Warning: possible spoilers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story are ahead!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a little over a month away from hitting theaters, and that means showing giving fans and casual viewers alike plenty of new looks at the "Anthology" spinoff. Earlier today, a new international trailer was released that combined scenes from older previews with some interesting new footage, like another shot of Darth Vader looking intimidating as usual. However, there's one new moment that some believe showed an important artifact from the Star Wars universe: a kyber crystal.
At the beginning of the new Rogue One trailer, we see Jyn Erso as a young girl running home before Orson Krennic and his Imperial minions arrive. It's hard to tell what exactly is occurring, though given how previous reports and trailers have revealed that Jyn's father, Galen, helped build the Death Star, presumably Krennic has arrived to bring Galen back to an Imperial base with him. But that's not the important part right now. What is important is when Jyn's mother gives her a small crystal pendant and tells her to "trust the Force." Flash forward to Jyn as an adult, and we see that she's still holding onto that crystal as she gets into trouble in a galaxy far, far away.
THR and several other websites are speculating that Jyn's mother gave her a kyber crystal for safekeeping rather than hand it over to the Empire. For the non-hard Star Wars fans out there, a kyber crystal is the power source used for lightsabers, a Jedi's primary weapon. Until now, they have only been seen or mentioned in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and certain canon literature. To be clear, though, this does not necessarily mean that Jyn is a Jedi. What her mother told her is a regular line that any life form can say to another if the believe in the Force, and Rogue One is following the "regular operatives" in the Rebellion rather than those mystical knights. Fortunately, kyber crystals could potentially serve Rogue One in another important way.
The Empire used kyber crystals to power the Death Star's superlaser following the fall of the Jedi Order. At this point in time, the battle station isn't offensively operational yet, which means the Empire either doesn't have enough of these crystals or are missing one that will take this weapon to 100% power. Maybe the crystal around Jyn Erso's neck is a crucial missing component, and since we know what happens in A New Hope, that could mean that Jyn will sadly lose it during the story.
Don't forget that some of Rogue One will also take place on Jedha, a planet that's not only described as a "holy land" for religion based around the Force, but where those crystals are mined. That's presumably why an Imperial force has set up shop there, so it would be safe to assume that if Jyn's crystal is of the kyber variety, it originally came from that world. Of course, this is all speculation for now, so feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on December 16.
