It. Is. Glorious. I’m still riding high (and sleeping like a baby) after seeing this beautiful piece of art during the Ep IX Panel livestream from Celebration. If you’re interested in seeing my full reaction, complete with sobbing and clutching of a comfort BB-8, just let me know and I’ll drop the YouTube link. But I digress.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the music, so I thought I’d address them first, and then share some of my thoughts - as well as linking to some fantastic analysis I have already seen. Buckle up, baby.

As always, the first person I check with is Frank Lehman, distinguished professor of music theory at Tufts and author of the definitive encylopedia of Star Wars music, constantly updated and a source I rely on for everything I write on this topic. I used to refer to him in my meta as “Lehman”, but I’ve gotten to know Frank a bit since then and I know he won’t object to me referring to him by his first name, knowing how deep my respect for his knowledge, humor and intellect goes!

Question the first, did John Williams score this trailer?

These are of course his iconic themes, but I would be extremely surprised if JW personally scored **any** of the teasers or trailers we’ve seen so far with the Sequel Trilogy. He’s already working on the music for Ep IX, and is writing over 200 minutes of music for the film - how much of that we’ll see in the actual final cut remains to be seen. Basically - HE BUSY. I believe that the filmmakers are involved with the marketing people and the studio executives in crafting these trailers. I believe nothing is by accident or arbitrary when it comes to Lucasfilm’s marketing. I also believe that the composers/arrangers/orchestrators who work on these trailers are super talented and doing JW justice with their work. ***Edit: I have gotten confirmation from Frank that J Dubs DID INDEED custom score the opening of the TFA teaser - that amorphous, atonal music in the beginning. It totally sounds like him :) Thanks Frank!

Question the second, why do we hear Leia’s theme so prominently?

Couple theories on this. It’s worth looking back on the previous teasers and trailers for some clues.

The Force Awakens teaser - we hear the Star Wars main theme most predominantly (as is appropriate for the first teaser introducing the first new SW movies in ten years.)

TFA main trailer - we hear “Han Solo and the Princess” and The Force Theme most predominantly. I’ve heard it said many times that when it comes to the original big 3 main trio, the filmmakers consider TFA to be “Han’s movie.” I wrote about The Force Awakens main trailer here, and how I believe they were literally spelling it out for us by including HSaTP in this trailer - remember when this came out, none of us had ANY idea that Kylo Ren was the son of Leia and Han. None of us had any idea that it would be love that would save Ben Solo - and the trailer uses one of the most iconic love themes of all time. And the use of The Force Theme is of course highly appropriate, as the Force is literally awakening.

The Last Jedi teaser - Most prominently, we hear The Force Theme beautifully intertwined with Rey’s theme, a brief statement of Kylo’s Bad Guy theme, followed by an epic arrangement of The Force Theme/Rey’s Theme mashup and final statement of The Force Theme on the title reveal. Rey’s journey being central to this film, and the influence of both Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker, are heavily foreshadowed.

TLJ main trailer - we hear that really f#$king cool version of The Jedi Steps transitioning into Kylo’s Bad Guy Theme, followed by Rey’s Theme and again, a big bombastic statement of The Force Theme on the title. Back to the original trio - when it comes to the big 3, TLJ is Luke’s film, and The Jedi Steps is a theme unique to him and his hermit phase on Ahch-To, as well as the Force Theme being very strongly associated with Luke and his journey. Also, using so much of Kylo’s Bad Guy Theme and Rey’s Theme is foreshadowing how important their relationship truly ended up being in TLJ.

The Rise of Skywalker teaser - having Leia’s theme featured in so much of the trailer makes me think that they are honoring how this was to be Leia’s film, before the tragic and untimely passing of Carrie Fisher. No matter how they decide to handle Carrie’s death in the film (and I do think they had to re-think most of their original plan for Leia’s character, due to their decision not to re-cast or use CGI) the Leia scenes in TROS will have an immense impact on both Rey and Ben, and be crucial in the story of his redemption. Once Leia is gone, Ben truly is The Last Skywalker - perhaps they are paying homage to the Second-to-Last Skywalker and illustrating the impact of her character on our dual protagonists. In light of the fact that Palpatine is back in some form, never forget what Palpatine cost Leia in her younger years - her birth parents, all those years of her life she could have known her brother, her home planet of Alderaan, a life of peace without constant war, strife, death and destruction. If Palpy was behind Snoke, if he was pulling the strings all along - he also cost Leia her son and her husband. It’s poetic if Ep IX sees Rey and Ben teaming up to truly finish what his grandfather started and end Palpatine, end the Sith, for good - getting justice for Leia along the way.

Speaking of Leia’s theme, though - Frank once gave an interview where he described the way John Williams wrote Leia’s theme in this way:



“He wrote this very romantic and even erotic kind of musical theme.”

This is very intriguing to me as well - as I have a feeling TROS is going to be a deeply romantic film, and maybe even have some of the same sort of ok-it’s-not-subtext-anymore-they-are-just-going-for-it erotically charged scenes & imagery that we got in TLJ thanks to Rian Johnson. (There’s no doubt in my mind that a lot of Rian’s filmmaking style rubbed off on JJ in their process of collaboration - and I just read that JJ met not only with George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan as he was crafting TROS, but also with Rian. That shot of Rey force-back-flipping onto the TIE silencer - it screams of Rian’s epic influence on the cinematography. But I digress AGAIN.)

For further analysis of Leia’s theme, I highly recommend checking out this blog post by my orchestration teacher, Thomas Goss. He beautifully illustrates how JW uses his compositional and orchestrational powers to develop the character of Leia through her theme.



Question the third, was that Kylo’s Bad Guy Theme on the title reveal? Why else did that sound so familiar?

We’ve already established that we’re in E Major for the title reveal. A familiar interval hits your ears - minor second from B natural to A sharp. If we were in E minor and the familiar Kylo Bad Guy theme was upon us, we’d hear the melody continue in this way:

(Complete with the tritone or “devil’s interval” from the A sharp to the E natural. Read more about Kylo’s Themes here.)

Instead, this little motif resolves in a much different way.

You’re immediately thinking of Kylo Ren’s Bad Guy Theme, but your ear is picking up on it in the context of a major key, and it resolves strongly onto the third of the E major triad. The A sharp that is present, in the context of E Major, is also giving you Lydian mode vibes - Frank mentions this in his initial trailer analysis and so does David Collins (Soundtrack Show, Star Wars Oxygen, Skywalker Sound.)

But what **is** a mode, and what is Lydian mode in particular? A super basic explanation of mode goes a bit like this: “In the theory of Western music, a mode is a type of musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic behaviors.” Essentially, the scales are structured and used within a larger harmonic framework to evoke different shades, tones, feelings, responses.



Lydian mode is the fourth mode of the diatonic scale. With its augmented fourth, it does indeed evoke a wondrous quality - I found a Reddit user, Jongtr, who expressed it quite succinctly yet poetically: “Lydian = major with #4 - i.e., brighter. Often connotes “airy”: very “up”, “open”, as in the air, the sky, “blue”, but can also sound “sharp” or “chilly”. More “acid” than plain major.”

A lot of TROS is currently up in the air, open. The ultimate fates of our characters are up in the air, open. The Episode IX title card is purplish-blue. There is a sharpness, chilliness and acidity to the redemption of Ben Solo due to the severity of his crimes.

Arthur Fox has a fascinating description for our purposes as well:

“If we are to rank the modes of the major scale from brightest to darkest, Lydian would be the brightest mode. Another way of describing Lydian’s brightness is by talking about its upward gravity. The 1 (root) and the 5 (perfect fifth) create the most consonant interval within any scale or mode. The presence of this interval makes a scale “stable.” We can say that dark scales have a gravity pulling down to the root and down to the fifth. By the same token, bright scales have a gravity pulling up to the root and up to the fifth. Keep in mind that half steps have stronger resolutions than whole steps. Lydian is bright.”

Someone in Episode IX is very much being pulled upwards by gravity.

“The 7 wants to resolve up a half-step to the root more than 2 wants to resolve down a whole-step. This creates upward gravity to the tonic. The #4 wants to resolve up a half-step to the 5. This creates upward gravity to the perfect fifth.”

Someone in Episode IX wants to resolve to consonance and harmony.

And why else did it sound familiar? It’s the Dies Irae.

“Dies Irae is a Medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic. The poem describes the Last Judgment, trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames. It is best known from its use in the Requiem (Mass for the Dead or Funeral Mass). An English version is found in various Anglican Communion service books. The melody is one of the most quoted in musical literature, appearing in the works of many composers.”

The original musical setting comes in the form of Gregorian chant.

So many composers have quoted this ancient plainchant in their work - from Berlioz to Brahms, to Jerry Goldsmith, Holst, Lizst, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and many more. And of course, you’ve heard it in Star Wars before. It’s part of the prequels, featured in the “Descent motif” as Frank illustrates below:

This motif is heartbreakingly wrapped up in Anakin’s descent into Darth Vader, featuring prominently in scenes where he is consciously choosing to turn away from the Light, to change, to go farther down the path away from the Jedi Master and closer to the Sith Lord (2:52 below)

It’s part of the OT, in the moment where Luke stands before the burned-out Lars homestead and turns his face away in horror, then looks back stoically at the ruins of his former life, understanding that he must accept the call to adventure (:12 the video below.)



It’s part of the ST, in the moment when Rey, Nobody from Nowhere, calls the Skywalker legacy saber to her, causing it to fly past Ben “Kylo Ren” Skywalker Solo (:27 in the video below), causing her to truly accept the call to adventure and accept her fate as a Jedi in training.

I highly recommend you check out this brilliant meta by Reylo-Musings in full. She really gets into the similarities between Rey’s theme and Kylo’s theme, and discusses the Dies Irae in depth. From this essay:



“It’s almost like the two scenes parallel each other very very closely. So to me, what’s most interesting is the individual reactions that follow this music. There is no denying that for both Luke and Rey, this was the pivotal turning point for them in their journey.”

The Day of Wrath is certainly a component of the Dies Irae. Some look at it as The Day of Judgement, The Day of Reckoning. That day is certainly coming for Kylo Ren. He has a choice to make, a call to answer, and atonement to begin. A pivotal turning point in his journey - the beginning of the path toward redemption. (Another aspect to this is that Rey herself could have another Day of Reckoning coming. With Palpy’s evil laugh echoing in our ears, we’re left to wonder if he has anything to do with Rey’s past and her filthy junk trader nobody parents. We’re left to wonder if he will try to corrupt her, as he corrupted Anakin.)

From the translation of the original Dies Irae poem, by WJ Irons:

“Worthless are my tears and sighing:

Yet good Lord in grace complying,

Rescue me from fire undying.

With thy sheep a place provide me,

From the goats afar divide me,

To thy right hand do thou guide me.

When the wicked are confounded,

Doomed to flames of woe unbounded:

Call me with thy saints surrounded.

Lo I kneel with heart-submission,

See like ashes my contrition:

Help me in my last condition.”

“Lo, that day of tears and mourning,

from the dust of earth returning.

Man for judgement must prepare him,

Spare O God, in mercy spare him.

Sweet Jesus Lord most blest,

Grant the dead eternal rest.”



I believe we will be seeing Ben Solo kneeling with heart-submission. I believe he will be spared, while Kylo Ren will die and pass away into the ashes, return to the dust. I believe that’s why we hear this “majorized” Kylo Ren Bad Guy/Dies Irae musical statement right on the title reveal: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. Ben Solo, if we’re assuming that Leia will pass away in TROS, is The Last Skywalker and we will see his rise, as well as a new generation of Skywalkers, whether those are literal children with Rey or as some have theorized, a new name for the order of Force Users she and Ben will train, rising from the Jedi.

One other note - about Ewoks.

Frank also notes that besides the Kylo Ren Bad Guy and Dies Irae references, this motif is also the accompanimental vamp from The March of the Ewoks. Hence it’s a potential TRIPLE music entendre. Quoth Frank:





AND REALLY, WHO DOESN’T WANT MORE EWOKS!!!