#in defense of rey skywalker

[short-wooloo]

Hate people who call Rey "Rey Palpatine", like no, fuck you

A. She's Rey Skywalker, she's a Skywalker, get over it or die mad about it

B. She wants nothing to do with Palpatine, that's why she takes up the Skywalker name, to distance herself from that monster and be a part of a family that actually means something to her

[jedi-enthusiast]

Debunking the "The Jedi Are Evil" Theory Made by The Film Theorists PT 2

Point 2 - That Luke was Right in the Sequels

In the Sequels, Luke says this:

"Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified...but if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, hubris."

And, after bringing this quote up, Matthew says this:

"While this kind of tea spill coming from Luke was considered pretty sacrilegious, both by other characters as well as the audience, I think that Luke has a point if you examine the movies with a little more scrutiny. His criticisms aren't exactly unfounded."

Now, first of all, what Luke is saying here cannot be trusted as "fact" or anything to go off of, mainly because of two reasons.

---

1. He's trying to convince Rey not to be a Jedi or, at the very least, to not make him train her (which is pretty much the same thing), and at this point in time he pretty clearly hates himself and blames himself for the state of the galaxy. He's been stewing in his rocky hideaway for who knows how long, with nothing but the ocean and his own self-loathing to keep him company.

He's saying this here so that Rey will give up and not make him train her, because he's scared of making the same mistakes he did with Kylo Ren and fucking up the galaxy even more (we see a similar thing with Obi-Wan in the Kenobi show, where he refuses to save Leia at first because he's scared of not being able to save her--like he wasn't able to "save" Anakin).

And the traits, the "legacy," he's assigning the Jedi...isn't actually the legacy of the Jedi. It's him assigning what he believes to be his own legacy to the Jedi as a whole, because it's easier for him to deal with his own failure that way.

and 2. Luke is framed as being wrong for saying this. None of the other characters agree with him, eventually he does end up training Rey, and eventually he lets go of his pain and fair and grief and "becomes a Jedi again" and faces his "legacy of failure"--Kylo Ren.

It's obvious that the movies are clearly making him out to be wrong when he says those things, you don't need to have a neon sign posted above his head that says "WRONG" in order to see it. So taking his words at face-value is just trying to take a bad-faith reading of the Jedi--rather than the "objective scrutiny" that Matthew is purportedly putting the Jedi up to in this theory.

---

I would also like to argue that Luke's only real knowledge of the Prequel Era Jedi and their actions/beliefs/traditions/etc. is...lacking, to say the least.

The Empire literally destroyed and desecrated every Jedi Temple that they could find, they wiped out all the information they could about the Jedi, and then spread anti-Jedi propaganda through the galaxy for years. Not to mention that, by this point, pretty much every Prequel Era Jedi is dead.

There's no one around to really tell Luke about the Jedi's actions or culture and what little information he might've been able to dig up probably wouldn't have amounted to much. So, when Luke says this, it can only really be taken as a commentary on the Post-Prequel Era Jedi, because he doesn't know enough about the Prequel Era Jedi to make any criticisms.

---

Matthew then says:

"There are certainly examples of the Jedi doing some pretty unsportsmanlike things to innocent victims throughout the old movies, like manipulating-" [plays a video cut of Obi-Wan in ANH, mind-tricking the stormtroopers into thinking that R2 and 3PO "aren't the droids they're looking for"]

This example is pretty easy to debunk, because Matthew leaves out the context.

Obi-Wan has to do this.

Because let's look at what would probably happen if he didn't:

1. He and Luke would be arrested and turned in to the Empire, probably Vader, and Vader would immediately recognize Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan would get murdered.

2. Vader would realize Luke was his son and probably try to indoctrinate him into an Imperial way of thinking, and Palpatine/Vader would probably have Luke "trained" (read: tortured) into becoming an Inquisitor.

and 3. The droids would probably either be memory wiped or destroyed, therefore destroying the plans for the Death Star that the Rebellion needed to destroy it--and the Death Star wouldn't be able to be destroyed, more planets and people would probably be killed.

Aside from the thing with the Death Star plans, Obi-Wan probably knows that that's what's gonna happen--and, if the Empire is looking for the droids, then it's pretty obvious that the droids are important to the Rebellion. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Obi-Wan probably understands that the Rebellion would be hurt by their loss.

Not to mention that stormtroopers aren't "innocent victims."

They actively sign up to work for the Empire and take part in the oppression of countless peoples and worlds. And It's not like Obi-Wan pulled aside a random stormtrooper just so he could mind-fuck him, they were approached by the troopers first and he reacted defensively. He didn't even make them do anything bad, he just told them "these aren't the droids you're looking for" and had them go on their way.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

"-stealing spaceships and crashing them-" [cut to a video clip of Obi-Wan and Anakin in RotS, crashing the Separatist vessel they escaped on after rescuing the Chancellor]

Once again, this is pretty easy to debunk because, again, Matthew leaves out the context.

The Separatists literally kidnapped the Chancellor of the Republic and the Jedi had to rescue him. They had to steal the ship to escape or be captured, and likely executed, by the Separatists--therefore allowing the Separatists (who are literally enslaving and oppressing countless other systems and run by a fucking fascist dictator) to win the war and take over the rest of the galaxy.

Once again, the Jedi were acting defensively.

And I feel like, all things considered, the Jedi stealing that Separatist ship, to escape from a situation the Separatists caused, in order to keep the galaxy from falling into the hands of an oppressive dictatorship and attempt to stay alive...is a pretty damn reasonable decision, don't you think?

And, just for added context, the ship was literally falling apart when they crashed it. They didn't crash it on purpose, it was an emergency landing. If you're gonna say the Jedi are bad for "crashing" the ship, you may as well get mad at every pilot who ever initiated an emergency landing because it's literally the same thing--and if we're putting the Jedi up to "objective scrutiny" then there shouldn't be any double standards.

---

Matthew's quote, continued:

"-or just outright lying about their own powers-" [cut to a video clip of Mace and Yoda talking, where Mace says they should tell the Senate their ability to use the Force is diminished and Yoda saying they shouldn't because it will only multiply their adversaries]

Here the Jedi weren't lying, like...at all.

No one was asking them about their ability to use the Force, so they couldn't be lying. They were withholding information, information that the Senate--as non-Jedi--had no right to know about unless it would actively affect the Republic. Which, again, at this point in time it wouldn't.

But, fine, let's just pretend that the Jedi were lying...

...they were lying for good reason.

Yoda is right here. Even if we ignore the fact that Yoda is a stand-in for GL and what he says is quite literally the canon truth (since he's the creator), the Senate is already pretty at odds with the Jedi, which we see later in AotC when Palpatine and the Senate pretty much strong-arm the Jedi into accepting the role of Generals in the war, despite being told point blank by Mace Windu that they're peace keepers and not soldiers. Do you really think the Senate (read: Palpatine) wouldn't have used this information against the Jedi?

And, are you completely ignoring the fact that Mace is literally saying that they should tell the Senate and Yoda is disagreeing with him?

Obviously Yoda's take on what they should or shouldn't tell the Senate isn't something that the entire Order believes--it's just his opinion on what they should do.

You can't say that "the Jedi are liars" and then play a clip that literally debunks that by having two Jedi disagreeing with each other about whether or not to tell the truth.

[azurecanary]

It's even not the first Disney Star Wars to have done this

It's Sabine's attachment to Ezra that leads to Thrawn's return in Ahsoka

It's Ezra's attachment to the Ghost crew and Ahsoka that leads him to the Dark Side

Kanan has to let go of his attachment to Ezra to ascend to Knighthood. So does Ezra in S4

Sabine's attachment to her family is what leads to her not being able to wield the Darksaber effectively, and leads to Ahsoka's initial refusal to train her

It's Ahsoka's emotional attachment to Anakin (specifically the fear that she'll become him) that caused her to initially lose to Baylan and Anakin

The Sequels don't do an impressive job of it, but I'd argue Rey's attachment to her family is a huge part of her downfalls, particularly in TLJ. Hell, I'd argue that that's true of Luke and his attachment to Ben/Kylo

For the Acolyte's faults in how they ended the season, one thing I'll grant them is how staunchly and explicitly they said "attachment (in terms of possession) is Bad"

It's the witches attachment to the twins that cause them to attack the Jedi, it's Sol's attachment to Osha that leads him to lie, i assume it's Osha's attachment to her mother that brings her to the Dark Side, and it's Vernestra's attachment to Qimir that leads to her coverup

It's not subtle at this point folks

[raleighrador]

Jedi recruitment - ontological necessity or political pragmatism?

The fact that Jedi almost exclusively recruit pre verbal children is easily one of the most controversial aspects of the Order, in universe and amongst fans.

The debate broadly centres on why they do it and what the results (for individuals and at a systemic level) are. I would argue, based on what we see in material both pre and post the Disney acquisition, that this practice is not strictly necessary and is at least as much a successful political tool that benefits the Jedi as it is anything else.

So, why do the Jedi do it (according to them/their supporters)? There are basically 2 arguments that are made: i) untrained force sensitives are dangerous to themselves & those around them and ii) The Jedi order are the only appropriate institution to train them (both practically and philosophically).

On the first - this just isn't at all clear, and the Jedi's behaviour is further evidence that this is far less of a problem than they like to imply.

So far as we know the most natively powerful force connections in the Star Wars universe are Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Rey Palpatine/Skywalker. People like Ben Solo/Kylo Renn, Mae and Osha Aniseya, Yoda, Sheev Palpatine all plausibly fit in to some kind of top 10. Anakin is probably/definitely at the top and the rest all fit in behind him.

Anakin, Luke, Leia, Rey, Ben, Osha all started training ranging from later than the Jedi ideal through to when they were full grown adults. All became powerful and dangerous (in the way that all people with super powers are), 3 of them fell to the dark side with dire consequences and 3 didn't. That is probably an argument in favour of Jedi style training if not recruitment, because their method seems to have significantly higher success rates (though not a perfect one).

It is also the wrong frame of reference. Far more interesting & insightful are all the children the Jedi DON'T recruit. There are basically 2 drivers behind these un-recruited Force sensitive children: Jedi only take children with the parents' consent & the Jedi only have jurisdiction inside the Republic.

I personally am very dubious of the claim that every child who was ever recruited by the Jedi was done so with the parents consent. For this argument I am willing to assume it is true.

Why do the Jedi only take kids with parental consent? If untrained force sensitives are so dangerous surely they should be taking all children regardless? This introduces 2 points of tension: either the Jedi don't always respect consent or they do, and the reason they do is because it isn't actually as strictly necessary to take these kids as they like to imply.

The fact that they only operate within the borders of the Republic is a second proof point. The Republic is the largest but not the only geopolitical body in the GFFA. You have Hutt space, Wild Space, the Unknown Regions, Hapes Cluster etc. If untrained force sensitives really were such a great threat that only the Jedi can handle them a) it is a very dubiously defensible for the Jedi to say "ah shucks the border is here" b) it would suggest that the other political entities would have at least some sort of co-operative agreement with the Jedi and c) you would presumably see dozens of rogue force users operating in these non-Republic spaces with grave consequences.

You don't.

I get that Force sensitives are rare but they are sufficiently common that the Jedi Order has pretty clear and constantly renewed generations. You don't ever see only a single youngling, there aren't years or decades where there are no padawans because the seekers haven't found anyone for 20 years.

So presumably - like Anakin and Rey and Mae and Osha - force sensitives are being born pretty frequently outside the Republic. They by definition aren't being found and raised by the Jedi. Yet we don't see any especially dire consequences of this.

It therefore doesn't seem at all clear that it is a necessity for the Jedi to take these children - and the Jedi's own behaviour reinforces that conclusion.

The second claim is that the Jedi - and only the Jedi - can appropriately train these children. I think there are 2 elements to "appropriately train": the first is mechanical ie the Jedi a actually know how the force works and can teach you to move rocks or whatever and the second is a question of values or philosophy ie the Jedi teach you selflessness.

Notably, the Jedi actually blend these 2. They explicitly discuss "right" and "wrong" ways to achieve the same outcome. You can find your calm centre and channel the Force dispassionately to lift a rock, you can also tap into your emotions to do so. These achieve the same output with - seemingly - the same mechanic but the Jedi consider the latter pathway dangerous and inappropriate.

On the purely mechanical - they are clearly not the only people who can teach this. We know about smaller "legitimate" Force cults (like the Guardians of the Hills, Fallanassi, Sorcers of Tund, Yacombe - notably for seeking balance between light and dark in their own practice) as well as "illegitimate" cults like the Night Sisters (it is not clear to me if the Dathomiri Night Sisters and the Brendok Coven are factions of a single group or distinct) and the Sith. They were all able to manipulate and use the Force. They were all capable of teaching these abilities to others. The nature of their abilities were not perfectly consistent - different cults could do different things, including things that members of other cults would not even recognise.

Not only were there other people out there who could use the Force and teach others to do so, they were also teaching and using techniques the Jedi didn't know or understand. So the Jedi clearly were not the only people capable of this instruction.

What they did have was an effective monopoly on legitimate instruction. All the other cults mentioned were either literally illegal (Sith), totally unofficial and unrecognised and suffered some degree of official persecution (Night Sisters), or were significantly smaller and more localised than the Jedi. None enjoyed "official" status or the backing of the largest government in the GFFA like the Jedi.

On the question of values or philosophy it is clear that the Jedi don't have a monopoly on selflessness or being a good person. Nor is it evident that the very specific Jedi interpretation of "goodness" is the only tool (or even a necessary tool) to prevent Force users from becoming dangerous.

The evidence for this is the fact that with the exception of the Sith, none of the above cults seem to ever have posed some kind of meaningful or sustained threat to peace or stability in the GFFA. There have been individual members who have done bad, even monstrous things, but there is nothing inherent in their philosophy that makes them or their use of the Force dangerous.

Equally, it is worth coming back to the prior point that the Jedi have - throughout history - been the single most common source of Sith. In fact they seem to be the only one of these cults that has any record of inadvertently being a source for future Sith. That is to say - all Sith seem to either be raised from "birth"/only ever been trained by other Sith (like Maul, or Palpatine) or to be former Jedi.

So we are now in a place where i) untrained Force sensitives don't actually pose some kind of existential threat ii) the Jedi are not the only people capable of providing technical instruction in using the Force and iii) there is nothing particular about Jedi teachings that makes them especially resistant to the dark side in general and Sith in particular. If anything, they seem more likely to inadvertently produce future Sith than the other cults.

A small diversion to explore what it is the Jedi seek to teach and how: Attachment is bad.

I would argue the Jedi restrictions on emotion are significantly more extensive than that. It is functionally all forms of love or affection that they are opposed to or at least very disapproving of. Equally they don't seem to have much room for other emotions. Certainly not anger but not even grief or sadness. These latter 2 are in many ways the most illustrative - there is Yoda's advice that Anakin rejoice for those who transform into the Force; and in the Acolyte we got Jecki's "It's always an honour to witness anything or anyone transform into the Force".

That is bizarre as hell. Always? It is always an honour? This is the instinctive rote response to "I feel very bad for getting that animal killed"?

I am not saying that Yoda and Jecki and the Jedi teachings are completely wrong. I am saying that they don't sound like they make room for the full gamut of emotions. They don't teach "feel sad, own it, acknowledge it, process it, and let it go". They teach "don't be sad".

That is not a very helpful philosophy. It just doesn't engage with the reality that emotions are totally natural and largely unavoidable functions of human (and presumably in GFFA other sapient) physiology.

It presumably has more to it than I am acknowledging but either way it doesn't seem especially compelling. Why can't this be taught (consistently successfully) to adults? I would have reservations about ANY philosophy that openly explained that it basically only works on children who have no competing frame of reference or adults who have lost all their friends and family. That is deeply suspicious.

Even if it isn't the philosophy itself per se it says nothing good about the pedagogical methods of the Jedi.

The other consideration here is that the sensible bits of the philosophy are pretty shallow - and not at all unique to the Jedi. Especially in fandom when basically any "bad decision" by a Jedi or other Force user is explained by "oh ho they're thinking with their emotions and attachments" while "good decisions" are "Jedi-like" and must come from a place of detachment.

2 examples - Shmi's decision to let Anakin go with the Jedi is often described as "Jedi like" and demonstrates a lack of selfish attachment that Anakin would have done well to emulate. This is nonsensical for a number of reasons, not least of which being that Shmi had literally zero agency in this situation. She isn't make a real, informed choice either way. More than that, the alternative is "my child stays a slave'. Many parents all over the world (and presumably the GFFA) make sacrifices for the good of their children all the time. So these relationships clearly don't preclude someone being selfless or "unattached" as the Jedi define. Yet it remains the most commonly prohibited relationship by the Jedi. It is explicitly the one relationship they are guaranteed to prohibit for every one of their members. Mother Aniseya in the Acolyte is another example - I think her decision making around Osha is bonkers. However it is held up as selfless and unattached that it is her who chooses to let Osha go with the Jedi, and everyone else who ruins it by being attached. What is missed though is WHY she makes that decision. "I choose Mother". It is expressly in choosing to prioritise her familial relationship with Osha over her political one with the Coven that she "let's go" of Osha.

So not only do you not need to be a Jedi to make these sorts of decisions and learn these lessons, you definitely don't need to be isolated from familial relationships.

I would argue an even more interesting example from the Acolyte is Mae. In the season finale she is the only one who comes at all close to some kind of "Jedi like" decisions. She doesn't want revenge, she wants Sol to confess his crimes and face systemic justice. This from a girl whose life was ruined by the Jedi and then at some point she got found and trained by the "Sith" (I am not sold Qimir is a de jure Sith but I digress).

She was almost as far from a Jedi as possible but still came to the "Jedi like" decision. There are also lots of people with less extreme background who do the same.

So what gives? What is so special about Jedi training? I would suggest that from the perspective of teaching people the technical skills to use the force and the values to not abuse it... not much.

Certainly not enough to warrant a state backed effective monopoly that empowers you to test any child you wish and take the vast majority of them.

Even if you accept that the Jedi (and other Force cults) are right that only the Light Side can be safely used, the Jedi are not the only people who believe or teach that. So why do they deserve to be the only ones allowed to (en masse) recruit and train children?

So why then do the Jedi do it and why do the Republic allow them to do it? To me it seems much more about maintaining a monopoly on legitimate violence and use of the Force.

What taking children in early and separating them from their family, denying them any material possessions outside of their role in the Order, does is ensure they are loyal to you and don't have any other options.

The extent to which people are free to leave - formally and practically - seems very limited. In the thousands of years of the Order's written records, only 20 Masters have left. Even if we assume (eg per the Acolyte and TCW) that more non-masters have left, it remains a very small number. The practical limitations seem most pertinent - as per Osha, as well as our own observations - being raised a Jedi just doesn't prepare you to do anything except be a Jedi. Add that to the lack of network or resources outside the Order (as well as eg material threats of slavery because people want access to Force sensitives), and it becomes very difficult to leave willingly.

@redrikki has written compelling on this but the Jedi are demonstrably a cult. A significant element of that is the concentration of political, material, and in Star Wars metaphysical power.

Specifically recruiting and isolating and raising children serves the Jedi's aims of i) ensuring their ongoing hegemony and ii) is a mechanism for preventing or suppressing conflict. You simply diminish the number of people who can actually enter into conflict with you because you do your best to ensure they're all working for you. This is plausibly at least partially noble - you head off any conflicts that might require your intervention.

That nobility is thinned by the earlier discussion because it begs the question of what kind of conflict are the Jedi preventing (or gearing up to fight)?

Let us be clear - the Sith are a toxic, destructive ideology that should be opposed. Their philosophy is self-serving and violent. They are quite literal evil.

I just don't think their existence justified the children taking and isolating as many children as they can. This is especially true in the 1000 years leading up to the Prequels. As far as the Jedi believed, there were no Sith. So not even the Jedi were using the Sith - and any conflict with them, which I would say is a justified conflict - as the justification for the policy.

What kind of conflicts were they therefore seeking to prevent? I would suggest they were attempting to avoid any conflict over resources or support or legitimacy with other smaller Force cults. Even worse, I think they were avoiding a scenario where it became plausible to argue that the Jedi weren't necessary at all.

In a world where the Jedi are not actively recruiting children I would imagine 2 things happen: other Force cults become larger and more prominent, sufficiently large to start exerting political influence. This is not necessarily counter to the Jedi or a threat but it is also not necessary aligned with the Jedi. Even if not malicious, it would be a different set of priorities and a different set of philosophies that the Jedi (and the Republic writ large) would need to engage with.

These cults are different to each other and the Jedi. They by definition do not agree on all/some of the mechanics of the Force, the values and philosophies that govern it, its appropriate use, and the role of Force sensitives in the Galaxy. If they were perfectly aligned they wouldn't be distinct cults. These different groups operating in the galaxy, recruiting, preaching, proselytising pose a necessary risk (or at least complication) to the Jedi's role.

At minimum it likely results in someone somewhere asking "what is up with all these cults? Are they all Jedi? Do they all get the same rights and privileges?" and this opens up a series of conversations as to which groups get what and why. In a broadly pluralist context, as the Republic seems to be, it isn't clear to me that you could neatly draw that out in a way that is clear and practicable to the Senate.

If they do start actively behaving or advocating in ways that are counter to the Jedi's interests, it is unclear how the Jedi could respond. Let's assume the Jedi have the best interest of the Republic at heart. Let's assume the other groups do too (or at least are willing to say they are, even if self-serving). How would these disagreements get resolved in a way that is systemically defensible and legitimate in the eyes of the galaxy? "The Force says so" is not really an option when both parties can legitimately use it.

It is far simpler for the Jedi to just head this off by ensuring these other cults remain small, or at least the Jedi remain significantly larger and more wide spread.

The other thing that happens if the Jedi don't have a near monopoly on force sensitive kids, is many of these kids grow up... basically fine. Sure they're lucky and fast and good at telling when people are lying, and probably crazy good at Space Baseball and whatever, but they don't pose any kind of major threat to the galaxy. Based on what we have seen, and the lack of rogue force sensitives going on rampages outside the Republic, this seems like the most likely outcome.

How do the Jedi justify themselves to the Senate then? How do they maintain their independence and status if you've got non-Jedi force sensitives running for office or serving in the diplomatic corp? Non-Jedi force sensitives in the policing and security services?

A significant element of the Jedi's status and privilege is that they are legitimately very, very good at things. The Force does make you better at discerning the truth, reading people, sensing the long term outcomes of decisions, combat etc. It makes the Jedi significant assets.

They're also a mysterious and poorly understood religious order. For historical reasons this has been tolerated, and the Jedi have justified their ongoing independence through effectiveness and lack of alternatives.

Lots of non-Jedi Force sensitives, with access to non-Jedi teachers who can still teach them the mechanics of the Force, severely challenges that status.

Again this is not a wholly or even mostly nefarious concern for the Jedi to have. In the same way that more planets/entities having independent militarised security forces ala the Trade Federation might be a challenge to stability, having more (potentially militarised) Force sensitives has a risk. However, the policy of Jedi monopoly on recruitment is only one way of managing that risk, and it is a way that simultaneously cements their position in the Republic.

Importantly - this also all suits the Republic itself. While I am sure some people want their own Force sensitive armies, no one wants someone else to have them. I also imagine no one is excited about having to fund a second or third mysterious religion filled with (potentially) super powered warrior diplomats. No one wants more competing interests and jurisdictional debates etc.

So I don't think this is an example of the Jedi somehow tricking the Republic or behaving deceitfully or doing anything except their very best to do what they think is right.

That just doesn't mean this isn't a political policy.

[agirlwithachakram]

the character arcs we were promised in TFA:

where we started

Finn: renegade stormtrooper, lightsaber wielder, friend-maker. brave guy who wants to be good in spite of what he was taught.

rey: random scavenger whose life experience actually sets her up well to be good at Jedi stuff. protective of nice droids. defensive of self, but can be friends under the right circumstances.

poe: tortured, basically made responsible for a massacre of civilians after carrying out a mission under Leia's orders. made a friend of a stormtrooper and immediately welcomed him into the fold. killer pilot, deeply respected by his fleet.

what that was leading to

finn: serves as an example and liberator of other stormtroopers. proof that stormtroopers aren't just faceless baddies. show that a random kid can be force sensitive and learn Jedi stuff. get his own lightsaber or inherit Anakin's.

rey: learning to trust people when presented with people and situations where trust is reasonable and necessary. showing that anyone can have the Force, not just the Special Family. her walls built from her difficult upbringing is a foil to Luke's bright eyed naivete, but she still learns to use the force in good ways and reject its darkness.

poe: eventually taking over command from Leia. A fight with Leia over acceptable casualties, possibly over the fact that her son tortured him, something remotely consistent given that Leia got those civilians killed just to get Luke's coordinates and Poe got some of the fleet killed in TLJ for an ACTUAL military reason and YET somehow Leia found the civilian deaths more acceptable. I mean, they didn't talk about it at all, which is the problem. anyway. what it should have been leading to: consistent characterization and complicated disagreements between Poe (de facto boss, as the fleet commander) and Leia (official boss)

what we got

Finn: meets other ex-stormtroopers, but nothing really comes of that. vaguely tries to tell Rey he's force sensitive but nothing really comes of that. randomly appointed co-general in a painfully unearned weird scene. stormtroopers largely remain faceless baddies.

rey: actually she's Palpy's granddaughter which means she can use force lightning and she decided to be a skywalker because everyone loves those guys and she's a girl so she's in love with baaaad boys oh btw she can force heal now. even though that's like a really difficult thing that most can't do and takes a lot of work and would be really cool except we have no idea where she learned or when.

poe: DEMOTED. by leia who is NEVER wrong. re-promoted after learning you're not supposed to let any of your guys die in war. duh, everyone knows that. *sniffle sniffle* idk if i can be the general...that sounds hard... :'( Oh! I know! I'll ask my best friend Finn, who has never suggested he wants to be general, and has not had any kind of arc showing he would be good at it, to be my co-general. Surely this will be good and not look like he's my sugar baby. oh btw I used to smuggle drugs and i am a straightie heteroman.

[enkisstories]

The households of Black Spire Valley, 39 ABY (the three-letter abbreviations behind everyone's name are explained at the end of the post)

The Damerons

Kes Dameron, R-NR (Homesteader)

Poe Sloane-Dameron, R-NR (Aerial defense General)

Finn Sloane-Dameron, R-FO (Supreme Leader of the First Order)

Jared Sloane-Dameron, R

BB-8, R (Astromechanics and counter-esionage specialist)

The Supreme Leader living on a homestead comes as a surprise to many. But then again Rae, Kylo, Pryde and Hux only had suites on a star destroyer, so having a house is an upgrade.

The Ticos.

Isbrand Tico (for some reason called "Armi" by his friends), R-FO (Civic designer/Architect)

Rose Tico, R-NR (Political leader of the Resistance - I let her campaign for Chancellor of the New Republic when she reaches level 10 of the politics career.)

Rae Tico, R

Timmain (Vulptex adjacent species of fox)

An easy to overlook detail is Armi wearing the same cut of jacket as Archex starting this spring - there has been some mutual shouting at, a couple of bruises and a sort of reconciliation in the past two years. This particular shade of green is Rose's favorite color.

The Drees.

Gavin Dree, R-FO (Freelance journalist/columnist)

Daniel Dree, FO (Stay at home dad, part time caterer)

Jin Dree, R-FO

Argus

Not pictured: something like a million ornamental fish (for Daniel and Jin). I bet Gav had hoped I'd forget that he needs glasses starting in his 40s.

The Sonderans.

Amilyn Holdo, R-NR (Military leader of the Resistance)

Hank Sonderan, FO (Governor of the First Order's half of Batuu)

Connor Sonderan, NJO (Knight of the New Jedi Order)

Sumo the puppy

Both Amilyn and Hank leave most of the day to day work to their subordinates, living semi-retired. When they appear on the scene that means shit has hit the fan real bad (and noses are about to get broken).

And the Skywalkers (living on one of Batuu's moons, but visiting the valley often)

Rey Skywalker, NJO (Knight of the New Jedi Order)

Ben Skywalker, FO (Moisture farmer, technically still a POW of the Resistance)

Jacen and Jaina Skywalker, NJO

Ben was reluctant to re-assume his birth-name, both because he loathes his legacy and because he is ashamed of his actions as Kylo. Rey likewise wasn't too eager to go by "Palpatine". Then Luke's ghost came up with the suggestion to pass down the Skywalker name. Rey liked that and after throwing a tantrum and vanishing for a week, Ben, too, agreed.

---

The abbreviations denote everyone's official nationality: FO=First Order, NR=New Republic, R=Resistance (fully recognized by the FO, recognized by the NR only as dual nationality combined with either NR or FO - this is what allows Rose to run for chancellor and achieve the golden ending for this campain) NJO - New Jedi Order (the only group that irritates the Republic even more than the Resistance does)

[artist-issues]

And besides, the Star Wars “Tropes” that you really should’ve been there for were all fulfilled!

“The Greater Good is Always Worth Fighting For”

Luke is already the kind of character who wants to be part of something good, and bigger than himself, in the first Star Wars movie. Ben Kenobi is an old man who’s still fighting the Empire and answering Princess distress calls in the face of terrible danger. The Skywalker Twins both jump in with both feet to combat an evil much bigger than themselves, at great personal cost, and they wind up teaching Han to do the same. By contrast, Han starts out selfish and fighting only for himself; both Luke and Leia criticize him for being unwilling to fight for something bigger and better, or caring only about money and his own skin. But all these characters grow to demonstrate, through their risks and their sacrifices, that the greater good is what’s constantly worth the fight. Just like how in The Last Jedi:

A former Stormtrooper, who was literally raised to see fighting as an aggressive duty only used to inflict pain, establish control, or crush spirits, learns that fighting is about saving what we love, not hurting what we hate. Even sacrificing himself “just to make them hurt” was portrayed as the wrong thing to do, because it wasn’t motivated by love; it was still motivated by a selfish feeling of hate and revenge.

Even after what Rey wants most—finding out that she means something to somebody who understands her (like Kylo Ren or her parents)—is taken away, she still chooses to go back for the Resistance and save them.

Luke starts the movie having lost all hope—in his own merit—and then ends it by choosing to sacrifice himself, not just for his friends in the Resistance, but for his nephew’s future.

DJ contrasts Rose Tico, who is willing to give up everything from her sister to her treasured keepsakes for the sake of the greater good. But DJ, on the other hand, won’t give up anything for anybody. Which is portrayed as a scumbag way to live.

Poe starts the movie fighting for the moment, not for the greater good. He thinks only as far as the next-big-hero-move. Then the movie teaches him that losing a battle in order to keep the greater good going is what leaders do, even if it means “failing” in the moment.

“Nobodies Can Make a Significant Difference”

Star Wars doesn’t open from the perspective of a Princess or a mighty warrior or even the protagonist: it opens from the perspective of a little maintenance droid and his fretful friend, who just so happen to be in the right place at the right time to carry galaxy-saving information. Luke is introduced as a farm boy, going nowhere. Not famous. Not noticed by the Empire. Han is a lowlife in a crappy-looking ship. Nobody expects him to save the day. Ben Kenobi’s former greatness is forgotten and barely mentioned; he’s introduced as a possibly-crazy old hermit. They’re all nobodies who make a huge difference when they do the next right thing. Just like how in The Last Jedi:

Rey is nobody. From nowhere. She wants to be somebody, from somewhere, and she’s just…not. No matter what she hopes or what she tries. She doesn’t JUST find out that her parents were nobody important and she has no great destiny: She starts out the movie “looking for my place in all this,” and learns that a) she’s not going to get to be Luke’s real apprentice and b) the best she can do, at the end of the movie, is just lift rocks out of the way. No big hero moment of bringing Luke Skywalker back, or Ben Solo back, or resurrecting the Jedi Order. Just…doing the next right thing. And it saves the day.

Poe, again, wants to be a big hero. He doesn’t just want to do the next right thing—he wants to win. But he’s slapped, sidelined, and ultimately taught that its not all about him.

Rose Tico is just a maintenance worker. She’s not a pilot, not a warrior, not a general or a Princess. She’s nobody important’ s daughter or granddaughter. But she saves Finn and demonstrates the most important theme of the movie.

BB-8, just one little droid, saves the heroes twice, first on Canto-Bight by bringing the ship, and then on the destroyed flagship when Poe and Rose are about to be overwhelmed.

Finn is just one wayward Stormtrooper, who used to be a janitor; a coward who keeps trying to run away. But it’s that cowardly janitor who faces down and defeats Phasma, one of the most feared faces of the First Order.

Luke chooses not to be the Legend who prevented more evil by killing a flawed legacy; instead, he chooses to be “what the next generation grows beyond.” Humble, modest, just a link in a greater chain.

Broom boy. He’s a slave in squalor, with nothing but stories of great deeds and heroic last stands…but he has the Force—the potential to make great changes when he grows up. There’s no better symbol for small things becoming significant than a child. Especially when you add the Force.

“There’s Always Hope For a Good Change”

This one’s easy. The original Rebellion exists based on this principal. Leia keeps fighting after Alderaan is destroyed and never gives up. Luke loses his family and instead of saying “the empire is too strong to beat” goes and fights them…and refuses to give up on the potential good in Han, the potential good in his father—heck, he even believes Ben Kenobi is a “great man” though everyone else scoffs. You could even argue that Han sees a potential softness in Leia that she’s too mission-focused to show all the time. The point is, the original Star Wars is full of characters who have every reason to give up on, or ignore, the hope for a good change. But instead, they go on hoping and acting in faith. Just like how in The Last Jedi:

Rey has seen Kylo Ren murder her only almost-father-figure, almost murder her only close friend, torture her, and promise to destroy her next almost-father-figure. He also reveals the most heartbreaking crushing of her dreams anyone ever could—she has no parents. But one glimpse of his turmoil and Rey refuses to give up on him. She won’t even kill him when she wakes up first after he refuses to turn good and promises to destroy her friends all over again.

Rey also won’t give up on Luke, and he’s super mean to her and won’t help her friends. But still, she only leaves him to try and inspire him by doing what he did; going and saving someone from the Dark Side.

Kylo Ren has no reason to believe his mother will love him, or accept him back, or ever come around to his point of view, but he still won’t kill her.

Poe gets half the Resistance fleet killed with his recklessness and almost destroys their escape plan, but Leia and even Holdo, who he led a mutiny against before she sacrificed her life, but refuse to give up on his potential as a leader. Holdo doesn’t even hold it against him before she dies. She looks at his tranquillized troublemaking self and tells Leia, “I like him.”

When Rose meets Finn she thinks he’s a hero, and meeting him makes her smile even though she’s grieving her sister—and then he destroys her idea of him by turning out to be a coward, lying to her, trying multiple times to escape, and believing that abusive planets like the one she grew up on are charming. But she still saves his life basically the whole movie long, and is always teaching him. Even though he insulted everything she believed in by trying to run away from a fight her sister died in.

Best example: by only coming back as a projection, Luke Skywalker managed to inspire his sister so she wouldn’t give up, inspire Rey to be a Jedi anyway even though he’d spent all their interactions discouraging that, and, most importantly—he made it impossible for Kylo Ren to murder another family member. By sacrificing himself, he made a difference, without letting his own death be one more thing Kylo Ren would have on his record of evilness. That’s better than what Ben a Kenobi did when he died in A New Hope, letting Vader strike him down. Instead, Luke doesn’t let Kylo Ren “strike him down.” He pretends to give him the option, just to buy his sister and the Resistance time. But he never really gave him the option to kill his own uncle. Because just like he believed there was hope for change in Anakin, he still believes there’s hope for change in Ben.

The Resistance ends the movie as thirty or so people, packed into one freighter with a juvenile Jedi, a broken lightsaber…and they’re still going to keep fighting. Heck, they just held off their enemies with busted mining speeders.

Those are the real Star Wars Tropes. Those things are the real “magic of Star Wars.”

And they’re beautifully portrayed at every angle in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If all you’re looking for are

spaceships that follow specific rules

legendary magic-wielding family-reveals

practical-effect alien designs

all-powerful god-villains

a world that has an airtight canon that’s never been tampered with

then you never really got Star Wars. And I do accept criticism. And I will literally prove it further if anyone argues with me.

"Rian Johnson was mocking Star Wars fans for expecting Star Wars tropes in TLJ!"

No. Star Wars fans just happened to have the exact same flaw that the character, Rey, had: too much focus on her parents. That made her easy to relate to. But the whole point, down to the first movie she was introduced in (which WASN'T written by Rian Johnson) was that her parents were never important.

Star Wars fans should've expected that reveal. It was already set up. Maz literally tells Rey in the first movie to quit focusing so much on her parents. The filmmakers literally told you "she's wrong to put so much stock in who her parents are" in The Force Awakens. He just carried that theme on and y'all weren't ready for it because you never wanted to accept it in the first place.

=

Same thing with Snoke. Kylo Ren was introduced as a character who only wants one thing: strength. He thinks that strength will solve his emotional frailty. He's insecure. (Because reasons, to do with his family and their lack of faith in him.) Rey straight-up discovers that his biggest fear is "never being as strong as Darth Vader" and says it out loud so that the audience will get it.

You really think, when he was introduced as a character who believes killing mentor-father-figures will make him feel stronger and therefore more secure, that Snoke ever had a chance of getting past the second movie alive?

=

They straight-up introduced these characters with certain flaws, which lead to certain motives, which so happen to lead to different conclusions than common Star Wars fan theories.

Because that's the beauty of the Sequels. They acknowledge the legendary status of the Original Trilogy Tropes, then grow beyond those tropes.

Or at least. They were starting to. Until Star Wars fans threw continued hissy fits because they didn't want a story, they wanted a 💫 Star Wars Checklist Cleverly Disguised as a Story.💫

Then the powers-that-be were like "okay they're really not looking for a good story, just give 'em the checklist they were looking for." And you got exactly that in The Rise of Skywalker.

But Rian Johnson wasn't mocking you. He was just taking the next logical, compelling step in the previously-established arcs of well-written characters. And carrying on the Sequel's initial trademark of "appreciate the past by growing beyond it." Y'know. Like a good writer.

[shrinkthisviolet]

I feel like a good chunk of people would like Lucy Kenobi because she's a well rounded female character, especially during the original trilogy when we...really don't see a lot of significant female characters, but there'd also be plenty who'd hate her because of the fact she argues with Luke- or even just general sexism because I remember so-called fans not liking Rey at all (the term Mary Sue got thrown around a lot) so they wouldn't like this female Jedi either. And you've mentioned that Lucy's pretty uncompromising when it comes to people who threaten her family, takes quite a while to forgive anyone who does even if the circumstances aren't clear cut, so she'd probably get stick for that too, be seen as heartless when she really isn't.

YESSSS absolutely—I think she’d be loved, especially since Leia is, and she has a lineage of the Force in Anakin…but she’d definitely get the Mary Sue accusations flung at her.

This would especially happen she’s more connected to the Force than Luke is—I t’s instinctual to her from early on to reach for it in small ways, due to knowing about it and what it means, whereas Luke doesn’t know such a connection exists until they’re 19. Also…sometimes people are just naturally more gifted in certain aspects of a skill—Anakin wasn’t good at meditation, Obi-Wan was—which is true for Lucy.

However, certain fans would still call her a Mary Sue for this—maybe less so, since she does struggle with lightsaber combat more than Luke does (having to retrain from saberstaff to single-bladed lightsaber is an adjustment), but like you said, Rey did get the designation thrown around a lot, even when her skills were explained 💀 so who’s to say

They might also be mad that Lucy is fully-trained before Luke and finishes his training…that’s explained too (tbh more than Rey’s sudden ability to best Luke at the end of TLJ and then take on Praetorian Guards), and there are plenty of fans who clamor for Leia to be trained as a Jedi, but…even then, I feel like Lucy being the first fully-trained Skywalker would definitely piss some fans off, even tho the reason why that happens is fully explained in the AU (as much as fans claim to like Leia, I doubt it would’ve gone over well if she’d somehow gotten fully trained during the trilogy before Luke 😂)

And yeah, her arguing with Luke would get her hated on too. How dare she argue with the main male sunshine boy character! She should never do that! If she upsets him, she’s a villain and is clearly manipulating him!

(I think I’ve seen this film before 💀)

As for your last point, YEP absolutely. Fandom doesn’t like nice female characters feeling any kind of emotion except joy, and especially not any degree of stubbornness/ruthlessness (even in defense of loved ones)—especially since, unlike Leia, this doesn’t get toned down in ROTJ (something I didn’t even notice until a Tumblr post pointed it out). It would get Lucy labeled “frigid/stuck-up” among other things

(I can think of a certain upcoming event on that note that would really make fans hate Lucy if she were canon…)

Now mind you, these things are more likely to get her hated on non-Tumblr fandom. Here, the fandom tends to be more generous towards Star Wars characters…mostly, anyway (*cough* Tumblr opinion of the Jedi is way more polarizing than it ought to be). So she’d be pretty popular here I think

how would fandom treat my OCs (any of them) if they were canon?

[graysistance]

𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧

the year is 34 aby, and the resistance has a new political star.

two, actually. 

a young woman who streaked from galactic oblivion to not only survive capture by kylo ren and torture by the first order, but count a victory against ren to her name, and a young man who'd turned away from the first order's stormtrooper programming, proved that starkiller base wasn't as defensible as the first order would like to think, and just narrowly survived what could have been a debilitating lightsaber injury.

frankly, rey is upset to have missed the bulk of finn's recovery. mostly his waking up. instead, she'd run off to the other end of the precious map bb-8 and r2-d2 had put together, components practically shaking with hope and glee. leia's blessing and pleas had gone with her, an enormous privilege, but when all was said and done finn was far more preferable to cantankerous luke skywalker. not even the stunning setting with water as far as the eye could see helped.

in the end, luke agreed to return to his sister's side - and by extension, the resistance. either rey convinced him or he convinced himself; it almost didn't matter. the journey back to d'qar nearly reduced rey to exclaiming in luke's face that she didn't know how luke managed to achieve what he apparently had over the course of the galactic civil war, but she held her tongue and they did in fact arrive in one piece. the reunion of a long-parted sister and brother managed to soften her heart at least a little. as did being able to throw her arms around a mostly recovered but very awake finn at long last. 

eventually it was decided that luke would begin to train rey in the ways of  the jedi arts while leia contributed as she had opportunity. suddenly rey's life was busier than it had ever been before. hours spent in hyperspace became days spent in focused mediation or exhausting rounds of dueling and saber forms. her time on d'qar was limited, and therefore time with her friends was as well. rey began to hoard opportunities to join resistance fighters in the black, defending planets in need or forming up to rain fiery hell down upon the first order. 

all that changed when, after a few standard months of tutelage under luke, the skywalker twins sent rey out alone on a mission to stalsinek iv with nothing save her recently completed yellow bladed saber and a short holo from leia referencing some prior agreement of safe passage "should anything go wrong."

her mission: find the site of a fabled great fountain that supposedly spewed water that granted healing and a longer lifespan. the drinking of the water wasn't the point, luke emphasized, but to sit in the fountain's presence, feel the strength of the force around it, and meditation in the wash of heightened power. he'd called it a "nexus", much like the caves of dagobah from his youth or the jedi temple on ach-to and the cave below from rey's recent experience. it was there she was supposed to find some semblance of balance and peace. 

during rey's most arduous journey yet to the mysterious hapes consortium, she began to wonder if balance or peace were even possible. 

once she'd manually threaded her way through the heavily ionized minefield of the transitory mists, locking the consortium away from the rest of the inner rim and indeed the rest of the galaxy itself, past the tangled knot holes that threatened to yank her into a plethora of unknown hyperspace lanes and setting her progress maker knew how far back, rey arrived in the hapes cluster that contained stalsinek iv. with great care rey crept her way through consortium space, clinging to the barest threads of the force to show her the way. and show her the way they did. 

from space, stalsinek iv was a jewel-toned planet that conjured images of rich forests and the constant presence of burbling rivers and streams. rey only had moments to feel the intensity of gleeful relief before the falcon's sensors blared, warning her of a speedily approaching craft. she had mere seconds to flick the shields on full blast before multiple barrages of cannon fire slammed against the falcon's hull. 

kylo ren had followed her through the transitory mists and waited until she'd slowed her search to a crawl before attacking, the absolute sleemo. he was not at all interested in keeping to a low profile and continued to unload his munitions onto her, cornering rey into firing back. 

what followed was a concentrated dogfight that left rey's head pounding as she grit down on her teeth in painful ferocity and the entire span of the falcon groaning from sharp turns and dives. all the while, the two ships crawled closer and closer to the surface of the rainforest planet. 

in a sudden, inspired move that rey could barely telegraph, she fired precisely toward one of kylo's sublight engines and hit dead on. in the resulting explosion, she lost all sight of his ship and, taking the advantage presented, dove almost instantly for the planet's surface below. 

the smoking falcon eventually landed quietly in an almost too-small clearing. rey was beginning to find it both difficult and almost natural to calm her rush of adrenaline. the force was almost breathable it was so strong, and rey could trick herself into believing she saw the force itself filtering through sunbeams like fog. putting kylo ren from her mind and the oddly bittersweet possibility that she may have crippled him and left him to whatever hapans may come across the debris of his tie, the young woman pressed forward. 

she was led step by step, leap by leap, to a quietly glimmering fountain. the clearing around it was dotted with an arrangement of glittering stone pillars covered in carvings that appeared ancient. such confounding and unearthly beauty left rey speechless and awestruck to the point of utter stillness. how long she stood there, she couldn't quantify. she only knew her time of mute reflection came to an end with the crack of a saber igniting behind her. 

kylo had not only survived her blast, but followed her down to the surface and through the barely habitable jungle to the fountain luke had warned her was partly myth, but could still be real. 

the following fight was merciless. 

hours or mere minutes long, rey and kylo clashed again and again and again, losing their sabers only to find them again, diving between columns and dodging falling debris. and all the while, the force nexus roared, imbuing each force user with an intensity of power they'd never before felt capable of. not even on starkiller base when the voices of jedi past had whispered in her ear, encouraging her with every strike and even suggesting multiple offensive moves she'd never before considered with a saber or her quarterstaff. again and again red mingled with yellow as rey valiantly attempted to drive kylo away. yet they were evenly matched with every swing, the force answering each of their calls to it with roars of might. 

and then the force quieted and was gone. 

completely. 

the anomaly was enough to cause kylo to cease his barrage and rey hers, though their sabers were still locked together. rey stared into the obsidian blockade that was kylo's mask, unwilling to pull back. strangely, his helm left her view as kylo's head whipped to the side, apparently detecting something rey could not and trying to spot it before it got too close.

then the footsteps reached her ears. 

almost as soon as she heard them, the sound of blasters being set to what she hoped was stun overrode all other questions.

if her and kylo's dogfight had not alerted hapes' defenses enough, their fight and subsequent destruction of the fountain certainly had. 

although, rey was momentarily confused by the sight of armed soldiers wearing what looked to be night vision paraphernalia. but there was no time to think more on it once the command to put their hands in the air came. and as usual, rey had no intention of doing so. kylo, as it happened, felt the same. almost as if they were linked, kylo and rey began to take as many soldiers down as they could, enough to form a path of escape. they were nearly there when a strange thought to “stop the attack” squirmed its way into her head. very unlike rey to think such a thing, but the thought was persistent and rey eventually listened. as soon as she stilled, a cry of “set to stun!” broke through the air and rey went down like the ruins behind her. 

she woke in darkness and not alone. her and kylo had been brought to a cell of some kind and thrown in together to wait for whatever fate the hapans had in store for them. in typical fashion they argued until more soldiers arrive to remove rey from the cell and take her somewhere private to be questioned. there she found that whatever strange technology had been used to fool her into thinking strange thoughts that made her obey commands was once more being employed. every question she was asked, she had to answer in full truth, leaving no details out. 

but the strangest one was the question of whether or not the names isolder or tenenial djo meant anything to her. her open answer in the negative seemed to confuse her interrogator. 

eventually she was sent back to her cell, but quickly removed one more time before she could really begin explaining to kylo what had gone on. they said prince isolder had arrived. it clearly meant something very important that he was here, although rey couldn’t fathom why.

in short order, rey began to realize that her life was changing in a more immediate way than she could have ever fathomed: her and the prince were related. 

not only that, rey was the royal heir of hapes and granddaughter to ta’chume herself. quite possibly strangest of all, named kira. 

as isolder kept talking, answering all of rey's poorly pieced together and sometimes silent questions, the air was filled with more and more and more practically unbelievable stories that rey nearly refused to accept outright – if it hadn’t been for all the proof isolder was willing to provide. apparently, fourteen years prior, civil war had been tearing the hapes consortium apart at the seams and the royal family were scrambling to keep the throne and stay alive. the crown prince and chume’da’s six year old daughter was under heavy protection, but apparently not enough. to rey’s shock, she was told that she was not left behind in necessity or abandoned with prejudice, but sent far, far away from her home to the relative safety of coruscant. only, during a refueling stop on jakku, a bounty hunter tailing them at the behest of isolder's rebelling brother kalen pulled rey and her nursemaid from their ship, sold the little girl to unkar plutt, and flew away with the nursemaid never to be seen again.

a simple story resulting in a disaster that left a family in pieces. almost worse was the revelation that rey no longer had a mother. tenenial had died shortly after kira's birth under suspicious circumstances. rey didn't know which was worse: discovering that her apparent mother was dead, or realizing that even if she'd been able to grow up in hapes she would never have known her at all.

then came the alarm calling for the prince and his "guest" to be evacuated: kylo had escaped his – their – cell and was now nowhere to be found. and he was armed. rey sprang into action, determined to follow kylo and stop him before he made it off planet. a path of destruction was laid out in front of her and rey discovered that he'd taken her saber, too.

for the second time that day she plunged into the jungles stalsinek iv in search of her quarry. once she breached the walls of the mist patrol's outpost, the force returned to her with a vengeance and rey bounded to catch up with her rival, only to reach him just as he boarded his tie. with his and her sabers clipped to his belt. miraculously, the falcon was not far off. rey jumped in and threw all systems into overdrive in order to catch him. but for once, the force was on kylo's side -- that or his mind was far clearer and he managed to evade her completely, diving into the transitory mists and completely out of her reach.

this battle was over and she was weaponless. and yet on the ground things did not get better. a previously unnoticed transmission from leia had been beeping away, waiting for rey's attention. the first order had sprung upon the resistance's d'qar base, forcing them to abandon it completely. the entire population of the base was now in hyperspace on their way to what they hoped was a viable new location, still to be determined. luke was with her, offering advice and support, but they both urged her to return at once and meet them at a soon to follow rendezvous point. that had been five standard hours ago, and there was no second message.

rey turned for the mists and began her journey back anyway.

it was only when rey on a strange whim stopped above jakku for no other reason than to stare at it that the second message arrived to meet on batuu. black spire, specifically.

once arrived, poe and finn met her in a rush and practically carried her back to luke and leia. in short order, rey's entire story burst forth. both the twins' reactions to the name isolder were peculiar, but none more so than leia's. come to find out, leia had previously met isolder under almost equally as strange circumstances. but as rey came to the end of her story, silence reigned. continued to reign until rey was half inclined to demand the full details of what happened on d'qar. luke broke the silence first, however, by suggesting the two of them go in search of another crystal with which to build her a second saber. once that was done, he turned to his sister. what leia said should not have shocked rey, and yet it did anyway. leia suggested returning to hapes and speaking more with isolder -- maybe even stepping into the place his daughter should always have had at his side.

true power came not only from the force, leia said, but in other, more surprising places. this could be one of them.

so rey did the only thing she could do: listen.

after a standard month of searching and not-so-patient crafting, a second (still yellow-hued) saber fit perfectly into rey's hands, singing the same song as the first crystal had. soon after she slowly boarded an x-wing nursing feelings of dread despite all of the kindest goodbyes she'd been offered. batuu shrunk behind her along with the force signatures of everyone rey had come to love during her time with the resistance. there was no guarantee she'd ever see them again.

her arrival at the transitory mists was as unwelcome as the first go round, but she made it through the second time with far more skill. not sure what else to do, rey returned to the site of the force fountain and from there picked her way to the hapan military outpost. once again the force left her in a rush, but enough soldiers remembered her that her quiet request to speak to the prince was heeded unusually quickly. prince isolder was indeed called and arrived in record time. rey greeted him in embarrassed silence, unwillingly willing to do whatever he asked.

rey didn't remember much after that besides climbing aboard isolder's transport, arriving in a place called ta'a chume'dan and being told she would need to undergo a dna test before she could be presented with confidence to ta'chume. in a fog, rey went where she was led but barely slept in the room set aside for her.

the next morning, she was informed that the test results had finished calibrating. isolder at least had his answer:

rey was really kira ka djo.

what came after that, only ta'chume would be able to tell her.

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE: this verse is based off of the legendary fic "landscape with a blur of conquerors". while loosely following the beginning story beats of the fic, i've changed many details in order to make the story more my own, although all credit belongs our eternal reylo goddess thea for both the base idea and the inspiration with which to create a verse. this one goes out to you, kylorenvevo. may the force always be with you.

[themattress]

The perfect words to make a character who had grown comfortable with her abilities feel terrified.

THIS. Just like with Palpatine somehow returning (I will never stop milking my love of that shlocky line for all its worth), Rey's heritage as a Palpatine is something that far too many people insist on taking in bad faith. "Oh, people hated that she had no special lineage in The Last Jedi so they retconned it, the cowards!" No. That was not the reason. The reason was to create the most logically dramatic third act hurdle for Rey to overcome following where The Last Jedi left her off. At the end of The Last Jedi, Rey was completely fine with being "nobody, from nothing", because she had accepted what matters is her found family in the Resistance. Over the year time gap between films, the bond with said found family only deepened, all while training under Leia finally made her feel more at peace with her Force abilities. So what's the most logical hurdle to throw her way? Revealing that she's actually blood related to the sworn enemy of that found family, and that her proficiency in the Force is because she is a Dyad with Kylo Ren (evil!) due to the relationship between Palpatine (evil!) and Darth Vader (evil!) It's enough to get into her head and make her start believing that being evil due to her Palpatine ties is her destiny, the same way that Kylo believes that being evil due to his Vader ties is his destiny, creating appropriate drama and suspense.

And yeah, it makes it satisfying when her ultimate choice is to tell Palpatine to fuck off because her choices determine who she is, not her blood, and she chooses to be a Skywalker, a Resistance fighter and a Jedi. A beautiful message, a beautiful conclusion.

When I rewatched TROS yesterday, I fell in love with the Rey Palpatine lineage reveal again. Yeah, I know most people didn't, but oh boy, I love the build up to the twist.

By showing her dark visions, Leia's advice, Rey saying she is just Rey, a bunch of clues connected to her past and Kylo's "You know why the Emperor wanted you dead.", they just create all the ingredients for when the truth is finally revealed.

And I love the words Kylo use to tell this to her because they really stab her heart. Rey in TLJ, she embraces that she has the Force within her and then in TROS, she is told the power is not hers. It's Palpatine's.

The perfect words to make a character who had grown comfortable with her abilities feel terrified.

And it's not even just the build up. The rest of this arc is also great. Rey starts believing that she is destined to fall the darkness, she sees Palpatine's throne, believing that's her purpose and then she sees her darker self. I think these are both simple and effective visual ways to show the audience what Rey is afraid of.

I love that she learns she is stronger than her blood. I love that she gains courage to face her grandfather and I love that she choses to be the extreme opposite of him.

This made me feel happy.

Probably my favorite moment in all of Star Wars.

[short-wooloo]

In light of the oncoming anti Jedi nightmare of the acolyte (and filoni's crap) let us take solace in the fact that when asked if Rey would have any bio kids, Daisy Ridley's response was "no she's a Jedi"

[carcassarkis]

Ok so my "Big Idea" post from earlier last week

I've written one of those classic Star Wars scrawl title things and some character details for those interested in this TFA AU!! I'm going to be calling it the "galaxy's force" AU from now on so it'll be easier to find :)

Title Scrawl:

Trouble in the galaxy! The vile FIRST ORDER has made its move against the NEW GALACTIC REPUBLIC. Supreme Leader SNOKE has sent some of his personal militia with teams of troopers to invade planets with low defenses. The most notably successful of these invasions was led by his very own Force user, known by most only as THE KNIGHT!

In response to these attacks, Senator LEIA ORGANA and her partner, HAN SOLO, built up a RESISTANCE army. Many citizens of the New Republic are against the First Order, but will they be enough to stop Snoke and The Knight?

Meanwhile, a mysterious figure calling themselves a JEDI has appeared on Jakku. Senator Organa sends a small fighter to investigate these claims!

Character Details:

SUPREME LEADER SNOKE: Leader of the First Order. Horrifically scarred and disfigured, seems to have appeared from nowhere a mere 5 years after the Fall of the Empire. Age undetermined. Appears to be somewhere between 65-80 standard years.

THE KNIGHT: Snoke’s only Force user. Wears an impressive suit of armor and carries an unstable red lightsaber with a crossguard. Armor seems to be made of imitation beskar. Age determined to be between 19-25 standard years. Identity unknown.

SENATOR LEIA ORGANA: One of the founders of the New Galactic Republic. She maintains the honorary status of “senator” due to her services, but no longer participates in the Senate after the end of her term. Carries her lightsaber – blue – everywhere, despite never using it. Lives on Naboo. Age 58 standard years.

HAN SOLO: Husband of Senator Organa. Has a business in shipping, mainly partnered with Bespin and those nearby. Is almost never on-planet, but loves to spend time with his wife when he is on Naboo. Always on the lookout for someone important. Age 65 standard years.

REY SKYWALKER: Padawan learner of Luke Skywalker. Regarded as his daughter, if not by blood. Basically adopted her after her parents tried to save her from some sort of family curse. Has a blue lightsaber. Unclear if it belongs to her. Age determined to be between 14-17 standard years.

LUKE SKYWALKER: The last Jedi Master. Vanished off the face of the galaxy after the disaster that killed half his students, sent a quarter missing, and took the other quarter with him. Has a green lightsaber. Age 58 standard years.

POE DAMERON: Pilot for the Resistance. Well-regarded by cohorts, and jokingly called the “Senator’s son” due to his high esteem. Quietly, of course, as everyone knows. Son of an ex-First Order loyalist who saved him from being forced into spice running on Kajimi. Age 21 standard years.

FN-2187: Stormtrooper in the First Order. Captain of a squad of troopers with designations FM through HO. One of the main squads to accompany The Knight on excursions for Snoke. If asked by members outside the Order, he will state that his station is merely “sanitation.” Age determined to be 20-21 standard years.

   FM-1849: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 18-19 standard years.

   FX-0367: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 22-24 standard years.

   GB-1214: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 20-21 standard years.

   GE-0101: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 24-25 standard years.

   GI-0803: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 22-23 standard years.

   GW-3295: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 17-19 standard years.

   HC-1654: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 19-21 standard years.

   HF-2250: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 24-26 standard years.

   HK-0231: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 18-19 standard years.

   HO-3999: Stormtrooper under FN-2187. Age determined to be 15-17 standard years.

PHASMA: Stormtrooper in the First Order. Frequently called by the title “Captain,” but seems to be of a higher rank. Commandeers all stormtroopers on-ground, unless overridden by Snoke or one of the leading Generals. Age determined to be around 30-34 standard years.

LEADING GENERAL HUX: One of the 5 Leading Generals in the First Order. Unclear if “Armitage Hux” is real name or just a title. A harsh man. Often seems to be a precedent to The Knight. Age determined to be around 23-27 standard years.

BB-8: Small, orange-and-white astromech. Accompanies Poe Dameron on flights. Seems relatively new; acts like a puppy.

[sperastella]

Thank you @virtie333 for the tag!

First Lines Tag Game

Rules: share the first lines of your ten most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway ❤️

It has been a long time since I've written anything, but I recently started a new WIP two weeks ago after a lengthy hiatus and so I'm going to use this as a little preview and motivation for me to continue writing and hopefully finish a fic again. Enjoy. 😊

New Untitled Damerey WIP(!): The scenic plains of Montana surrounded them. Majestic mountains painted the backdrop. Cattle grazed on lush grass and a familiar sign hung across a wooden arch over the dirt road. Skywalker Ranch. It had been almost three years since Rey had returned home.

Homecoming with Professor Dameron: “Honey, are you okay?” “Sweetheart?” A gentle hand at Rey’s shoulder temporarily pulled her attention back to Jyn. “Yeah, Mom.” she mumbled, swaying back and forth while continuing to survey the room. “I’m fine…”

A King and Husband Returns: Rey straightened her features as the conversation around the Small Council again pivoted to the war effort. As if she needed a reminder. The conflict with the Kingdom of Korriban, Yavin’s northern neighbor, erupted three months following her marriage to Prince King Poe Dameron. She had barely settled into her role as Queen before her husband left to lead Yavin’s defense forces. That was two months ago.  

A New Master: “But Master Skywalker, why would you do this to me?” He had been her master, teacher, best friend, and yes, even a father figure since rescuing her from the slavers on Jakku over a decade ago. Why would he abandon her now? 

Better Care: Poe was hunched over the side of his cot in the Resistance camp. He had spent three weeks away on assignment for General Organa but came empty. No intel, no allies, and no resources. He sighed about ready to retire for the evening when the zipper to his tent opened and Rey marched in with a first-aid pack.

Husband and Wife: “You may now remove the veil.” Rey took a deep breath to steady her nerves as he reached forward and pulled back the sheer that had been obscuring her veneer

Chasing Sunshine: “I just want to go to school without being followed by an army of armed men!” Rey Skywalker frowns in disappointment in the Oval Office. For the past two years she has studied abroad at Oxford. During that time, she has been accompanied by no less than four Secret Service agents at all times. While being the daughter of President Luke Skywalker came with challenges, trying to fit in as a normal college student had proven more difficult than expected. 

I believe I can fly (with you): Poe paced nervously just beside the park entrance. His uneasiness had nothing to do with the freezing temperature or the fact tomorrow was Christmas Eve. He had prepared for both. The real source of his anxiety was the brunette who had captivated his every waking thought for the past week. 

A Date with Professor Dameron: Rey stood outside the classroom and took a deep breath. She could do this. Absolutely. Today was just another regular Tuesday. A seven am workout at the campus gym, shower, and breakfast consisting of a banana, granola bar and thermos filled to the brim with instant coffee was her morning ritual. Nothing unusual about any of it. Why then was her heart beating out of her chest and her hands trembling? 

Behind These Hazel Eyes: The crowd around Rey cheered loudly as the Medley relay signaled the start of the swim meet. What was she doing here again? She had never been into sports and the humidity of Yavin High’s natatorium had her sweating bullets even in a t-shirt. Seriously, what even was a Medley relay? The answer to these questions and more hopped up on the starting block of lane 3 and Rey flushed due to an entirely different kind of heat. 

Tagging (with no pressure): @zoriis @totheendoftheworldortime @starlight-and-seafire @batuuprincess @rosalindsghost @beskarbabybjorn @olpgurl @supremequeenofthenerds and anyone else who wants to join in!

[themattress]

Wow. Where do I even start?

Thread 1: Finn’s journey from fear to faith.

Thread 2: Leia’s hope for her son.

Thread 3: Poe’s journey from hero to leader.

Thread 4: Hux’s growing, rabid desire for control. (It’s why the organization’s called the First “ORDER”)

Thread 5: Kylo Ren’s learning that power won’t make him feel secure.

Thread 6: Rey’s learning that she doesn’t need to be “somebody” because it’s all about something bigger than herself.

Thread 7: Kylo Ren and Rey learning their respective lessons by finding the answers in each other.

For example, Poe and Finn suddenly have nothing to do.

They go on to both lead the battle of Exegol that saves the galaxy.

For example, Finn is not doing anything that requires the faith he began building at the end of TLJ; he’s just following Rey around.

All of this is happening without Rey being with him.

Poe is not learning how to lead, he’s just info-dumping and trying quick three-man hero missions, unlike the lesson he learned at the end of TLJ.

Really? That's not him still learning how to lead, like his role model Leia?

Hux is not strategizing with rabid extremism for control; he’s just pettily throwing his life away to get back at Kylo Ren.

Hux was never a strategist, and TLJ itself showed that nothing he attempted to undermine or leash Kylo Ren as the Supreme Leader did any good because Kylo Ren is the Supreme Leader. He can throw Hux around like a ragdoll using the Force just as Snoke did. Most of the First Order is naturally too afraid of him to join Hux in any sort of defiance. The only thing Hux has left then is his pettiness, which is actually true of many real life fascists. He's willing to risk destroying the First Order if that's what it takes to knock Kylo Ren out of power; even if it's burned down Hux at least gets to be king over the ashes. It makes perfect logical sense with his character. My problem with Hux in TROS is that he gets dispatched immediately after this is revealed, which makes it feel like a waste. He ought to have survived up to the final battle and died trying to wrest control away from Pryde then.

Then Kylo Ren just needed to see that love. Literally, just see and continuously experience it. That’s all they needed to do in TROS. Not so hard, just write a reason for her to save his life or spare it again

....Which is what TROS did. She saved/spared his life at the Second Death Star.

She feels more like she’s given up on him in these scenes and is just trying to win an argument whenever he barges into her brain.

Really? If she'd totally given up on him, she wouldn't even bring up the fact that him killing his father still haunts him, since if she felt he was pure evil she'd figure he feels no more remorse for anything. Just because she's being firm and strong as she says so, given that Kylo Ren is still her enemy at time, doesn't mean she still isn't trying to prod him into self-reflection.

in my mind. If he’s going back to trusting the past and the idea of his grandfather, then why does he want to turn Rey to the dark side?

He didn't repair his mask because he trusts the past and the idea of his grandfather; he repaired it because he was bringing the Knights of Ren aboard his mission and they all wear similar masks. It's a sign of their supposed brotherhood in the Dark Side.

Again, it makes no sense that Kylo Ren would still be pursuing turning Rey to the dark side so doggedly. After TLJ, he should be at least trying to give up on her and pursue killing her, if anything.

So you honestly think that Palpatine's revelation that Rey is his granddaughter and Kylo's own research then turning up that he and Rey are a Dyad in the Force shouldn't have affected his behavior in any way? That he discover what he believes to be the ultimate proof of his "blood dictates destiny" belief and just....ignore it?

She’s angry at him because of her connection to Palpatine and she’s fighting him like that’s going to exorcise her identity…but Rey being a dark, angry descendant of Palpatine never made sense (it unravels her whole character development.)

How? Her character development brought her to a point where she was at peace with being "nobody" because now she has a family that she has forged on her own. To then learn she's actually descended from that very family's greatest enemy, the one behind all of the pain it has suffered, feels like a logical third-act hurdle for her to overcome.

He should’ve had to live with what he’d done so he could learn from his mistakes. That’s where his whole character was headed.

You are objectively wrong about that. Every writer on board in the Sequel Trilogy, including Rian Johnson, knew that Kylo Ren would not be surviving the trilogy, with it practically being a mandate from Kathleen Kennedy that he die after being redeemed by Leia somehow, which was carried through with in the final movie even when Leia's actress had passed away beforehand. You mistakenly thought that's where his character was headed, but it wasn't.

She finally had someone she chose, someone she waited for who actually came back, somebody who understood her…somebody who’s redemption rewarded her long faith…and she’s left alone again.

Except that she's not. Beyond all of the living friends / family she still has, the whole point of people passing on into the Force is that they will always be with you even if not physically. Anakin fell to the Dark Side because he was unable to accept that; he let his attachment to Padme destroy himself and ultimately her. Conversely, Ben didn't give his life for Rey because he wanted her to live and be with him - the whole "giving his life" part kind of ruins that. He did so because he knew that the galaxy needed her physically alive in it, that the Jedi and the legacy of his family depended upon her. His death isn't just Vader redux - it's surpassing Anakin, doing what he was never able to.

What they should’ve done was, Kylo Ren and Rey save the day, and then he’s condemned to death for his crimes by the New Republic, but in honor of Leia’s life of sacrifice and belief in him, he’s given enough of a pardon to simply be banished to the unknown reaches. And Rey goes with him -

STOP. Right there. Just stop. I can buy perhaps that Kylo Ren is banished from the galaxy instead of executed, but Rey going with him is where I draw the line. First off, Rey going with him kind of turns the whole thing into more of a reward than a punishment, and it makes no sense that she would be permitted to do so. But more importantly, why would she want to? Yes, she loves him, but she also loves Finn, Poe, BB-8, Rose, Chewie, etc. She also is now the last Jedi, meaning it's up to her to rebuild the Jedi Order....in this galaxy, not in the unknown reaches. For Rey, the Hero, the first female one in the film series, to just abandon everything in favor of shacking up with the Villain....you really think that would go over well with anyone outside the hardcore Reylo crowd? Especially when them kissing was so controversial? It looks as though you're one of those people who believe that just because Disney bought Star Wars that it automatically makes Rey a Disney Princess and Ben a Disney Prince and that they ought to have a romantic Happily Ever After. To which I say...thank the Force you people weren't writing these movies. "A better movie", your idea ain't.

Hello! My ask is about The Rise Of Skywalker. I would like to read your analysis of Reylo's scenes such as their dialogues in the film, Rey's declaration to Ben ("I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand."), Ben's return to the light side and the reylo kiss. The declaration, Ben's return and the kiss, for me, are the only good things about this film.

I thought all of the Rise of Skywalker was really terrible. Terrible writing, terrible plot, and even some pretty terrible characterizations. (I thought the actors did their best, though.)

Basically, ROS had several threads that TLJ and TFA had braided together. All it needed to do was tie those threads off. But instead, it unraveled them and tangled them up and said “done! All tied up!”

For example:

Thread 1: Finn’s journey from fear to faith.

Thread 2: Leia’s hope for her son.

Thread 3: Poe’s journey from hero to leader.

Thread 4: Hux’s growing, rabid desire for control. (It’s why the organization’s called the First “ORDER”)

Thread 5: Kylo Ren’s learning that power won’t make him feel secure.

Thread 6: Rey’s learning that she doesn’t need to be “somebody” because it’s all about something bigger than herself.

Thread 7: Kylo Ren and Rey learning their respective lessons by finding the answers in each other.

TLJ took what TFA started and got you those threads. Then TROS said “never mind, we don’t like those threads” with most of them. For example, Poe and Finn suddenly have nothing to do. For example, Finn is not doing anything that requires the faith he began building at the end of TLJ; he’s just following Rey around. Poe is not learning how to lead, he’s just info-dumping and trying quick three-man hero missions, unlike the lesson he learned at the end of TLJ. Hux is not strategizing with rabid extremism for control; he’s just pettily throwing his life away to get back at Kylo Ren. Et Cetera. The threads all get unraveled or tangled up or left dangling uselessly.

EXCEPT for Thread 7.

They make an attempt at “Kylo Ren and Rey learning their respective lessons by deepening their bond.” The problem is, without the other threads, that one just doesn’t fit any better than the rest of the story.

First off, I 100% agree that Kylo Ren and Rey would be involved romantically, in some way, eventually. There’s literally no way around it. Romantic attachment is choosing to commit to someone on an intimate level. Because they’re Force Bonded, and because they are the only people in the universe who have similar identity crises and deep family-related angst, they were bound to intimately understand each other. They started caring about each other in TLJ. All TROS had to do was fan the flames of that care up in a way that led to their character developments concluding.

Rey just needed to demonstrate more of the letting-go she demonstrated at the end of TLJ: she wants Kylo Ren to be Light, but she realizes there’s nothing she can do to force it, even if she begs and pleads, so she just keeps doing the right thing on her end and trusts the Force, believing he’ll come to the right conclusion in the end no matter how much evil he’s done. What’s that ladies and gentlemen? It’s called ✨ unconditional love. ✨

Then Kylo Ren just needed to see that love. Literally, just see and continuously experience it. Even if he’s trying to hunt her down and kill her or take everything from her or whatever, she just keeps refusing to kill him and believing he’ll turn good. After all, that’s more than his parents did for him back when they sent him away—and since then, whatever unconditional love Rey shows him is strengthened by the examples of unconditional love Han Solo and Luke showed right before they died. Plus the alternative to accepting unconditional love—murdering everything that might give him a sense of power—hasn’t been making him feel any better. So he was primed for redemption via Rey.

That’s all they needed to do in TROS. Not so hard, just write a reason for her to save his life or spare it again, even after their previous encounter and even given his new status as Supreme Leader. He’s halfway there. Continued pushes are all that’s needed.

Just like Luke Skywalker in the Revenge of the Sith, Rey and Kylo Ren don’t really need to develop much more in the final movie of their trilogy. They just need to put what the first two movies taught them to a big final test.

Anyway. With that in mind:

Let me give you the bite-sized version 😅

The Force-Searching Scenes - I don’t like these because they’re all Kylo Ren searching for Rey, with little to no engagement from her. She feels more like she’s given up on him in these scenes and is just trying to win an argument whenever he barges into her brain. He, on the other hand, might be looking for her, but it’s with one hand on his grandfather’s mask. Which is totally the opposite of him “letting the past die. Kill it, if you have to.” So he’s taking weird steps backward, toward TFA, as if TLJ never happened… and that tarnishes his motives for finding Rey, in my mind. If he’s going back to trusting the past and the idea of his grandfather, then why does he want to turn Rey to the dark side? When Vader failed to turn Luke, he tried to murder him. Kylo Ren knows that. So meditating on a mask he should be giving up on in order to find and turn Rey makes no sense, so it takes the tension out of those scenes for me.

Fight Scenes - Again, it makes no sense that Kylo Ren would still be pursuing turning Rey to the dark side so doggedly. Neither of them could convince the other at the end of TLJ. They split a lightsaber in half to prove it. Now, that doesn’t mean they should be giving up on each other completely. But Kylo Ren should be acting like he’s given up on her, even if just to convince himself. That’s what he’s done this whole time: turned to killing the people who fail him to make himself feel more powerful. She has a reason to keep believing in him: she’s on the Light Side of the Force. But instead, she’s the one acting like she wants nothing more to do with him. He mentions how he’s going to turn her to the dark side multiple times in the movie. But she doesn’t say more than one quipped question hinting that she still wants him on the light side. So the “attachment” focus of their fights loses all it’s tension because again, it doesn’t make sense. After TLJ, he should be at least trying to give up on her and pursue killing her, if anything. And she should be steadfastly believing in him, while pursuing doing the right thing no matter what he does. That’s where they were in their character development. More fighting barely makes sense.

Healing Scene - I liked this scene only when Rey heals Kylo Ren. Their fight beforehand, and her ramming his lightsaber into him, still makes no sense. She’s angry at him because of her connection to Palpatine and she’s fighting him like that’s going to exorcise her identity…but Rey being a dark, angry descendant of Palpatine never made sense (it unravels her whole character development.) So her motivations in this scene don’t make sense…until she heals him. Then, suddenly, there’s a glimpse of that Rey we left on the Millenium Falcon in TLJ: she’s healing him, even though he might just stand up and attack her again, because she genuinely believes he’s Ben and she just needs to show him mercy until he comes around to believing it. And THAT is part of what turns him. So I like that: I just think it was executed really poorly. She should never have been healing him from a wound she caused.

The Kiss - The kiss was just basically the TROS storytellers confirming that they were romantically attached instead of just enemies-to-friends/Allie’s attached. Because…for some reason they had to confirm that visually. I just think, again, that they didn’t set it up and execute it well. They have no conversations and no significant attention paid toward each other between the healing scene and the final battle. They might be force-linked, but the audience needed to see that bond turned romantic, or him turned good before any overt romantic gestures, much earlier on. Other than that, I like that he healed her. I love Adam Driver’s acting in that whole scene. Makes me wish they gave him more to do.

The Death Scene - This should not have happened. It was lazy. Kylo Ren is a character who has been trying to fulfill himself by making BIG, final (emphasis on “final”) choices. Having him make one more big final choice, to end his own life, was not good character development. He should’ve had to live with what he’d done so he could learn from his mistakes. That’s where his whole character was headed. He’s always failed to learn from his past: he thinks he can just erase it. You know what giving up your life for a different hero and then fading away is? It’s nice, but it’s just another “erase” choice. Additionally? It’s terrible for Rey’s story, too. She finally had someone she chose, someone she waited for who actually came back, somebody who understood her…somebody who’s redemption rewarded her long faith…and she’s left alone again. That’s just the worst. Plus, what did she need him to heal her for? What exactly did she die of? He was way more injured than she was.

What they should’ve done was, Kylo Ren and Rey save the day, and then he’s condemned to death for his crimes by the New Republic, but in honor of Leia’s life of sacrifice and belief in him, he’s given enough of a pardon to simply be banished to the unknown reaches. And Rey goes with him, because she can finally stop waiting, she loves seeing the galaxy, and they can learn about the Force together…plus, they’re obviously deeply connected. And that would be a great homage to Leia’s legacy as a character who never gives up on hope, and that hope is ultimately rewarded. Instead of having her give her life to reach him…so he can live for an hour or so before also dying.

Long story short…you’re right! I just think all the elements you liked should’ve been way more central, built up to, and placed where they fit in a better movie!

[solo-returned]

V; Main - Kylo/Ben is in the custody of the Resistance and trying to decide whether to betray them or the First Order, while also mourning his father. He is extremely conflicted and volatile.

V; Spy - Kylo Ren has decided to remain loyal to Snoke and act as his man on the inside, working covertly to undermine the Resistance.

V; Redemption - Ben Solo has decided to honor his late father and return to the light, aiding Rey and the Resistance despite their mistrust. He has a tough road ahead of him, but he’s more than willing to put in the work. Redemption is worth it. He’s taking steps to try and keep Snoke out of his head, and seeking help from both his mother and Rey.

V; Modern - After joining the marines right out of high school and serving for nearly a decade, Ben returned to the States a changed man. Quieter. Angrier. Closed off. He’s slowly learning to open himself back up, working at his alma mater as a sophomore World History teacher, going to therapy, and taking out his aggression at the gym, but it’s far from easy. His relationship with his parents is strained at best. All of his friends from school either moved or passed on. He’s lonely and doesn’t want to think about it. Rather focus on work instead; those kids are relying on him, after all.

V; Wizard - HP verse! (I know, I know, JKR is a shitheel, but I grew up with these stories!) Essentially, Ben Solo is a halfblood wizard. His mother was Leia Skywalker, a pureblood witch (Gryffindor) and an employee of the Ministry of Magic, whose twin brother, Luke (Gryffindor), ran off to join the Royal Air Force not long after graduating from Hogwarts. While on a pub crawl with his mates from basic training, Luke met Han Solo, a dashing American (muggle) pilot who happened to be stationed at Upper Heyford, and they hit it off. Han and Leia met at Luke’s BT graduation ceremony, and one thing led to another…A year later, Han and Leia were married, and little Ben was born. His childhood was…complicated. By the time Ben was eleven, he was relieved to get his Hogwarts letter.

He was sorted into Gryffindor, though the Sorting Hat nearly sorted him into Slytherin because of the potential he already had as a dark wizard. Being a natural rebel, he denied such a grim prognosis; he wished to be a proud Gryffindor, like his mother, uncle, and grandfather before him. He was a better student than most people expected him to be. Diligent. Quiet. Until Professor Snape started picking on his classmates, mainly Harry, Neville, and Hermione. It didn’t take long for his protective streak to lead to outbursts, which would land him in detention every other week or so, but aside from that, he kept his head down. He had a family legacy to live up to, after all. Of course, going to school in the same year as the Boy Who Lived made that infinitely harder than it would have been otherwise. By fourth year, Ben was already tired of all the new threats to student safety, and the Tri-Wizard Tournament just aggravated him even more, especially with Harry being the miraculous fourth contestant. He dedicated the rest of his student career to becoming stronger and more highly skilled than the so-called Chosen One, taking every opportunity to show him up. The end of the tournament changed everything and nothing; Ben couldn’t stand the thought of losing another Cedric Diggory to some overdramatic ghost with the mother of all grudges. He kept training harder and harder between classes throughout his fifth year, jumping at the chance to join Dumbledore’s Army. By sixth year, he’d gotten the hang of wandless casting, and by the beginning of his seventh year, he could cast several spells without wand or incantation.

Unfortunately, the words of the Sorting Hat had stuck with him, despite his best efforts. He was skilled in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and had done extensive research into dark magic in his free time. Why not learn to use it? He was certainly strong enough and talented enough, right? And with Death Eaters taking over the school, and his nightmares reflecting the destruction happening all around him, and the bloody Golden Trio nowhere to be found…drastic times called for drastic measures. He opened himself to the darkness, learning from it without realizing that it was consuming him.

(More to come later!)

[ao3feed--reylo]

Bee to the blossom: Moth to the flame

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/SN06Ieu

by Anonymous

Everything was bright and beautiful in the life of Rey, a Mechanical engineering grad student at the University of Ahch-To, she thrived on coffee, positive affirmations, the scholarship she worked her ass off to get, cheap beer, and insomnia.

That was until Ben Solo entered her life.

Mind you! It’s Dr. Ben Solo, a pioneer in entomology and evolutionary biology, and a capital A- Ass*ole. An unfortunate incident leads to a fallout between them.

When she is forced to work with him again; Rey, unable to move past her hurt, is determined to hate him but she is playing a losing game as an apologetic Ben crushes through her defenses, with every touch and kiss.

Words: 2217, Chapters: 1/7, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey (Star Wars), Luke Skywalker, Rose Tico, Armitage Hux

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Kylo Ren/Rey/Ben Solo

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Professor Ben Solo, College Student Rey (Star Wars), Ben is an entomologist, Rey is an engineer, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Made up technical things, Ben is a doctor of insects, Flirting with a student, And the student flirts back, Ben Solo Has Issues, lots of emails, emails as plot points, Kissing inside a lab, Oral Sex, Ben is a stickler for lab rules until Rey eats a creambun

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/SN06Ieu