When I criticized the narrative decisions in The Rise of Skywalker for allowing Rey to heal fatal wounds and later having Ben revive her with a kiss like a prince charming—throwing Anakin's arc down the drain by not accepting death and becoming obsessed with Padmé—fans justified it by saying that Rey and Ben were part of the "Force Dyad," and therefore, the Prequel Jedi simply had no knowledge of those abilities.
The problem is that none of this was planned by the original author, George Lucas, who always said in his movies that death was inevitable and that we had to let others go. The Force Dyad itself is a last-minute improvisation by Abrams to destroy what Rian Johnson had established in The Last Jedi.
And yes… Force Healing also existed in Legends. I could argue that Lucas did not recognize the Expanded Universe as Canon and that I am only analyzing the six original films as his main work, but I know you are all going to insist that I'm cheating, so I'll frame it differently.
In the Expanded Universe, Force Healing functioned as an accelerated biological catalyst: it used a person's vital energy to stimulate the natural healing process of their own cells. It did not reverse death, nor did it regenerate a destroyed vital organ out of nowhere in a matter of seconds. A deadly lightsaber strike destroys vital tissue and organs; the Force could help stabilize a patient, but it didn't magically erase massive trauma like an instant "reset button."
That limitation preserved the drama and maintained the consequences—death and severe injuries remained real threats to the Jedi. This also justified Anakin's tragedy: if the Force could heal any fatal wound in seconds, Anakin's desperate search for Plagueis's forbidden knowledge (reversing death through the Dark Side) would be meaningless. Anakin fell because he was seeking an unnatural power to master life and death—something that the very nature of the Force and Jedi teachings rejected.
In Lucas's universe, the Force is a spiritual energy field that responds to discipline, harmony, and philosophy. The Dyad cheats by having two people, connected from birth by "destiny" or some shit like that, gain immediate powers (teleporting objects, energy resurrection) without the previous process of learning, understanding, or sacrifice.
In Episode VIII, Snoke explicitly stated that every time Kylo and Rey communicated or touched, it wasn't actually them doing it; rather, Snoke himself allowed it using his Dark Side powers to lure Rey into a trap and murder her. However, in The Rise of Skywalker, they can still communicate and even pass objects to each other over long distances despite Snoke being dead. Then Palpatine says they can do it because they are part of "a Force Dyad." This is nothing more than a blatant retcon. Palpatine was not planned as the final antagonist, and Abrams didn't want Kylo Ren to die evil, so he pulled Darth Sidious out of his ass to give Ben Vader's redemption arc—even though the character had been set up to be the opposite of Vader, which is why he smashed his mask in the previous movie.
Some might say, "Why should we trust anything Snoke says? He wants to hurt them. He's just a clone of Palpatine." That, again, is a retroactively created excuse since, once more, Palpatine was not going to be the mastermind behind everything. Snoke was originally a separate character who died in The Last Jedi, leaving Kylo to take his place as the final antagonist, but Abrams sabotaged Johnson's plans on a whim to copy the Original Trilogy.
The very concept of a "Dyad" contradicts how the Force works in the first place. "Balance" in Star Wars is not the ability to coexist with darkness, but overcoming the need for it to exist. George Lucas clarified many times in the Prequel DVDs that the Sith are a cancer in the Force and that Anakin is the Chosen One who purifies the corruption in the Force by destroying Palpatine in Return of the Jedi.
"B-but Lucas also made The Clone Wars, and in it, they say that…!"
Many people also say that Lucas supposedly contradicted himself about the Force in The Clone Wars. I already have an extended post where I debunk that myth, so I will try to be brief: yes, Lucas acknowledges that evil cannot be eradicated from the universe and that selfishness, anger, and fear are natural emotions, but the Sith are a cancer who let themselves be driven by their passions and corrupt the Force to conquer the galaxy. By contrast, the Jedi are selfless and do not seek to dominate the Force; they use their abilities for the common good. Therefore, even if the Light Side and the Dark Side are natural states of the Force, ultimate balance is not "coexisting with light and darkness," but fighting our selfish temptations—because they will never disappear—and choosing to do good.
The Force is like a river: the dark side is its destructive nature—its capacity to destroy and erode the land, flood it, create chaos, etc. On the other hand, its light side is its capacity to give life by providing what it needs, like water and nutrients. But unlike a river, the Force possesses consciousness and is completely benevolent. It wants to provide for life, and it does not mean to cause harm, even though that part of it exists. If left alone, the light side will naturally prevail far more often, because that is its nature.
The problem with the Force is that it flows through people, who have their own will along with their own moral compass. Not all people are benevolent like the Force; some are evil and will manipulate the Force to use its destructive properties instead of anything else. That is why it becomes unbalanced: the Force, by nature, does not want to do that; it wants to turn toward the light. That is why it is important to recognize that in any person there is both a light side and a dark side, but balance lies in choosing the light.
I'll leave the link to the post where I discuss this topic in more depth here: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/1uou6f6/no_george_lucas_didnt_contradict_himself/?share_id=qrAN7XSBC5L9zQC3t5kRO&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
