by Ian Doescher
REY
[aside:] Now is my strange connection unto Ben
More powerful than ever ’twas before.
He needs my help, and I shall give it him
That he may join the fight gainst Palpatine.
PALPATINE
Do it e’en now! Make thou the sacrifice.
[She places Luke’s lightsaber behind her head, as if about to strike. The lightsaber transfers, by the Force, to Ben’s hand.
BEN
[aside:] Ye saw that coming not, I’ll warrant. Ha!
[Ben attacks the Knights of Ren with Luke’s lightsaber. Rey takes Leia’s lightsaber from her belt and turns it on.
REY
Lay on, ye hounds of hell. Rey comes for you!
[Using the Force and the lightsaber, Rey slays the sovereign protectors while Ben fights the Knights of Ren.
BEN
[aside:] How good it feels to struggle for the light,
To know mine actions make my father proud,
To feel my mother’s strength course through my veins!
The training I once us’d unto the dark
Is quickly turn’d upon my former friends.
[Ben slays the Knights of Ren as Rey slays the sovereign protectors. Rey and Ben meet in the throne room and lift their lightsabers to face Palpatine.
REY
[aside:] A perfect two to overcome the one.
BEN
[aside:] A perfect two—strong daughter, mighty son.
[Palpatine uses the Force to knock Rey and Ben to their knees.
PALPATINE
Ye stand together, die together too!
Yet as I strike you, feel the pow’r within—
Your life force, as a dyad, makes me new!
A power that could life itself imbue,
Unseen for generations hath it been.
Ye stand together, die together too!
The one, true Emperor shall, by ye two,
Be utterly restor’d. So shall I win—
Your life force, as a dyad, makes me new!
Your swift defeat and death rise into view.
Rebirth astounding doth your doom begin:
Ye stand together, die together too!
Renew’d ascendance comes, long overdue—
No longer weak, no longer small and thin,
Your life force, as a dyad, makes me new!
See Palpatine, together knit anew,
Rebuilding bones and inward parts and skin.
Ye stand together, die together too—
Your life force, as a dyad, makes me new!
[He uses the Force to extract life from them. They collapse. Meanwhile, a TIE fighter pursues Snap Wexley’s X-wing.
POE
[into radio:] Snap, look—a fighter follows on thee hard!
His scheme is gradu’ly matur’d, for he
Hath slyly corner’d thee into his trap.
SNAP
[into radio:] I see it, yet I cannot shake the knave.
[Snap’s ship is shot and crashes, killing Snap.
POE
[into radio:] Snap, nay! My longtime confidant is slain!
My friends, it cannot be denied that we
Are terribly deficient. O, forgive—
Methought we had a chance to win the day.
Alas, there are too many enemies,
Too great a strength against which we resist.
Enter LANDO OF CALRISSIAN and CHEWBACCA in the Millennium Falcon, with masses of other PILOTS in their ships including ZORII BLISS, BABU FRIK, and WEDGE ANTILLES.
LANDO
[into radio:] Yet fear not, Poe, for we are many more—
There are far more of us who still have hope!
[Poe flies around to see the fleet of allies who have arrived.
POE
[into radio:] Have ever eyes look’d on so beauteous
A sight? O friends, we are remarkable
In the continuous profusion of
Good gifts that fortune lavishes on us!
LANDO
[into radio:] Ha, ha! We knew they’d join, and join they
have!
FINN
[into radio:] Ah, Lando, thou hast done th’unfeasible!
Thou didst it, yea! We shall find triumph yet!
POE
[into radio:] A plan doth hatch—one thing becomes
more and
More evident the longer I do gaze:
Pray, strike the underbelly cannons fast,
For each we hit doth symbol one world sav’d!
[The new Resistance ships engage and begin shooting at the Star Destroyers’ cannons.
WEDGE
[into radio:] Well flown, good Lando—still hast thou
the touch!
OFFICER 3
Alack! A full destroyer we have lost!
PRYDE
Where did they come by all these fighter craft?
They have no navy.
GRISS
—’Tis no navy sir—
’Tis merely people. People fed by hope.
[Zorii and Babu Frik, flying in a ship, destroy a cannon.
ZORII
[into radio:] Farewell, thou sky trash!
POE
[aside:] —O! It giveth me,
Perhaps, as much of pleasure as I can
In any manner now experience
To hear that voice! [Into radio:] Who is that flier, eh?
ZORII
[into radio:] Guess for thyself, spice runner!
BABU
—Ho,
huzzah!
POE
[into radio:] A marvel—Zorii, thou art yet alive!
The thrilling and enthralling eloquence
Of thy low mus’cal language made its way
Into my heart by paces steadily
And stealthily progressive, and I fear’d—
When I heard of Kijimi’s fate—that thou
Wert gone fore’er!
[In the Sith throne room, Palpatine is restored and released from his Ommin harness.
PALPATINE
—Look ye on what you’ve made.
The hordes that fill this wooden O await
For this, the moment of my victory.
[Ben struggles to his feet. Palpatine lifts him into the air using the Force.
As once I fell, the last Skywalker falls!
[Palpatine uses the Force to knock Ben down. Exit Ben through the trapdoor.
We shall not fear this feeble, weak attack,
My faithful denizens. Naught can delay
The long-expected triumph of the Sith,
Which sees both our return and our ascent!
[Palpatine sends lightning into the air all around, striking the Resistance ships and pilots and sending them into confusion.
POE
[into radio:] Artoo, my systems fail. The power that
Is emanating from the planet doth
My ship subdue. In vain I struggle gainst
Its irresistible, strange influence.
R2-D2
[into radio:] Squeak, hoo! [Aside:] The horrid lightning
works me woe!
POE
[into radio:] Can any hear? I fear this wicked light
Hath render’d all communication naught.
Gloom, horror, grief sweep over us in clouds,
Whilst our sad ships are falling from the sky.
PALPATINE
The folly and the hubris you display’d—
That e’er you weak and simple-minded imps
Would dare defy the Final Order’s might.
I laugh at your endeavors, knavish rogues!
[Rey awakens and looks beyond the stars.
REY
[aside:] Beyond the battle, far beyond the pain,
Beyond the sting of Palpatine’s revenge,
Past this partic’lar moment and its grief
As allies perish in the combat’s strife,
Away from all the fear that doth reside
Within the hearts of ev’ry person here—
Look, Rey, much farther, out beyond the stars,
And feel the presence of the Jedi past.
Be with me, O, be with me, ancestors.
The voices of the Jedi answer back.
Voices are heard, from offstage, belonging to LUKE SKYWALKER, YODA, OBI-WAN KENOBI, ANAKIN SKYWALKER, MACE WINDU, QUI-GON JINN, AAYLA SECURA, AHSOKA TANO, KANAN JARRUS, LUMINARA UNDULI, and ADI GALLIA. They speak only to REY.
OBI-WAN
These are the final steps thou must complete.
Rise thou and take them bravely.
ANAKIN
—Rey.
AHSOKA
—Rey.
KANAN
—Rey.
ANAKIN
Restore the balance, Rey, e’en as I did.
LUMINARA
Find thou the light, Rey.
KANA
—Thou art not alone.
YODA
Alone ne’er wert thou,
For ever have the Jedi
Remain’d with thee, Rey.
QUI-GON
Each Jedi who e’er liv’d now lives in thee.
ANAKIN
The Force surrounds thee, Rey.
AAYLA
—Let it guide thee.
AHSOKA
E’en as it guided us in eons past.
MACE
Feel thou the Force go flowing through thee, Rey—
’Tis life itself.
KANAN
—Yea, let it lift thee, Rey.
ADI
Rise, Rey.
QUI-GON
—We stand with thee forever.
OBI-WAN
—Rey.
YODA
Rise in the Force, Rey.
Withal thee, we take our stand.
Rise, then. Make it so.
KANAN
A Jedi’s strength doth lie within her heart.
OBI-WAN
Rise.
QUI-GON
—Rise.
LUKE
—The Force be always with thee, Rey.
[Rey rises to her feet and calls Leia’s lightsaber to her using the Force.
REY
[aside:] I am as constant as the Jedi past
Who stand with me, empow’ring me to rise.
[Palpatine stops shooting lightning as he sees her.
PALPATINE
Thy death shall be the final chapter in
The story of rebellion’s wretchèd fall.
[Palpatine shoots lightning at Rey through his hands, which she blocks with Leia’s lightsaber.
POE
[into radio:] Our systems have return’d, the lightning
fled.
A shadow gathers o’er my brain e’en so,
Because we have but moments left to spare.
One final chance we have been granted—go!
Strike ye the cannons, let us win the day.
[The Resistance ships attack the Star Destroyers as Palpatine continues to shoot lightning at Rey.
PALPATINE
Thou nothing art, and less. A scavenger
Will never match the power at my grasp.
Thou helpless girl, hear: I am all the Sith.
[Rey uses the Force to call Luke’s lightsaber to her other hand and blocks the lightning with both lightsabers.
REY
And I am all the Jedi, come to bear.
[She advances on him, turning his lightning back on him.
PALPATINE
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.
[Palpatine dies. The throne room shakes as the statues of the Sith fall.
REY
[aside:] With final shudder doth the Emp’ror fall,
Whose wrath no more shall plague the galaxy.
[Standing on the command ship, Jannah connects the trigger of the cannon that Finn has aimed at the bridge. The cannon fires.
PRYDE
Alack, undone! We are undone at th’last!
[The bridge explodes, killing Allegiant General Pryde and his officers.
PILOT 3
[into radio:] Behold, Poe, the command ship doth
explode!
POE
[into radio:] The fleet is trapp’d and ne’er shall fly again!
The fury of the tempest dies away,
A dead calm sullenly succeeding it.
Let us get hence, away from Exegol.
Finn, dost thou see the sack of this great ship?
ROSE
[into radio:] Finn ne’er did board the lander.
POE
[into radio:] —Can it be?
When bravery’s the theme, I well know with
What great facility he soars into
The regions of the utterly ideal.
[Finn and Jannah start to fall as the command ship tumbles from the sky.
I see them on the ship, will save them both!
PILOT 1
[into radio:] Nay, General, thou shalt not be in time.
POE
[into radio:] Why, surely you cannot be serious!
I am far faster than thou reckonest.
LANDO
[into radio:] I’ll wager thou art not fast as this ship!
[Lando and Chewbacca, in the Millennium Falcon, speed past Poe’s X-wing.
[To Chewbacca:] We’ll get them, Chewie. Ope the hatch!
CHEWBAC.
— Egh,
auugh!1
[They fly to where Finn and Jannah are trapped on a ledge of the command ship. Finn and Jannah jump onto the Falcon as the command ship strikes the ground and explodes.
FINN
A scrape far closer than I do prefer!
Observe the engineering marvel fail—
Such vast amounts of human work destroy’d
In seconds—dreadful casualty of war.
REY
Now all is finish’d, I am torn to shreds—
Yea, now my spirit goes; I can no more.
[Rey falls, lifeless, and Finn senses it.
FINN
[aside:] Noblest of women, art thou fallen dead?
Nay, Rey, say ’tis not so. Forfend this fate.
Flown is her spirit from her body, rent
In twain by foul exertion and abuse.
All freeze. Enter MAZ KANATA on balcony with LEIA’s body. Enter BEN SOLO through the trapdoor.
BEN
Once fallen, broken, yea—but not yet dead.
I grope and fumble, finding purchase on
The rock, that I may to the scene once more,
Although I sense the enemy is gone.
[He climbs into the throne room and stumbles to Rey’s side, sitting next to her.
So soon turn’d ally, Rey, and too soon gone—
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
[He takes her in his arms.
Arms, take your first and last embrace of her!
Still now thy thoughts, Ben—join her in the Force.
Whatever life I have within me yet,
Thus proffer I to her that she may live,
And in full recompense for who I’ve been,
And what I’ve done, and wherefore I did so.
[Ben puts one hand on Rey’s side and transfers life to her through the Force. Rey revives and puts her hand on his.
REY
[aside:] O comfortable touch! Where is my foe?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am, with Ben here by my side.
[To Ben:] Ben, thou didst come, and sav’d me from
death’s grip.
[She kisses him. They smile at each other.
BEN
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.
[Ben dies.
REY
My life, I see, hath been his timeless end.
[Ben’s body disappears from the throne room, and Leia’s body disappears from her bed.
MAZ
Her son’s tale ends, and now is she at peace.
Thus doth the story of their wars surcease.
[Exit Maz.
POE
O, mine amazement is, of course, extreme.
Around us ships are falling like the rain,
The much-despis’d First Order dropping as
A torrent on the face of Exegol.
The fiery rubble crashes to the ground
Like hail upon the hard and frozen dirt.
Smoke riseth from the wreckage like a fog,
Wherefrom our band of hope will, like the sun,
Rise to a better day that dawns henceforth.
Enter WICKET and POMMET on balcony, watching the ships fall.
WICKET
A buki buki,
Luki, luki,
Villens fallin,
Nuki, nuki!
[Rey runs to Luke’s X-wing and boards it.
REY
The hurly-burly’s done, the battle won.
[Exit Rey, flying away. Poe and Finn spot the X-wing as she does.
POE
[into radio:] Finn, look thou yonder! Had a thunderbolt
At my feet fallen, I could not have been
More thoroughly astounded at the sight!
FINN
[into radio:] Red Five is in the air! Rey liveth still,
And folk around the galaxy entire
Are rising up against First Order rule.