#not a big shipper except for kanera

[anoray]

Yes, it’s been a while since the release of the SW sequel trilogy, so I’m not sure why I didn’t share these meandering thoughts at an earlier time. I guess my mind has been ever so slowly stewing on it, stirred occasionally whenever other people’s opinions of TFA, TLJ and TROS cross my dash, especially regarding the whole Rey/Ben/Kylo/Finn thing.  

As I am neither a Reylo nor an anti-Reylo, I objectively understand those SW fans who have a negative response to how things turned out between Rey and Finn. The ST certainly has some issues in that key character arcs, as well as the overall storyline, were not plotted out sufficiently in advance (or were not adhered to if they were), which clearly made it difficult for the variety of creative teams to maintain a consistent narrative throughout. This lack of creative cohesiveness caused certain aspects of the story and the characters’ journeys to feel like misfires when their arcs spun out in off kilter directions from what was set up in the previous film. The end result is three films that tend to undermine each other at times when they should flow together smoothly as a trilogy.

In regards to Rey, Ben/Kylo, and Finn, I do not view any of these three within the trope of a romantic love triangle. In TFA, the dynamic between Rey and Finn came across to me as very much like Luke and Leia (aka Jedi brother/sister) and I never expected them to be romantically involved. If they had become involved in that way in the later films, that would have been totally fine and fun, but what actually disappointed me about TLJ and TROS was that they did not explore and build on Finn as a budding Force sensitive even though it was clearly hinted at by Maz and other incidences in TFA. As many have already suggested, Finn’s journey in the ST would have been far better served in TLJ and TROS by focusing on his discovery of how to connect with the Force to defeat Phasma and help free fellow stormtroopers who were stolen as children and brainwashed by the New Order. 

As for Rey and Ben/Kylo, the true essence of their relationship comes across to me as spiritual, not romantic. We are told in TROS that they are two halves of one soul, a dyad in the Force. This is why they can connect the way they do across space/time and explains how Rey became so amplified in the Force after she and Kylo encountered each other. As such, Rey and Ben/Kylo represent a single soul engaged in an all out war with its own Light and Dark, each half struggling desperately for dominance until solace and reunion are achieved through balance. This torn soul’s constant inner battle manifests on the surface via the physical and verbal conflicts between Kylo and Rey until each half of the soul gradually accepts and forgives the worst of their combined Dark via the compassion of their combined Light. It is only after the two halves finally heal into one whole soul, that it can reconnect with all the Jedi/Light in the Force to balance the Dark of the Emperor/Sith. In other words, I don’t view Rey as being debased and reduced to “saving her abuser” the way some interpret their relationship. To me, she is dedicated to saving the one soul she and Ben/Kylo both share because she senses that is the will of the Force. 

Unfortunately, a muddled build up to this revelation of Rey/Ben/Kylo’s dyad dynamic in the previous two films makes it all too easy to see how the significance of their spiritual relationship gets completely buried beneath the surface of an ill-fated romance, problematic or otherwise. 

To sum up my take on the ST, I feel the trilogy’s main storyline with Rey tried hard to conclude the constant battle between Light and Dark, a conflict which had been represented by the Skywalkers and Palpatine in the PT and OT. By the time of TFA, the Force had now manifested itself into a single soul, one literally divided between the Skywalkers (Ben/Kylo) and Palpatine (Rey). The story could certainly have been told better, but I did find it interesting that it seemed like the Force wanted to test this divided soul to see if it would consume itself with hatred/Dark or heal and balance itself with unconditional love/LIght. 

Like every SW fan out there, I have my own wish list of  things I wanted done differently during these nine films (not to mention the various TV series), but I try to focus on appreciating the countless parts that I love just the way they are. Great fanfic fixits help a lot when I can’t ;)  In the end, I’m just glad SW is still alive and kicking, and that maybe someday I’ll get to watch the newest SW release with future grandchildren yet to be (may the Force be willing).