Last week, we covered the leaked Colin Trevorrow script for Star Wars: Episode IX, entitled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates. Independently verified as legitimate by outlets such as AVClub and Slashfilm, the fired director’s script tells a completely different story from The Rise of Skywalker, one that notably does not bring back Emperor Palpatine to act as its big bad. Instead, Kylo Ren is given top villain billing, but not before getting some training from Tor Valum, a new character said to have mentored Palpatine before he became The Emperor. The script describes this being as intimidating and “Lovecraftian” in nature, which makes it a shame that we never got to see them. That is, possibly, until now.
— 💜Reylo&Army💜 (@JadoreReyBen) January 16, 2020
Shortly after Trevorrow’s script leaked, Twitter user and Reylo fan @JadoreReyBen began posting images from the non-English edition of The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, an art book not set for release in the US until March 31. The leak seems to be legit, with @JadoreReyBen pointing towards an imgur library that claims to have uploaded the whole book as their source. It’s extensive, and printed on glossy paper that would have been difficult to fake, with a spine bend included in many images. Assuming it’s real, it also points towards several unused concepts from the film.
— 💜Reylo&Army💜 (@JadoreReyBen) January 16, 2020
These include Kylo Ren facing down some gothic looking force wolves, which would actually not be a first for the series, as well as a shot of what looks to be Kylo and Rey in a Palpatine and Vader style relationship. Most exciting, however, is a strange, spider-like swamp monster that Kylo meets about halfway through the book, whose appearance could point to their identity as Tor Valum.
The being is only present for a few drawings, though comes across as the book’s most original concept, their striking design not being referenced in Episode IX’s theatrical cut at all. Their body appears to simply be a hammerhead attached to six spider legs, each ending in a tentacle-like suction cup, though they are also perched on a large, humanoid, baby-like head with closed eyes and pointed ears. Whether this head is part of the same entity as the spider or something else entirely is unknown. Perhaps the head is part of Tor Valum’s real body, and the spider simply exists to speak for it. Or maybe the spider is Tor Valum, feeding off the giant’s Force energy.
— 💜Reylo&Army💜 (@JadoreReyBen) January 16, 2020
Regardless, it’s an unsettling appearance, and seems to get across the “Lovecraftian” concept well. The images are all we have to go on for now, but if anything in this book is Tor Valum, I’d place my money on this thing (things?).
That said, according to Forbes writer Paul Tassi, some are instead identifying this being as “The Oracle,” an unused character from an earlier Abrams draft of Rise of Skywalker who Kylo would have found on Mustafar. While Tassi doesn’t link to any of the discussion behind this claim, a nine-month-old Reddit post from u/JediPaxis does give an almost 1-for-1 description of the creature, as well as links to art that, while rougher than the art book, features the same design. We don’t have any verification for the poster’s story leaks, but their prediction for the monster’s design is impressive, and gives credence to the seemingly independently generated artbook leak.
Regardless of the being’s identity, though, it seems this version of the art book won’t be available much longer. A Twitter post from Asian artbook collector @ArtNouveau_cd claims that the leaked version of the book is being discontinued at the request of the copyright holder, soon to be republished with changes.
<스타워즈 스카이워커 아트북> 판매중지 안내
1월16일에 출시되었던 스카이워커 아트북이 내용상의 문제로 저작권사의 요청에 따라 판매가 중지되었습니다. 제작된 책은 전량 파기할 예정이며, 추후 변경된 내용으로 재출간될 예정입니다. 이로 인해 혼선을 드려 대단히 죄송합니다.
— 아르누보 (@ArtNouveau_cd) January 21, 2020
Popular YouTuber and noted Rise of Skywalker critic Jenny Nicholson is corroborating the account’s story, and claims it has to do with the artbook’s references to unused plot lines, such as whatever this spider thing was intended for.
So the Episode IX artbook, which had a lot of concept art from abandoned plotlines, is being pulled from shelves and destroyed for an eventual reprint and rerelease. This’ll become more interesting when the reprint is out and we can see what they wanted removed
— Jenny Nicholson (don’t talk to me about star wars) (@JennyENicholson) January 22, 2020
So, it seems like we’ll never get confirmation on whether this being was Tor Valum, the Oracle, or something else entirely. All I know is that I, for one, love spider-baby (Star Wars is killing it with babies lately, after all), and would happily murder 100 zombie Palpatines in cold blood for them.
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