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He had heard a lot about her, and even scoffed when his parents told him to be careful with the granddaughter of the rival company's owner.

"I will not be seduced!" Ben spoke with absolute conviction, when Palpatine called him in to discuss business.

He was totally confident that no trickery would bend him.

He had already decided not to give in to any proposals from his rival.

But well...

Ben was not prepared, when was greeted by Rey, instead of her grandfather. His determination wavered the moment he laid eyes on her, and his brain went blank, upon finding out that she would be presiding over the meeting.

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A Secret Engagement

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The Death of Love and the Lonely Soul: Eros and Psyche in a Post-TROS World

This is the first of my follow-up posts to my series on Folktale Types in Star Wars, focusing on how the Sequel Trilogy retells (or fails to retell) the Eros and Psyche myth, and the potential psychological implications for our culture. This essay will frequently reference my original Reylo as Eros and Psyche post, though I will also occasionally refer to my other Search for the Lost Husband posts (2) (3) (4), so please consider reading those before diving in here.

To explain why I had a great deal of confidence in TROS being a classic happy ending to a Search for the Lost Husband tale (ATU 425), I have to share a little bit of what I learned about how folklorists view these tale types. A century ago, the popular theory about why myths and folktales were so similar all over the world was evolutionary: it assumed there was one origin tale, and that as humans traveled, they would carry the story with them and it would be retold and adapted by other cultures. This suggested there was one ancestral tale from which all the others developed, which accounted for the recurrence of the story’s basic plot and motifs.

Since then, however, advancements in anthropological research and the increasing appreciation for folklore in the study of human psychology has debunked the old evolutionary theory. It was discovered that cultures and societies existing at the same time in history, on opposite sides of the globe and which could have had no possible contact with one another, still told the same tale types with the same motifs. Details might be changed, but every culture had animal husband tales, or animal bride tales, and so on. This led to the now widely-accepted idea that universal human psychology accounts for the similarity in folktales. Basically, all humans tell each other the same stories because we all wrestle with the same fundamental truths, challenges, and transitions. This is why the swan maiden tales can be traced to male anxiety over sexual performance or the prospect of losing a wife in childbirth, or why animal husband tales can be traced to female power fantasies of taming a mate in a patriarchal society.

Based on all this, I assumed that even if Terrio and Abrams made a typically vapid modern action flick, they’d still hit all of the main beats of the Eros and Psyche myth because that’s what would come naturally to them. Obviously, Beauty’s love will return the Beast to his human form. Obviously, Psyche will complete her journey from child to adult and take her place as the true or metaphorical mother to the next generation. Obviously, they will end the story united for eternity to signify the end of the galaxy-wide conflict and the beginning of the true peace so long sought by the heroes of the Skywalker Saga.

While this was true to a limited extent in The Rise of Skywalker, several of the reveals and the final moments of the film not only departed dramatically from the structure of the Search for the Lost Husband myth, but the movie even fails to align with the commonly more sorrowful Quest for the Lost Bride. In a cruel and baffling twist, the story erases its hero and returns its heroine to childhood in a barren underworld. There is, frankly, no historical folktale I can find that matches this pattern. Even stories featuring preadolescent children are about disassociation from parental figures, not deeper dependence. (Note: Marie-Claire and Ty Black of What The Force and Wit and Folly have done some exploration of how TROS reflects the so-called “American Monomyth.” This is a valid interpretation but for the purposes of this analysis, I’m continuing to use stories more commonly recognized by the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification of folktales.)

Rey’s Regression and Psyche’s Tasks

As a quick refresher of where we stood in alignment with the myth by the end of The Last Jedi, Rey is the mortal woman Psyche, and her force powers are akin to Psyche’s beauty in the myth. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is god of desire Eros, Psyche’s husband and the son of god of war Ares and goddess of love Aphrodite. In Star Wars, it is the Dark Side and dark force users who play the part of Aphrodite herself, attempting to control Ben Solo and jealous of the powerful Rey. The symbolic marriage of the lovers has unmistakably occurred multiple times, but when Rey attempts to force Ben into the light and to accept his true identity, he recoils and they are separated. She has broken the taboo of seeing his true self, and so her animal bridegroom has fled to the safety of the Dark Side, or “his mother’s house.” Finally, all of Rey’s illusions, help, and protections have been stripped away, so she must now learn how to rely on herself to obtain what she desires. When Rey discovers her own worth, independent of anyone else, she will achieve womanhood. When Ben Solo accepts his full humanity, both dark and light, he will achieve manhood. Together, they will reach adulthood.

Keep reading

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Chapter 38: The Shower

“Are we done fighting?”

“We’re not fighting.”

“Kind of seemed like a fight.”

I laugh, feeling a little mad at this point. “There’s nothing to fight over.”

A clenched jaw, and his eyes flash to my mouth. “I wouldn’t call this nothing.”

Start from the beginning: Winter Rental

Fic Synopsis: Rey has lived in Jakku, a small shore town known for its quiet beaches and even quieter winters, for her entire life. After a seemingly harmless date with a stranger goes terribly awry, Rey will learn they have a lot more in common than their undeniable attraction to one another. A month later, a twist in fate, a winter rental and a rescue dog will bring them closer together than ever.

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Reylo riso print! Available to buy on my Etsy 👀

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⚔️Maiden and Knight⚔️

If you have a blue light filter mode on your phone I recommend to turn it off for a minute to see the art without too much red color saturation.

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“the view is so pretty” “it is.”

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Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Force Awakens (2014)

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GAWD…I love this story so much❣️😭

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Reylo Paperman AU 📄💋

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Returned to Tumblr just to post this shot from Legacy of Vader #2. Charles Soule knew exactly what he was doing, goddamn 😂😂

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HoloNews: Empress Rey was photographed wearing a pendant with the letter "B." Sources claim it is the initial of the Jedi Knight who has been seen by her side

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Kylo Ren and Rey vs Praetorian Guard in STAR WARS UNLIMITED

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girls only want one thing and it's reylo kisses

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Ben u will always be loved 💙

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Kylo Ren; The Throne Room

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oh look, it’s everyone’s favorite space fashionista in his crop top, aka the royal pain in general hux’s ass, kylo ren