“I am the Eye of Webbish Bog. I know what you seek.”
One scene from Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker which didn’t make it into the final version of the film was an encounter between Kylo Ren and an eerie-looking creature called the Eye of Webbish Bog, a massive, spider-like creature who sat affixed to the head of a blind, pasty-skinned giant.
According to an interview with special make-up effects creative supervisor Neal Scanlan, the Eye of Webbish Bog spot was actually filmed on-location at an actual lake.
“That was a character that was designed very early on in the day. Jake Lunt [Davies], who’s one of my concept designers, we were all playing around with this idea and talking about it and he did this drawing and J.J. saw it and went, ‘That is amazing’. It was one of those moments where it was like, ‘This has to be in the movie.’
So we actually did build it and we took it to a place called Black Park in the UK, which is close to Pinewood Studios, where we shot it in a lake on location, and that sequence exists. Unfortunately it didn’t make it to the movie story, plot-wise, etc. It was a fully practical character shot in a location, and it is amazing.”
In Star Wars lore, the Eye of Webbish Bog is a spidery creature locked in symbiosis with a blind giant. The creature lives in a lake near the Corvax Fen, a wooded region of Mustafar Kylo Ren can be seen battling through in the beginning of Rise of Skywalker in pursuit of the Sith wayfinder which once belonged to Darth Vader. Mustafar is, of course, the primarily lava-filled planet upon which Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi had their fateful final battle at the climax of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
The Eye of Webbish Bog is reportedly tasked with the guardianship of Darth Vader’s Sith wayfinder and was supposed to guide Kylo Ren towards it after Kylo Ren finished his battle with the cultists in the Corvax Fen.
Thankfully, the scene isn’t lost to the Unknown Regions; earlier today, David Leby, concept artist for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker shared some beautiful pieces of concept art, among them the Eye of Webbish Bog depiction.
Star Wars: Eye of Webbish Bog art
The first image depicts an angled perspective of a helmeted figure, ostensibly Darth Vader himself via flashback or Kylo Ren facing the Eye of Webbish Bog while he stands upon the gnarled root of a tree spreading into the lake. The reason why this could be Darth Vader is on account of an element which the rest of the concept art pieces show, which is Kylo Ren clutching what appears to be Darth Vader’s helmet. In this first image, Kylo Ren has no such helmet in hand; perhaps the flashback inclusion of Darth Vader speaking to the Eye of Webbish Bog would have solidified the creature’s purpose and set the necessary groundwork for its necessity in the film.
In the second image and third images you can see Kylo Ren holding the helmet of Vader, perhaps as proof of his affiliation with the Sith. This would have also tied Kylo Ren’s monologues with his grandfather’s helmet from Star Wars: The Force Awakens together in much better fashion, giving the cindered Darth Vader helmet more of a function than just serving as a cameo.
You also get a better look at the blind giant to which the spidery creature is affixed including its barely cracked open eyes and its upturned nostrils.
The third shot is a head-on shot of Kylo Ren facing the Eye of Webbish Bog, which makes the creature seem much larger in scope than it does in the others. The tone of the image is also different than the previous, as the cool blue-black shadows cast a much darker, nighttime vibe for the scene.
What do you think of the Kylo Ren and Eye of Webbish Bog interaction concept art? Do you think the scene should have remained in the final version of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments.
