#( rey ; verse ) pre the force awakens | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mab-hatter · 7 years ago

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Little Soldier Boy - Part 2

If you're reading this and haven't read Part 1, go read that HERE and then come back, because then this will make slightly more sense. But if you've read Part 1 and are here for more, or you’re a rebel who doesn’t like reading in chronological order... For one you're very brave for subjecting your brain to the ramblings of my mind, and two... Welcome and enjoy what lies beneath within the death pit of meta...

Star Wars (TFA)/Atla - Similarities.

There are many parallels between characters and plot points from Atla book 1 and Star Wars The Force Awakens, and I'll just try to go into them briefly.

Atla starts with its famous opening, narrated by Katara. It solidly and shortly gives an overview of the elements/the 4 nations, whilst explaining about the Avatar and the balance ("Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked" = a universal meme); so general world and historical context. Then it gives us the current backdrop at which the story begins, with the 100 year war and the Fire Nation; plus gives some quick information on a few characters and the themes. At which point it heads straight into the show from the protagonists perspective. In ep 7, as with all the other episodes, we get an opening scrawl that condenses information about the current situation and state of affairs with different characters/groups old and new, as well as giving us some context for the backdrop of where the episode is starting from, across the galaxy. It gives us enough information to update us and give us our bearings, whilst not spoiling anything in the story. Aka both these Prologues for Atla and Star Wars have always seemed reminiscent to me of the Fairy Tale 'Once upon a Time' type openings, like the true opening to Fairy Tale story books that build on the mythos of these two fictional worlds whilst preparing us for the current story. In LoK, a sequel series to Atla, the story of Aang and his friends are practically considered Legends and are great Heroes who shaped the modern mythos.

Whilst in Star Wars the Journal of the Whills was made canon (in the novelisation), and if you don't know what that is it's basically in the far future there was a journal written by these people that contains stories/recordings/the mythos of the force and the Jedi - in essence what we're seeing in the episodes has already happened and has been recorded in this journal. It was originally supposed to connect the Star Wars verse to our world, case in point the 'Long ago in a galaxy far, far away...' as this was all in the past, but I'm not sure how canonically accurate that is now.

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: ^this is the Opening for Avatar the Last Airbender, shortened down for the majority of its episodes. To compare, below is a poem in the Journal of the Whills as stated in the TFA novelisation.

"First comes the day Then comes the night. After the darkness Shines through the light. The difference, they say, Is only made right By the resolving of gray Through refined Jedi sight."

―Journal of the Whills

One of them may be more vague than the other, but essentially they are both talking about there being hope in the darkness/savior(s), bringing harmony through learning/re-evaluating what they think they know, in order to achieve balance and set everything right.

Going back to the two stories, we're introduced to it with this idea that there's this outside conflict going on, but the first part of the film/episode is technically from the protagonists perspective (but throughout the story the perspective shifts from both the protagonists and antagonists pretty evenly), which has the setting of an isolated wasteland with little civilization that's sort of cut off from the rest of the world/galaxy (aka Jakku/the South Pole).

As I've stated before (I keep cross-referencing myself, so apologies for that) the stories plot is really moved forward when the antagonist Kylo/Zuko, both nowhere near fully trained yet are still over-confident in their power, are impatiently looking for something of great importance ("I want that map" - Kylo/ "Your impatient, you have yet to master your basics" Iroh to Zuko) in order to achieve their own personal goals; this being Aang the Avatar/BB8 the droid carrying the map to Ach-To. They in some way lose/can't get a hold of this important thing and it/they end up in the care of a few of our stories main protagonists Finn and Rey/Sokka and Katara. The Hero's then go on this journey, using a form of flying transport Appa/the Millennium Falcon (who are both beloved by fans) - trying to get this important person/object to a specific place (The Eileenium system/the North Pole). Where a group of people reside who can help the protagonists, whilst having adventures and twists along the way, before a climactic battle towards the end. (Extremely simplified I know, but I was just going off of comparative story beats, there are many differences obviously, but these we're the main big plot similarities).

I mean, episode 7 is titled 'The Force Awakens' and it's about the force awakening within the main characters, as the force is trying to restore balance due to it being out of balance for so long. Whilst Atla starts with Avatar Aang finally "awakening" after a long period of time in which the world was unbalanced, so he along with his friends can finally restore balance and "save the world".

In Atla Book 1, you've got these main three protagonists Aang, Katara and Sokka, whilst as an antagonist you have Zuko. Rather in Star Wars you generally have these characters called the 'Trio', which essentially is the three main characters who aren't necessarily the good guys, but the three characters the story revolves around and mainly it's their story lines we're following; in the ST's case, this would be Rey, Finn and Kylo.

Finn.

I always thought Finn as a character would resemble Sokka and Aang most of all. On the surface level Sokka and Finn are very funny characters, they provide comedic relief in order to balance out the different tones throughout the film/series, but...on a deeper level, Sokka and Finn are both warriors, who although they can fight they both actually have very little battle experience at the start of the story. Even though he's the top of his class in training, Finn is actually on his first real mission at the start of TFA, and at the start of Atla the first and only times Sokka ever fought the Fire Nation was against raids as a young boy. Finn and Sokka initially come off as very paranoid characters, Sokka about the Fire Nation and Finn about the First Order. Just as Sokka is reluctant to help Aang at the beginning of the story, Finn is reluctant to stay and fight the First Order, all he wants to do as Maz Kanata says is "run". Which leads into another point, both Sokka and Finn are both extremely brave/courageous characters, who are willing to face people far more powerful/deadly/skilled than them if it means protecting people they care about. Neither do they let people decide their own fate for them. Sokka was not a bender in Atla, in fact he was the only one out of the main group of Aang's friends who wasn't, and instead he had a very good/sharp tactical mind and kept the group moving, preferring physical melee combat (with his boomerang), and later becoming an expert swordsman. Finn in TFA has so far not been shown to be extremely force-sensitive on the level of an actual force-user (yet - I don't think he is but I won't deny it's a possibility either, in fact it'd be cool if he was), and although he's held a Lightsaber he only used it for melee combat like Sokka does with his "space-sword", not using any force-powers/in-verse 'magic' at all. It was either a Lightsaber or a blaster he was using throughout the entire movie, and he used his own tactical training as an ex-Stormtrooper in order to help him in difficult situations, and is someone who represents that you don't have to have magical abilities or some pre-determined destiny in order to be a hero, just like Sokka was. Sokka shared a very realistic familial type bond with the main hero and heroine, his friend Aang and obviously his sister Katara, just as how Finn shares a deep bond of trust and friendship that's filled with banter and jovial fun but also genuine care and love with both Rey and Poe - the character relationships very similar. In the end, after everything Zuko did, Sokka accepts Zuko as his ally and a great friend, and they work pretty well as a team, perhaps the same could be said of Finn and Kylo if they were to ever reconcile.

Finn resembles Aang in that both their characters at the start of their respective first Act's have this awakening. Aang's being he literally awakes into the world after a century of sleep, and Finn having this metaphorical awakening in that even though he so far isn't a force user, I believe the force still awakened within him in some way when he saw that Stormtrooper friend of his die in front of him, realised what he was doing in that village on Jakku was wrong, and he refused to shoot. Which led him to save Poe and join the protagonists. Both Aang and Finn awaken into reality, their knowledge about everything limited, Aang being away for a century and Finn not knowing anything but being a Stormtrooper, and all Finn and Aang want to do is run. That's what got Aang trapped beneath the ice in the first place, him running away from his responsibilities as the Avatar as it would mean leaving behind people he cared about, whilst Finn wants to run away from the First Order and being made to do something he doesn't want to, and so is "never going back". Yet both of them still want to do the right thing and protect the people they care about, that eventually makes them decide to stop running away and face their demons. There was an episode in Book 1 of Atla called "The Storm" which beautifully tells us about Aang and Zuko's back-stories, paralleling them in a way that makes the audience realise they're not so different after all. One of the main reasons that Kylo spared Finn at the start of TFA and was later extremely rageful towards him, calling him "traitor" and feeling such personal anger towards him, was because Kylo had compassion for Finn. Kylo saw himself, his own inner struggles, in Finn. Kylo and Finn in many ways are very similar, just as Aang and Zuko were - it was this that prompted Aang to extend an olive branch of friendship in Book 1, and even though Zuko tried to capture him plenty a time, even almost killing him, Aang was one of the first to see the potential for good in Zuko and allowed him to join the protagonists, forgiving him - which then lead to them having a life-long friendship and an incredibly special bond. I believe, that even though Kylo maimed and almost killed Finn, due to Finn's own compassion and him potentially seeing himself in Kylo just as Kylo saw himself in Finn, he could eventually forgive Kylo if he redeemed himself; just like Aang did for Zuko after Azula and Zuko almost killed him and gave Aang a spinal injury using lightning, like how Kylo sliced Finn's spine with the Lightsaber. Finn like Aang is one of the main heroes of his story, and will play a key role in bringing balance to the force, as well as restoring peace to the galaxy, just as Aang did with the four Nations in Atla.

Rey.

In terms of character resemblance, Rey resembles Katara the most - and also slightly Aang. Although where Rey mostly differs from Katara is that Rey in terms of personal relationships is basically completely isolated/alone on Jakku, Katara at least has her brother Sokka. Rey grows up in a desert wasteland on Jakku, having to scavenge to survive, on a planet on the outer-rim that's isolated with very little civilization/people and the only knowledge she has is from rumors/stories she hears from travelers. In order to survive she had to be a quick study, adaptable, she has to grow up fast and look after herself. Similar to Katara, who grew up in instead a frozen wasteland on a Nation that is just a small village at this point, with very few people. She's isolated from the rest of the world, and hasn't been outside the South Pole until she goes on the journey with Aang, so her knowledge is not based on experience, just like Rey. And just like Rey, due to her parents not being there since she was young, Katara had to grow up fast and become a mother type figure to everyone in the village, including her brother, whilst learning to look after herself and pick things up quickly. Rey and Katara both also have abandonment issues, Rey being that her parents abandoned her on Jakku; and even though she can't remember exactly who they are, she's spent all this time on Jakku just waiting for them to come back for her - which is extremely tragic.

Katara's mother was killed when she was young by the Fire Nation, and Katara's father Hakoda left for war when she was young as well, leaving Katara alone. She severely misses her parents too, and wishes for her father to come home at the start of the series, but later when they meet there is some conflict between the two over Katara's feelings of being abandoned by him. As well as Katara's mother's death (Kya) was a big motivation for Katara throughout Atla to defeat the Fire Nation, and stop them from hurting others as she was hurt by them.

Katara has her hair in a specific style throughout most of Atla, and it was actually the same style her mother used to wear, in order to honor her memory and probably keep her close in some form. In the same way, Rey in the First Act had her hair up in the same style as she wore it when she was abandoned by her parents on Jakku, in the hope that if she kept it the same maybe one day they'd come back and instantly recognise her. Although like Katara who moved on and changed her hair, Rey will also change her hair in the Last Jedi, growing out of waiting for someone who've never coming back, and finally like Katara did, will start to grow from a girl into a woman. Whatever Rey's parentage actually is, whether it's as nobody or it really is somebody we know (Yes, I do like the idea of her as a Kenobi, but I'm staying skeptical until anything is confirmed) I'm sure it will not affect or detract from who she can and will be, just as Katara did not let her family being torn apart stop her from being strong. In terms of strength, both Katara and Rey are pretty badass, and can take care of themselves. Throughout Atla, Katara only grows in strength and experience as I'm sure Rey will, but in the first Act it was actually Katara's rage at Sokka that allowed her to crack an ice-berg and reveal Aang from his slumber. Just how in the final fight, Rey uses her rage in order to win the fight against Kylo, even though that's tapping into the dark side. Both these women may be protagonists, but they are also complex characters and have a range of emotions and layers - especially anger through feeling they've been left behind - under their usually calm, compassionate and kind exteriors. Just as they are both strong, they are also incredibly clever and quick on their feet, as well as good at adapting to the situations they find themselves in and they usually always out smart their opponents/use what they're given in order to win.

That leads me to the fact that in terms of their in-verse 'magic', both Katara and Rey are prodigious. (Although it's ironic that Katara is a " Master water-bender" but due to growing up in a desert Rey probably doesn't know how to swim). Even though Rey gets a lot of help in terms of a crash course in how to use the force from Kylo, it still takes someone special with the aptitude for it in order to pick it up and apply it that quickly and efficiently in TFA, and I'm sure once she meets Luke (a Master, though technically he's still called a Jedi Knight) hopefully he'll take that potential and help her become even more powerful and skilled - and if Rey does decide to take Kylo up on that offer of him being her teacher, well she could become even stronger. This compared to Katara, who already knows when the series starts that she's a water-bender, and like Rey she teaches herself how to bend, even helping Aang learn. Katara becomes very powerful on her own in a short amount of time and discovers things she never knew she could do (healing), like Rey, until she arrives at the North Pole and meets Pakku (the most powerful water-bending master). After an incredible show of Katara being an independent badass about the misogynistic culture of the Northern Water Tribe towards female benders, she manages to be taught under him and become a generational prodigy/Master water-bender in an even shorter amount of time. Throughout Atla, Katara always fights for those who never seem to be able to fight for themselves, she gives Earth Benders hope to break free of a metal prison, she stays behind and helps a starving village even though it could jeopardize them from getting to their goal. Rey, although she has no obligation to, finds and helps BB8 (even after she is seriously tempted to sell him off) and then (with Finn) manages to get him across the galaxy to the resistance. They help those who are helpless, because they know what being helpless feels like.

In Book 3 Katara is forcibly taught how to use a now forbidden technique called blood-bending, and it's incredibly creepy and terrifying, but Katara isn't afraid to use it if it means it stops the people she cares about from getting hurt. Similar to how I think Rey is going to be struggling with the dark side, and how she may learn to tap into the darkness within herself in order to protect the things she cares about. Katara and Rey are both the main heroines of their stories, introduced in the first acts, and they are both incredibly strong and willful female characters who can take care of themselves, but they are also very vulnerable characters too. I'm sure wherever Rey's story takes her, it will be just as compelling, powerful and important as the one Katara's story told, and that the deep compassion these two characters have for others will display how Rey like Katara, can tell a tale that's hopeful, but most importantly human.

Now Rey's resemblance to Aang is a little more subtle. Obviously like Aang, Rey is the MAIN hero/heroine of the ST, just as Aang was the MAIN hero of Atla - it was mainly Aang's story as the Last Airbender, just as this will be Rey's. Similar to Finn, Rey also had an awakening in the Force, which I believe was the most obvious one for those paying attention. The Force is trying to find balance, and it awakened in her in order to bring about balance, just as how Aang is the Avatar and it's his responsibility to represent and bring about balance and peace in his own world. At the end of Atla, Aang was very conflicted between killing the fire lord for what he's done and represents, but sparing him because of what Aang believes in - and I believe Rey might have a similar conflict, and will have to go on a journey herself to discover what is right and wrong, good or bad. Within Legend of Korra, the sequel to Atla, the lore of that world was greatly expanded on. The Avatar is able to control all four elements, because the first Avatar became bonded to the spirit of light, life and balance Raava, and she allowed the Avatar to be reincarnated from lifetime to lifetime between the different nations. Raava in LoK is a guide to the avatar, and assumedly Raava was within Aang too, and represented a very powerful force of good. Similar to Rey, as although she has darkness in her, as Maz says to Rey "The light, it's always been there, it will guide you". Anakin will always be "the chosen one", but the force in one sense or another has chosen Rey to bring balance back to the galaxy, just as Raava reincarnated the avatar as Aang and protected him for 100 years in order for him to "awake" and bring back balance. Both Rey and Aang are vessels of power, chosen by forces beyond them, in order to bring about balance - and as Aang worked with Zuko to restore balance, so shall Rey and Kylo.

On the subject of reincarnation, or at least history repeating itself, there were these two parallels that really caught my eye...

^Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens.

^Toph Beifong in Atla Book 3.

Maz is talking about how since she's lived so long, she has seen for herself history repeating, and how even in different people, the same stories are being told over and over again. Whilst Toph is talking about the idea that we're not just trapped to one life, but that people can potentially find each other again through many different lifetimes and in those different lifetimes even if they're technically different people, our stories and souls are still there. That bonds of friendship and love transcend the boundaries of life and death. This is shown in LoK, where an elder Toph recognises the current avatar Korra and calls her by the nickname she called Aang, her friend. Because even though Toph is blind, and even though Aang and Korra were technically two different characters, she could recognize her friends soul within Korra and saw them as the same person. Toph saw history repeating itself through different people between Atla and LoK, just as Maz is seeing seemingly new stories that are actually a repeat of an old Tale, through the eyes of Rey, Finn and others in TFA. The same story told in new ways, as many Fairy Tales are.

^This idea applies to both the world of Atla, Star Wars, and real life too. The younger generations are the ones who will have to eventually take responsibility for the world they grow up in, for the world the older generation have shaped, and the older generations will always pass down the torch so the new generations can shape their own world and either maintain, restore, destroy or achieve peace and balance.

Symbolism and Mythos.

Both the Sequel Trilogy and the Three Books of Avatar the last Airbender have the main themes of growing up and finding out who you are, and both of them are about bringing balance, whether that's between the elements or the light and dark sides of the force. Due to both being visual stories, their use of visual symbolism is incredibly similar.

The main symbolism throughout both these stories can be connected to the concepts of Yin and Yang.

First I'm going to talk about the general symbolism of Yin and Yang between TFA and Atla, though I won't talk about how Yin and Yang are embodied in characters just yet. In Atla, for Yin and Yang we have the general negative vs positive, bad vs good, but we also have opposing elements such as Fire and Water/Earth and Air. In Star Wars, we've always had the Yin in the dark side of the force, and the Yang of the light, constantly circling each other, a continuous cycle of one overpowering the other, but never becoming one. There is always a little bit of bad in the good, and always a little bit of good in the bad when it comes to this concept. In TFA there are many symbolic representations, such as Jakku vs Star Killer Base, one a bright, humid sunny desert, the other a dark snowy forest etc, so I'm just going to go over the more obvious instances of the two sides of the force conflicting.

In TFA and Atla, both seemed to have Yin (the dark side/the fire nation) represented through red colors, whilst the Yang (the light side/the Avatar and his friends) is represented through blue colors - unless it has to do solely with Fire-bending. The Bridge scene and the final snow fight are the two most blatant uses of these Yin and Yang color schemes.

You've got Han walking out of blue/white light, towards his son who stands in the red and the dark. Though Yin and Yang are not fixed things, they are naturally supposed to move and flow and weave in and out of each other, lines and rules do not really exist in that sense.

That is a literal and metaphorical beam of light, coming from the dying sun (through the heroes Rey and Finn (REY of light - oh how subtle) and down onto the bridge), as if desperately reaching for Kylo to come back to the light side of the force, illuminating him in as much light/goodness as it can before it dies and disappears. Yang taking over Yin.

So in a character as conflicted as Kylo, when he begins to doubt himself and entertain the idea of 'coming home' the light within him starts to rise, which is represented by the blue/light colors growing stronger around him, whilst the dark side starts to circle around Han, probably him questioning if this was a good idea, drawing doubts in his mind, wondering if his son is really alive or if he's delusional. This is Yin and Yang circling each other.

And Yin and Yang completing the circle around each other, Yin growing in Kylo whilst Yang fades, with the opposite happening for Han. The light probably came back because he became confident and believed in his son, and the dark probably rose in Kylo again after either him remembering his test with his Master/the Supreme Leader and how his father had always abandoned him before, and or a darker entity taking over Kylo at that moment to give him a push towards the dark and let Yin win. Though after this moment, the light behind Han dies, as the sun is devoured by Star Killer, that "rey" representing the light side of the force loosing it's influence over Kylo as it disappears. (I wonder if that has anything to do with the power of the force in the Kyber at the heart of the star going away?)

Then Kylo kills his father, enveloped in the dark, and Han dies and falls into the light below, the Yin currently overpowering the Yang. But as Han falls into that light, the blue actually rises up and surrounds Kylo, as Kylo realises just what he's done and gets that look of pure guilt and regret on his face, Yang overpowering Yin, and Han's death allowing the light to fully rise up as it "awakens" once again in his son. When the Sun is still alive, the resistance still have a chance, but when it disappears the resistance start becoming defeated, but after the resistance wins, the Sun is returned to its rightful place. The Sun slowly dying, parallels the light in Kylo slowly fading, then when the Sun dies, the light within Kylo also dies, and then when the sun is revived and destroys the cold metallic planet around it at the end of the movie, that is a metaphor for the light within Kylo finally coming to the forefront, and instead of him oppressing it within the darkness and metallic/robotic nature of the First Order, it's finally awakening and cracking through. This is called the Kylo Son/Sun metaphor, and was very clever on the writers part.

This entire scene, the use of visual colors and themes to represent Yin and Yang is absolutely masterful, and is a technique that subconsciously allows the audience to see the push and pull between Yin and Yang going on in the scene, and the conflict in the characters, especially Kylo, without the general audience fully realising what's going on. In the last few episodes of Atla Book 1, there is an entire sequence that mirrors this use of colors and Yin and Yang.

That is the "Siege of the North" episodes, and in these episodes we get a visual representation of Yin and Yang, but also they use plenty of color symbolism, and instead of using the Sun to represent the good/the light that is needed for balance they instead use the Moon. Below is an image that shows from Atla the two Moon and Ocean Spirits in their physical mortal forms of two Koi fish.

"Twee and La. Your moon and ocean always circle each other in an eternal dance. They balance each other. Push and Pull. Life and Death. Good and Evil. Yin and Yang..."

- A description of the moon and ocean spirits Tui and La - End of Atla Book 1.

The moon and ocean spirits have a lot to do with the lore of water-bending, and represent the balance between the moon and the ocean, and the natural cycle of the moons gravitational pull through the lunar cycle and the tides.

At the start of the battle between the Water-benders of the North Pole and the Fire Nation lead by Admiral Zhao, the Water-Benders begin to become more powerful and will take the win, as a water-benders power grows as the moon becomes brighter and stronger, especially when it's a full moon as it was in those episodes. Just as the resistance had a chance when there was still light. At this point the North Pole is bathed in the bluish white of the moon.

Then further into the finale, Admiral Zhao devises a plan to tip the scales in the Fire Nations favor, by going and killing one of the spirits, the moon spirit Tui, in order to rob the Water Benders of their power, leaving only the Ocean spirit alive.

Just as Kylo was doused in Red as the sun died, representing the dark side enveloping him and the balance tipping, when Zhao kills the moon spirit. You could in a sense say the Moon dies, and it's blue light turns to blood red and darkness, the only true light being able to be seen is the small bursts of flame from the fire benders, which gives the episode this really unique and cool color scheme of flashes of color in the darkness.

The balance completely tips, the Water-Benders lose their power and begin to lose the battle, and the natural order of things is tipped into chaos, which is unnatural and should not have happened. Just like how the Resistance began to lose when the Sun died, and forcibly suppressing and killing a star to be used as a weapon was incredibly unnatural and completely tipped the balance in the force from light to dark.

The red glow slowly faded to black and white, as if by killing one side of Yin and Yang, all the life and color in the world was slowly starting to fade, that there cannot be life without balance. That this unbalance had to be put right, otherwise the world really would end. In Order for balance to be achieved again, the Avatar became a temporary replacement for the Moon spirit (Tui/Yang), since Aang was the physical embodiment of balance and could waterbend, so he took the Moon spirits place and then became a conduit for the Ocean Spirit (Yin) to use its power and destroy the Fire Nation fleet. This is similar to the combined efforts of Poe and Han blowing up the thermal oscillator in order to destabilize Star Killer Base and destroy it, taking a Victory against the First Order.

Though Aang could not take the Moon Spirits place forever, so Yue a young girl who was imbued with some of the moon spirits essence so she could live when she was a baby, sacrifices her life and becomes the moon spirit. Yep, she BECOMES THE MOON.

And in doing so, brings the Moon spirit back to life and restores balance, the Moon turns Blue again and the Avatar and the Northern Water Tribe won. Just as the resistance managing to destabilize the planet and bring back the sun, resembled the light returning, balance being restored and a victory for the "good guys"/resistance - although bittersweet (Yue dies to restore the balance between Yin and Yang, Han is killed trying to bring his son back to the light, and possibly causing the light and dark to balance within his son and crack through, or being the eventual reason for it).

The scene on the Bridge and the Siege of the North both use symbolic coloring of red and blue, dark and light to represent Yin and Yang. Many series use color symbolism like this, but I'd never seen something do it so similarly and effectively as Atla, where both of them are implying Yin and Yang in such a blatantly beautiful way. The Last Jedi seems to going to be using even more color symbolism, especially in marketing and linking it so heavily to the color red aka Yin the dark side of the force. Both I think to foreshadow the themes and direction of the upcoming movie, but to maybe also subvert expectations about the Dark Side - since in order to restore balance you need BOTH dark and light, and that even the characters of the light have much darkness in them ; aka why they're marketed in red as well, and that not everything about this sequel trilogy is going to be so black and white, or I guess you could say blue and red. Anyway, there is another point during TFA where this color symbolism and the circling of dark and light, Yin and Yang is also pretty obvious...The final Lightsaber snow forest battle between Finn and Rey versus Kylo. I'm going to go into people being conduits for either Yin and Yang later, so for now I'll just stick to the color symbolism in the fight, and will be comparing it to the Last Agni Kai, the fire-bending fight between Zuko and Azula at the end of Atla Book 3.

Finn for a short time, then Rey for the remainder of the fight wield Anakin's blue saber, which gives off a blue glow, that obviously represents the light side of the force - which is a continuity of the color symbolism from the scene I was talking about before. This Lightsaber is whole, so the plasma blade is steady and strong and does not falter. It is a metaphor for how steady and calm the light can be, and wielded by our heroes, represents the constant strength at the core of the light, and that those who can stay in the light and are not seduced by the dark will always be stronger than those who are of the dark (as Obi-Wan used to think). Obviously Lightsabers are just force-user weapons, no matter their color they can be used for bad and good as that Blue Saber is the Lightsaber Anakin used to kill younglings - so it's not a beacon of righteousness. It's more about the person wielding it. Though generally when a Lightsaber is used by a dark side user (evil) the Kyber crystal bleeds and turns red so you can usually tell anyway. The Blue represents the Yang in this fight. Opposing this, Kylo's saber is red and emits the red glow as it is of the dark side, therefore it represents the dark side of the force aka Yin. You could say the Lightsaber is not only a metaphor for Kylo Ren, but also for the dark side, as the Kyber crystal is cracked and broken, meaning the blade is volatile and unbalanced.

Blue = balanced Red = imbalanced.

A metaphor not only for the dark side and it's seductions, but also for the fact that the force in its entirety is unbalanced due to the dark side and dark entities working against the idea of their being freedom and peace in the galaxy. Throughout the fight, especially between Kylo and Rey, the blue and red constantly clash and circle, the light skimming off one person to the other, in a constant dance around each other. The changing colors representing the circling of Yin and Yang, the dark and the light between Finn, Rey and Kylo. The Fact that Kylo's saber was sliced/disarmed at the end of the fight was a visual representation of one side of Yin and Yang dominating the other, and causing another Imbalance - only when the blue saber was turned off, did the dark and the light begin to balance again.

Whereas the other scene was more ambiguous, this final fight was a direct physical representation of Yin and Yang fighting and trying to dominate one another, and one coming out victorious but not bringing balance. There is a fight within Atla, towards the end of Book 3, that uses color symbolism between two opponents to visibly show Yin and Yang fighting for dominance/power, and that is the Last Agni Kai.

Just as the entirety of TFA was building up to the fight between Kylo and Rey, so did Atla build up the final fight between Zuko and Azula. One of the biggest foreshadowings to Kylo and Rey meeting and then fighting at the end of the film was actually during her forceback, where she sees a masked Kylo in the Snow forest on Star Killer base, seemingly coming towards her from a hiding spot in a manner that implies violence/a predator stalking its prey.

This is one of many things the force shows her in her "flashbacks/flashforwards" (forceback). Similarly, in Book 2 of Atla, Zuko actually has a 'fever dream' of two dragons, a blue dragon voiced by Azula representing Yin and a red dragon voiced by Iroh representing Yang. The one voiced by Azula is cruel and bad, whilst the one voiced by Iroh is wise and good (Like an angel and a devil on your shoulder). It is incredibly stylized, Zuko's fever dream, just as Rey's forceback was very stylized.

These two dragons represent Yin and Yang, Zuko's inner conflict taking on a physical form in his dream, but also a foreshadowing of the fight and conflict to come between him and his sister. In Atla, fever dreams and spiritual flashbacks we're incredibly important and used to really help in terms of visually telling a story of what the characters may need to do/where they may need to go, the only two who really ever had them like this though were Zuko and Aang, the hero and the redemptive antagonist. These dreams were heavily connected to the spirit realm and the worlds balance. In the sequel trilogy, it seems there are going to be more forcebacks than just the ones in TFA, and I believe just as Aang and Zuko had these dreams, to parallel, it will be Rey (the hero/heroine) and Kylo (the potential redemptive antagonist) who will be having these forcebacks. The force showing them the past, present, the potential future and what they need to do to restore balance, as the forcebacks are obviously heavily connected to the force, just as the dreams were heavily connected to the spirit realm. (Also during the fever dream Zuko sees himself as the Avatar, which was a visual metaphor that it was Aang AND Zuko that would play key roles in bringing about balance, not just Aang, just as I think Kylo will play just as much of a key role into bringing balance back to the force as Rey will, and that they will both balance the force, not just Rey).

These potential snippets/dreams/force visions of the future are connected to these existential transcendent forces, but within both these fictional worlds, there is a potential way to "connect" to them more easily. In The Last Jedi, it's basically confirmed at this point that there is going to be a Force Tree on Ach-To. Now the tree doesn't have any relative "special abilities" or something like that, but it is a symbol of the Jedi order and a metaphor for the galaxy rebuilding itself. This is probably a tree that grew from a fragment of the one that was on Coruscant, or it may be an even older force tree that's always been there, we just don't know - probably the latter. It could also be used to better connect to the force and all its nuances, as it is a 'force-sensitive-tree'.

^The Force Tree on the Ach-To set in The Last Jedi.

To parallel this to the world of Atla, in both Avatar the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra there is a thing called a Spirit Tree, this huge tree that has Spirit Vines that grow across the entire planet, and connects all life and energy together, and therefore all life to the spirit world. It is a metaphor for the entire world not being separated, but that all life is connected and that divides are a man-made thing that mean nothing in the eyes of the spirit world. Just as Rey, Kylo and any other force-sensitive could use the force-tree to potentially better connect to the force and therefore the galaxy around them, the avatar could use the spirit vines and the spirit tree in order to connect and monitor all life on the planet, as the tree flows with energy from both the real world and the spirit world, so the avatar could easily see and locate practically anything.

Both Trees hold some sort of information that is important for the story, the Force-Tree about the possible origins of the Jedi and the true balance between light and dark, and the Spirit Tree showed Katara and Sokka the things that most upset them and cause them to feel regret, but also motivate them to move forward (Katara and her mother, Sokka and Yue) and it showed Aang how the balance of energy in the world worked and was connected, and showed him a vision of a young Toph, the girl he needed to find in order to learn Earth Bending and master another element in order to bring about balance.

Just as the tree showed Aang an important person he would meet in the future, perhaps the tree or going inside the tree will cause either Kylo or Rey to have a forceback and see potential past, present or future events? Or maybe there's something far more sinister lurking within the tree that we don't know about? In legend of Korra the spirit of darkness Vaatu was actually trapped within a spirit tree, perhaps some dark entity of the force might have been trapped within that force-tree long ago and could potentially corrupt or show the trilogies main characters some very haunting things?

That's more me wildly speculating, but it's fun to think about what secrets the First Jedi Temple and Ach-To might be hiding.

Anyway, back to the fight between Azula and Zuko paralleling the visual story telling techniques of TFA's final Lightsaber battle...You know how for the Water Tribe, they had a physical representation of Yin and Yang in the Moon and Oceans spirits Tui and La? Well for the Fire Nation, they also have their own physical representation of Yin and Yang. But unlike before, instead of the moon, these are paralleled more with the sun, and are far more similar in terms of representation and coloring of Yin and Yang in TFA then the two koi fish. In Book 3 of Atla, the episode called "The Fire bending Masters", Aang and Zuko discover the last two dragons, the twin dragons of Ran and Shaw. In this episode, just as the ocean and moon are in an eternal dance, Aang and Zuko both also dance with the dragons, and it looks like this...

Although they do not look as similar to the traditional symbol of Yin and Yang, this is the Fire Nations representation of both. The blue dragon represents Yin, the red represents Yang. They circle and dance around each other, until at the end of the dance they stop, balanced on both sides of the platform, and breath a column of colorful fire that shows Zuko and Aang the truth of fire bending - life and harmony. These two things are what make up Yin and Yang, they must both be present for something to stay alive, and together and in balance they create harmony - purple being one of the many prominent colors in the fire, a combination of red and blue. Neither dragon is bad or good, they could just as well eat you as they could teach you, all they do is show the natural order of things and display the greater balance. Unlike in TFA, the colors in terms of the Fire Nation are reversed, so instead of Yin being red like it was for Kylo, in Atla Yin in terms of fire equals blue, whilst instead of Yang being blue in TFA, it is instead represented as red. This meeting between Ran and Shaw allows Zuko to become humble, yet far stronger than he ever was, strong enough to face his sister - because just as Tui and La was about losing balance and restoring it, so was Ran and Shaw seeing the imbalance in Zuko, and allowing him to find harmony and a balance within himself.

The Last Agni Kai is one of the most beautifully animated and visually symbolic fictional fights in terms of its use of colors that I've ever seen. If you want to see a fictional world that uses colors as storytelling in the same extraordinary way Star Wars does, then Atla is the perfect series to watch. In this fight, Zuko used the traditional red flames and in turn the "red dragon", representing Yang (light and life), throughout the fight he was calm and steady, a pillar of true strength, honor and courage - just as Finn and Rey were. Unlike Azula, who used her signature blue flames and was a representation of the "blue dragon" in Zuko's fever dream, representing Yin (dark and death). During the fight, her sanity was started to slip, her usual calm and calculating exterior turning crooked and off kilter, barely able to use her usually perfect lightning, because it might blow up in her face, becoming weaker as Zuko become stronger - resembling Kylo's Lightsaber - unbalanced, broken, could explode in your face at any second. The entire fight was a true representation of Yin and Yang, the fight kept twisting and turning, balancing from one side to the other.

They may be opposing each other, but they are using the same element. Fire, the same, two halves of the same whole aka two people using the force, one is just represented by blue, the other by red for dark and light. Turned against each other in opposition, rather than united in balance. Zuko was winning until Azula used a dirty trick and broke the rules of the Agni Kai, which was very in-character for her, by which point the whole dynamic of the fight had changed. It was no longer Zuko and Azula representing an imbalance between Yin and Yang, and instead it transformed into what Yin and Yang look like when one has been completely overpowered, and so an outside force must come in and restore balance.

All of these examples of the symbolism of Yin and Yang through both Atla and TFA, show just how important the themes of balance between two opposing forces really are for these two fictional universes. The theme of Yin and Yang has been integral ever since the beginning of Star Wars, when the light and dark sides of the Force, and the Force itself were first introduced by George Lucas. In the same way, the lore of Atla show that a balance between Yin and Yang, dark and light was essential even before the events of Atla ever came to fruition. In Legend of Korra, the lore of the avatar is expanded on. I've already mentioned Raava and Vaatu before, but I'm going to explain what they are and how they link to Star Wars.

Raava (the one on the left) is the spirit of light, one of the most powerful spirits to exist. She is the spirit that keeps balance, and allows light and life and wants only peace. Raava is the primordial entity that lets the avatar find and keep balance between all four elements, and allows for the avatars reincarnation so the avatar can keep balance and peace for as long as Raava lives - and the day that she dies, so shall all life.

Vaatu (the one on the right) is the spirit of darkness, the only other spirit to exist that can match Raava in power. He is the primordial entity that represents chaos, darkness and death. If he were ever to destroy Raava, all life and light would be extinguished, and imbalanced chaos would rule. When we're introduced to them, they are fighting each other. Raava explains that her and Vaatu have been fighting since the dawn of time, constantly dominating the other, pushing and pulling. She says there are periods in which she rules, and in those periods light and life is allowed to thrive. Then there are periods in which Vaatu rules, and in those times chaos and death devour all. They are the original entities of Yin and Yang in the Atla universe.

Now, in Star Wars the Clone Wars there was an episode called the "Altar of Mortis", where three great entities of the force were introduced. The Father, the Daughter and the Son. The Father is a neutral entity who represents the balance in the force, visually shown as the 'grey'. However...

The Daughter on the left is an entity who represents and allies with the light side of the force, and has links to the Convorees who are as Dave Filoni put it "messengers/observers" and are "an avatar" for something that has appeared before - having heavy links to the light as well as the natural balance of the force. The Son on the right is an entity that represents and allies with the dark side of the force, and is constantly trying to cause chaos and overthrow his father and sister (They're basically the pinnacle of the Jedi vs the pinnacle of the Sith). They are both incredibly powerful, and are constantly fighting each other for and with that power. The father is constantly trying to stop his children fighting and restore an already tipping balance. They are in a way the light and dark sides of the force, and against each other they represent the Yin and Yang of Star Wars as Raava and Vaatu were the first Yin and Yang of Atla.

In Clone Wars, the Father actually chose Anakin to remain on Mortis and replace him, since Anakin was the "chosen one", so only he had the power to stop the Son and Daughter fighting and restore balance - but Anakin refused. So the Father predicted that by turning his back on his destiny to be the balance between the dark and the light, it would not end well for the force or the galaxy as a whole - and he was right. Just as Aang, the "chosen one"/the avatar turned his back on his responsibilities as the avatar initially and that lead to the elements falling out of balance and the world tipping into chaos, the Star Wars verse tipped into chaos and darkness because of Anakin - leaving the future generations to clear up the mess they've left behind. Also as a parallel, in these episodes, the Daughter actually sacrifices herself towards the end, and through Anakin she manages to put her remaining life force into Ahsoka, bringing her back to life and getting rid of the dark sides influence, just as Raava saved the First Avatar (Wan) and connected her life essence to his, and even reincarnated him after his body died.

The symbolism of Yin and Yang, opposing forces of dark and light coming together and finding balance are integral to both Atla and Star Wars, and will be the main focus of this Sequel trilogy.

Okay so beneath this, I'm going to start talking about some of my favorite ships, these pairings being Zutara (Zuko x Katara) and Reylo (Rey x Kylo Ren) so if any reasonable, normal person out there doesn't really like these ships or has a problem with them (or if you an overly sensitive anti - chill), cheers for reading up to this point, but I suggest you end the adventure here - for your sanity and mine. Though if you have no problems with these pairings, or are just curious, then let the adventure continue...

Zutara and Reylo.

Where do I start?

Yes, I am a Zutarian who is still bitter to this day that Zutara did not become canon. I mean the last thing I'll dramatically exclaim to the person next to me on my death bed is "Zutara...should...have...sailed...*extremely dramatic death exhalation* " and have it pre-inscribed onto my grave (It's up to you to decide whether I'm joking or not). Any reylo's reading this that have not shipped Zutara and or have been aware of it - even with the toxic, and I mean TOXIC, shipping wars...Believe me it was just as bad if not worse than what reylo’s get (Insert extreme cringe) - if you want an example of a ship that not only survives after being sunk by canon by in terms of its fandom does THIS ->

....that's Zutara for you. As shipping should be, canon is nice but it's not necessary, as Zutara fic/meta writers and artists will make you believe - aka when the fandom and fanon is so out of this world you can no longer distinguish it from canon.

Anyhow, the same things that initially drew me to Zutara are also pretty similar to what draws me to the Reylo ship, because in terms of what they represent for their respective stories, and for each other, to me that was incredibly special, powerful and made/make the stories so damn compelling - even more so than they already are.

Just to start, no, Zutara did not become canon at the end of the three books of Avatar The Last Airbender, instead Katara was paired with Aang - and as much as I don't mind the ship (an 'it's a sweet relationship' *shrug* - since I love both characters), throughout the series Katara had always been positioned as such a motherly figure towards Aang, that it just felt a little strange that the mother and son/big sister and little brother figures were suddenly kissing each other? (To be honest, I would have preferred it if romance to that level wasn't a thing in Atla - sure hint at it, but leave it overall ambiguous until the characters get a little older and a little more mature, I mean Aang and Katara were 13 and 15 by the end of Book 3 - and the story didn't necessarily need it as text for the little kids, leaving it as subtext would have been more appropriate). Katara always seemed like more of a prize to Aang in terms of a 'girlfriend' than anything else, going off of his selfish attachment to her, (selfish love vs selfless love) that initially left him unable to open his crown chakra and lead to him being locked out of the avatar state. Whereas their friendship felt far more genuine, and I loved those interactions between them. That in a series as complex and layered as Atla it just seemed so...generic? Especially with how it was written and set up. Hero always gets the girl, et cetera... Something we've seen a thousand times before, that was made canon because out of the two original creators Bryan and Mike (Bryke - the bitter moniker) one of their young children liked the idea of Aang and Katara together. Literally, that was one of the main reasons. No, Zutara did not become canon in a romantic sense (platonic yes)...but there was a high chance it was going to be.

There may be three books of Atla, but originally before it was cancelled, there was going to be a fourth book; "Air". I think I will be forever grieving for that final book. Not only would it have completed the cycle of the 4 elements for each book, it would have answered so many things. It would have shown Zuko learning to become Fire Lord and truly restore balance between the four nations, with the help of Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph. It would have gone into the concept of the air nomads being reborn naturally into the world, having Tai Lee revealed as an Airbender and Aang searching for and rebuilding the Air Nation. It would of gone into more depth on what happened to Zuko's mother (instead of having to go to the comic to find out - even though it was a good comic). It would have dealt with the aftermath and consequences of Aang using energy bending, as well as more on Iroh's back-story and his adventures. It would have shown the gAng come all the way to adulthood and finding out what they wanted to be after the War, seeing them fully mature. It would have explored more of the lore of bending and the spirit world instead of having it in LoK etc. AND, it would have featured either a romance/an extremely developed and trusting friendship between Zuko and Katara that not only would have been good and equal for both characters involved, but would have been a symbolic representation of two nations who are of opposite elements and have been divided against each other for a century - finally become allied and united through the love of two people who represent either side.

I mean...

^THIS was a teaser poster of Atla Book 4 featuring Katara and Zuko, created by one of the series lead artists and animators, so they knew what they were doing and had a reason for doing it. (I'm not going to go into the reasons why Zutara was the relationship being set up by the head writer and one of the best writers out of the crew who worked on Atla - Aaron Ehasz - and why it would have fully revealed itself in Book 4 if there had been one, there have been plenty of people before me who have laid out the evidence for this).

Katara the badass Master Water-bender: who loved to help people, who was a prodigy of her craft, who could have become an inspirational figure to the world, who could have done amazing things on top of the legendary achievements she did during the war, who people saw as a hero and who could have been an ambassador between nations, or something even more... Did she become any of that? Did people remember her name and talk of her in awe? Did she get a giant statue that people looked up to as an inspiration (like Aang, Sokka and Toph did)? Did she become a powerful world leader? or even just an influential political figure?

No. No she didn't... Instead we find out through the Sequel - The Legend of Korra and through the comics that Katara did in fact become a house wife to Aang. Yes they loved each other and were for the most part happy, but Aang was gone for long periods of time due to his duty as the avatar and wanting to restore the Air Nation. Leaving Katara at home as a house wife with the kids waiting for him to come home. Due to one of the children being an air bender, compared to the other two, there was an unfair discrimination between who Aang gave the most attention to, which as you could guess was the air bender; and lead to a bit of a dysfunctional family life. All she was remembered for was as the Avatar's wife, and being the best water-bender/healer in the world, which she practically was already on her way to being by the end of Atla Book 3, and managing to outlaw blood bending. That's it, and it is impressive, but she could have done so much more.

In all honesty, at that point what made me angry wasn't the fact that Zutara hadn't become canon, I didn't mind it as much as long as Katara's character was done justice and she was truly happy. That her development throughout Atla in becoming strong and independent, making allies throughout the Nations and wanting to change the world for the better was something that would follow her character into the future as one of the main Heroines, and she'd become a figure as legendary as the other members of Team Avatar became. But she didn't. Her character became seriously underused and seriously undermined - that's what made me angry. She became someone that just sat patiently and loyally at Aang's side, which is fine and I'm not saying that it's wrong for a woman to want a quiet normal life and raise a family, that's perfectly alright, I have no quarrels against that at all...but the character that I've followed and watched grow up, looked up to even, for three seasons of one of my favorite shows... A character as strong and motivated as Katara, it just felt... wrong.

Instead of becoming a Symbol of growth and strength as she was in Atla, of branching out on her own like the other members of Team Avatar did, her character simply seemed to become stagnant and fade. Even though Katara was still friends with Zuko and Toph, in LoK their friendships were never addressed, no reunion, nothing. I mean, Toph and Zuko were more present/more helpful than Katara in LoK (and even their characters in the time between Atla and LoK hadn't seemed to of had much luck), with Katara being used as a generic healer and mouth of exposition. I have faith that something like this will not happen to Rey, certain of it even. That her character won't just fade into nothing, that it doesn't matter what ships become canon, or what her parentage is, just that she will become an inspirational and compelling character. A symbol of strength and balance between dark and light. A force of justice, peace and kindness - and that however her story ends, it will change the galaxy and the people who live within it for the better, and that she will be remembered both by the characters in Star Wars and the fans who love Star Wars so much.

So now I've got that off my chest, how does this ship relate to reylo?

Enemies to Allies to Lovers.

Act 1 -

The Heroine and the Monster she sees.

In their two stories respective First Acts (TFA/Book 1) they: Katara and Zuko/Rey and Kylo are ENEMIES. Neither are allies, nor friends, or in any kind of relationship. Both are two powerful force users/powerful benders who are mainly composed/representatives of the Dark and Light/Fire and Water, opponents on opposite sides of a War between those who wish to conquer to gain "order" (aka power) and those who want freedom. Who throughout the First Act are built up to be opposing equals.

Sure Aang/Sokka and Zuko were enemies, but straight away Zuko beat Sokka and Aang beat Zuko, leaving no room/tension for a big battle later compared to the build up between Zuko and Katara, or even Aang and the Fire Lord. Similarly, Finn was a foil for Kylo and they were enemies, but Kylo did not take Finn seriously as an opponent and quickly defeated him, leaving it to the equally as strong force-sensitive Rey - who the fight was actually built up for. Whereas Finn is a hero who has more to do with the resistance side of things, and was used as a bait and switch for Rey (which was a little annoying, as I love Finn's character as much as I love Rey's, but Rey and Kylo seem to be the "force plot" for the moment).

In the Heroines Arc/Journey, the heroine always has an Animus. The Animus is the heroines proverbial "shadow". They are a character that mirrors the heroine, equals them, makes the heroine initially harbor negativity towards them and motivates them to fight. To combat the bad the Animus creates and instead do good, or vice versa. The Animus in these tales is usually a male antagonist to the female heroine, and they follow the heroine throughout their story. When the Animus is first viewed in a negative light, they are more of a shadow, a dark presence that both parallels and threatens them. So in the story at some point the Heroine and the Animus will come face to face and the heroine will defeat her Shadow, usually quite early on. Only after the Animus and the Heroine can possibly reconcile and become allied/something more positive, becoming their mirror/motivation in a more neutral sense. In these circumstances, the concept of the Anima doesn't really apply, because Zuko and Kylo so far do not show any signs of anger or personal hatred towards their heroines - only cold contempt, annoyance then later compassion (and for Kylo a bit of obsession due to possible force visions he's had of Rey assumedly throughout his life).

Katara was the main female Heroine of Atla, and within mainly the First Act (due to that being the time Zuko was the main Villain), Zuko was Katara's animus - her antagonistic shadow. He motivated her, by being the one that pushed her to leave her home, who propelled her into her Heroines Journey by her saving Aang, and trying to keep the avatar away from Zuko, a constant shadow and threat to the people she cares about. Zuko to her being a physical embodiment of The Fire Nation as it's scarred monstrous rageful Prince. The Fire Nation - who killed her mother, in a way took her father away from her, maimed her Southern Tribe until it was a crumbling ruin and had constantly tried to take away and destroy everything that she loves and holds dear. So in her eyes in Book 1, he is her greatest motivation to fight, because to her he represents everything "bad" in the world and nothing "good". Katara really hates and opposes Zuko for it.

Rey is the main Heroine of the Sequel Trilogy, and like Zuko to Katara, within the First Act (TFA) Kylo is her Animus - her shadow. He is the First Order's Warlord, the one mainly after the map for his Master and for personal reasons, a map that compelled Rey to leave Jakku aka "home". That propelled her into her Heroines Journey, and the map she is trying to keep away from him and the First Order. The Heroine being shadowed by the Animus not only throughout the movie, but also from the novelisation, shadowing her "in a daydream, in a nightmare" (aka force visions). He is her equal opposite in every sense, trying to find out who and where she is even when he knows next to nothing about her (aka should not be focusing on her). By the end of TFA he is a "monster", a representation of all the evil and darkness in the galaxy (after killing her mentor figure and threatening everything she cares about and loves) and she cannot help but despise him for what he's done.

Kylo and Zuko are the dark to the heroines light. At least in the First Act, to the heroines they are 'evil', since they're the representation of the "evil/bad" in their fictional universes. For Katara and Rey it makes the situation in terms of morals a little more black and white. But as Atla kept going, and Katara began to learn more about Zuko her view of the world and him started to turn far more grey in terms of what is 'right and wrong', and I think Rey's viewpoint will become far more grey/neutral in terms of seeing the world and that it is not always as simple as the extremes of light and dark as she begins to learn more about Kylo and his past.

In Book 1, Zuko and Katara are aware of each other from the first episode, but the first time they both start to see more than the surface layer of each other is about half way through Atla's first season - episode 9 - "The Waterbending Scroll".

In this episode, Zuko actually captures Katara after Katara ran off alone into the woods to try and practice her bending, due to her being upset over something happening in that episode. He sarcastically quips at her "I'll save you from the pirates," immobilizes her, trying to get her to tell him where the Avatar is. Instead of lying to her, he is completely honest in his knowledge and his reasoning for hunting Aang, and instead tries to reason with her, never does he physically harm her. He even says he'll give back Katara's mother necklace (as a bribe yes), but it appeals to her on a personal level - the fact that Zuko found something so precious and special to Katara and brought it back to her, even under those circumstances, must have been shocking and it's unlikely she forgot about it. This is the first time Zuko shows a calmer/softer side to an enemy - saying "try to understand" - and that's one of the only times in Book 1 that Zuko actually smiles. Katara is just as sarcastic to him as he is to her, and is very non-compliant and stubborn.

This scene heavily reminded me of the first meeting between Kylo and Rey in the forest on Takodana, in terms of the run time paralleling at the fact it's about half way through TFA, where Rey runs off into a forest and gets separated from her friends as she's upset about something. Where her Shadow manages to find her, immobilize her and then interrogate her about something he wants to find; the droid that contains the map.

And although the scenes between Katara and Zuko are not as long or seemingly as important in terms of the plot, as the ones between Kylo and Rey (TV series vs 2 hour film), Zuko interrogating Katara also reminded me of the scene that happens just over half-way through TFA, the interrogation scene.

Kylo's main goal is to interrogate Rey and get the Map/the location of the First Jedi Temple out of her head, using the force in a way that - even though it will hurt either way as she's resisting as she rightly should - does the least harm to her as possible and uses no physical violence (from him or the stormtroopers under his command, as if he's protective of her in that sense). Unlike what happened with Poe, him getting beat up before being interrogated, and Kylo brutally ripping out the information from Poe's thoughts.

In the Novelisation, he even tries to reason with her, trying to make her 'understand' and that he 'doesn't want to have to do this'. He even says things like "Your my guest" (which I believe is just as sarcastic as what Zuko said to Katara about saving her from the pirates). And "Don't be afraid, I feel it too...", which is not something you say to an enemy you're trying to get crucial information from. It's at this point in the movie that for the first time, like Zuko, he displays his softer/more vulnerable side (by taking off his helmet) and at some point Kylo even slightly smirks/smiles.

Now obviously Katara and Rey don't want to be in the situations they're forced into, trapped by the "monster". Both Katara and Rey give Zuko and Kylo sarcastic and stubborn replies, even though they both have moments of extreme surprise (Katara's necklace/Kylo taking off his helmet), and actually succeed at not giving away any information at all. Rey even takes it a step further and copies Kylo in order to read HIS mind (when they both figure out she's a force-sensitive badass). Both the Heroines' manage to escape and save themselves from the predicament they find themselves in, and escape with their friends. But for Rey and Katara this is the first time they really get to learn more about their enemy/their animus as a person, rather than seeing just the surface level of purely evil - Katara seeing Zuko's honesty/reasonability and Rey seeing Kylo's deepest fear.

Going a bit off track here for a second, some people have speculated that the Lightsaber Kylo was holding in the forceback and the original TFA trailer could possibly be Obi-Wan's Lightsaber and that he has it. If Kylo does have Ben Kenobi's old Lightsaber, and if the theory that Rey is a Kenobi is true, that Lightsaber would be connected to her heritage and could possibly give her force-visions of her (potential) grandfather and would be very special to her and really connect Rey to her past. So if this were true, and Kylo were to give it to her that would be astronomically monumental and important and something she'd probably never forget.

It would parallel Zuko finding Katara's mothers necklace and in the end being the reason it's returned to her (after Aang wrestles it off him), albeit it in less than friendly circumstances, but he still gave her back something she thought she had lost. That was precious to her because not only did it represent her heritage and where she comes from/who she is, but it also is something to keep her mother close/a family member she loves who has died.

Just as Rey being given her (potential) grandfathers Lightsaber allowing her to finally be at peace with waiting for her family, and understand where she comes from and her heritage, but to also keep a family member she most likely would have cherished, Obi-Wan, close to her in some form.

Coming off of that little detour my brain decided to take, and going back to the parallel I was talking about before...This meeting between the Heroines and their Animus also build up the personal connection/opposition between them, for the eventual climatic conflict between both, where the Heroine finally defeats her Shadow.

Defeating the Shadow in the First Act -

Zuko vs Katara/Kylo vs Rey.

Before when talking about Kylo, I've already highlighted how you don't have the antagonist defeated early on in their arc unless they're going to get a redemption. What I didn't talk about is how it's actually the Heroines' who are the ones to defeat them (their Animus's) at the end of Act 1. After the fights which are very back and forth, Rey defeats Kylo and Katara defeats Zuko, both are the two big personal one on one battles that have been built towards/foreshadowed the entire movie/season. They coincide to a second good vs bad storyline going on around them (The Sun and the Oscillator/The Moon spirit and Siege of the North).

The Animus/Shadow throughout both Atla and the Sequel Trilogies First Acts loomed over the Heroines', so by Katara and Rey defeating them (NOT the heroes Finn/Aang who are instead set up/being set up against different enemies) they are no longer a 'shadow'/an overbearing threat to the Heroine. Instead they become broken antagonists, so they can be reformed/built up again as equals to the Heroine instead of above or beneath them. Except usually rebuilding their character also means changing them onto the side of good, so no longer are the Heroine and her Animus opposing equals by the end of the story, but instead are allied equals. Still mirrors of one another, but instead of being in each other's shadow they stand side by side, two halves of the same whole.

It is Katara and Rey that knock down Zuko and Kylo from their ledge of superior arrogance, humbling them and cracking their facade of power and strength. In terms of the story, after the battle, Zuko and Kylo would be considered "beneath" the Heroines in strength (contrary to their actual power) due to being defeated. This the event that allowed Zuko's character to be humbled, to go on a journey of self-discovery and start his redemption, broken down then reformed as a stronger character. I believe by Rey defeating Kylo, this gives Kylo's character a similar opening to be broken down, humbled and then as Zuko was, reformed and become far stronger for it. By the end of Atla, Zuko and Katara became true equals, just as I believe Kylo and Rey are and will be. Equals.

It's almost like a balancing act: the Animus is dominant, then the Heroines dominant etc until either one of them dies or they reach a state of balance. In the case of these battles, both the Animus characters could have and almost died, ending with one side still dominating the other. In the fight having moments where they seem to balance, but eventually tip one way or the other.

That is why these two fights are so symbolic of Yin and Yang. How Katara and Zuko/Rey and Kylo represent not just Yin and Yang to each other, but they are the main characters who represent Yin and Yang for their respective stories. We had the Yin and Yang of water in Tui and La, the Yin and Yang of fire in Ran and Shaw, but the Yin and Yang of water (the moon) and fire (the sun) were Katara and Zuko (Aang may have been the Avatar, but he was the symbol of balance and was never as visually representative of Yin and Yang). The same can be said of Rey and Kylo. Except for the fact that unlike how Yin was Katara and usually represented feminine traits, whilst Zuko was Yang and represented male traits (having a bit of both in each other). Star Wars reverses gender roles, having Rey (a rey of light - representing light/life - usually masculine) be Yang, whilst Kylo is represented more as Yin (more associated with the feminine, dark/death). Yet like Yin and Yang they still have a small part of each in one another, Kylo having light within him, and Rey having a darkness in her that I think in the upcoming TLJ she will have to deal with and address, which I thought was very intelligently subversive and interesting on the writer/directors part.

Both these fights overall have 3 main stages, though their structure is a little reversely mirrored in the fact the first 2 parts of the Atla fight are in one location (the spirit oasis), whilst the 3rd is in a different location (the frozen waste). Compared to the TFA fight where the 1st part of the fight is in one location (the interrogation room), whilst the 2nd and 3rd parts are in another location (the snowy forest on Star Killer). For this comparison, I'm going to skip the obvious mirroring of Kylo and Rey at the start of the fight, aka both felling a tree in a similar way whilst the other ducks sideways, or the way they bounce of each other like Yin and Yang, as shown in the previous gif. Yin and Yang are not stagnant, neither are they usually equal, they are in an eternal dance circling and trying to dominate the other, which I think is perfectly represented in these two fights.

1. Zuko reaches Katara, who is guarding Aang at the spirit oasis due to him being immobilized. They fight, and because the moon is at its strongest, so is Katara as she manages to overpower Zuko with strength and skill and knock him unconscious. Yin dominating Yang.

At the end of the interrogation scene, Kylo makes a last ditch attempt to get the map/location out of Rey's head. Unfortunately for Kylo, Rey has been learning from him how to combat and fight against his mind tricks, a power suppressed for so long finally fully awakening thanks to Kylo, and she mimics him. She seems to be just as powerful if not more powerful in terms of using Jedi-mind tricks, and manages to overpower Kylo in the force. Yang dominating Yin.

2. Then the sun comes up, and Zuko says this...

"You rise with the moon, I rise with the Sun" - (which I think is a perfect mirror opposite to Rey and Kylo, and a good overall representation of Zuko and Katara's Yin and Yang). Due to the Sun coming up, he is then more powerful than Katara, and manages to beat her back and knock her unconscious, taking Aang away. Yang dominating Yin.

When Kylo intercepts Finn and Rey in the Snowy Forest on Star Killer, initially he completely overpowers her in the force, and knocks her unconscious against a tree after she attempts to shoot at him. Yin dominating Yang.

Then later after Rey wakes up, and Kylo has severely injured Finn and tries to take Anakin's saber, she again completely overpowers him in the force. Yang dominating Yin.

After THAT Kylo and Rey have a Lightsaber duel, Rey initiating it whilst also trying to win in order to protect Finn and stop Kylo. Though, Kylo is more skilled and more powerful than her at that point, and manages to overpower her, and push her towards the edge of the cliff. Kylo's fighting style is similar to that of a firebender, sacrificing defense for an almost completely offensive fighting technique (very dark side/sith), whilst Rey's fighting style is more like a waterbenders, fluid, a mixture of defense and offense blending into one another, though at the moment Kylo is beating her back. Yin dominating Yang.

3. Zuko manages to get away with Aang, but ends up lost in the frozen waste and holes up in an ice cave until nightfall. That's when Katara and the rest of the group find them. The moon has now risen once again, making Katara more powerful, and Katara quickly and efficiently ends the fight by defeating Zuko. If Aang hadn't decided to take Zuko with them back to safety, Zuko would have frozen to death, showing how an unbalance in Yin and Yang can lead to death. Yin dominating Yang and coming out triumphant.

Now something interesting happens between Kylo and Rey on that cliff, when Rey starts tapping into the force, I believe she's actually going into Kylo's mind too. They are "finding the force" together and influencing each other, as Yin and Yang do, and for a moment I think they find a balance. As the blue light and the red light reflect onto both Kylo and Rey, representing both of them in balance between the dark and the light. Yin and Yang balanced.

Then Kylo's dark side energy and probably something more start to influence her, whilst Rey's light starts to influence Kylo (could be a bleeding effect between the two from their potential force-bond?) for a moment the light/Yang takes over Kylo whilst the Yin/the dark starts to take over Rey, reflected in the red glowing over Rey and the blue glowing over Kylo by the end of the montage of choker shots between them at the edge of the cliff. Although Rey represents Yang and Kylo Yin, for a moment they have an inner-battle between Yin and Yang themselves.

Yin and Yang for the moment have swapped sides.

Rey then uses this dark side energy and motivation to make herself more powerful, and she begins to overpower Kylo, who has become weaker due to the light conflicting with the dark in him. The next image is a visual metaphor of one side of Yin and Yang overpowering the other, as one saber is higher/raised up and the other lowered down - Yang dominating Yin.

Then one side of the force completely overpowers the other/Rey completely overpowers Kylo, and slices his face. She could have easily killed him, as he is already wounded, also representing an unbalance between Yin and Yang potentially leading to death. Rey overall represents Yang, even though she has both Yin and Yang traits - light and dark - at that moment, leaving Kylo wounded on the ground like Zuko was, with Rey above him as Katara was, having won the battle. Yang dominating Yin and coming out triumphant.

Through these paralleled fights of the Heroine defeating her shadow, we see how they represent Yin and Yang, and the stories visually show us a representation of Yin and Yang trying to dominate each other for control. Yin and Yang, as I've stated before, has always been an integral theme in Star Wars; but never has it been as powerfully and metaphorically linked to two characters as the Sequel trilogy has done for Kylo and Rey. Just as Zuko and Katara were the physical embodiments of Yin and Yang. This theme of Yin, Yang and balance between the two is just going to be further explored and developed as the trilogy continues, just as it did between Zuko, Katara and the other characters of Atla. Don't get me wrong, just because these two characters are represented as Yin and Yang to each other, does not mean they are each other's foils. There are differences between their character personalities, of course there are, but they are not so opposite in background and personality as to be opposites. They are actually very similar. Just as Yin and Yang have a bit of one another in each other. In terms of personality, Katara and Rey have darkness in them, just as Zuko and Kylo have their own light. Katara once almost killed a man in vengeance and out of rage, as he was the man who killed her mother. Even though she didn't kill him, she could "never forgive him" - which, in a kids cartoon was very thought provoking, a powerful message and incredibly deep/controversial, a topic adults struggle with. To compare, Rey taps into the dark side at the end of her fight, and the rage she uses doesn't come from nowhere, but is trapped within her own heart at being always left behind, always forgotten, a darkness she will explore and eventually have to face - her own conflict between the dark and light just as Kylo has his own inner conflict.

Rey and Katara have their own inner darkness, just as much as Kylo and Zuko do/did. Rey could have easily killed Kylo at the end of that fight, she was given plenty of time to do it before that chasm divided them, even tempted to do it by a dark/mysterious voice that most people assume was Snoke using the dark side to try and influence her (in the novelization) - but she didn't. Same as Katara, she could have easily killed Zuko, and insisted that Aang leave him to die, but she didn't. Katara and Rey at the end of their fight, instead of feeling no remorse, they felt pity and compassion for their vulnerable, defeated enemy, and spared their lives. I believe if that ravine hadn't formed between Rey and Kylo, just as Katara and her friends saved Zuko so he wouldn't freeze to death and left him in a safe place, I think Rey would have tried to have helped Kylo and possibly even handed him over to his mother and the resistance - but alas the force had other ideas. (Yes I did see that heart shape that formed around Kylo on the cliff, it's almost as obvious in terms of visual foreshadowing as Zuko holding a betrothal necklace around Katara's neck).

Kylo and Rey end their stories first Act's as enemies, just as Zuko and Katara did. Going from here it's the continuation of the Heroines journey and the beginnings of a redemption for her Animus, and a possible alliance.

Act 2 (and 3 for Atla) -

Anything beneath this point is just speculation based upon information given before The Last Jedi comes out, so I'll have to wait until I've witnessed the actual movie to see if I am correct. Just read, have fun and speculate for yourself. Also I do not believe reylo will become romantically canon in ep VIII, as that would be WAY too rushed, but instead they will start to build up a character relationship/bond between the two characters, and sub-textually foreshadow the potential romance of ep IX.

Enemies to Allies - Humanising the Monster.

Due to the differences in the pacing between Zuko's and Kylo's redemption Arcs, the amount of time they interact with the heroine will be a little different. Unlike Zuko and Katara, who in the second Act - Book 2: Earth - only interacted for one episode (even though it was a very crucial episode as the season finale), whilst it seems Kylo and Rey will be having an abundance of interactions in The Last Jedi. So to talk about "Reylo" in The Sequel Trilogies 'Act 2', I will be referring to and comparing "Zutara" moments from both Book 2 and Book 3 of Atla.

The End of Act 1 in both stories, the Heroine and her Animus part ways as enemies, so when they again meet the Heroine will initially be hostile to her broken Animus. When Zuko and Katara reunite in both the crossroads of destiny in the cave, and after Zuko's betrayal when he goes to the western air temple to try and join the gAng - Katara is extremely antagonistic towards him, especially for the latter scenes. In these situations she is wary, untrusting and spiteful towards Zuko as he is to her a symbol of everything that has hurt her or the people she cares about. She is angry at him because of what he represents, and what he has done. The second time she lashes out at him is in order to push him away, because he betrayed her trust the first time she opened herself up to him. Though Zuko never engages in actual combat with her, instead trying to communicate with Katara and make her 'understand' his reasoning.

Although this is only speculation, there is a possibility that Kylo and Rey in The Last Jedi may share force visions/they can sense each other and their emotional state through a potential force-bond. This would build on the personal link they created between each other from using the force to search the others mind. Unfortunately, I don't think Rey dug as deep and saw as much in Kylo's head, as he saw in hers (he had more training then her and far more practice, so that makes sense). They may know things about each other that nobody else does, but as individuals they don't really KNOW each other if that makes sense. Kylo sees more similarities between him and Rey, than Rey does between her and Kylo, and his actions in TFA certainly don't help him. When Kylo and Rey confront each other on the island of Ach-To, and it's almost certain they will collide with each other in the second Act (The Last Jedi), they are going to fight. Even with a potential force-bond and having been inside his head, like Katara, Rey is probably going to be extremely antagonistic and will try to be emotionally apathetic towards Kylo. She will try to focus on defeating him as an enemy and a threat. However, just as in TFA, Kylo will be antagonistic towards her, but similar to how he was trying to bargain with her to be her "teacher", I think he will again disobey his 'Masters' orders and will be obsessed with the idea of bringing her round to his point of view and 'trying to make her understand' as Zuko tried to with Katara.

If the rumors are true about Luke pressuring Rey to kill Kylo, and perhaps to parallel Snoke potentially ordering Kylo to kill Rey, they will both be fighting each other as a "test" to their masters. I believe, as hard as they might try and or want to kill each other, they will fail. And the answer to why they will fail is simple, they both have compassion for the other. They HAVE been inside each other's heads, so they understand one another to some capacity. Rey knows he is 'lonely' and 'afraid he can't live up to his grandfathers "strength"', and Kylo knows she is 'lonely' and 'afraid to leave'. Rey pitied Kylo at the end of their fight, even after all he'd done, and Kylo feels like he's finally found someone who can truly understand him and 'walk beside him'; which is why he offered to be her teacher. Snoke even says "You have compassion for her" in the TFA novelisation, which was recorded for TFA but not used. Rey tried to dehumanize Kylo and make him the 'monster' she sees him as, just as Katara tried to with Zuko, but Katara and Rey are two very compassionate characters - and Rey is especially compassionate and understanding when it comes to monsters (as shown in The Forces of Destiny). Also, the last time Rey almost killed Kylo, she was doing a balancing act on the edge of the dark side, and I don't think she will want to leapt off that cliff into the dark side by taking Kylo's life. If her and Kylo really do share a force-bond, well... let's just say they're not going to be killing each other any time soon, or ever for that matter (you know, because if someone you're force-bonded to dies, it's like getting your soul ripped in half - doesn't sound like something you'd want to go through).

In order for the Heroine to begin to trust the 'broken' Animus, he will either have to do one of two things. He will either...

Have to betray the side he has so far been associated with and allied too, by betraying and fighting against those he was originally fighting beside/ex-allies that were on the side he was originally on - in order to either help/protect the protagonists.

And OR...

He will have to "save" the heroine.

In Atla, after being rejected by the protagonists, Zuko does both of these things. I've mentioned before that in Book 3 Zuko sends an assassin to kill Aang and his friends. His 'title' in the show was "Combustion Man", and he was extremely deadly. After meeting with the gAng at the Western Air Temple and being turned away then accidently burning Toph, 'Combustion Man' tracks them down and attempts to using his unique fire-bending ability to kill them. Except Zuko comes out of nowhere and starts fighting against the assassin that HE originally sent, and actually saves the protagonists from being "combusted".

Straight after this happens, although Zuko is now part of the protagonists and Aang accepts him as his Fire bending master, due to his betrayal before Katara still doesn't trust him. She confronts him, and threatens that she'll 'end him' if he puts a foot wrong and tries to betray them, hurt her or her friends again. They may be on the same side, but they are not "friends" to Katara and even though Zuko wants to be her friend, Katara is still antagonistic towards him.

Now in an episode a little bit after the events of 'combustion man' called "The Southern Raiders", the western Air temple is attacked again by Azula and the Fire Nation. In the destruction, some of the temple starts coming down, specifically some of the ceiling begins to fall on the place Katara's standing. Instinctively, Zuko pushes Suki to safety, and then tackles Katara out of the way of the rubble, using his body to shield her from the falling debris and then cushioning the landing for her. He saves her, it's like another "save the cat" moment, except less subtext and more just text. Katara at this point is still wary and untrusting/antagonistic towards Zuko. So even though he just saved her life, she is still quite short with him, but I do think she is grateful - just too prideful and angry to show it.

Then after this happens, after the moment of the 'Animus saving the Heroine', Zuko goes and confronts Azula. He fights her and manages to almost make her fall to her death. In this scene, Zuko also falls off one of the Zeppelins Azula and Zuko were fighting on, and begins to fall. Although Aang manages to get Appa beneath Zuko to catch him, it's Katara that extends her hand and manages to save him. Even though she didn't seem grateful for Zuko saving her life, she still remembered it and she saves him in turn, showing the subconscious decisions she's making to begin to trust and care for him as an ally; even though she doesn't verbally show it. Actions speak louder than words.

In The Last Jedi, if and when Kylo arrives on Ach-To with the Knights of Ren, there's a possibility that if one or more of the Knights of Ren go after Rey, and for some reason her life may be in imminent danger, Kylo may just turn on the Knights and fight them (or at least fight someone of the First Order/someone he's supposed to be on the side of); betraying them and possibly killing one or more in order to protect her. That's just speculation on my part, but it's interesting to think about.

There has been theorizing and speculation of the infamous "cliff scene" for a while now. This potential scene is at the point where Kylo and Rey collide again, and Yin and Yang once more begin their fight and circling of each other. Except in this fight, it has been thought that Yin or Kylo will come out on top, due to something that happens and the environment their duel takes place in. Basically, Rey and Kylo have a Lightsaber fight that details a higher level of skill and power from our Heroine and Animus, than the one at the end of The Force Awakens. Rey will be backed up onto the rocks on the edge of one of the cliffs of Ach-To (in a storm most likely - so rain and low-visibility). Our heroine will fall off the edge of the cliff, whether she loses her footing or something else is uncertain, and she will rapidly descend into the tempestuous waters below. (I severely doubt Kylo would push her, if he was going to kill her he'd just stab her with the Lightsaber, and he wouldn't potentially risk losing his 'prey' like that +we've mentioned before the reasons why he doesn't want her to die). Now, this wouldn't be so much of an issue, except for the fact Rey grew up and spent the majority of her life on a desert planet; so the chances of her knowing how to swim are virtually nil. Rey is a powerful/strong character and force-user, but just because someone is strong doesn't mean they don't have moments where they need help. Katara needed plenty of help throughout Atla, even a moment were Aang saved HER from drowning, but I'd never dare call her a weak character.

The main focal point of this theory is not that Rey falls off into the ocean, but that Kylo jumps in after her in order to save her. If Rey falls off that cliff, and Luke is busy fighting the Knights of Ren, Kylo is the only one who can make the decision to either let her die or save her from death (especially if there is a sea monster(s) within the water). If this were to happen, I would expect Kylo to hesitate, even start walking away, especially if Snoke does order her death; he will be tempted to let her die and prove his worth to his master. Though as I said, Kylo will fail this 'test', because of compassion. He would not disobey his masters orders for no reason, he will dive into those waters and risk everything he's worked towards, because on some level he cares about her. Rey is the only person Kylo has ever met who he thinks can really understand him and equal him, in the force and in terms of the similarity of their personalities. That doesn't scare him, it intrigues him. That's why he didn't kill her before, and that's why if she falls of that cliff in front of him, he won't let her die. This would be even more powerful if they do share a force-bond, because then he'd be able to feel her drowning and her fear as his own, like feeling a part of yourself slowly dying in front of you. This scene is only a possibility until The Last Jedi comes out at Christmas and confirms anything, but if there is a more textual/literal instead of subtextual "save the cat" scene like this that parallels the one Zuko and Katara had, where the animus instinctually and selflessly saves the heroine... It will be the catalyst that changes the dynamic between the heroine and the animus, from antagonistic to potential allies.

(^Rey on the Ach-To cliff set with rain/wind machines, hair down and jacket off, using a Lightsaber instead of her staff so she's probably fighting Kylo - as it seems the other scene next to the water where she's potentially fighting a sea monster she will be using her staff and she will have a cloak on).

(^Behind the scenes of the Last Jedi - Daisy Ridley jumping into and being filmed in water - wearing her original costume so she's almost definitely on Ach-To, or in the ocean surrounding it - not sure whether this is when she battles the sea monster, or when she falls into the water after slipping off the cliff).

IF the "cliff scene" does happen like or in a similar way to this, and Kylo manages to drag a near drowned and soaked Rey onto either a small outcropping/beach/cave on Ach-To, Rey obviously isn't going to become "best buds" with him immediately. Rey and Kylo were only minutes before opposing enemies, so like Katara was to Zuko, Rey would definitely be extremely confused and she'll be questioning Kylo's motives. She will probably be antagonistic towards Kylo, or try to distance herself from him, but I don't think she'd attack him again. Not after he just saved her life. Rey will be untrusting and cautious towards Kylo, but whatever happens on that cliff and in those waters would probably also make her question her own view of him, and the image she has of him as this "monster". Now, Kylo and Rey aren't alone on this island, so if this 'cliff scene' happens, it's very possible Luke will find Rey and Kylo when they make it to shore. If Luke does order Rey to kill Kylo as an enemy, it's plausible Luke will try to go after and kill Kylo whilst he's weak and vulnerable. If that does happen, I believe Rey will step in and stop Luke from killing him, failing her 'test' to Luke as she doesn't want to kill Kylo, but also defending Kylo because he saved her. Just as Katara helped rescue Zuko, because subconsciously she trusted him to be on their side since he saved her life; the Heroine saving the Animus.

(^concept art/concept scene for The Last Jedi).

Compassion.

So far I've been talking about Zutara scenes from Book 3, because it's Book 3 where Zuko and Katara really turn from enemies to allies, as I believe is what will happen for Rey and Kylo except in The Last Jedi (not ep IX). Though, there is one scene I've neglected from Book 2 of Atla, one of the only character scenes between Zuko and Katara apart from their fight afterwards, and that's the "cave scene" in the episode called "The Crossroads of Destiny". This episode was the season finale for Book 2, and was an extremely important episode. It was reminiscent of the end of The Empire Strikes Back, where the protagonists are broken, on the run and the Antagonists have for the moment won, there seeming to be barely any hope - ending the second Act in a dark place as I believe The Last Jedi will end. I've mentioned how at the start of this scene Katara was angry at Zuko, linking that to Rey being angry at Kylo, but I haven't talked about what happens after.

In the scene, Zuko and Katara are imprisoned within a cave together, and after Katara gets angry at Zuko, she exclaims about how the Fire Nation took her mother away, getting quite upset about it. Zuko, who had remained passive and quite quiet with her for most of the scene (he behaves differently around her than most people - more reasonable, less aggressive), he turns around to her and says "That's something we have in common.", as Zuko's mother was technically taken away because of the Fire Nation and what Ozai did. Zuko and Katara are in many ways the same, just on opposite sides of the war because of where and who they were born to. This scene in the cave is the first time Zuko and Katara realise that the person they thought were the complete opposites of them, aren't actually so different from them after all. In this scene they open up to each other, and they show the other what lies beneath the surface; not just the Fire Nation Prince and the Last Waterbender of the Southern Tribe, but a very lonely and confused boy, and a very scared and sad girl. Zuko and Katara meet each other half way. Katara begins to lower her guard and trust him, and Zuko becomes more compassionate and open to her than anybody before. They learn about each other, openly and without any ulterior motives. Just a pure need to comfort, understand and be understood by the other. By showing the similarities between the antagonist and the protagonist like that, to both the audience and the in-story heroine, your humanising the supposed 'monster'.

Then something extraordinary happens. Katara no longer sees Zuko as an enemy, but as a kindred spirit who she sees has the potential to change. So she offers to heal his scar, using a special water called spirit water she got from the spirit oasis at the north pole, that was to ONLY be used in extreme circumstances. Very important magical healing water, and she offers it to Zuko without a second thought. In the scene she even touches his scar, a scar he has not given anyone any real permission to touch before. But he lets her, because he trusts her. To Zuko, at the time that scar represented everything wrong with him and his life, every bad thing and Katara offers to heal that. She offers to heal all those wounds, externally and internally, physically and metaphorically. Not for any motive, but because she wants to help him. Earlier in the season, Zuko goes on a date with an Earth Kingdom girl (Jin), and she tries to touch his scar at the end of the date and Zuko stops her. So touching the scar does have a romantic context, but also... Zuko has never gotten this kind of trust and compassion from what is ultimately a complete stranger, who knows everything about him in terms of being of the Fire Nation and an enemy but nothing about him as a person. Not even from the majority of his family did Zuko ever get what Katara tried to show him (excluding Iroh). When Katara touches Zuko's scar, she is touching everything he deems to be corrupted, wrong and weak about him - his "dishonor" - and she accepts that. Before she judged him for the mask he wore, but now she is accepting him for who he actually is, scars and all.

In The Last Jedi, there is a rumor that Kylo is going to be stuck on the island of Ach-To with Luke and Rey. Whether the island itself won't let them leave or something else being the reason... it's unknown. This would obviously be after the supposed "cliff scene" if it does come to pass, and would be a period of time in which all three of them would have to get along to some degree. I have a funny feeling that if the events of the cliff scene and after happen, Luke and Kylo may want nothing to do with each other, but that will not be the case for Rey and Kylo. After saving her life, Rey will most likely be cautiously wary (due to the events of TFA), but also curious about him. If Rey and Kylo share a force-bond Rey, just like Kylo probably has, will most likely have force-visions of what happened in Kylo's childhood, his life leading up to the Jedi Temple incident and the truth of what happened at that temple. A force-bond isn't necessary for her to have these visions, but it would make a lot more sense in terms of their "mysterious connection". Also force-visions are a lot more thrilling than either Kylo or Luke giving an exposition dump. On the island, especially if they have a time skip, it will be almost impossible for Kylo and Rey to avoid each other completely. Especially if they can sense/feel each other on a metaphysical/telepathic level through a potential force-bond.

It's possible they may spend that time subtly getting to know each other, through either the possible force-bond or just general things they do as training or day to day on the island; revealing their personalities and being less closed off. They are curious about each other after all, and slowly Kylo will in Rey's eyes (and therefore in the audiences eyes) become less of a "monster" and more human. Through back-story and him beginning to reveal his true personality (Ben Solo - not Kylo/ him attempting to be Vader 2.0) and even the truth of why he turned to the dark side, (and the possible revelation of a force-bond between them). Rey will go from caution/antagonism towards Kylo, just as Katara threatened Zuko's life and blamed him as a symbol of her life's misfortunes in that cave and on that cliff in "the Southern Raiders" (it's possible Rey will parallel that by accusing Kylo of things whilst they fight on the supposed "cliff"), and she will become more akin to Katara in the cave with Zuko, as she will attempt to trust Kylo and show compassion for him. Rey will start to see through the cracks in Kylo's proverbial mask, and eventually accept Kylo for who he is, and not the dark side puppet Snoke tried to mold him into. They won't become allies like this over night, it will take time, and it will be subtle in its development.

In terms of the scars, I've talked about the fact that Zuko's and Kylo's scar's come from two very different circumstances contextually, but metaphorically they represent the same things. There is a headcanon in the community that Rey could potentially touch Kylo's scar as a gesture of acceptance yet regret.

It happened for Zuko between him and Katara, as he was going into his redemption arc. I don't see why it can't happen for Kylo between him and Rey; with Kylo also going into his redemption arc. If Rey were to touch Kylo's scar, the scar she gave to him out of anger and vengeance from tapping into dark side in TFA, a scar that represents his "weakness"/his compassion for her... It would be a symbolic metaphor that she once gave him that scar when they were enemies, and she saw him as a monster, but now she would touch that scar in acceptance of them being allies, and her accepting him as something more than just a monster. A visual parallel of Han touching the scar to forgive his son as he dies and show him he accepts him, and Rey touching the same place to also forgive and show she trusts/accepts him as he realises what he's living for - perhaps?

Between Katara and Zuko, it was discovering the similarities between each other that initially started to humanise him for the heroine. For Kylo, as Rey and him begin to learn about each other, I think the similarities between them for the characters and the audience will become even more apparent than they did in TFA. Aka Yin and Yang discovering they have a small part of each other within themselves, which would fit perfectly with the idea of a force-bond. She would be showing compassion for the pain he's gone through in his life, and coming to understand in a way they are the same and that she accepts the monster, because the monster is actually a human who has the potential to change. Katara saw the potential for good in Zuko, and I think Rey will also see the potential for good in Kylo. Alike to Iroh being the first to see Zuko's light and then Katara coming to see it, Leia has already been the one to see the light within Kylo, Rey will be the one to see it also and will play a key role in his redemption as one of Kylo's most important character relationships. Whilst Luke is still wary/cautious of Kylo when him and Rey begin build a bond of understanding and trust. (This could potentially be why Luke blows up an Ach-To stone hut, with Kylo and Rey possibly being inside - Also speculation from rumors for TLJ, nothing concrete - I mean there are probably a crap ton of caves on Ach-To, so something like this could happen in one of them instead - I don't expect it to, but it's still fun to think about, and a scene like this could potentially happen in ep VIII or ep IX, depending on where the story goes and how fast the development moves with these two characters - or it might not happen at all, we'll just have to wait and see).

Even if the "Touch the Scar" moment doesn't literally happen, figuratively I still expect there to be a moment where, after learning about who he really is and his past, Rey will understand Kylo and accept him. That it will go both ways. Kylo will begin to understand up close what Rey is like as a person instead of simply a "scavenger", just as Rey will understand what Kylo is like as a person instead of a "Monster", and their similarities and differences will be what draw them together. Initially wary, but as the film goes on the divide between them and the morality of black and white merges into a more grey outlook for both of them, from what they discover at the First Jedi Temple, in visions and from each other. Even what Luke may teach them. They will begin to really KNOW each other, and after being abandoned for so many years, they will find true belonging through one another.

Battleship.

One of the exciting things about this ship, is that to simplistically put it, Kylo and Rey are both force-warriors. They can both use the force, they are both fighters and will not be easily defeated, both are skilled in combat, and both are still/going to be training to become even more adept in the ways of Lightsaber fighting and the force.

The same can be said of Zuko and Katara, both of them were warriors, they didn't necessarily need help to do something. They were independent badasses who could take care of themselves, especially in Book 3 when their strength and skill were at their peak. In Book 3, there was an episode I've mentioned before called "the Southern Raiders". In that episode, the main storyline is Zuko trying to show Katara that he can be trusted and wants to help with the pains/scars of her past as she did for him, by tracking down the man that killed Katara's mother. Since Katara kept mentioning how her mother was dead when Zuko confronted Katara about why she despises him, and concluded she had laid the blame of her mother's death onto him since he was a symbol of the Fire Nation to her.

(^The Cliff confrontation I was talking about before).

The episode was one of my favorites, not just because of the interactions between Katara and Zuko, but because of some of the heavy themes it explored, and how it centered around and gave development to Katara one of my favorite characters. In the episode Zuko does not try to control or influence Katara in any way, he simply gives her the information that he knows, and supports her in any decisions she makes. Having her back. The episode gets pretty dark at some points, but Zuko doesn't try to stop her, because he knows what having inner-darkness is like, and a rage against the injustices of the world - and he knew that was her own personal choice to make. He understood. And when Katara did something incredibly powerful, Zuko did not see it as something to be scared of. Yes he may have been afraid, but he also admired Katara for her strength. (Yin as the blue to the left in the image below, Yang to the right as the red in the image below - aka Yin and Yang in conflict, Katara on the edge between sparing a man's life or taking it, and Zuko seeing/sharing in that conflict - both also representing balance between the two opposing forces).

Now in this episode, it's the first time we see Zuko and Katara work together as a team. Water and Fire. Yin and Yang. To find the man who killed her mother, they must first sneak into a Fire Nation mapping outpost, then attack a boat they believe he's on and finally find the man who killed her mother (Yon Rha). They work flawlessly together, most of the scenes where they fight/do something along side each other they don't have to communicate, they just do it. They fight as equals, each making up for each other's weaknesses and strengths. Zuko nor Katara ever take the lead, they don't need one, they lead each other. Their teamwork a thing to be reckoned with.

This teamwork only grew stronger after this episode. They balanced each other. Individually they were strong, but together they were in terms of other enemies, practically unstoppable. As warriors, they represented what Yin and Yang look like when they work together in harmony, confident in the others abilities, having found peace within themselves and are a balanced force. Two halves of the same whole.

Just as Zuko supported Katara when she was making her own decisions, facing the horrors of her past and confronting the darkness within herself, it seems Rey will come to the same crossroads. There is darkness within Rey, but before now she's never had to deal with it in terms of the force until Kylo came along. Kylo has been battling and knowledgeable of this inner conflict between the dark and the light ever since he was a child. It's possible that if he spends time with Rey, he will see that she is also beginning to confront and find conflict with the darkness and the light within herself as was subtly introduced at the end of The Force Awakens. Who is the enemy? What is the right path to take? Who is she? Where does she belong? Is it right to kill? Will she be tempted by the dark? What does balance really mean? Just like Zuko, Kylo would only give her the knowledge he has and any support he can give. Kylo could potentially help her face her inner darkness and discover her past/who she is and where she belongs, especially using the force-tree/different artifacts and locations of the original Jedi Temple on Ach-To, but... Ultimately he will let Rey be the one to decide what path she wants to take, and how she wants to deal with her own conflict between dark and light. Just as Zuko did for Katara. Kylo does not need to take her hand as if she were a child, all he needs to do is have her back. Because he understands what it's like, and he will have compassion for her in that. Hopefully if they build a strong enough bond (a force-bond would help), then they can help each other stop their inner conflict and instead find inner peace and balance.

Kylo and Rey are already warriors in training. It's obvious Rey is going to be training with Luke, and Kylo might be training with Snoke and the Knights of Ren, and or if he gets trapped on Ach-To he may relent and start training with either Rey or Luke in both combat and the force. Kylo and Rey as individuals will use the force differently than Jedi of the past. They will, especially if they train together under Luke, begin to realise just as he has about "The balance" and how it's "so much bigger". It seems Kylo and Rey will learn how to not just tap into the light or dark side of the force, but they will be able to encompass and use the entirety of the force. Make both the dark and light balance, then use their strength and skill to command that. In the Force Awakens, when Rey overpowered Kylo, or showed him just how powerful she was in the force, or just her strength in general... His face was never one of true terror, or anger, or dismay as you'd expect from a villain (a little smugness but that was about it - his arrogance and more antagonistic nature showed with Finn, and practically more with everyone else in the entirety of TFA apart from Snoke). For the most part it was a face of pure awe, perhaps even pride, just as Zuko was when he saw Katara being powerful. Slightly afraid, but always seemingly encouraging, curious and awed.

In fact, Zuko throughout Atla is never really verbally or emotionally antagonistic towards Katara, and Kylo is only really antagonistic towards Rey when they first meet. The rest of the time he is just curious about her and wants to teach her. It's Katara and Rey who are actually MORE consistently antagonistic towards Zuko or Kylo. Kylo is not afraid of Rey's power, he relishes it, just as Rey is no longer afraid of Kylo's power since she defeated him in TFA. I believe this will keep going into TLJ. Kylo loves how strong Rey is, he WANTS her to become even stronger, and if they are going to train together he will encourage her even more. Though Kylo will not be the only one. If they do form a bond, they will teach each other things and make each other stronger, encouraging the skill and power in the other to flourish and become refined. True teamwork. The Force has chosen these two, or it has awoken specifically in them for a reason (as well as Finn). Kylo was already powerful in the force whilst he was in the womb, and Rey has shown to be just as powerful in the force as he is. We've seen how powerful the Jedi of the light side, or the Sith of the dark side can be, so what happens when you take the power from both sides of the force and combine them as it seems is going to be a main theme in the sequel trilogy? That would make Kylo and or Rey on their own EXTREMELY powerful, potentially the most powerful force-users we've seen in terms of the Star Wars movies. Revan would be a good example of just how powerful a force-user can become when they tap into and balance both sides of the force. So individually they have the potential to become incomprehensibly strong, but if Kylo were to become stranded on Ach-To and him and Rey were to train with the other in Lightsaber combat AND the force (especially if they have a force-bond, which would allow them to share their power and use one another's different force-abilities and communicate/sense each other across the galaxy instantly)...

Together as a team, they have the potential to become practically unstoppable. Two characters who have the light and dark, Yin and Yang, balanced within them and then they as characters representing Yin and Yang being in balance as equals? Combine that with their individual intelligence and already acquired skill sets, it's crazy to think about what they could become, and what they would mean for the galaxy. The perfect conduits for the force to be in balance. Of course this isn't going to happen overnight, and I'm assuming that balancing both sides of the force within you is much more difficult than simply being seduced to/choosing one side or the other.

If they do become allies in The Last Jedi, Kylo gets stuck on Ach-To and they train together or at least fight alongside one another. I think we're going to see some of that team work I talked about above. I think Kylo and Rey at the start of TLJ will be fighting each other, but by the end they will be fighting together. Having trained and become better at Lightsaber fighting, they will work fluidly and effortlessly as a team, and will become a true pair of force-warriors fighting side by side. Which would continue in episode IX. Just as Zuko and Katara were by the end of Atla. A force to be reckoned with.

(^Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley training for Lightsaber combat against multiple opponents using the same type of weapon props - the long wooden staff like sticks - In The Last Jedi Behind the scenes).

Chemistry.

In terms of Zuko and Katara in Atla, once they became true allies and friends in Book 3, their character relationship was very interesting to watch. They were the two most mature people in the group, so they acted as almost parental figures to everyone else, especially Katara throughout the entirety of the show + Zuko was always quite a mature character. They played off each other well, and when they were no longer enemies, as both teamwork in battle and in terms of their personalities they just seemed to click. They were snarky and sarcastic to each other, but when it came to it, supportive and were able to understand the other. They were similar, but still different in their own ways. They gave comfort when it was needed, and knew when the other needed space. They worked together, and improved each other. They trusted the other, enjoyed one another's company, made sure they were each alright. One did not seem or show that they were stronger or weaker than the other. They were equals who had each other's back and respect, but neither did they follow each other blindly. They were their own people, whilst still retaining that close bond. And for characters who used to be enemies, they had amazing chemistry. Zuko and Katara made fun of the other, but never so much as to be cruel or mean, and they did things for the other selflessly...and just genuinely made the other smile. Zuko and Katara after they became allies never had a malicious argument, they always listened to each other, communicated and believed in one another. They were fun to watch interact, and the scenes that they were in together were always very compelling.

If what I've talked about before rises to fruition, then this is what I'd expect a character relationship to be like between Rey and Kylo. The Force Awakens have already shown us how similar Kylo and Rey are, yet how different too: they both seem to be stubborn characters, both honest, both conflicted, both have past feelings of abandonment, both don't know where they belong, both are force-users of seemingly equal power, both are fighters and both are survivors. As for personality, I have a feeling we're going to see a lot more of Kylo's dark humor, comedic moments, sarcasm and snark. As well as more of his emotional as well as compassionate/generally passionate personality, his intimidating and powerful force-warrior skill set as well as maybe even some social awkwardness like Zuko had. I feel like a lot of it's going to be taken in and reciprocated by Rey. Both are generally witty characters, and I expect just as much banter between them as Zuko and Katara had. But where Rey is more logical, Kylo is more reckless. In that they can help the other, play off each other's strengths and weakness and together help themselves improve. Like Katara and Zuko, with characters who have such similar yet different personalities and pasts, I think watching their characters bond over that and learn about each other is going to be incredibly compelling. Even in the Interrogation scene, their characters played off of each other's personalities well, and that's when they were enemies.

Imagine what their chemistry would be like if Kylo joined the same side as Rey, and they worked together as a team, just as Zuko and Katara did. I think it would be good for both Rey and Kylo to find someone who is not only a force-user like them, but is someone they can easily connect to and feel like they understand - who aren't family. Kylo and Rey, just like Zuko and Katara, are already very mature characters due to what they've been through in their lives. Finding someone they feel like they belong with, especially after the both of them have been alone for so long, would be something they wouldn't let go of for anything. They would be impossibly loyal to each other due to that, in all honesty it'd probably be extremely difficult to separate them. I don't focus on the subtexual sexual tension between them a whole lot, because a physical relationship between them isn't so much in terms of canon what I'm interested in, though the sexual subtext and attraction is there. What I'm more interested in is two souls finding their kindred spirit in a cruel world, and not feeling so abandoned and alone. Finding somebody who can understand, and love unconditionally. It's a powerful theme and message, one I'm sure will be incredibly important for the trilogy and it's fans, as love/romance in Star Wars has always been important - especially in a trilogy that's going to have a "central romance", even if it's only foreshadowed in Act 2. This Trilogy is about watching them grow up and mature even more, finding out who they are, and finding out where and with whom they really belong. Maybe unlike how Zuko and Katara never got to fully realise how far their bond could go, perhaps it will happen for Kylo and Rey, and Yin will finally be able to become one with Yang.

Forgiveness.

In Atla Book 3, after Zuko and Katara come back from the "journey" they take together in episode 16: Zuko proving himself to her that he can be trusted, that he has been redeemed and that he really is their friend, Katara forgives him for what he's done in the past. The theme of forgiveness was a heavy subject in that episode, and although Katara doesn't forgive the man who murdered her mother (which was what the episode was focused around), she hugs Zuko and physically and verbally shows she fully trusts him and understands him as an ally, a warrior and a friend.

"...But I am ready to forgive you." - Katara to Zuko.

It was a very soulful scene, that fully displayed how much the two characters had developed and grown, individually as well as strengthening the bond they share.

A lot of people say that Rey will never be able to forgive Kylo for what he did in TFA. I don't agree with that, I don't think Kylo will be able to forgive himself for what he did, just as Zuko could never forgive himself. But, if Zuko can change and Katara can forgive Zuko for all the bad that he did in Avatar The Last Airbender. Then if Kylo can change, Rey can forgive Kylo for what he did in TFA and might do in The Last Jedi. Forgiveness is a bit like redemption, it's a person's individual choice. You can do things to influence them and make it easier to forgive the guilty, but in the end only you can decide whether you want to forgive somebody. That's why some people, as Katara with Yon Rha, can never be forgiven. Though, that is also why Kylo CAN be forgiven. If Han can forgive his son after Kylo stabbed a Lightsaber through his chest, Rey can do the same. Though she wouldn't forgive him for no reason, as I've talked about above, both Kylo and Rey will need to go through a bit of character development first if that's to ever happen. In an interview with Carrie Fisher before she passed away about the new Sequel Trilogy, when being asked about Kylo and him not having any "friends" in the upcoming movie, Carrie's immediate response was....

"Well Rey is very forgiving."

...And proceeded to try and cover it up, by saying Kylo has no friends and he's a jerk. I rest my case. Luke was the one who originally forgave the redemptive character in the original Trilogy, this time perhaps Rey will be the one to forgive Anakin's grandson. Katara's forgiveness was important to Zuko, and I think Rey's forgiveness will be something very important and meaningful to Kylo too. That it will have just as much impact as Han's sacrifice, or Leia's love and hope. Depending how the story of this Trilogy continues from here, a scene where it shows that Rey forgives Kylo for what he's done could happen in ep VIII or ep IX. It could be in a literal of figurative "Touch the scar" scene, it could happen even at the very end of the story, when Kylo would potentially be banished for his past crimes - and Rey shows forgiveness. We will have to wait and see.

After Zuko and Katara become allies and form a strong connection, I've mentioned how Zuko and Iroh reconciled, but before the nephew faced his uncle Zuko was incredibly guilty and worried about facing Iroh - due to his past mistakes. Katara was concerned about him, asking him what was wrong. It was Katara who comforted Zuko and gave him the compassion and courage to face the man he had betrayed, and that all he could do was show his candor and true regret at his actions. That he loved his Uncle, and was sorry.

Katara was the only one to gently and calmly reassure Zuko amidst his own emotional turmoil, in the middle of a war no less, because at that point she knew him and wanted to support him. Again they meet each other half way, trust each other, and give each other the maturity and solace they do not ask for, but know the other needs. If everything I've talked about before takes shape in some form or the other, the fact that Luke and Kylo may not want anything to do with each other is a great possibility, but they tolerate the other because they have to. I wonder if Rey will be the one to mend the bond between the former Master and Student, as well as the relationship between an uncle and his nephew. If the poster indicates anything, it's that Rey is going to be a bridge that connects Kylo and Luke across the chasm they've formed between each other due to past events. Just as Katara was the one who gave Zuko the courage to face a family member he has betrayed, so shall Rey give Kylo the encouragement and courage to dauntingly face the family that he's betrayed. Rey is going to be the one to help repair a conflicted/shattered boy and broken family; just as she repaired broken junk on Jakku. That the blue light that glows between the red is the "Rey" of hope for not just the Skywalker family, but for the force and the galaxy too. She will be the one to introduce a new way, a new path, a new choice amongst all this darkness, chaos, isolation and extremes - the Skywalkers and her merging the blue and red together, in order to create balance.

Now what I'm about to talk about is less likely to come true. If Carrie Fisher had lived to take the big role in ep IX that she'd wanted, then I'd be almost certain of this idea coming true. If, and that's a big IF, Kylo and his mother Leia do meet in ep VIII, then I would think that it'd be Rey who would give Kylo the courage to face her after all he did in the past, like Katara gave Zuko the courage to face Iroh even after all his bygone sins. That Kylo and Leia would have a reconciliation scene just as Zuko and Iroh did, and that their Heroine's would make them brave enough to confront their demons. Unfortunately I'm skeptical that Kylo will collide with Leia in ep VIII, especially as a protagonist/after Kylo's turning point (though I'm more optimistic of the twins meeting in The Last Jedi) and it's almost certainly not going to happen in ep IX due to space-mums passing. It's a skeptical but hopeful thought, though I'll be keeping my expectations low until the moment I'm proven wrong.

Act 3 (and what could have been Book 4 of Atla) -

Allies to Lovers - The Force in Balance.

I will have to wait for The Last Jedi in order to properly speculate on Episode Nine, whatever it's going to be called. I've already done some vague predictions for ep IX, but those will only be confirmed in 2019 or at least made more/less likely with The Last Jedi's release. What I'm going to speculate on now is the possibility of one or two story points, but mostly what the themes and symbolism will be in the last episode of the trilogy. For Atla, at the end of book three, whilst Aang with the help of Sokka and Toph went off to fight the Fire Lord, it was Zuko and Katara who went to fight Azula - their main personal antagonist, you could almost call her their Anima. Originally it seemed like Katara and Zuko were going to fight her as a team, but Azula wanted an Agni Kai, so Katara had to wait and let Zuko and Azula fight it out. During the fight, Azula targeted Katara with lightning, knowing she was one of Zuko's greatest weaknesses in that instance. Zuko jumped in the way of a lightning bolt screaming "NO!" in order to protect Katara, managing to deflect the lightning, but at the cost of becoming seriously injured.

Then Katara got her wish, and had to fight Azula in order to get to Zuko and save him. Katara won using skill and quick tactical thinking, as Azula was a little unhinged at that point, and managed to reach Zuko and save his life - completing their arc to become forever bonded as warriors, allies and friends. Friend is probably too small a word to be fair. They thanked each other, and it wasn't just a thank you for helping/saving the other in the fight, but for all Zuko and Katara had done for one another across Book three and even before that. Zuko saved Katara. Katara saved Zuko. They saved each other.

Even though they didn't fight Azula together, as they'd been training, they did both have a hand in defeating her - the nightmare enemy whose been haunting them since Book 2, and the snake like sister whose been tormenting Zuko since he was a child. I actually loved Azula and even Mai as villains, but I always found it to be sweet justice that Azula was brought down by her "underdog" brother working together with an equal prodigy water bender, who were originally enemies turned allies. That evil with never win, because Azula in her madness/cruelty and being on the side of bad lost all her allies, whilst Zuko in his new strength as a protagonist found true friends. And together they triumphed. Yin and Yang finally balanced, and peace could be brought about.

In this sequel trilogy, instead of Kylo and Rey fighting the beta villain like Zuko and Katara did, it's obvious they're going to be fighting the "Big Bad" AND any possible force-beta villains that arise. With the help of Finn, Poe, Rose and the resistance of course, who I believe will have crucial roles in both 8 and 9 against the First Order (I might do a meta about them later). Again, just skeptical theorizing on my part, but a scene like the one Zuko and Katara had, where Rey and Kylo have to "save each other" isn't so farfetched. It could happen in The Last Jedi, where maybe Kylo or Rey get injured protecting the other, or someone they care about like what happened with Finn in The Force Awakens. Or it could happen in Episode 9, in the final big fight, where either the Animus or the Heroine do something to protect/save the other ("I'll come back Sweetheart, I promise".) and then it's left up to the one that remains to protect THEM and eventually save their life. It's a very tension building and an on the edge thrilling way to structure a fight, sort of like passing the torch between the Heroine and the Animus, that brings out all the raw emotions in the characters. It could also happen the way that Katara thought Zuko and her were going to fight Azula originally... together. With both Yin and Yang working in tandem, balanced and having each other's back, strengthening the other in order to defeat the enemy. Though I believe the latter is more likely, either one would be impressive, and show how much Kylo and Rey would have grown and changed from their First Acts, as well as how much they will have come to care and feel protective/understanding of the other. An unbreakable (force)bond.

Right at the start of Atla Book 1, there was an episode with Aang and Katara called "The cave of two lovers". Initially it was supposed to be a Katara x Aang episode, as the historical story behind it was of course about two lovers, and there's even a moment where Katara and Aang try to kiss to get out (too early in their relationship for the kiss to be meaningful, especially to Katara). But, the historical story of love that was told in the episode never seemed to really add up, or parallel the Kataang relationship.

The story was about a woman called Oma, and a man called Shu (who were represented by red and blue). They were people of two different Earth Kingdom villages, having been at war for so long they'd forgotten the reason. Even with the state of their two villages, they discovered each other on a mountain one day, and two people who should have been enemies on opposite sides of a war, bridged that gap of hatred and fell in love. They learned Earth Bending from the original benders, badger moles and became the first human earth benders, and would meet in secret in the caves they created; the ones Katara and Aang were stuck in. Unfortunately due to the war, the man was killed. In her rage and sorrow over Shu's tragic death, Oma used her incredible power over the Earth to stop the War and bring about peace, creating the city of Omashu. It was a very Romeo and Juliet esc story, but seemed to have nothing to do with Katara and Aang, who were always on the same side and never had any such angst. To me it always seemed more of a Zutara foreshadowing. Obviously the story like R&J ended in tragedy, but I feel the mistakes of the past would not have been repeated for Zuko and Katara, and instead they would of had a happier ending. Two people represented by red and blue, finding each other from two opposing sides of a war and falling in love, then bringing about peace. Hmm...

This^ image above was actually from book 1 of Atla, in the episode that Zuko saved Aang and the avatar offered friendship, the first real foreshadowing of Aang and Zuko becoming lifelong friends in the future. Katara and Sokka were ill in that episode, and were in a cave full of old artifacts. That one shot of Katara with the crown on her head was one of the first things that foreshadowed Zutara for me, and is what I believe would have come to pass if Book 4 had not been cancelled, and had been allowed to become what Aaron Ehasz had envisioned. Those two dragons holding up the sun on the crown were a visual foreshadowing of Ran and Shaw with the Sun warriors in book 3. And as I've talked about before, Ran and Shaw were physical representations of the Fire Nations Yin and Yang. The reason it's connected to Katara, as I've said before her and Zuko are physical embodiments of Yin and Yang to each other, and having her connected to the Fire Nation symbolism of that theme meant she would have been the Fire Nations Yin to Fire Lord Zuko's Yang. The fact that it's a crown is a visual symbol of royalty/monarchy as the Fire Nation had (although they called the essential King a Lord, it was still a royal bloodline of princes/princesses). Both the connection to the Fire Nations Yin and Yang, as well as Royalty was what I first thought to be metaphorical and literal proof that in Book 4 Katara would have become the Fire Lady. Essentially she would have become Queen of the Fire Nation, and married Fire Lord Zuko. To me, and for the story and it's themes that would have been huge.

These two ships, Zutara and Reylo, are and were not about what was, but the potential for what could have been/could be for both the characters and the story.

A potential relationship between Zuko and Katara wouldn't have been about Katara becoming a baby-carrier, or a trophy wife. Hell no. Zuko would have probably been as horrified at the thought as Katara. Katara was already loved and respected by the people of the Fire Nation as a selfless, strong and compassionate hero. If Zuko and Katara had fallen in love, it would have been the ultimate representation of the themes of Atla. Balance. Realising everything's connected and are essentially the same, and that love and knowledge can bridge the chasm of hatred and ignorance.

Having a "lower-class" (I use that term loosely) waterbender of a Tribe that has been at war and had hated the Fire Nation for a century...Who had been their natural opposite for even longer as water is the exact opposite of fire...And the Fire Nation who'd committed such atrocities to so many, including Katara....and have our heroine become their Fire Lady? It would have been the go to symbol of two opposing peoples being united by love. Enemies becoming allies through love and understanding. Katara not only would have become Fire Nation royalty, ruling over a people who are opposite to her in terms of their element and have been mostly ignorant of the other nations. Allowing her to teach and guide them in order for them to become more open minded of their own world as Zuko became. They also could all learn about the other nations in order to bring about a peaceful balance through knowledge, and breaking down the walls of ignorance. It would have also allowed her to have become an ambassador, between her home Nation and the one she would call home, being the bridge between her people and Zuko's that would of allowed them to go from enemies to close allies through the love of two people. Two becoming one. It wouldn't have stopped there, as I have no doubt she would have become an ambassador and negotiator between ALL Nations and peoples: Earth, Fire, Water (and potentially Air if that concept had been introduced) as she would have connections and influence in all three(/four). She would have become a person of innovation for not only the powerful, but for the "little guys" too. Katara could have become and done some pretty incredible things, with Zuko and Katara becoming eternally equal symbols for strength and hope throughout the world of Atla.

Zuko had great respect for Katara, and I have no doubt they would have ruled as equals, I can even imagine Zuko let Katara take the lead and trust her in a lot of things. Both just as strong, powerful and present as the other. Zuko would have encouraged her to become an influential political figure, to bring knowledge and peace throughout the nations, to advance and help the people of her world. Both by developing waterbending and through other means, such as: becoming a leader/an important role model to the people of the nations, a teacher, and somebody who would continue to help the helpless alongside him. I have no doubt she would have had more of a hand in building and sustaining Republic City, perhaps as even one of its leaders. They would have leant on and encouraged each other to become better rulers as they both would have been learning the ropes, and better people for it. With Katara learning even more about the Fire Nations people as Zuko learned more about the people of the Water-Tribes. Zuko would've compassionately supported that Katara keep in contact with her family, and her roots at the south and north poles, with Katara helping Zuko find his mother (as she did in the comics), and then Katara would have become his family too. As well as staying connected to their beloved friends, especially Aang. Zuko and Katara always loved to be on the ground level helping people, and that's how I would have believed they would have ruled, amongst their people helping them together.

Zuko and Katara were both warriors, and it's almost certain they would have both trained together to become even more refined in their own elements, as well as in combat to protect themselves and their people. Their differences as unique individuals would have helped them to reflect on themselves. Not only to understand each other, but understand themselves better too (going back to Iroh using water-bending techniques to teach fire-bending, Katara and Zuko could have continued this and aided not only each other, but other benders). They would have been a formidable team as Fire Lord/Lady, who would have not only been able to lean on/help the other in their duties, but they would of had an equal who loved and cared for them being themselves behind the mask of strength. Somebody to they could talk to openly and honestly, and somebody who would listen and understand. To have one who cares, having someone to show their vulnerabilities to without repercussion, but to also lighten their mood and tease/make them smile. Or to just be there when they needed them. An equal who could support them through every step. That they could count on each other's loyalty, and trust each other through thick and thin. They would respect the other and their decisions, whilst nurturing the other to grow, but making sure to be there when either stumbled. They would have loved the other deeply and unconditionally, being the physical embodiment of bonded loving balance between two people...Yin and Yang finally becoming one (Yinyang), growing into its ultimate potential. It would have been a compellingly beautiful love story, and a legendary tale of finding balance through love.

^THAT is what I think Reylo could be. Not Rey being a baby-carrier for the next generation of Skywalkers. Not one or both of these characters being reduced to a love-interest. Not there "NEEDING" to be a central romance, so we'll just fling these two characters together...

No.

A love story between Kylo and Rey would represent and fit to the story of Oma and Shu, and what could have potentially have been a love story between Zuko and Katara. It also represents the integral themes and messages of: forgiveness, hope, courage, family, peace, humanity and love that Star Wars has always tried to tell. Two disparate pieces, represented by red and blue, or dark and light, both on opposite sides of a war that's been repeating for what seems like an eternity, bridging the gap between the light and the dark. Yin and Yang. Through a love between two people who have felt alone for so long... And finding where they belong is with each other, to bring about balance and peace. Rey and Kylo would fall in love as equals, two people who can understand the other, recognize themselves in each other and accept them for who they are.

Nobody should be alone, and everybody should find love in whatever form it takes, as love isn't just one thing, neither can it really be defined or divided. Star Wars is no different, it's a morality tale as much as it is a Fairy Tale. Star Wars has always at its core been about the love between people, the many different forms it can take, and what it creates and leaves behind. Rey and Kylo falling in love is two people, against all the odds, finding a kindred spirit just like them who can understand them. Who can see and listen and learn from them, and can most importantly care for and love them. This pairing isn't just about lust/desires of the flesh. Yes there has and will probably be subtextual themes of that, as the sequel trilogy has the main theme of people growing up and maturing. Humans are sexual creatures, that's indisputable and would be naive to ignore. It's a part of who we are, and have always been, but it's second to the actual message of what a relationship like this would mean in Star Wars (I mean come on its Disney, not HBO).

It's about love. Pure, undulated, selfless, caring, passionate and compassionate love between two vulnerable, flawed human warriors of equal strength, weakness and complexity. I keep saying 'love' as if a single word were enough to describe the emotions and memories and the hopeless, reckless compassion we feel for those who are close to our heart; but it's the only word I've got that sums it up quickly, and I can't keep typing forever. About them finding humanity and belonging in the places they'd never think to look, yet found them anyway, and receiving compassion in a world they thought was cruel. Sounds like a tale that's been told a thousand times, yet like history repeating itself, sometimes stories are worth retelling. Because sometimes we listen to what we did wrong in the past, and instead of a tragedy like Oma and Shu, or Romeo and Juliet, or many bonds of love in real life...Sometimes we learn, and maybe there is a happy ending, simply forgotten in the ravages of a merciless reality. That's why we use fiction... To escape that reality, but to also see the better potential of our own reality, whilst subconsciously seeing our own pasts and presents mirrored there.

Almost everybody loves a good Story. Ones like Star Wars, although Fiction, are so loved and cherished BECAUSE people in many ways relate to the very human yet mythical tales of magic, adventure, freedom, and hope this franchise tells. Ones that have been told and retold since the first stories were passed on thousands of years before, legends told in different ways like Chinese whispers. And legends are often woven with lessons that ring with truths. We look to those truths to help ourselves in our own reality and lives, and to share in that magic. In this sequel trilogy, the main themes and the story as old as time being given a retelling is that of good vs evil - darkness, light and balance. The symbolism of that, Yin and Yang finding each other have always been heavily connected to one of these magical concepts, a powerful message that resonates in its simplistic beauty...

Finding your Soulmate. That's what reylo is.

At the end of this sequel trilogy, if Ben does become banished, I believe there will be a happier ending. Instead of Ben being isolated, shunned by the galaxy and lonely for the rest of his days, there is one who will stay by his side... This time Ben will not be alone, because he'll have Rey.

Sounds like a Star Wars Fairy Tale to me, and a story of growing up and finding out who you are long ago in a galaxy far, far away. And a reality that's presently not so far away too. Wherever this story goes, I have no doubt it's going to be Legendary.

I can't wait.

You survived to the end.

Here have a cookie, you deserve it.

#reylo #reylo meta #Star Wars/Avatar the last Airbender meta #the sequel trilogy #the force awakens #the last jedi #my meta #I did another (really long) thing #kylo ren meta #rey meta #finn meta #have fun

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