Star Wars: The Sith Dagger Was Rise of Skywalker’s Biggest Plot Hole

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker left more questions than answers, as well as many elements that didn’t make much sense, as is the case of the Sith dagger. Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney began working on a new Star Wars trilogy with the purpose of introducing a new generation of heroes and villains, bring the arcs of the main characters of the original trilogy to an end, and close the Skywalker saga.

First came Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, which introduced the audience to Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), while also bringing back the original trio of heroes along with the unforgettable C-3PO and R2-D2. Two years later, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released, picking up where the previous movie left, but Rian Johnson’s vision of the Star Wars universe wasn’t everyone’s favorite and became one of the most divisive films of the decade. However, the backlash it received was nothing compared to the one the final entry in the sequel trilogy got. Titled Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the movie tried to solve all the questions the first movie left while also retconning The Last Jedi, introduce new characters and objects, and bring the Skywalker saga to an end.

Among those new objects brought by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the Blade of Ochi, referred to simply as the Sith dagger. This was a knife owned by Sith cultist Ochi of Bestoon, who used it to kill Rey’s parents among many others. Because of this, the dagger resonated in the Force with the evil imbued in it, hence why Rey was shocked by it when she touched it. In addition to that, the blade was inscribed with runes in the Sith language with the coordinates leading to the location of the wayfinder on the ruins of the second Death Star – and that’s the part of it that could have been done better.

What made Rey and the group realize that what they were looking for was the Death Star wreckage was that, when she pulled the dagger, it turned out to be a line-of-sight map that (perhaps a bit too coincidental) she discovered as she stood in front of the ruins, with their silhouette fitting perfectly with the dagger. Rey then entered the Death Star, which after all this time, still had quite a few things lying around, especially in the throne room. Given the importance of the Death Star and what its fall represents in the Star Wars universe, it doesn’t make much sense that the throne room was still standing, as it would have probably been scoured by Luke, the Republic, or even scavengers and locals – and in the process, the secret vault where the wayfinder was kept would have been discovered.

Many things in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were left unexplained in the movie, leaving it to the novelization and visual dictionary to do their best to clear them up, but even after that many still create plot holes. The Sith dagger could have been a very interesting object not only in the sequel trilogy but the Star Wars universe in general, but ended up being just one more element used in not-so-believable ways.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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