'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Concept Art Reveals Insane New Lightsaber Battle, New Line-Up Of Books Announced

Before the release of every episode of the primary Star Wars saga, there's a collection of books leading up to the arrival of the film itself. This year is no different as the Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker line-up of books has just been announced. But that's not what the coolest revelation is today.

Like every Star Wars movie hitting theaters, there will be The Art of Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker book that arrives around the time the movie hits theaters. Not only was the release date of this book announced today, but the cover art reveals what could be an insane, unbelievable lightsaber battle that us unlike any that the saga has ever seen. Check it out below.

As you can see, the concept art on the cover features Rey and Kylo Ren squaring off with their lightsabers. At first glance, this appears to just be a cool juxtaposition of the two characters in a visually cool way. But if you take a look again, you'll see that the reflection of Kylo Ren in a body of water is clashing lightsabers with Rey standing on the shore. Keep in mind that this isn't some kind of promotional art meant for a t-shirt, trading card, or something thing like that. This is official concept art, so this moment must be something that happens in the movie. But how is this scene possible?

Well, one option is that this is another kind of Force vision similar to the one that Luke Skywalker had in the cave on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back. In that vision, Luke had a lightsaber battle with Darth Vader before slicing off his head and revealing Luke's own face within the helmet. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for Rey to have a similar Force vision as she prepares to face her rival again. But there is one more intriguing option that would continue to advance to power of the Force as introduced by director Rian Johnson in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

In the last installment of the Skywalker saga, the idea of Force projections were introduced. Both Rey and Kylo Ren were able to see each other in a video conference call through the Force kind of way. They even nearly touched through the Force before Luke walked in on Rey conversing with Kylo on Ahch-To. Luke then took the Force projection to a new level by doing it across the galaxy, tricking Kylo Ren into thinking he was on Crait with the Resistance. What if Rey and Kylo take that concept to an even higher plane of power?

The concept art shows the two clashing their lightsabers, though Kylo Ren isn't actually there. So what if the two, each extremely powerful in the Force, have some kind of confrontation across the Force. That could be incredibly cool, and there have been rumblings of a sequence like this through leaks here and there from people working on the production. We'll have to wait and see how it plays out when the movie arrives on December 2o, 2019.

In the meantime, there will be a whole line-up of books for adults, teens and kids alike, all leading up to the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Here are the three that will probably be of the most interest to you.

Every Star Wars movie gets their own visual dictionary, and The Rise of Skywalker follows suit. These books give an outstanding, detailed look at the props and costumes from the movie and often provide extra details that aren't easily seen on screen. The cover shows off one of the new First Order troopers, resembling a Snowtrooper or Flametrooper with a cape. However, that likely won't be the final cover since these books tend to have multiple items on the front. Lucasfilm is probably just keeping secrets.

First up, there's Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, which takes place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Here's the brief, vague synopsis of the book revealed today:

In this Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novel, Poe Dameron, General Leia Organa, Rey, and Finn must struggle to rebuild the Resistance after their defeat at the hands of the First Order in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The book will hit shelves a little over a month for The Rise of Skywalker on November 12, 2019.

Meanwhile, Marvel Comics is also getting in on the gap-filling stories before The Rise of Skywalker. Star Wars: Allegiance is a new comic mini-series from Marvel Comics that will focus on General Leia rounding up some familiar allies for help. Here's the synopsis:

On the run since the destruction of the Starkiller Base, General Leia and the remaining handful of Resistance have barely managed to survive, much less strike back against the superior forces of the First Order. Running low on options, Leia decides to reach out to her former allies, the Mon Calamari, whose shipyards once powered the Rebel Alliance.

As you can see, there's no cover art for that comic yet, so that likely means it will reveal some details that will tease something new about The Rise of Skywalker that Lucasfilm doesn't want fans to see just yet.

The first issue of the series will arrive on October 9, 2019, and a new issues arrives each week through the end of the month.

For the rest of the books being release for The Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, head over to StarWars.com. They have the entire roster, including a bunch of books for kids, that will be arriving late this year.