bookishwanderlusttt

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Alright I know that probably everything that can be said about this has been said, but it has really been nagging at me to just get it written down. I think one of the most disappointing choices made in ROTS was to completely retcon Rey’s family. It made absolutely no sense to do this and I know they did it just to please everyone who called her a Mary Sue or whatever, but if you cared about the story at all it wouldn’t have happened. This got longer than expected so, TL;DR at the bottom. 

In the Force Awakens, Rey’s struggle was with the fact that she believed it was a mistake that she had been left behind and that her parents would one day come back for her. Throughout the movie, she is bent on the fact that she has to get back to Jakku in order to be there when her parents arrive. Thanks to Maz, she comes face to face with her fears that her parents are not coming back for her for whatever reason, either they just won’t or they are dead. At this point Rey doesn’t know, but she just has to accept the fact that they won’t which she does. 

So, you have 1. Rey realizes that her parents aren’t coming back. 

In the Last Jedi, her struggle is with the fact that she knows nothing about where she comes from or who her parents were. She is able to finally go to Ahch-to because she accepts Fact 1, but she still hasn’t fully let them go. She is also looking for some sort of parental figure to cling to. Kylo points this out in both TFA and TLJ with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker respectively. He is the one who puts things in perspective when he gives her the truth about her parents. That they weren’t good people and that they sold her off for drinking money. I love that Rian used her hair as a way to show that she was moving past wondering about them. She had her hair up in the buns so that her parents would recognize her if they ever came back. When she realized, 1: that they weren’t coming back and 2: accepted that they weren’t coming back, her hair stayed down. 

At the end of TLJ, you have 2. Rey realizes that her parents never wanted her in the first place. 

Then you could have had this next piece in ROTS. After clinging onto the hope that your parents would come back for you and finding out Fact 2, Rey should have had to reconcile with that fact instead of things being magically fixed for her and just breezing by it. The way it should have happened was that she should have realized that she didn’t even need them in the first place. The only reason she grew up to be the person she was, was all due to herself. She raised herself to be hopeful and kind and compassionate when anyone else would have grown up bitter and rude. I think it is safe to say that pretty much everyone on Jakku are only out for their own interests. She did not grow up in a kind place, yet she turned out to be the sunshine that we came to know. She did that. No one else. 

Then to continue, she found this group of people who cared about her and valued her. She created a family for herself. She had a group of friends, mentors, and she found her soulmate (despite the fact that he DIED, but I digress). She made a family for herself and that should have been the focus. It would have completed the trajectory of this plot line and it is extremely disappointing that it didn’t. 

So, at the end of whatever movie this would be, you would have 3. Rey realizes that she didn’t need her parents, that she raised herself to be who she is today, and to focus on the family in front of her instead of the ones that left her behind. 

EDIT: I meant to add this in before, but I forgot. You don’t send a child to a dusty deserted planet in the hopes that they will have a good life, much less sell them off to slavery. You leave a child in a place like that to die and be forgotten. “They sold you to protect you”, my ass. 

I know that this was really long, but it feels good to finally have this written down and off my chest. 

TL;DR: Rey’s family’s plot line should have been as followed:  1. Rey realizes that her parents aren’t coming back, 2. Rey realizes that her parents never wanted her in the first place, and 3. Rey realizes that she didn’t need her parents, that she raised herself to be who she is today, and to focus on the family in front of her instead of the ones that left her behind.

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

Hux should’ve been the villain in episode 9.

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Whoops....

So anyone want to play animal crossing?

[bookishwanderlusttt]

I guess I don’t have the best track record with which ships I choose in the Star Wars universe.... there’s Reylo which ended up being canon, but one of them is dead and rebelcaptain which kind of ended up a little bit canon, but they are both dead.

TL;DR: WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE BOTH AT LEAST GIVE ME ONE?!

[bookishwanderlusttt]

People who think reylo is toxic clearly don’t understand:

a) how an enemies to lovers trope works [spoiler: when they are in the enemies stage, they will fight]

b) that Ben was manipulated onto the dark side and abused by Papatine/Snoke. Palpatine was manipulating his mind and his choices -  the voices in his head.

c) that Ben Solo chose the light. and he did it on his own. Yes, Rey was one of the catalysts, but he had to make the big decision on his own (or with the help of the memory of his father). Throwing away the light saber was symbolic of him throwing away the Kylo Ren persona. 

d) how redemption works. 

e) that Rey was not in love with Kylo Ren, but with Ben Solo.

[bookishwanderlusttt]

I wanna say my own little piece of the matter of the Star Wars discourse today- otherwise known as John Boyega’s comments on Instagram and Twitter, which have sparked a huge war on multiple social media sites where fandoms interact.

I was really disappointed by John’s comments about the sequel trilogy characters and specifically reylo, the same way I was disappointed when GoT actors made rude comments towards the upset fans. But that DOES NOT MEAN it’s okay to “cancel him” or harass him online, and the whole reason this thing got blown out of proportion is someone immediately saying he was an asshole and misogynist for the comments he made. Which was then followed up by others calling reylos racist. And so on and so forth. How is this behavior acceptable by any decent person?

ALSO, I want to say that the reasons I PERSONALLY feel sad about John’s comments is because they validate antis, who I’ve been harassed by in the past and are now feeling more empowered to do so again. HOWEVER, the so-called “reylos” who have been responding to him and calling him a child who is having a breakdown- that shit is disgusting. They do not represent me- someone who considers themself a reylo, and many others I follow and respect who share my preferences on this matter.

Please be kinder and more understanding of each other🖤

[bookishwanderlusttt]

I am not giving you anything. We’ll see!

[bookishwanderlusttt]

ben solo but it’s don’t stop me now 

it hurts how well this fits

[bookishwanderlusttt]

So, I decided to actually write about this today while I was at work. Sorry if this is a bit rushed, but I just wanted to get this out into the world. If you like this, I am really thinking about re-writing the epilogue scene as well!

You can also find this at: AO3 or Fanfiction.net

Ben lifted his hand up and with great effort, managed to pull himself out of the hole Palpatine had just thrown him into. He attempted to stand up, but failed and crashed back to the ground. He was weak. His life force severely drained, but none of that mattered. He had to get to Rey. 

He looked up from the ground and saw her lying still too far in front of him. He attempted to stand again and this time succeeded. It was not easy at all to walk. He was stumbling and trying to keep himself upright with his arm clasped around his waist. Rey was the only thing in his sights, he would worry about the destruction and how to get out of here later. He just needed to get to her. 

He slowly stumbled his way to her side and finally crashed down onto his knees as he saw her lying there, lifeless with his mother and his uncle’s lightsabers by her side. He crawled over to her and laid himself on top of her so he could grip her in his arms. He then hefted her up as he sat up with her cradled in his arms and when he looked down at the girl in his arms, all he saw was her open, dead eyes staring back at him. 

Rey was dead. His Rey was dead. He knew that something had happened when he was down in that pit. He felt something in the bond that they shared snap, but he couldn’t come to terms with it. All he could focus on was getting back to her, but he was too late. He had turned too late. He had come to her side too late. He looked around through the desolation looking for someone, anyone who could help her. There was no one there and he knew it. It was just him and her. 

Ben took the hand that was cradling her head and pushed it up so he could embrace her in his arms. He crushed Rey to his chest, holding back tears that he knew would start falling. Was there nothing he could do? He was willing to do anything to bring back this girl who saw the good in him when it seemed like no one else did. She was the last person in the galaxy who cared about him even if it was just the littlest bit and she had been ripped away from him. 

Then he remembered what she did for him. She had healed him. Even when they were on opposing forces, even when, yes, it was she who had hurt him. She did it because she had cared. And he could at least try to do it for her now. He hadn’t been back in the light all that long although Rey would have said he had never left. He could only hope that it would be enough. 

He brought her back down into his lap and with a deep breath, placed the hand that wasn’t cradling her head onto her abdomen. He closed his eyes and started to dive back into the force using all the strength he had left. He had never force healed someone before. He hadn’t even learned how to do it. But there was something there, something powerful resting within his soul. A tether to another soul, one almost too far out of reach. He reached for it and started pouring the rest of his into the body that laid before him. It was his sole focus: bringing Rey back. It had to work. It couldn’t not work. Ben, in no way, shape, or form, could ever imagine a world where this girl didn’t exist. He didn’t know how long it would take, but he would sit here forever or until all of the rest of his own life force had been spent. But then, he felt a hand lay rest upon his own. 

His eyes flew open and he looked at Rey and when he did, he actually saw her looking right back at him. Her eyes blinked a couple times before she looked at him again with shock, awe, and a little bit of something else. She sat up and her hand rested on his shoulder as she looked at him in the eyes. They gazed into each other’s eyes, but Ben felt himself growing even weaker as the seconds passed. 

Ben was trying to take her in as much as possible, scared of when the moment would come when he would be taken away. 

“Ben,” he heard Rey whisper and all he saw after that was her glance of fear as he was overcome with darkness and he fell backwards.

Rey grasped his neck and helped lower him to the ground as to not hit his head. Her mind was wheeling with the events that had just passed. She didn’t know how long she had been out for. She knew that she had died and that Ben had brought her back to life. She gazed down at him as tears started spilling over her cheeks. No, no, no! They couldn’t have him. They hadn’t had any time together to figure things out between them. It wasn’t fair. Give him the chance to prove himself. He deserved it! They deserved it! 

All she wanted was to do what he had done for her, but she knew she couldn’t. She was weak and had just come back to life. Either she died trying to do it, or she died again in order to bring him back to life. She wouldn’t waste his sacrifice doing that because she knew he would try to do it again and they would both end up dead trying to bring the other back to life. Tears rolled down her face and she felt something in the force that got her attention. 

“Leia,” she whispered. She knew it was Leia, but Leia was dead. She had died just a few hours ago. However, Rey knew it was Leia’s force pulsing around her and Ben. And suddenly, she knew Leia had become one with the force. In that exact moment, Rey turned her eyes towards Ben and saw them flutter open once again. 

Rey smiled at him and helped him sit up to face her. Ben was shocked that he had been given the chance to gaze upon her beautiful face again. They just looked at each other for a couple seconds before Rey couldn’t handle it anymore and she pulled his face to hers as their lips met for the first time. Ben could feel Rey’s wet cheeks against his, but all he could focus on were her soft, plush lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. 

Rey pulled away to look at him again, leaving her hands to rest on his cheeks. They looked at each other and Rey finally got to see Ben smile for the first time. It was a beautiful sight and she never wanted to see him without it again. She rubbed her thumb over the corner of his mouth and he pulled her into his embrace. She nestled her head into the crook of his neck and started crying again. One of his hands went into her hair and the other one rubbed her back as he soothed her. 

“We’re alive, Rey. It’s going to be okay,” Ben whispered into her ear. She just clinged to him tighter and they both just sat there, reveling in each others warmth. He turned his head so that he could press a kiss to the top of her head and she finally moved back off of him. 

She wiped at her eyes before saying, “We need to get out of here.”

A smile came across Ben’s face again as he said, “That we do, sweetheart.”

He braced himself, making sure he was strong enough, before standing up before her. She gazed up at him as he reached his hand out in front of her, just like he had before, in expectation.

“You said you wouldn’t take Kylo Ren’s hand. You said that the hand you wanted to take was Ben Solo’s,” he said with a hit of nervousness, Rey saw, “So, here I am, now as Ben Solo once again asking if you would please join me as we find our new place in the world.”

Rey just stared at him before a smile ran across her face as well and she finally slipped her hand into his. He pulled her up from the ground to face him and she looked right into his eyes as she said, “I thought you would never ask.”

Wouldn’t it have been really cute if Ben, you know, didn’t die and after he healed Rey and then they had their cute kiss scene, he stood up and offered her his hand and SHE FINALLY TOOK IT?

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Wouldn’t it have been really cute if Ben, you know, didn’t die and after he healed Rey and then they had their cute kiss scene, he stood up and offered her his hand and SHE FINALLY TOOK IT?

[bookishwanderlusttt]

The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers Ahead

So I saw ROTS last night and I’ve been thinking about it all day today. I will say this for starters: I did enjoy the movie. I thought that it was fun, interesting, and it kept me engaged the entire time.

However, in the movie, they did the two things that I did not want them to include.

1. Making Rey connected to some powerful family line.

I loved the notion in the last movie that you didn’t need to be “someone” to be powerful and important. I thought that it was really fitting that Rey didn’t come from an important lineage and that she was powerful, not by blood, but by just being herself. I thought that it made it easier to connect with her and see myself in her. Rian Johnson did a great job with this and in ROTS they had to completely back track it. I do not understand why they decided to make her a Palpatine. They could have taken the entire movie as a whole, not included that part, and it still would have been an great movie. I think it was unnecessary and it undid the incredible message laid down in the last one which was really unfortunate to see.

2. Redemption after death or through death.

I think that them killing Ben off was a cheap move and cheap storytelling. It’s been done over and over and over again and I’m over it. It would have been way more interesting to have him stay alive and be able to live a good life with Rey. I have been a Reylo for the longest time and it made me so happy to see them happy together finally. They have been through hell and back in their own separate ways and it would have been so fulfilling to see them survive all of this. Killing him off also, logistically, doesn’t make sense. In terms of their dyad/force bond, how does that work in terms of one of them dying. Why give them this bond if you are going to waste it and ruin it in the end. Also, what was the point of Leia and Han’s sacrifice if he just died in the end? Yes he turned to the light for a couple of minutes, but did that do the sacrifice justice? I don’t think it did.

My only other criticism would be that they jammed pack a lot of information in the movie, but it wasn’t to the point that I couldn’t follow. I’m sure I missed some things, but I think a rewatch or two will help with that.

TL;DR: You don’t have to come from a powerful lineage to be powerful and redemption after or through death is overdone and not interesting.

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Reblog if you actually liked The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

I have seen so much negativity from the Star Wars and Reylo fandoms and I just can’t understand why. Sure, there were some aspects of the film that weren’t perfect, but that applies to every film in the saga! All of the shittalking coming from fans is bringing me tremendous sadness. I need a friend.... I loved TROS, and I always will.

[bookishwanderlusttt]

I didn’t mean to read all of Supernova yesterday... I really didn’t. It just sort of happened and now I have nothing to read today and hardly anyone has finished it so here I am alone with my feelings...

If anyone has finished it hmu. I’m in desperate need of someone to talk to about it ❤️💙

[bookishwanderlusttt]

I just finished Supernova and I need to talk to someone to talk to about it!!! I have a lot of emotions!

[bookishwanderlusttt]

Dammit.

im not gonna watch loveeater... I’m not gonna watch loveeater.... I’m NoT gOnNa WaTcH lOvEeAtEr.... IM NOT GONNA WATCH LOVEEATER! Uuuggghhh i might be dying i need someone to intervene

[bookishwanderlusttt]

im not gonna watch loveeater... I’m not gonna watch loveeater.... I’m NoT gOnNa WaTcH lOvEeAtEr.... IM NOT GONNA WATCH LOVEEATER! Uuuggghhh i might be dying i need someone to intervene

[bookishwanderlusttt]

For those of you who are going to watch Loveeater when it comes out in Ukraine

Please tag your spoilers for those of us who will not be watching the episode at this time. This is kinda an unfortunate situation and if you want to watch the episode, go for it! Just make sure to put your tags in so people won’t be prematurely spoiled (even though they already put out a pretty big one 🙃).

Something like this almost happened last year, but luckily it was avoided. Maybe that will be the situation this time, but with the release date being in two days that seems unlikely.

This is pretty frustrating and if you do have problems with the release schedule, make sure you go after people who actually have control over it. Thomas Astruc may be the creator, but as he has said over and over again, he has no jurisdiction over episode releases.

Maybe we can avoid this next season...