As the main protagonist for the final three Star Wars movies, Rey has held an important role in the Sequel Trilogy. But that is not to say that the role was not surrounded by controversy and shade. Rey, as a character, has had her fair share of fans and haters, despite the former taking the lead.
But despite the divide that Rey’s existence has caused in the Star Wars Fandom, the obsession that fans hold with analyzing every little detail about every new character carries over to Rey as well.
In accordance with the trend that we have been following, our analysis of Rey Skywalker will start with our breakdown of the way she uses a lightsaber and the skills she can use while fighting with one.
In simple words, we will use this article to break down the details of Rey’s lightsaber combat; starting with who trained her and where she learned what she knows, and ending with which lightsaber forms she can use and which ones she specializes in.
Table of Contents
Who trained Rey on how to use a lightsaber?
In the first movie from the sequels, Rey was a nobody and had received little to no training in lightsaber combat and how it functioned. In fact, The Force Awakens was the first time that she had ever even held a lightsaber.
Yet, in the final act of the movie, Rey was able to defeat Kylo Ren. This was a feat in and of itself given that Ren had spent most of his early years being trained as a Jedi under the legendary Luke Skywalker.
And after he fell to the Dark Side of the Force, Ren used the Force to amplify his abilities. This, combined with his previous training, turned him into a formidable opponent for anyone. Yet, Rey was able to defeat him with absolutely no idea on how to use a lightsaber.
So, how was Rey able to defeat him? Rey had been a scavenger for most of her life and had some idea on how to use close-range weapons such as her iconic staff. This meant that she could treat a lightsaber the same way and have some idea of how to use it.
Other than this, Rey was able to let the Force guide her on how to use a lightsaber, the same way that Obi-Wan took a moment to let the Force flow through him just before defeating Anakin on Mustafar in Episode III.
After Rey’s fluke on Ilum, and her survival after defeating Kylo Ren, she sought out the legendary Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker. She then convinced Luke to train her on using a lightsaber and teach her the seven lightsaber combat forms.
After much convincing, and after Luke witnessed Rey’s latent talent with the lightsaber, Luke started properly training her. Despite this, her training was extremely short, and had it not been for her natural talent; she would not have become so skilled in such a short amount of time.
After Luke’s passing at the end of The Last Jedi, Rey was again left without someone to teach her, until Leia took her under her wing and taught her what she had learned from Luke during her training as a Jedi.
Rey also used the most authentic source to study the lightsaber forms and their many applications. This showed in Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, where Rey was able to adjust her fighting style from situation to situation depending on what was required.
But now that we know who trained her, the question becomes, what lightsaber form did she learn?
Which lightsaber form does Rey use?
In the first two movies from the Sequels, Rey was using no distinguishable lightsaber form. This was due to her lack of training and her instincts had been built around using a staff her entire life.
She was now using a much more dangerous and versatile weapon that allowed for far more lethal attacks than a simple blunt staff. This led to her improvising attacks most of the time and having little to no defensive maneuvers.
But eventually, after training under both Luke and Leia, and after learning all she could about the lightsaber forms from the Sacred Jedi Texts, Rey developed a form of her own that was heavily based around Form VI: Niman.
To those of us who do not know, Niman is a form that takes from each of the five lightsaber forms before it and teaches the user adaptability and makes them fluent in switching between them, depending on what the user needs to focus on.
Throughout Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, we see Rey utilize different aspects from different lightsaber forms. In the opening sequences, we see her use the mobility of Form IV: Ataru to dodge around the blaster droids and the trees in the forest.
Then, later in the movie, we see her use heavy-hitting strokes from Djem-So, the fifth form when she was on the offensive while fighting Kylo Ren. In the same battle, we see her use aspects of Soresu to keep her defense up, the form that Obi-Wan Kenobi was a master of.
Then, just before confronting Palpatine, we see her use the second variation of Form V, known as Shien, which focuses on deflecting blaster fire and fighting from range to close the distance between you and your enemies.
And eventually, in the final battle, we see her use two lightsabers very confidently, which shows that she might be able to use the dual-wielding form known as Jar’Kai.
All these examples cement the fact that Rey is a practiced user of Niman, which implies that she is something of a Jack-of-all-trades. She can use aspects from whichever form she wants, without having to master any of them, hence creating a lightsaber form that is entirely her own.
But one detail that we cannot forget is that Rey is part of a Dyad in the Force, which means that most of her decisions are affected by the other half of the Dyad. So, the next aspect that we must investigate is Kylo Ren.
What lightsaber form does Kylo Ren use?
Kylo Ren was the other part of the Dyad in the Force that Rey was one half of. This bond affected most of Rey’s decisions and influences throughout the movies, so it is not too far-fetched to assume that Rey’s combat style would also be affected.
But for this, we must first look at the way Kylo Ren fights with a lightsaber, and how that could potentially affect Rey’s relationship with the lightsaber, and whether it did or not.
Through our analysis of combat forms, we have discussed Kylo Ren’s choice of combat form in detail. We also analyzed each of the ways he fights, and how his fighting style developed and evolved over the course of the Sequel Trilogy.
And even though Ren was fluent between the lightsaber forms, his preferences were affected by what side of the Force he was on.
As a user of the Dark Side of the Force, Kylo Ren was seen to use the most offensive variation of Form V, known as Djem-So, and occasionally using the Shien variation to deflect blaster fire. Overall, when he was Kylo Ren, he was offensive and harsh in his fighting style.
Alternatively, when he was siding with the Light and was known as Ben Solo, he would prefer Form IV, showing extreme skill and mastery over the mastery that Ataru required. But his attacks were still consistent with the techniques of Djem-So.
This tells us that much in the same way as Rey, Kylo Ren was able to switch between lightsaber forms relatively easily. Except for the fact that his changes were brought about by his allegiances and his emotions, while Rey could do so at will.
So, while they do have different lightsaber forms, we can see that Rey’s use of combat forms was affected by Kylo Ren’s ability to switch between lightsaber forms and combat styles. But these two characters do have their differences in the world of lightsabers.
What is Rey’s lightsaber made of?
Rey is distinguished in the Star Wars universe for quite a few reasons, only one aspect comes to mind when talking about lightsabers. Well, it’s two aspects, but we have already talked about one before.
We are, of course, talking about Rey’s lightsaber. But specifically, her lightsaber hilt and what it is made of. Rey has one of the most unique lightsaber hilts throughout Star Wars, with Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber being a close second.
The fact of the matter is that Rey’s lightsaber’s hilt is made from her original scavenger staff, which we see her use in Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Rey shortens and adjusts the staff to make it the size of a lightsaber hilt.
But we know that not just any material can be used to construct a lightsaber, given that a large amount of energy is produced and needed for the weapon to function. This means that the materials must have been scavenged from the crashed Star Destroyer we saw earlier in the trilogy on Jakku.
Conclusion
We can see that Rey is extremely skilled with the lightsaber, despite not having had much time to learn how to use it. Her fluent use of the multiple lightsaber forms makes it impossible to determine which style she prefers.
And despite having had her choice of combat style and destiny influenced by Ren, we can see that Rey was able to set herself apart by both the path that she followed and her taste in lightsaber aesthetics.