Summary

• The Force Dyad was a significant concept in The Rise of Skywalker but won't be explored in New Jedi Order.
• Ben Solo's death marks the end of the Force Dyad, leaving many unanswered questions about its impact.
• The franchise needs to find a way to delve deeper into the Force Dyad concept to uncover its mysteries.

Sadly, Rey’s next Star Wars movie, Star Wars: New Jedi Order, won’t be able to use the best concept introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s no secret that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker suffered from a lot of narrative issues – Palpatine’s sudden resurrection, Finn, Poe, and Rose’s lack of a role in the story, the tragic untimely passing of Carrie Fisher affecting the script, Ben Solo’s rushed redemption, and more all contributed to The Rise of Skywalker being a well-made but unfortunately underwhelming final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Now, though, Star Wars: New Jedi Order, one of four confirmed upcoming Star Wars movies, is ready to carry on Rey’s story. Set fifteen years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, New Jedi Order will see Rey working on expanding her version of the Jedi. Though this represents a significant step for the franchise, as it will finally be moving beyond Anakin Skywalker, his descendants, and Emperor Palpatine’s role in the story, it’s still a shame that The Rise of Skywalker’s best and most compelling idea won’t be developed further in New Jedi Order.

The Force Dyad Was The Best Idea In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

One of the best relationships in the Star Wars sequel trilogy was the unpredictable relationship between Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Rey. The push-and-pull dynamic between them, where both kept trying to convince the other to join their side, provided an interesting way of looking at the Force, how people commune with it, and the true power of the dark side. Just how far had Kylo Ren fallen? Was Rey about to turn, too? These questions kept viewers on the edge of their seats – Rey and Kylo’s story was truly the heart of the sequel trilogy.

This relationship only became more interesting once The Rise of Skywalker introduced the concept of the Force Dyad. Though the film arguably didn’t explain the idea enough, various Star Wars tie-in novels, comics, and other sources have. In essence, the Force Dyad is a natural phenomenon within the Force, created by the will of the Force itself. In Rey and Kylo’s case, their Force Dyad came into being when Kylo Ren “fell” to the dark side.

A Force Dyad always needs both the light and the dark, but crucially, the two sides need to be perfectly balanced.

In Charles Soule’s Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren comic miniseries, it’s made clear that Kylo never truly chose to fall to the dark side but rather became trapped within it. At that moment, the Force gave Kylo an “out,” of sorts, by creating that bond with Rey. A Force Dyad always needs both the light and the dark, but crucially, the two sides need to be perfectly balanced. Darkness is a natural part of the Force, after all. Rey and Kylo represent the balance that the Jedi sought but could never find because they, above all, feared the dark side.

Ben Solo's Death Means The Story Of The Force Dyad Is Over

Though the Force Dyad has been better explained in other Star Wars media – the novelizations of the Star Wars sequel movies explain how the bond helped Rey hone her skills and wield the Force faster than would normally be perceived as possible, for instance – Ben Solo’s death meant the death of the Force Dyad bond, too. Though he heroically sacrificed his own life to save Rey, mirroring his grandfather’s sacrifice to save Luke Skywalker all those years ago, Rey is now on her own in the Force.

By introducing the idea of the Force Dyad so late in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, there was hardly any time to explore how it impacted Ben and Rey’s relationship and the power they could have wielded together. It’s implied that the power of the Force Dyad is stronger than the power of life itself. What exactly does that mean? What would Ben and Rey have accomplished together? Audiences will never know. Though Ben’s death was a major moment in his character arc, it’s questionable whether it was the right decision to kill him.

Yes, it means that Star Wars can finally move past the Skywalker saga – to a certain extent, at least, as Rey has claimed the Skywalker name for herself – but when will Star Wars be able to explore this intriguing idea again? It’s hard to say. The Force Dyad, much like the Force itself, is an elusive concept.

Star Wars Needs To Find A Way To Explore The Force Dyad

Despite Rey and Ben’s short-lived Force Dyad, Star Wars needs to find a way to further explore this concept. There are so many questions left unanswered. Does it affect all those who are bonded within the Force differently? Can the Force Dyad be manipulated by someone else? How often does it occur? Not often, clearly, as the Sith believed that a Dyad in the Force hadn’t been seen for millennia.

This means that Rey and Ben’s Force Dyad was an outlier. What are the chances one will be found again with the franchise’s current timeline? Disappointingly, infinitesimally small. However, one upcoming Star Wars project may be able to shed more light on the Force Dyad and the nature of the Force itself. In recent years, Star Wars has been studying the past to explain what happened in the "present." Star Wars: The High Republic era, for instance, takes place a few centuries before the Star Wars prequel trilogy and goes some way to explain the Jedi’s hubris and failed beliefs in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

The four confirmed upcoming Star Wars movies are The Mandalorian & Grogu, Star Wars: New Jedi Order, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, and an untitled Mandalorian movie.

That’s not all, though. James Mangold’s Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi movie will take place 25,000 years before the events of the Skywalker saga and explore the origins of the Force and the Jedi religion. What if the first Force users found each other because of a Force Dyad? What if, in the beginning, the Jedi didn’t fear the dark side – as the image of the Prime Jedi in Star Wars: The Last Jedi suggests – but rather embraced it as a natural part of the Force, and embraced their counterpart in the Force too?

Perhaps the reason that a Dyad hadn’t been seen for over a thousand years was because of the Jedi and the Sith’s staunch loyalty to one side of the Force. If a balance is needed, and all Force users are affiliated with only one side, a Dyad cannot exist. Ben and Rey’s circumstances were different – the hard line between the light and the dark was blurred because of their connection to both sides through their respective family lineages. It’s a shame that this concept cannot be further explored in Star Wars: New Jedi Order, but hopefully, other future projects can shed more light on the matter.