#reylo meta

[raisedbythetv89]

IM ILL 😭😭😭😭

She knows this will hurt him. She knows this will make him feel betrayed. She hates that she has to do this to him because she knows he’s not the monster he pretends to be but he’s still not the person he needs to be in order for them to be together.

A cornerstone of Rey’s personality is she doesn’t give up, no matter how hopeless something seems so to be giving up on her other half and leaving him with the first order is heartbreaking for her. She’s not only devastated at the loss of Ben Solo, her other half, but for what she knows this will do to him and that he will view this as a betrayal.

And we can see so clearly what it does to him written all over his face 😭 he’s so hurt and confused, he thought there was no way she wouldn’t see things his way and that she knew they belonged together no matter what so he can’t believe she’s fighting to get away from him again and just UGGGHHHH

And how initially he is FURIOUS, firing on the falcon all his big talk of destroying her, and luke and everything while she is initially just so sad this is the way things have gone but by the time we get into TROS Rey’s sadness and disappointment turns into RAGE and she is furious with him for keeping them apart and not coming back to the resistance with her.

GUH 😭 when she lays eyes on him again at the end of TLJ we see her take a few deep breaths and he looks hopeful when she does it meaning he can feel her sadness, her regret, her pain, her resolve waiver for just a moment before she puts on this mask of indifference and just looks SO disappointed in him.

While for him, once his anger burns out and he sees her again he’s just utterly devastated and filled with regret and you can see he’s disappointed with himself too 😭

The chemistry and acting talent of these two is insane but the experience of what it’s like to fall in love with someone who’s not ready to love you and how painful it is to walk away from that person when you realize it is captured so beautifully and so devastatingly I’m so heartsick about it 😭

[writingwife-83]

There was a lot TROS let us down on and so many things that could have been done better but sometimes I like to appreciate the things we got. Like, they did not have to include the detail of Rey healing the scar on Ben’s face when she healed his lightsaber wound. Absolutely not necessary to the plot. But because of that tiny detail we can imagine that when she was healing him and she got to the point where his mortal wound was no longer an issue she thought, there’s more I could give. So she gave even more of her life force to undo any traces of hurt she’d caused him in the past as well. It’s never specifically acknowledged, but it’s so perfect and makes that turning point in the plot just that little bit more meaningful. 🥺

[allgirlsareprincesses]

Do you think that Rey's story (excluding episode 9 'cause that was a shitshow) could be interpreted as a Cinderella/Ash girl story?

I hope you realize asking me this is like throwing chum to a shark 😈. But the short answer is yes, to a point.

The long answer is more complicated, so to begin with, let's consult the Cinderella bible:

According to the Aarne Thompson Uther Index, there are five primary motifs to a Cinderella tale:

Persecuted heroine, usually by family

Help or helper, usually magic

Meeting the prince, usually with true identity disguised

Identification or penetration of disguise, usually by means of an object

Marriage to the prince

Rey is abandoned by her family, which is a form of persecution, and harassed by the inhabitants of Jakku like Unkar Plutt. Thus she clearly fulfills the first item.

As for meeting a helper, there are several for her, including Han Solo, Maz, Luke, and Leia. Any or all of these may be considered fairy godparents in the way that they offer her wisdom and material help. Further, except for Maz, they all die in the course of the story, which is consistent with many Cinderella tales in which the helper dies and their bones continue to offer wisdom and comfort to the heroine.

Next, meeting the prince. I mean

To the extent that Rey is "in disguise' here, it would be the extent of her force powers, her destiny as Ben Solo's dyad mate, and her role as the heir apparent to the Jedi (chosen by the Force to wield the legacy saber), all of which are obscured from Kylo Ren when he discovers her in the forest. Further, she is grimy and covered in desert sand, similar to how Cinderella is smeared with ashes that hide her true beauty.

So now an object penetrates the disguise. This is obviously the Skywalker lightsaber, which reveals Rey to be everything listed above, especially when she calls it to her on Starkiller Base, and again when she wields it on Ahch-to.

And lastly, marriage to the prince. As many others have pointed out over the years, Rey and Ben have almost too many symbolic marriages to count in the course of the sequel trilogy. They're extremely married, the Force said so.

BUT WAIT! Go back and look at that list again. Who ELSE fits all those criteria?

It's our boy! Consider:

He is indeed persecuted by family, most notably when Luke momentarily considers killing him.

Ben's helpers are both dark and light, as Snoke/Palpatine guide him in the dark while Luke guides him in the light (poorly). But note again what I said above about the bones of the mentor continuing to offer guidance and comfort after their death. Who should appear at Ben's lowest hour but his departed father, Han Solo? With a message of love, acceptance, and encouragement, Han's memory (because in fairy tales, bones contain memory) encourages Ben to at last cast off his beastly skin and become who he always was.

Next, meeting the prince/ss in disguise. He's wearing a literal mask when he meets Rey, so yeah.

An object penetrates the disguise? Rey slashed his face with the legacy saber, thus symbolically peeling away his mask. And I've argued before that the stabbing in TROS (which I still HATE, btw) is another cutting or burning away of the beastly skin.

And lastly, marriage to the prince/ss. As previously stated, that happened. Many times.

So yes, the Sequel Trilogy can definitely be considered a Cinderella story, with but one glaring issue: Cinderella's husband usually doesn't die at the end. But that's another topic that's been done to death, so let's all just read some more fanfic and forget about it. 👑 Thank you for the ask, this was fun!

[oh-great-authoress]

I’d love to see your opinion on Samuel Kim’s Reylo Theme, @reylo-musings!

A Reylo Leitmotif?

So this is in reference to a post made earlier from an anonymous ask given to @official-reylo​. This is a link to the original post http://official-reylo.tumblr.com/post/141767892134/who-in-the-reylo-fandom-is-musically-inclined

Now, my personal opinion is that I think it is hard to pull a specific leitmotif from this selection because it is already just a medley of leitmotifs. However, there are reasons that I find this section of music to be especially “Reylo” interesting other than pulling a leitmotif from it.The biggest one, which I have hesitated writing any meta on up until now is actually regarding the last notes of “The Abduction”.

Now don’t be ashamed of me, and throw me out of the Reylo Fandom, but I actually didn’t see this movie until almost a month after it had been out. Basically, I didn’t have enough money to afford a ticket until then. But, I had been listening to the soundtrack on a loop on YouTube for pretty much that entire time. So, I had picked up on certain themes that were happening, mostly because of the track titles and just from general assumptions. Now, listening to this soundtrack so much was a big deal for me, because despite what I thought would happen, I loved it all. Honestly, I am not always John Williams’ biggest fan simply because his music does tend to feel somewhat recycled. However, I was OVERJOYED to hear this soundtrack and find that pretty much none of it felt formulaic or static, or any of the things that are common when I listen to Williams’ soundtracks.

But as a musician, NOTHING on this soundtrack bothered me more than the ending of “The Abduction”. If you’ve heard the idea of musicians not being able to stand an unresolved tune, like the “leaping from their deathbed to finish it” thing, let me tell you that concept truly exists. 

This track does EXACTLY that. It NEVER resolves. It builds up to the long tension note that is supposed to drop down to resolve to the ending harmony, but it doesn’t. (For those interested in the actual music theory, the held note is the 4th scale degree. We either expect this to resolve down to a minor 3rd, which fits into to key already, or to a Major 3rd, also known as a Picardy 3rd)

After being annoyed by this track about 2534 times, I just wanted to see this darn movie so badly, if only to figure out why Williams was being such a tool and not resolving that ending. Seriously, my brain had started inserting notes at the end of that piece so it wouldn’t bother me so much. I HAD to know why he chose to do that.

Ironically, in the movie, it’s hard to hear it because at that point, the sound effects of General Organa’s ship descending overpower the musical score and Finn begins speaking again, but it is still audible, and still very much unresolved.

NOW

There’s a second half to this that is important that I have to get to before making my final point.

In Western cinema music, when you are trying to depict good vs. evil in leitmotifs, there are certain instrument groupings that you tend you gravitate towards. The general assumption is that strings and woodwinds are good while brass and percussion are evil.

Ex. Good- The Lord of the Rings: The Shire

Ex. Evil- Star Trek Into Darkness: The Kronos Wartet

This is CERTAINLY not absolute (See: Psycho Theme-”Evil” Strings/ Indiana Jones Theme- “Good” Brass) but when developing leitmotifs, moving towards these stereotypes is a simple way to define character structure through music so the audience grasps the concept quickly. [Note: Large themes don’t always stick to this, but here we are dealing with leitmotifs, which are short 1-4 measure ideas, not entire songs).

John Williams does exactly this in The Force Awakens, but more than just defining “good” and “evil” (terms that are rather subjective in the Star Wars universe), these terms are more liberally applied to the “light side” and “dark side”. 

I think something key to point out is the fact that the actual “Force Theme” is played on French Horn, an instrument that is clearly made of brass, but is always included in woodwind quintets due to its wide range and warm timbre. It is the true hybrid between both sides of the wind instrument family. 

How fitting that the Horn, the embodiment of both “light” and “dark”, be the instrument to represent all of The Force.

So let’s walk through a couple of the themes in TFA. (I’ve given the links to the individual parts if you want to reference them, but I won’t bog down the post with all the video links)

Rey’s Theme:

-Starts on Woodwinds (flute, clarinet, bassoon, etc.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM

-It’s honestly a bit difficult to discern the next instrumentation, but to me it sounds like it could be a combination of celesta and vibraphone, possibly with harp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM&t=0m14s (honestly, it’s super hard for me to tell). Yes, Celesta and Vibraphone would be considered percussion instruments, but John Williams already favored this combination for Hedwig’s Theme, and it carries the same lighthearted feeling here in The Force Awakens.

-Next is strings, bowed (arco) and plucked (pizzicato) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM&t=0m23s

-The 2nd half of Rey’s theme is lead by the Horns. I have already written many times about how I consider this part of Rey’s theme to be her “force theme”. Interesting how it’s back in that musical “grey” area. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM&t=0m33s

-It is important to note that the underlying bass lines from her theme are played in low strings, not in low brass. Again, Rey’s theme sticks a lot on the “light side” of instruments.

-By the end of her theme, other brass (trumpet, trombones, etc) have hardly played at all, and they’re truly only “featured” for about 2-3 bars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65As1V0vQDM&t=2m31s

-We can determine that with the grey area exception of horn, Rey’s Theme is predominantly strings and woodwinds

Kylo Ren’s Theme:

Kylo Ren does not have a “theme” on the soundtrack, but the point of his arrival in “Main Theme and the Attack on the Jakku Village” serves the purpose well enough. From the first view of his shuttle, the music is pretty much nothing but brass and percussion. Short sections of strings are heard when Lor San Tekka is on-screen, also occasionally when Poe or his x-wing are on-screen. Phasma’s entrance and the villager massacre are under-toned only with brass. The return to the Finalizer and the music aboard? You guessed it. Brass. The entire section is nothing but dark and “evil” sounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ac1Qg-r-8&t=4m19s

Rey & Kylo Ren’s Theme:

Now, what good is all this if we can’t hear them side by side. Enter “Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle”.

This track is GOLD for showing the strings vs. brass/ “light” vs. “dark” motion. Like perfect clockwork, every time Rey is seen on screen, we hear strings. Every time Kylo is on screen, we hear brass. The distinction could not be more clear. This is the first time they are in close proximity to each other, so it is the first time we hear this interaction. There is one key cross-over moment where brass enter into Rey’s territory. Where, might you ask? When she pulls the blaster and kills her first Stormtrooper 

*hint hint* DARK SIDE! And she certainly feels it. Just look at her expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRRPCjr1Ito&t=1m09s

So. 

That brings us back to “The Abduction”.

After Kylo Ren bridal carries Rey out of the forest, we hear brass themes playing, which makes sense with Kylo’s on-screen appearance at the time. Han spots his son carrying Rey up the ramp to his shuttle, and the small (possible) Tchaikovsky quote is heard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUs88IY1A00&t=1m35s (this has lots of strings in it, but is a combination of both strings and brass).

The biggest complaint that I received on my Tchaikovsky post was that this was just a piece of transitional material, and not an actual “quote”. My defense to that statement is the idea that when you are transitioning between sections, composers will tend to use instruments in the transition that are heavily featured in the next section. The thing that gives this a distinct “Romeo and Juliet” feel is timbre of the trumpet entrance. This is only strange transitionally because the trumpets immediately drop out again after the phrase change. Hence, my reasoning that this serves more of a quote than a transition. 

After they disappear in the shuttle and Finn frantically runs toward them, Rey’s theme is heard in it’s fairly standard form, but with brass doubling the lower lines now. 

As Kylo Ren’s shuttle takes off, we hear the first real musical reference to him, beating notes representing his standard theme (though it is not a direct quote) and high trumpets start to double with the high parts of Rey’s theme. Octave by octave, Rey’s theme is pulled down by the brass, until at the very last moment, a trombone pushes up to a tension note (brass representing Kylo remember)…and the song just ends. Unresolved. So, at this point, the clear “light” vs. “dark” is gone. They’ve gotten all mushed together. Rey’s themes have started to turn “dark”, yet Kylo’s “darkness” is getting left completely unresolved.

Hmmmmmmmm. 

It’s almost like, THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS! We know from here on, Rey gets just a little darker, and we know that Kylo becomes more conflicted and unresolved in the power of the Dark Side.

Kylo’s lack of resolution is most pronouced after killing Han Solo, when he feels more weakened than ever before. 

P.S. With this strings vs. brass thing in mind, go listen to “Torn Apart” again. Yeah. Go do it. And then cry a little. And then cry a lot. Even upon stabbing Han, there is only the slightest brass undertone. That scene is 98% strings. If that doesn’t define what’s in Kylo’s head, I don’t know what else can. The “dark” brass doesn’t return fully until Kylo gets shot in the side and he’s forced to fight back. There’s so much light in him, it scares him to death. 

Rey’s darkness accelerates until her rather brutal take-down of Kylo at the end of their fight.

Bless you John Williams. Bless you. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. John Williams is one of the ONLY people who has had significant decision-making power on EVERY SINGLE ONE of the movies. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He is a true expert.

So to kinda answer the original ask, I don’t really think this is something that screams of a “Reylo” leitmotif, just because it’s mostly just Rey’s theme by itself with some slight alterations towards the end. Many people compare this music to “Across the Stars”, but other than the general orchestration, I don’t personally hear a ton of parallelism. I think it has common factors with both “Across the Stars” as well as “Han Solo and the Princess” but they just feel like similarities to me, not leitmotifs. If you hear it, Awesome! It’s just my opinion that they don’t feel very similar. 

Again though, just because I don’t believe there is a specific “theme” to pull here does not mean I don’t find this to be the most “Reylo”-significant track in the film.

I think there is a reason this track has stuck with so many of us, because Williams intended that to be the case. Clearly this is a very significant moment in the film, so it should be scored with equally significant music.

Thoughts?

[atlasshrugd]

no but the thing is, when the hero falls in love with the villain she is falling in love with the darkest parts of herself. she is owning her shadow and the owning makes her stronger. it is not about whether a ship is toxic or romanticising abuse because it’s not about two individuals. the struggle is not one between two people, just like the love is not between two people. when the hero falls in love with the villain she is loving herself. when she loves herself she is stronger, better, able to transform darkness instead of running from it. at the moment of loving, a person changes. the loved changes. and the love of the villain changes the hero. it’s all about this, don’t you see?

[artist-issues]

I just NEED everyone to agree with me that Rey's parents are nobody. We should all agree about that. We should collectively, as an audience, say, "clearly the best idea was to have Kylo Ren be a dynastic heir to the major legends of the Force who wants to throw off his family's shadow, while his rival is nobody from nowhere who wants to belong--so we're going to stick with that."

And then, what should have happened is, Rey can finish her story by being able to say, "My parents might have abandoned me, but that doesn't mean I'm worthless." And eventually Kylo Ren can say, "My family might have been powerful, but I don't have to be," and all those other things that they can bounce off of each other as great foils.

It can keep being a good story about accepting past failures and choosing to grow beyond them.

Let's just all collectively ignore Rey Skypatine because of how silly that was. I mean. If they can just ignore the setups in the previous movie, we can ignore their choices in the conclusion. Right?? Right? Tell me I'm right

[intergalactic-cutie-pie]

All this right here

NOT MY EDIT. CREDITS TO THE AUTHOR!!!

[allgirlsareprincesses]

I would love if more people could listen to our analysis of the last episode on @whattheforce . We cover this question in detail. I really think the issue here is some folks on socials not understanding the difference between Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard. Reylo is BatB, whereas the Acolyte ship(s) are definitely Bluebeard. The sexy baddie is the Predator, he's dangerous, he represents a force that is holding the heroine back, he's NOT a romantic hero like Ben Solo! He can't be the other half to either of the twins because their other half is EACH OTHER. The sisters are only whole together, so the Predator's role is only to come between them, at best to cause the awakening that allows each sister to finally claim her power.

The Acolyte ship is an evil/evil dynamic, so I would argue it's not meaningfully the same thing as Reylo. But I think they are trying to pander to it a little bit, yes, completely missing the point of what made the ship attractive. He's very violent with her in a way Kylo Ren never was with Rey which I just find really sad. That was never the draw for me personally (and strangulation is a hard line for me, which is why I don't really like Anidala, even if I ship it cosmically).

But the fact that they cast someone very conventionally attractive as the bad guy is really funny. Like we're all shallow airheads who only liked Kylo Ren because he was hot.

Really?? So is it pure visuals or do people think the characters will actually push each other in a positive direction?

I do get a little disgruntled at people's 'that's all reylo is' shit posts about finding the villain hot or finding threatening/strangulation hot or whatever. I realise these are jokes mocking antis for getting so up in arms about very standard bodice ripper tropes which have been hugely popular forever and it's fine, but that's not at all what reylo is to me.

I talked a long time ago about how I'm not really a villain fucker and don't generally like that many etl pairings. Pretty much for the same reasons I don't like rival-shipping and because, like you, I'm not into the violence. It's not a deal breaker for me if there's violence between the ship before they develop a connection, obviously, but I don't find it titillating and don't want to see the violence itself portrayed as sexual. I can't stand hate as sexual tension and etl ships are very prone to that.

I'm here for the B&tB of it all, personally. To me reylo is about hope, healing, and compassion. About two lost and lonely souls truly seeing and recognising each other when no one else did and helping one another become their best, most authentic selves. They free each other from bondage and pain.

If Ben were actually a Sexy Bad Boy or DFP, I wouldn't ship it. Him not being that is the entire reason it appeals to me. If he'd seen her as a rival or resented her in the way people often write in fics, I wouldn't ship it. He never hated her and she stops hating him as soon as she realises he's not a monster, their attraction comes from a place of sympathy and curiosity on both sides not from jealousy or covetousness--that's why they're OTP. This is among the many things tros fucked up.

[ranticore]

The fact that I can't post my favourite ever félix.png because it contains a massive paragraph of reylo meta from someone else's tumblr post.. do u know how it haunts me

[raisedbythetv89]

Their first and last meetings in TFA occurring in a forest where it’s just the two of them and how the parallels between the two encounters also allow them to show how much has changed in Rey in such a short time after meeting Kylo, gaining conscious access to the force and delving into each other’s minds

His saber at her face

He continues to study her intently because he feels she’s important to him but doesn’t understand how. Showing little change in his behavior at this point but now he’s broken, bleeding and vulnerable. That vulnerability represented by him no longer wearing his mask - the beginning of the end of of kylo ren has already begun

BUT REY!!!!!! She has ALWAYS been a survivor and a warrior but masked Kylo represents her shadow aka her fear and in their first meeting the physical manifestation of her fear literally freezes her in place BUT THE DIFFERENCE IN HER FACE instead of abject terror she is now DETERMINED and looking him dead in the eyes just STARING him down and striking fear into Kylo instead

This camera pan makes Rey appear like prey as the audience and kylo both circle her in contrast to her circling kylo laid out at her feet with such a predatory gleam in her eye and very aggressive body language she’s gone from the hunted to the hunter

I MEANNN

IT’S JUST TOO GOOD

[writingwife-83]

What is your opinion about Rey's declaration to Ben in TRoS and the impact of this declaration on the two characters and their development in the film?

I would like to know your opinion on this scene. 🙂

I know I’ve ranted about this before but this is one of my absolute favorite reylo moments. Rey is broken down and raw in that moment. She’s not holding back like she had been up to that point. She’s admitting that underneath it all and despite everything that’s happened, she wants to be with him.

And I maintain that her added clarification of “… Ben’s hand” doesn’t diminish this in the slightest. All she’s saying is that she wants to be with the man he truly is. She can’t be with the him while he’s insisting on being in the role of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, because that means he’s still on the Dark Side. She wants to stay away that, and rightly so. I’m not into all the extremes of the Jedi, but of course she doesn’t want to join the Dark Side of the Force. (I enjoy some Dark Rey hc and fan works once in a while, but I’m never going to truly be into the concept of her turning.) And of course she doesn’t want Ben to stay on that path either, seeing as it’s the source of his pain since even before birth! Of course she wants him to be free of that. She just wants him. 😭 😭

And it certainly does make an impact on Ben and his character development. (Cue yeeting his lightsaber into the ocean lol) yes part of the impact was Leia and the sudden shock and pain of losing her, but it was also obviously the realization of not only how Rey truly felt about him, but also what she was willing to do for him. The Dark Side encourages selfishness and greed, so the act of giving some of your own life force to heal and save anyone, let alone someone who is still an enemy, flies in the face of that. It probably shook him partly because he so rarely saw that kind of selflessness, and also because deep down I’m sure he felt he didn’t deserve it. And yet there he was, healed and renewed, all because Rey couldn’t bear to just let him go. I just…

[theladyship]

This part here:

It’s so true! And it’s why I will never understand why some people are so averse to romance being part of adventure or action movies. It is our very essence and the greatest motivator. And more often than not it’s the only REAL relatable part of fictional storytelling.

“The best thing about The Rise of Skywalker is the sexual tension”

(I’ve come across an old TROS review on a Brazilian blog and there were so many parts that I loved so much that I decided to just translate the entire thing. Original article here.)

“Sexual tension between actors is something wonderful. We can feel it in our bones. While sitting in a dark theater, we watch as we get sucked into the irresistible attraction that pulls a character (or maybe an actor?) to another character. When we relate to the characters, we feel charged by the sparks flying around the scene. It has been this way since silent cinema, which partly helps explain the enduring success of films as a form of entertainment: implicit sex and identification. 

In one way or another, we experience the sensations we watch on screen, whether they are fear, anger, triumph or failure. But especially lust. I don’t know how well “The Rise of Skywalker” will do at the box office. I didn’t like the movie, even though I’m a long-time fan of the saga. But there is one thing I am certain of: in this decades-old narrative, there was never a couple like Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver. Or, if you’d prefer, Rey and Kylo Ren.

Since the very first time they are alone, in a First Order torture chamber, the connection between the two is established in an intense and clearly erotic way. He tries to mentally penetrate her and she resists, before penetrating his mind herself. Both pant and whimper. She moans in pain. Clearly, there was something there…

Keep reading

[sleepynegress]

An observation... I've noticed that when white fans get into spaces or ships with POC, they include the white ships/spaces from other media in their fanworks about the one with the POC....but it never goes the other way. Often, the white characters have a lot more lines and personhood. I'm not linking any specific art or works, but yeah... I'm not gonna ask the hypothetical because I know the answer.

I will say, I looked up Oshamir on twitter and the first artwork was a comic with Rey advising a silent Osha on Qimir and another comic by the same artist doing the same thing.

[a-manda-lorian]

I don’t know about y’all, but I have been perpetually disappointed in franchise/series endings for years now. Is fandom the problem??? Like, we all get on here and theorize and come up with bangin’ meta… and then the writers give us a steaming pile of 💩 for the actual film/show/book ending… How are the fans better at coming up with amazing story ideas while the people making the big bucks are making lousy stories??? All these things that end up in story for us to analyze can’t just be accidents, but then why do they never get fleshed out and come to a logical conclusion???

I’m just confused. Should we stop doing this, hyping ourselves up and setting unrealistic expectations on story writers…?

I feel like I’m being punked… where’s Ashton????

[curlytheintrovert]

Why I Love Reylo (Pt.2)

(My old post for reasons unknown got deleted😭)

One of my other favorite parts of this couple is that they are atypically gender reversed. It’s one of the many reasons this ship is so intriguing and unique compared to others. Let me explain. Typically in most hetero romances the man is the abrasive, closed off one at first and is generally a prickly little shit. While the girl is typically softer, a little more compassionate and open minded. This not the case with Rey and Kylo.

Rey’s first interaction with Kylo is shooting a blaster at him multiple times in succession. Granted she does have a Force vision of Kylo at Maz’s which makes her justifiably hostile and afraid of him. During the interrogation scene Kylo reads her mind and speaks her thoughts out loud: she wants to kill him. Rey calls him a creature in a mask and angrily tells him to get out of her head. And then proceeds to spit Kylo’s greatest fear back in his face with such venom. I love how she snarls: “You. You’re afraid.”

Kylo on the other hand only defends himself from her blasts and force stops her from shooting any further. He gently says: “The girl I’ve heard so much about.” Kylo easily could have dragged her away or thrown her into the hands of the troopers beside him—but instead he makes Rey sleep and scoops her up into his arms bridal style. In the interrogation room Kylo sees Rey’s fear and says she’s his guest. He takes off his mask. Then explains things calmly—never raising his voice above a murmur. The curiosity about her is strong as Kylo probes her mind and the responses to what he finds there are emotional. I love so much how he says “Don’t be afraid, I feel it too.” It just feels so incredibly kind considering the circumstances—like that was the first little glimpse of Ben we got.

The shift that happens when Rey uses the force back on Kylo is what really sets the tone for the rest of their relationship. Rey attacks and responds negatively—Kylo gently deflects and tries to connect. If you watch throughout the rest of the films this dynamic doesn’t really change. Almost all of their force bonds in TLJ are similar: Rey being barbarous and Kylo being benign. A majority of their saber fights are like this too—Kylo plays defense, is hesitant to pull out his saber multiple times or looks like he’s doesn’t want to fight her period.

See what I mean?! Rey is hostile and prickly—Kylo is open minded and gentle.

The other gender swapped aspect is that in a way Kylo is the damsel of this pairing. He’s trapped far away, lonely and miserable, in a figurative tower. Rey fights Luke for his cause and goes to rescue and save him if she can. But I also see Kylo as an emotional damsel too. He’s so lost, and hurt and twisted. Rey offers him a way back—she’s the only one who can—and in the long run is the very reason he is able to become Ben Solo again. But it’s when Rey lets her guard down and mellows her prejudice that their relationship flourishes. Kylo/Ben is already ready and waiting to love and be loved…

Man, this pairing is complex and fun to analyze!

[sassinake]

good analysis. I don't see DLF do the mature thing though, so I guess Reylos will still need fanfictions.

Rey's Character and the Likelihood of Ben Returning

Ultimately, the likelihood of Ben Solo’s return (either via the World Between Worlds or some other alternative) will depend on which version of Rey DLF decides to go with. Because throughout the sequel trilogy, there are two distinct versions of her character—the one geared towards children, and the one geared towards adults. Let me explain.

Since Star Wars is a universe and franchise that caters to both child and adult audiences, there are inevitably certain stories and characters that are geared towards specific age groups. Shows like Andor and Obi-Wan and movies like Revenge of the Sith and Solo are geared towards adults, whereas shows like Rebels and The Resistance, and movies like The Force Awakens and The Phantom Menace are geared towards the younger audience. (It’s worth noting that adults can enjoy this content as well and those shows and movies are amazing to watch even at my ripe age of 29). Additionally, there are characters that are, by nature, geared towards one of the two audiences. Characters like Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Grogu, Ashoka, Padme, Hux, Ezra Bridger, BB-8, Sabine, Finn, and Rose are characters that are more approachable to younger audiences—whether that be through their story arcs and settings, character arc relatabilities, easily defined moral compasses, and easy to understand motives and objectives. On the other hand, characters like Anakin, Poe, Leia, Han, Ben Solo, Cassian, Jyn, Bix Caleen, Mon Mothma, and Qi’ra are all characters who, by their relatability and the context and subject matter of their story arcs, tend to be geared towards older audiences.

Of course, there is a natural amount of crossover depending on which show or movie the character is in at the time, but generally you can see which characters are intended for a more mature audience and which were designed for a younger audience. And that’s not to say that children can’t relate to characters like Anakin or Jyn or that adults can’t relate to characters like Ashoka or Ezra. The distinction is simply that certain characters are going to be more easily digestible and easy to understand to a younger audience than others. For example, characters like Hux and Darth Maul are very clearly bad, while characters like Chewie and Grogu are very clearly good. However, adults can be given characters like Cassian Andor or Qi’ra who are more morally ambiguous and who make both good and bad choices and the older audiences have the cognitive ability and life experiences to understand the nuances.

When it comes to Rey, she has been in both these camps with the audience seeing two distinct versions of her character throughout her tenure. This isn’t the same sort of crossover we see with characters like Luke or Obi-Wan who can easily play in both fields, this is an instance where we’ve seen two distinct versions of her character.

The first version is the child-friendly version of Rey. This is the Rey we see most frequently in JJ’s movies but it’s at its most apparent in Rise of Skywalker. It’s the Rey we see playing with BB-8 in the desert and sliding around on hills. The girl who misses her parents, who has to ask for permission to go on missions, and who has to borrow somebody else’s lightsaber because she’s too young to have her own. This is the version of Rey whose understanding of the Force is very black and white and whose temptation to the Darkside is very cut and dry without any ambiguity or nuance. This version of Rey mainly focuses on parental figures and her duty as a Jedi, and her own personal desires for connection or her struggles with temptations are often a watered down version of themselves.  

The second version is the more adult-centered version of Rey. This is the Rey we see in both the Last Jedi film and the novelizations of both TFA and TLJ. This is the Rey we see challenge the legacy of Luke Skywalker and question his actions, who makes her own decisions and isn’t afraid to stand up for her convictions. This is the Rey who has calm and rational, philosophical conversations with people who are older than her, and who are sometimes also her enemies. This is the Rey who struggles with the temptations of the Darkside in a more personal and nuanced way. This Rey has a more esoteric view on the force and what it means to be a Jedi. This version isn’t afraid to explore romance in her life and has grown beyond needing to find adoptive parents to take care of her. This version decides to take on Snoke by herself, gets her own lightsaber, and who doesn’t shy away from confessing her struggles with loneliness, desires, and identity. This version of Rey functions at a higher level as the subject matter regarding her identity, her philosophies about the force, and her relationship with Ben Solo are much more mature in nature.  

One version of Rey is easy for children to grab hold of and digest, while the other is more complex and layered. One struggles with simple concepts like “Anger = Darkside,” and, “I need my parents to save me,” while the other struggles with concepts like, “What if the connection I’ve been searching for is found in my enemy, and my identity is not defined by my heritage,” and, “This person I once viewed as my hero has made mistakes and I need to make my own choices outside of him.” One version of Rey has ~platonic “thank you” kisses~, the other version has conversations about existentialism with a shirtless man and reaches across the galaxy so she can physically touch that same man. One version spends her time sledding and training on a child’s obstacle course, the other spends her time confronting her mentors about their actions and conversing with a man about loneliness over dim firelight.

One version is mature, the other is often infantilized.

In this new movie, the likelihood of Ben Solo returning will hinge on which version of Rey DLF decide to settle on. If she is to remain the child-friendly version, the likelihood of Ben Solo returning probably won’t happen. Because Ben Solo’s return would require a more mature and nuanced understanding of morals, forgiveness, redemption, and romance—all concepts that are better suited for an older audience—the story would also require the more mature version of Rey to coincide with that. Whereas keeping him out of the story would allow Rey to focus solely on more child-friendly tasks like training Jedi, being a good platonic friend, and being abundantly clear cut in her morals and perspectives—all concepts that can easily be watched and understood by younger audiences.

As to my personal guess as to which version DLF will go with – I think it depends on Adam Driver. If he wants to return to the franchise and play his character again, I could easily see them spinning this one movie off into multiples and doing a full trilogy focused on Ben and Rey creating a new Jedi Order, exploring the powers of the dyad and what it means, and bringing up the next generation of Jedi for future movies. This would be a good option for DLF to take advantage of as Ben Solo is a huge cash cow and (buckle up for this one) the child(ren) of Ben and Rey would make for great new characters to pass the baton to for the next big Star Wars trilogy.

However, if Adam doesn’t want to return, then I’d imagine this movie will be a one-off story that exists solely for Rey to act as an Obi-Wan/Luke figure and introduce a main Jedi character that we’ll see as the lead protagonist in the next big Star Wars trilogy. She’ll most likely have just the one movie where she sets up a new Jedi order, they’ll probably pair her up with Grogu or BB-8 to make her even more kid friendly, and we probably won’t even get as much as a Ben Solo name drop.

Eventually they’ll want to pass the baton to the next generation, and it makes sense for Rey to be the one to do it. The only question will be if we first get to see Rey and Ben and their adventures, or if they’ll simply skip it in favor of a clean slate and this movie will just fulfill the need of introducing the next main protagonist. (Most likely one of her students.)

And as to the 15-year time jump, I don’t think it’s telling either way which option will happen. On the one hand, the age up could reinforce that more mature version of her character which would open the door to a Rey and Ben plus kids sort of story, but on the other hand it could just solidify Rey as only wanting to be a Jedi who has no interest in romance and is just focused on legacies and being *the Skywalker*.