'Rogue One' International Trailer Breakdown: Is That A Kyber Crystal?

Just when I thought our previous trailer breakdown for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was going to be the last one, a new international trailer has to arrive and give us more to chew on. And you know what that means: I was compelled to go through the whole thing frame-by-frame and see what we could discover.

Although this trailer features plenty of new stuff, it also remixes a lot of footage we've seen before. So our focus here will be on the completely fresh footage and you can refer to past breakdowns for everything else. Cool? Cool. Naturally, potential spoilers and speculation follow...

We know from previous trailers that Rogue One features a flashback (possible the opening scene of the movie) where Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) tracks down the reclusive scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) and forces him to work on the Death Star project. This is clearly a traumatizing moment for his daughter, Jyn (played by Felicity Jones outside of this sequence). This trailer offers a look at additional moments for young Jyn, including this shot her running across an open field while an Imperial shuttle flies overhead. Is she running to warn her father or running from the forces who failed to capture her? In either case, her terrified expression says everything.

Here's a new angle on the Imperial Death Troopers, offering a great look at their more advanced weaponry. These rifles make those stubby little blasters wielded by the ordinary white-suited grunts look inadequate at best. Stormtroopers have always been cannon-fodder in the Star Wars movies, but these guys look like they will be an actual threat.

"Trust the force." The previous Rogue One trailers haven't revealed anything about Jyn Erso's mother I had just assumed we'd have to wait until Star Wars: Catalyst hits shelves to learn anything about her. Could this woman be her mom? It certainly looks that way...and things probably don't go to well for her. After all, Krennic only needs Galen. You want a reason for Jyn to grow up into an angry young rebel? Here you go.

But before she escapes, Jyn accepts a parting gift the-woman-we-will-assume-is-her-mother: a small crystal attached to a necklace that she continues to wear into adulthood. Let's zoom in...

...and there it is. Let's dwell on this for a second. Months ago, story points about Rogue One arrived online suggesting that Kyber crystals, which are used to power lightsabers, were the secret ingredient in the Death Star superlaser and that the Empire was mining them on Jedha (hence their occupation). Maybe that's why the Empire needed Galen Erso – he's the only guy in the galaxy who knows how to use these crystals, these Jedi elements, to create a weapon of mass destruction. It surely can't be a coincidence that Jyn was given a little crystal keepsake and it's no accident that she is told to "Trust the Force" as it is given to her. We're probably looking at a Kyber crystal, the one thing that powers the ultimate weapons for both good and evil.

"They call it the Death Star." In previous trailer breakdowns, we wondered if the not-fully-operation Death Star wars going to open fire on Jedha, destroying the spiritual home of those who believe in the Force and giving a handful of characters (like Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Imwe, and Baze Malbus) a reason to join the Rebel Alliance. This shot reflects how Gareth Edwards has been framing so much Star Wars iconography, emphasizing scale while presenting a familiar image from a perspective we've never seen before.

We can see the results of the destruction here, as our band of heroes make a narrow escape from the exploding city...

And here, as Jyn stares into space as the world around her is obliterated. That's the stare of someone who cannot believe what they're up against...and maybe also the stare of someone who has just lost a friend in that blast. Speaking of which, where is Saw Gerrera? Hmm...

The bulk of the action scenes in Rogue One seem to take place on the ground between soldiers, tanks, and walkers, but it looks like we're getting at least two scenes involving spaceships. the first of them is this nighttime bombing run by a squadron of Rebel X-Wings. That planet certainly looks like it could be the rocky desert world of Jedha...

For some context, here's another shot in the trailer showing off this same X-Wing battle, but viewed from a nearby cliff by Chirrut and Baze.

We've seen this Imperial tank in the previous trailers, but I believe this is our first clear look at it from this angle. Until you can examine a full diagram in an officially licensed art book, this will have to do.

I am, and forever will be, a sucker for heroes who put themselves in additional danger in the middle of an action scene to rescue an endangered child. Hopefully, Rogue One will be a movie about the kind of heroics we need right now.

And here's a glimpse of that second space battle, which involves X-Wings facing off against some kind of Imperial battle station. It's not clear why they're fighting, but it is clear where they're fighting – that tropical planet below has to be Scarif, home to the Imperial construction yards where portions of the Death Star were built and the most likely home to the plans the Rebel Alliance needs to steal.

For context, here's another angle on that space battle. This shot was seen in a previous trailer, but now we know for sure that this battle is definitely occurring above Scarif.

And here's one more angle on that space battle! Unless my eyes deceive me, those ships in the background look like Nebulon-B escort frigates, ships that were initially developed for the Imperial Navy before being co-opted by the Rebel Alliance (you can see them in action during the climax of Return of the Jedi). The ship in the bottom left is probably the battle station we saw in the images above, unless it's the very edge of a Star Destroyer.

And hey! Would you look at that? A fresh look at a familiar face...er, helmet. This shot clearly comes from the same Darth Vader scene (or at least the same room) that was glimpsed in the previous trailer. This makes me wonder if the Dark Lord of the Sith will be limited to a one-scene cameo in Rogue One...

And here is a gallery of photos from the trailer:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens on December 16, 2016.