A good friend is always quick to remind me that there is a part of the Constitution that could be a smudge or a comma. Unfortunately, the meaning of this section does change depending on which one it is. It’s the perfect example of how just because things have been held as true for so long, doesn’t always mean the original interpretation is accurate.

This is something Yoda reminds us of when he says “a prophecy misread could have been.” With the revelation of the Dyad, some of these prophecies are starting to make more sense – for both the Jedi and the Sith.

Let’s start with the Sith’s famous Rule of Two. By the time we meet Anakin Skywalker, this rule seems well known among the Jedi. “Only two there shall be. No more, no less. One to embody the power and one to crave it.” The Visual Dictionary for The Rise of Skywalker confirms that, much like the US Constitution, a misplaced comma could change that translation. This prophecy may not be dictating the lineage of power at all, but instead how the Force could separate itself into two living beings.

Thanks to Claudia Grey’s novel Master and Apprentice, we also now a key element of the Jedi’s own rules and how this may have connected. It seems more Jedi than we thought had loose definitions of what it meant when the Jedi dictate that “attachment is forbidden.” They threw celibacy out the window and kept those secrets for each other. The easy dismissal makes you wonder – why have the rule in the first place?

Could this rule have only been put in place and then misinterpreted over the ages? What if the rule wasn’t banning physical attachments or love or marriage at all? What if banning attachments was simply a way to prevent these powerful Dyads that the Sith had longed for?

Master and Apprentice sheds light on even more Jedi prophecies and what they could mean. One that was always open for interpretation is “He who learns to conquer death will through his greatest student live again.” Before The Rise of Skywalker everyone assumed this was symbolic. Qui-Gon Jinn was the first to master death and become a Force entity, appearing to his greatest student – Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and Yoda all learned from him to metaphorically live through their students.

With the Dyad, we are now able to see that Ben Solo is literally living through his greatest student: Rey. We know for a fact (thanks to The Force Awakens novelization) that their connection is activated when Kylo Ren mind probes her. Rey is able to immediately learn secrets about the Force and his training once that pathway is open. Kylo Ren was also the first to invite her to train in the Force in the forest on Starkiller base, but she refuses. In The Last Jedi, she refuses again in their Force Skype sessions. When she finally becomes disillusioned with Luke, she calls on Ben to help her navigate the murky waters. He’s quick to oblige.

By sacrificing his own body, he is able to live through his partner in the Dyad.

Another prophecy states that “When the Force itself sickens, past and future must split and combine.” I’ve said since The Last Jedi that Kylo Ren represents the future. He even says we need to “let the past die.” He believes cutting himself off from his namesakes is the only way to reach his full potential and move on to the future. Rey represents the past. She sits waiting for her family and never dares to try new adventures, for fear she’ll miss her past returning. When given the choice to see anything in Ahch-To’s cave, she asks to see the past. Even when Maz Kanata tells her what she wants is no longer behind her, but ahead, Rey can’t seem to drop it. Her every action is determined to bring back the past – even in recruiting the legendary Luke Skywalker, as opposed to starting something new. 

The Force has sickened at Palpatine/the Sith’s return. It split into these two factions only to combine again when the Force was healed. The Dyad is One.