*******SPOILER ALERT********
The ending of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker only really makes sense when you walk through the final beats in order. On Exegol, Palpatine reveals he never wanted Rey to kill him just for revenge. He wants her to strike him down so the Sith legacy can pass into her. Instead, Palpatine drains the life force from both Rey and Ben Solo, restores himself, and uses his lightning to hammer the Resistance fleet in orbit.
Ben climbs back out of the pit, Rey hears the voices of past Jedi, and she chooses a different ending. Using Luke and Leia’s sabers together, she reflects Palpatine’s lightning back at him and destroys him for good. The effort kills her. Ben reaches her, gives his own life to revive her, and dies redeemed. Up in space, the battle turns because Finn, Jannah, and the ground team destroy the command signal keeping the Sith fleet coordinated, while Lando arrives with the massive civilian fleet that Poe thought would never come.
After the war, the movie goes quiet on purpose. Rey buries Luke and Leia’s sabers on Tatooine, keeps her own yellow saber, and answers “Rey Skywalker” when asked her name. So the ending is not vague at all. Palpatine is destroyed, Ben Solo dies saving Rey, the galaxy finally shows up to fight back, and Rey chooses the Skywalker name as an act of loyalty and inheritance rather than bloodline.
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