It's that contradiction that makes SW so fascinating and frustrating at the same time. It's a franchise that seems to have some kind of political stance on the right and wrong uses of power, but when it comes down to it it's really about the kinds of people that should have power. Heroes should have power and villains shouldn't, which tells us exactly nothing of course because everyone insists they are the heroes and their enemies are villains. Yeah there are the war crimes and genocides vs. resistance to tyranny and championing of democratic ideals as a marker, but if anyone thinks the two sides are necessarily mutually exclusive I'd like to introduce them to a nice lady called Aung San Suu Kyi...

I think the sequel trilogy represents a chance to break out of this loop, because as much as it's ragged on the sequel trilogy actually does show that relying on superpowered heroes of a special bloodline to save us all didn't work out. At all. Episode IX has the chance, following up on the premise of TFA and the continuation of the Skywalkers' fall in TLJ, to present a genuine alternative to relying on heroic figures and families. I sincerely hope it'll be followed through in IX.