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After my wife and I first viewed Rogue One we both walked away and mutually we had one question hanging around. What are these two stick/sword things hanging from Jyn's back?

To my recollection, she never uses them in the film so as a prop-piece it seemed like an odd thing to have put on a costume. This made my wife and I speculate that something must have been cut from the film that would have explained their purpose.

Further details that might be spoilers:

I am aware that she's wearing this outfit because she and the other rebels have taken out a few Imperial troopers and that they are wearing their uniforms as disguise. She appears to be wearing a gunner's uniform, though I'm not 100% sure that is what the outfit is. I assume this could be part of the uniform. Regardless, I see no example of a gunner wearing these devices, so I'm not sure that she is, in fact, wearing a gunner's outfit.

My main problem is that I've never seen these devices before, nor do I recall seeing their use in the movie.

So... what are they?

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    The real-world term for this job is "Aircraft marshaller". You can see a marshaller using the batons to direct SW-0608 as it lands on Scarif, as well as the slots on his back for storing them when not in use.
    – Werrf
    Dec 21, 2016 at 19:40
  • recall the uniforms of the two that were jumped...
    – Naib
    Dec 21, 2016 at 21:48
  • Thanks @naib! However, only after one viewing I couldn't quite recall. I enjoyed the film considerably but I couldn't remember every little detail.
    – RLH
    Dec 22, 2016 at 12:47
  • @RLH true. The only reason I posted the comment was I thought the same thing at the time but then immediately recalled where the uniforms came from
    – Naib
    Dec 22, 2016 at 12:53
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    The real problem is that an imperial officer, some stormtroopers, and the flight control guy all go into a ship, right in front of another officer. Yet a totally different imperial officer, no storm troopers, and a robot get out, the flight control guy takes a break, and no one says anything.....:P
    – Jason K
    Dec 22, 2016 at 16:21

3 Answers 3

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The Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide factbook describes them as

ILLUMINATED TRAFFIC WANDS

enter image description here

They were part of the outfit that Jyn stole from Imperial "Deck Technician" Kent Deezling. You can see him using them to signal landing ships in the clip below.

enter image description here

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    "Kent"? What kind of name is that in the galaxy far, far away?
    – user40790
    Dec 21, 2016 at 19:40
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    @Terriblefan You mean, almost as down-to-Earth a name as "Luke"?
    – Mr Lister
    Dec 21, 2016 at 20:08
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    @MrLister Touché.
    – user40790
    Dec 21, 2016 at 20:10
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    Man, that's disappointing... I was really hoping she was going to use them to beat down some stormtroopers, too :(
    – Taegost
    Dec 21, 2016 at 21:44
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    @Taegost They cut the climactic scene where she puts the mask back on and guides incoming Empire reinforcements into a lake.
    – GGMG-he-him
    Dec 22, 2016 at 6:21
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It looks like the wands used by the air marshaller to direct the cargo shuttles when they were landing. You can see the red sections at the tips of the rods that light up and help indicate to the pilot what they need to do and where to move. Similar to what you see in a real life airport.

Lego version since I can't seem to find the movie version (Valorum has the better movie version, so I'm keeping the Lego one): enter image description here

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  • Ah, good call and quite plausible. I'm going to leave this one open hoping someone can find a better image, or technical reference, though.
    – RLH
    Dec 21, 2016 at 19:23
  • @RLH Understandable. Even searching for "Scarif Landing crew" you find this and the action figures. No stills from the movie.
    – CBredlow
    Dec 21, 2016 at 19:27
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    The term for this job (in our world) is "Aircraft marshaller". You see someone using the wands as shuttle SW-0608 is coming in to land on Scarif, as well as the slots on his back for holding the wands when not in use.
    – Werrf
    Dec 21, 2016 at 19:39
  • @Werrf Not to be confused with the Air Marshall? I couldn't remember the exact terms form the landing crew.
    – CBredlow
    Dec 21, 2016 at 20:13
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They are from the Aircraft Marshaller they take the suit from. As everyone else mentions they are for guiding the ships to the landing pad. As to answer your question as to the now you see it and now you don't. She took them off. If you recall the scene where they were trying to retrieve the hard drive and the machine jammed, Jyn got the idea of having to blast the glass to go get it manually and you can see her taking off her suit in order to be lighter to make the jump, the sticks are the first things she takes off. I hope that helps.

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    I recall the scene but completely missed that. I guess my mind was having a tough time keeping up with all of those secondary-details. Thanks and welcome to SciFi.SE.
    – RLH
    Dec 22, 2016 at 14:42

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