Darth Vader telling a humbled and disarmed Luke Skywalker "I am your father" in the closing moments of The Empire Strikes Back remains one of the most iconic scenes not just in Star Wars history, but in film history, and for good reason. The twist is shocking, dramatically resonant, and flips the perception of both characters and audience; it's everything a great twist should be.

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Unfortunately, when the sequel trilogy finale The Rise Of Skywalker attempted to emulate the twist by revealing Rey to be Emperor Palpatine's granddaughter, it fell flat. Let's compare the twists to see why one didn't measure up to the other.

10 Luke: Revelation Changes His Dynamic With Vader

Before the revelation, Luke believed his father to be a great hero and placed him on a pedestal, while viewing Vader as merely an evil to be overcome. The twist forces Luke to reckon with his images of good and evil actually being the same Rather than defeating Vader in a Lightsaber duel through brute strength, Luke's goal shifts to redeeming the Dark Lord, to prove that his father can be the man he idolized once again. In contrast, before and after Rey's discovery, her view of Palpatine remains unchanged, and rightfully so, since his character is totally unchanged by the twist.

9 Rey: No Personal Connection To Palpatine

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The Rise Of Skywalker's twist on Rey's heritage has echoes of the infamous "Khan" twist in director JJ Abrams' Star Trek: Into Darkness; namely, it's more of a twist for the audience than the characters. Luke had true reasons to hate Darth Vader, the man had killed Obi-Wan Kenobi and tortured Luke's friends, so discovering the truth hit the young Jedi personally. Rey, on the other hand, knows Palpatine only in the abstract when Kylo Ren reveals her parentage to her; her confrontation with the Sith Emperor in the finale is the first (and last) time the two meet. This results in the twist having a less visceral stake to it than the one in Empire.

8 Luke: Twist Changes Vader's Character

Darth Vader Unmasked

It wasn't just Luke who became a different character following the duel on Bespin. Before the final minutes of The Empire Strikes Back, Vader has shown no hints of being anything but pure, mechanical evil, a one-note villain memorable only for his design, his power, and James Earl Jones' voice.

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Once we learn the truth of who he once was, Vader instantly becomes a more layered character, a broken man torn between the love for his son who represents the light there once was (and still is) in him and the feeling that he's come too far to turn away from evil. In contrast, Palpatine is the same avatar of evil that he's always been even after the twist, so its relative impact is mitigated.

7 Rey: We Already Had An Answer About Her Parents

The Last Jedi bucked theories of Rey being descended from a known Star Wars bloodline (Skywalker, Kenobi, and yes, Palpatine), instead revealing her parents were "junk traders [who] sold [her] off for drinking money... buried in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert." The revelation was designed to shake Rey to her core in the same way Empire's twist was to Luke; Rey yearned for her parents to be somebody, for then they might have had a reason for abandoning her and her journey would be preordained. Rather than continuing this thread, The Rise Of Skywalker reversed course and undermined this revelation with "Rey Palpatine," preventing either film from having a full impact on the story.

6 Luke: Twist Shocks Characters and Audience

Luke Skywalker is a classic case of an audience surrogate; over the course of the original trilogy, we learn about the setting from him, whether it be backstory from Obi-Wan or the true nature of the Force from Yoda. As the trilogy is experienced from Luke's POV, Vader being the boy's father is shocking because it simultaneously upends everything both we and Luke knew. In contrast, The Rise Of Skywalker's twist comes across more as an audience appeasement, from those fans who wanted a backstory for Rey more interwoven with the larger saga.

5 Rey: Abrupt

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The original Star Wars trilogy, taken as a holistic story, follows the conventions of classical three act narrative structure rather closely. As such, The Empire Strikes Back's ending is exempli gratia of a story's midpoint: the hero at their lowest point.

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It was a wise choice to drop the bombshell twist before the trilogy's climax in Return Of The Jedi, so that the ramifications could be explored in the detail they deserved. In contrast, the twist of Rey's parentage is dropped halfway through the trilogy's closing chapter, leaving little-to-no time for it to be equitably explored.

4 Luke: The Twist Streamlined and Deepened The Backstory

When Obi-Wan recounts his history to Luke in the original Star Wars, two characters figured prominently into the backstory; Luke's father, heroic Jedi and Obi-Wan's brother-in-arms, and Darth Vader, Obi-Wan's apprentice who fell to the Dark Side and killed Luke's father. By revealing that Darth Vader is truly Anakin Skywalker, the backstory recounted by Obi-Wan is simplified, there is now one key character rather than two, but the emotional depth of the story is only deepened, and Obi-Wan's interactions with both Luke and Vader take on new meaning.

3 Rey: Complicates Backstory

A young Rey from Star Wars the force awakens

The revelation about Rey's parents in The Rise Of Skywalker, that they "chose to be nobody" and abandoned their daughter to prevent the Emperor from finding her, only complicates the story recounted in The Last Jedi at best, and at worst makes utter nonsense of it. While leaving their daughter behind for her own protection makes some rough sense, who they choose to leave her with, cruel slaver Unkar Plutt, makes them come off as utterly neglectful or ignorant. This stems from the film attempting to placate both those who liked and disliked the revelations of The Last Jedi, simultaneously contradicting them whilst having Kylo Ren insisting to Rey "he never lied to her."

2 Luke: The Redemption Arc

Darth Vader picks up Palpatine in Return of the Jedi

The villain turning out to be the hero's own father meant the final confrontation between them was always going to be more complex than a simple duel to the death. While Luke and Vader do raise their blades against one another in Return Of The Jedi, the conclusion of this duel is the crucial ingredient.

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Pushed by the Emperor to kill his father and take his place, Luke refuses the Dark Side, choosing the Jedi path of his heritage. As an enraged Palpatine begins torturing Luke with Force Lightning, Vader, internal conflict visible even through his mask, chooses his son over his master and hurls Palpatine to his death. Luke rejecting the Dark Side once and for all, followed by his father's redemptive demise, may be the pinnacle of Star Wars storytelling.

1 Rey: Twist Rewrites Luke in The Last Jedi

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When Rey, fearing the darkness within her, exiles herself to Ahch-T0 as Luke did before her. In that moment, Luke manifests as a Force Ghost and reveals he knew all along that she was descended from the Emperor, which is why he was reluctant to train her in The Last Jedi.

While Obi-Wan shielding the truth from Luke about Vader, retcon though it may be, can be reasonably forgiven in-context of the story, this revelation is simple nonsense, and one that confuses Luke's arc in The Last Jedi to boot. Rather than a disillusionment with the Jedi Order, Luke's reluctance to train Rey now seems like a reluctance to her specifically.

NEXT: 5 Reasons Emperor Palpatine Is THE Villain Of Star Wars (And 5 That It’s Darth Vader)