a Resistance ship so he too can find his way back following Rey, desperate to get control of the Final Order before either she does or destroys it. The Resistance follows Rey after sending Lando and Chewie to the Core Worlds to drum up a fleet to combat the Final Order.

Rey arrives and is welcomed by Palpatine, who had sensed her tap into her full potential upon realizing what she was and crumbling away the final blocks she had erected as a child – which of course is what he expected would happen when he told Ren what Rey was, knowing he would tell her. In this case it was Rey who failed to kill Ren as Palpatine had hoped, but at this point with the Resistance and who knows else what bearing down upon him he had no more options but to take Rey as his vessel and deal with Ren himself. Rey of course is of the notion that she is powerful enough to stop Palpatine but the fact that he created her means that despite his relative weakness in the Force he nonetheless has the ability to knock her down and begin to assimilate into her body. Rey is forced to watch in the skies above as the Resistance battles futilely with the Final Order.

Fighting his way through the former fellow apprentices that left the academy with him, Kylo Ren arrives during the assimilation process and realizes that the Emperor never wanted to give him anything but instead just use his body. He attacks the Emperor, interrupting the process and sparing Rey, but despite his Skywalker heritage his experience with the Force is no match for Palpatine’s even in a weakened state himself. Ren was never trained by Palpatine to be a fighter, which is why he always lost to Rey. As Palpatine holds them both helpless and together, he finally senses the true depth of their Force bond, the Dyad, and realizes they contain enough energy together to completely revitalize his own body. Although Lando by now has successfully brought legions of ships to turn the tide of the battle above, the Emperor begins to drain Rey and Ren, who contain so much power combined he’s also able to shoot massive bolts of Force lighting up at the newly-arrived Fleet of People.

The Final Order pushes its advantage as Resistance and People ships fall from the sky. Rey and Ren are fighting but growing pale and faint as the Force is sucked from them. Palpatine continues to regenerate and cackle gleefully while unleashing massive amounts of Force energy. As Rey continues to struggle, gazing up at the battle above, she looks beyond and out past the stars. A voice comes to her from the Force, Anakin Skywalker reaches out to inform her that although he failed to keep those he loved from dying, she could. Determined to save her friends in the Resistance, along with Ben Solo, Rey quits struggling against Palpatine and instead floods her power into him, overwhelming his body. The Emperor’s Force lightning goes awry and begins to arc between the Final Order ships moreso than those fighting against them. Finally Palapatine is engulfed in the Force and explodes, the shock wave decimating the Sith temple and the Final Order fleet, allowing the Resistance and their allies to pound it to dust.

Rey, barely clinging to life, finds Ben to be in not much better shape. As they hold on to each other she looks into his eyes and recognizes that he had attempted to save her, stop the Emperor and renounce his hold on the dark side. She is at peace knowing she is with Ben Solo at last. As they kiss, she passes the last of her life Force into Ben to rejuvenate him, vanishing and leaving behind her clothes and the pendant worn around her neck. Aboard a Resistance ship, Finn pauses in grief as Rey’s contented Force spirit passes by, communicating to the rest of the Resistance that she has died, but through willing sacrifice to save them all.

Ben Solo stands at the edge of an abyss opened up by the disintegration of Palpatine and tosses Kylo Ren’s lightsaber into it. Although he has been redeemed by Rey and cast aside the darkness, he still feels lost with no family or friends to turn to and seeks to fly far, far away. He discovers the Resistance ship he has stolen has the coordinates for Ahch-To and travels there, crashing the ship and preparing to spend the rest of his life in seclusion. As he climbs from the wreckage he is met by the Force ghost of Luke Skywalker. Ben falls to his knees and asks his former master for forgiveness, which Luke does not grant. “I can never forgive you,” he says solemnly, “nor will others. But you can live to forgive yourself. Do not do as I did and hide from your mistakes. Learn from them. Pass them on.” He then provides Ben with his X-Wing.

Finn, devastated by the loss of Rey, has left the Resistance, which is now in the process of mopping up both evil Orders and setting up yet another just & true Galactic Republic. He is alone in a backwater cantina when Ben Solo finally tracks him down. Before Finn has a chance to react, Ben pulls the Kaiburr crystal pendant from beneath his shirt and offers it to Finn, saying he was with Rey when she died. Knowing Rey had passed peacefully into the Force, Finn accepts Ben’s explanation for acquiring the pendant as well as his offer to train him and restart a new generation of Jedi.

Expanded Universe References

I’m a big fan of the EU, now known as Legends after Disney chose to wipe the slate clean so they could build their sequels from a fresh start. In fact, I have the entire EU collected – although I admit I’m still a bit behind on reading all of it. I’ve read every novel at least once but the graphic novels were not of interest to me until fairly recently when the novels began to reference events from them more and more. Still, Disney pulls willingly from the Legends timeline for ideas to integrate into their new canon – was it really a coincidence the ancient Jedi texts on Ahch-To were stored inside a tree?

The most obvious EU reference for even the original movie storyline would be the Dark Empire comic series, which covers the resurrection of Palpatine using cloned bodies. It also includes the fall of Luke Skywalker to the dark side as Palpatine’s new apprentice. Luke is saved and returned to the light by Leia but his passage through darkness leaves a lasting effect on him.

Being to the dark side and back is what made Luke a more capable instructor of Jedi and one who better understood the nature of those who go dark, like one of his first students Kyp Durron did in the Jedi Academy book trilogy. Among the evil deeds he carried out while under the influence of the ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun, Kyp destroyed an entire star system with the Sun Crusher.

Upon his redemption by Luke, Kyp endured a long and harsh journey through various novels to return to a position of respect within both the New Jedi Order and the majority of the Republic. Both he and Luke are examples of how returning from the dark side can strengthen one’s overall character.

The cloning complications due to the Force was an idea taken from the Thrawn Trilogy, which uses animals to remove the Force from around cloning chambers to allow for accelerated growth without side effects. In my version it’s not so much that the Force takes issue with clones in general (otherwise the Jango Fett clones wouldn’t have worked), just that cloning someone with Force-sensitivity is problematic.

Also, yes, the crazy old woman on Nar Shadda would be a reference to Vima-Da-Boda, who has her own link to the dark side and also to another example of a Jedi who fell to the dark side and was able to claim redemption.