SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Proceed at your own risk.
It’s recently come out that the working title for Star Wars: Episode IX is Black Diamond. Fan site Fantha Tracks put a few connections together to make the discovery, and it has been right about other working titles before. It seems plausible, and those two words could be a big clue about what will happen in Episode IX.
Usually Lucasfilm uses these working titles and separate production companies to give its filming process a bit of peace, and only after the film is out is it made clear what relevance — if any — the codename had.
But that won’t stop us from speculating. So get ready to write on your window and practice the mantra of “What does it mean?!?”
There are some real life connections between the upcoming dedicated Han Solo movie and Episode IX, and that could signal story connections.
The Han Solo movie, operating under the working title of Red Cup, was originally to be made by Carbonado Industries Ltd. The literal connection to “carbon” freezing stares you right in the face. This company is now also in charge of Black Diamond — a name which has its own connections to carbon.
So we’ve got Carbonado Industries now in charge of Episode IX, which is called Black Diamond for now. Black Diamond will feature the son of the carbonite man, who turned Dark. In terms of lore, we’re staring down the barrel of a finale in which Kylo Ren, Han Solo‘s son, is a villain powerful enough to end a trilogy of trilogies.
Could it be possible that Han Solo’s significance didn’t end with his life — and not just because of who he fathered?
Here’s where things get interesting.
Han Solo is Corellian, as is his ship. In that system, there’s a tradition of compressing the ashes of honoured citizens into a synthetic diamond. They call it a Soul Diamond, and it has a light blue glow — but what colour would it be if it were corrupted by the Dark Side?
Interestingly, this is a real service provided here on Earth. You can send the ashes of a loved one to be compressed inside a jewel and set into a band or necklace. But in the Star Wars universe, these diamonds carry power great enough to run a spaceship.
Or, perhaps they could be used inside a lightsabre? It’s hard to imagine Kylo Ren without his chaotic red weapon. The crackling, barely-contained plasma is a good metaphor for his tantrums. Would he have it in him to turn his father’s remains into a weapon?
“Let the past die,” he would say. “Kill it if you have to.” But if there was special power to be had in a familial Soul Diamond, it may be enough for Kylo Ren to carry around some of the past with him.
Pure speculation, and a bit of fun, but it might all be nothing. There are more connections than usual — between the two productions, and between the stories and codenames. Then again, we could’ve taken the codename Space Bear to mean a movie about Wookies.
