#REI IGNORING HIM TRIGGERING THAT LONELINESS & FEAR

[wildwoof]

SOMEONE'S TRANSLATED THE PAMPHLET THAT WAS HANDED OUT DURING CROSSROAD SCREENING && I'M SOBBING SO MUCH. FINALLY GET THAT BACKGROUND INFO I'VE BEEN CRAVING FOR KOGA FOR SO SO LONG.

THE FEELINGS I HAD ABOUT KOGA BEING LONELY AS HE GREW UP WEREN'T THAT FAR OFF HONESTLY. IT TRULY SEEMS LIKE HE RLY DIDN'T HAVE FRIENDS. HIS PARENTS SPOILED HIM AT FIRST. THEN IT SEEMS LIKE WHEN HE HIT JUNIOR HIGH AGE, THEY JUST BEGAN TO LET HIM DO WHATEVER HE WANTED BUT THEN ADOPTED LEON.

SO EVERYTHING BEGAN TO SHIFT TOWARD LEON FROM HIS PARENTS THAN AT HIM WHICH BEGAN TO MAKE HIM FEEL MORE LONELY, BUT AS I THOUGHT HE WASN'T ONE TO ASK FOR ANYTHING. HE WAS SPOILED, BUT HE WAS ALSO CONSIDERATE. FELT LEON DESERVED THAT LOVE, SO INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO SEEK SOMETHING ELSE OUT INSTEAD.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SO JUST COMING UPON REI & LISTENING TO REI SINGING ON STAGE GAVE KOGA SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. AGAIN, HE STILL WAS FINE JUST BEING ABLE TO WATCH REI FROM A DISTANCE. HE DIDN'T DESIRE ANYTHING ELSE OUT REI. THIS WAS HIS PERIOD WHERE HE PUT REI UP ON THAT PEDASTAL AS WELL BEFORE CHANGING HIS TUNE WHEN HE BEGAN TO REALIZE THE AFFECTS IT HAD ON REI. WHEN HE REALIZED JUST HOW HUMAN REI WAS AS WELL AFTER CROSSROAD.

It also gives a little insight to what Koga's doing right after Crossroad concludes. That even tho he's still standing on Rei's side during the War, Koga pushes the idea of the other Yumenosaki students causing a scene due to his position aside & CONTINUES to sing & dance on stage, playing his guitar. It's his resolve that keeps him going during that turbulent time. He'll show those students in the Livehouse the power of his vocals & song. He'll continue to strive toward that very desire. Rei saved him first, so he'll in turn save Rei as well.

[whentheynameyoujoy]

The Problem with Rey, or Where I Fail to Ignore the Bad Trilogy Yet Again

So, in a grand tradition of ignoring my New Year’s resolutions the second after making them, I hereby give up on trying to be less of a sourpuss this year and am going to once more plunge into the pit of negativity that’s the sequel trilogy. Namely, I’m going to put my two cents in that scene in TROS.

Or rather I’m going to try and sus out why it raised no eyebrows with me as I was watching it in the theatre, beyond the obligatory “Oh, callbacks! Cameos! That’s nice. Fuck off.”

After all, it absolutely should have. It’s an ostensible backslide in what passes for character development in these movies, a reversal in the texture of the hero’s journey, of the ST’s sketchy hint of the characters changing from broken immature children into self-actualized adults. And let’s not forget about the horrendous messaging that sees Rey forever entombed in the role of a pure virgin maiden, a replacement golden child that’s vindicated in her tendency to define herself through relations to others instead of becoming her own person.

Christ, the thing is literally golden.

And then it clicked why none of this raised any alarm bells with me.

I just fundamentally don’t take canon Rey seriously as a fictional character.

Mind you, this goes well beyond my inability to play with TROS on its own terms and stop riffing it (though it is a problem) or to view it from the Watsonian perspective instead of constantly remembering that the only reason the movie even exists is not to tell a story with any narrative integrity and artistic honesty, but to make a bazillion dollars and thus it can do without my emotional investment (though that’s also true).

My chief issue is that Rey as a character barely exists.

Now, what I mean by that is that Rey doesn’t conform to the definition of a fictional character as a purposeful construct, a set of distinctive traits making up a defined psychology that informs one’s behaviour and allows one to dictate the plot as its active agent, thus driving the story forward.

What’s confusing about this is that at the start of TFA, Rey had by far the strongest characterization out of anyone, original characters and new (although this stops being true pretty much the moment you notice it).

When we first meet Rey, she’s busy living what can only be described as the Star Wars equivalent of a Dickensian existence—a parentless teenager forced to fight for survival, figuratively and literally, and earn her own living from a very young age. What her life lacks in support and stability, it makes up for in hard labour, hunger, and a crushing sense of cultivated loneliness. There are no meaningful relationships—friendly, familial, or romantic ones—and no prospects, only a desire to escape, or to be more precise to be taken away under a set of specific circumstances. And of course there’s the nagging fear that this might actually be it for her.

This will never stop being ingenious.

What’s most interesting about Rey at this point, though, is her contradictions. As we later learn, she has lashed her sense of identity to the idea of being a temporarily abandoned child, and thus she’s forced herself to live a life of perpetual childhood, waiting for her parents to come back and pluck her from Jakku instead of moving on and carving out her own existence. In a very real sense, although her life has many outward marks of adulthood, she refuses to grow up, going as far as styling herself after her former childhood self and naively asserting her belief that of course putting her life on hold and spending it stuck and waiting is eventually going to be rewarded.

At the same time, though, there are already some cracks in the childish façade that allow us to see the real person beneath—someone with a strong sense of right vs. wrong, to the point where she’s willing to put herself in danger and accept hardships on behalf of others. But her willingness to engage in conflict without a second thought can also be read as underlying anger issues stemming from her sense of abandonment, and a sign that a certain jaded bitterness may have already set in, as evidenced by her unwillingness to deal with BB-8, a non-familial entity, as a friend after saving him.

All of this creates a character who’s barely holding it together, someone bursting out of the childlike costume they’ve constructed for themselves, their mask about to disintegrate and reveal a deeply broken person underneath; a little girl who’s too busy looking into the past instead of living in the present, who doesn’t see herself as an agent in her own story but as someone who’s given meaning by others.

In other words, Rey’s challenge at the beginning of ST is to confront the truths and issues she doesn’t want to face, destroy her shell, and emerge into adulthood as a fully-realized woman.

I hope you enjoyed this bit of psychology as much as I did back in 2015 because it’s the last one she’s going to get.

The moment the movie dies.

From the second Rey meets Finn, she leaves TFA as an agent who shapes the story by her own psychology and development, and spends the rest of the runtime as a passive object that’s dragged along by the plot while having no effect on it, instead being jostled around by the actions of others. Up until the final fight, Rey:

runs away from an enemy she never engaged, who means nothing to her and she nothing to them;

is ambushed by a guy and his pet fuzzball, neither of whom she’s ever met;

is forced into defensive action by a bunch of gangsters who, yet again, have nothing to do with her or her journey;

accidentally releases a convenient plot device she didn’t intend to release. This doesn’t amount to anything;

is introduced to a map she didn’t search for, leading to a person she doesn’t know, has no connection to, and no reason to be interested in;

ends up on a planet she didn’t know about and had no plan to visit;

has her inner conflict verbalized to her by discount Yoda;

has her lights punched out and is bridal carried by the galaxy’s most try-hard Bad Boy Who Ever Baddied for unintentionally viewing the central McGuffin of a storyline that has nothing to do with her or her character conflict;

gets interrogated by an admittedly gorgeous mop of hair which triggers her Force powers, somehow. She never reflects on this;

gets saved by the screenwriter by using a Force power she had no reason to suspect existed.

Only then does she wake up from her slumber to:

fight Kylo Ren in order to protect the unconscious Finn, a type of action she’s performed twice already in regards to BB-8 and thus is nothing new for her;

and finally, having failed to reflect on being Force sensitive or express an ounce of political opinion, join the Resistance for some reason and decide to take on the responsibility of finding Luke Skywalker, a person who still means nothing to her on any level.

Simply put, Rey spends the majority of the movie treading water and then being catapulted into a position the screenwriters want her in, without first sending her on a journey which would bring her to the Resistance and Luke as a natural result of her own choices and actions, not of a series of plot contrivances.

This is further made worse by the fact that Rey’s psychology from the start of TFA when she was still in that wonderful character study test tube? Yeah, it stops existing. Or rather it stops dictating her actions and behaviour. Gone is her unwillingness to permanently entangle herself in the affairs of others and only doing so after a reluctant flare-up of empathy. Now she’s a good sport who’s just happy to be included, guys! There’s also this slight problem where her background leaves no marks on her. She has no interpersonal problems, no trust issues, no bitterness, no jadedness, no sense of abandonment, she isn’t clingy or stand-offish like most people with her experiences would. There’s only the face of childlike joy as she simply goes along for the ride because the movie needs to happen.

And these checks J.J. signed in TFA? They get cashed in TLJ where Rian Johnson is asked to wave his arms and work with a character who’s in a situation she has no internal reason to be in. As a result, instead of having a solid, meaty foundation to examine why Rey has immediately latched onto the Resistance and Jedi after spending so long defining herself through her parents and having no personal or ideological reason to be interested in either, we’re just asked to nod along and pretend that Rey being so deeply invested in any of this makes sense and isn’t worrying in the slightest. And then comes the end where any notion of moral complexity is flushed down the toilet as Rey pulls a Kylo and instead of incorporating what she’s learned into a new worldview and altering her journey, she digs in her heels and returns to the Resistance as, sigh, the last Jedi while, yet again, never examining her attachment to either. The found family trope is awesome, guys, let’s not question it.

So I must admit to not really understanding where this outrage about Rey being locked in permanent childhood by the end of TROS is coming from. She’s never stopped being a child. The sequel trilogy has always preferred to view her as a pure ray of sunshine (pun very vomit-inducingly intended) and an embodiment of good that’s free of internal conflict; a figurative representation of a child who’s spent the movies in a state of arrested development (a few unmotivated moments in TLJ being a notable exception), cycling through different parental figures until she’s finally gotten it right and can now restart her childhood, new and improved.

You may call it yucky but I don’t see how it’s surprising.

[simply-reylo]

TLJ Novelization - All Reylo Quotes

Not sure if this has been done before...This list also includes quotes that imply a Kylo Ren redemption arc as I figured y’all are the same crowd anyway  :)  Enjoy!

“There it is. You have too much of your father’s heart in you. Young Solo.” [Snoke to Kylo] Pg. 67

“And look at you. The deed split your spirit to the bone.” [Snoke RE Han Solo’s death] Pg. 67

“Alas. You’re no Vader, you’re just a child with a mask.” [Snoke to Kylo] Pg. 67

“Jakku had trained her to do two things better than anyone else could. The first was to salvage broken things. The second was to wait.” [RE Rey] Pg. 70

“But Luke had disagreed with Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi that Anakin was lost to the light. He had insisted that the very emotional entanglements that had led Anakin to become Darth Vader might also draw him back...Luke had been right - and ignoring his teachers had saved him, the Alliance, and the galaxy.” [Leia’s POV] Pg. 72

“Ben in her womb, turning and tumbling in search of comfort, an ever-expanding radiance in the Force, but one shot through with veins of shadow. Luke had reassured her that was normal - the brighter the light, the darker the shadow.” [Leia’s POV] Pg. 81

“Ben as a toddler, forever following Han. Carrying the dice from the Millennium Falcon - the ones his father had used to win the beloved, battered freighter - and promising anyone who’d listen that one day he would be a pilot, too, like his daddy.” [Leia’s POV] Pg. 81

“Ben, her son. Who’d been stolen from her and Han, stolen by Snoke’s wiles and Luke’s mistakes and his own furies.” [Leia’s POV] Pg. 81

“For a moment Kylo let himself recall his parents’ worried conversations behind closed doors, the ones they’d deluded themselves into thinking he wouldn’t know about...Conversations in which they talked about him like he wasn’t their son, but some kind of monster. They were frightened of him, he realized.” [Kylo’s POV] Pg. 82

“She was worried for him, he realized. And she wasn’t angry. She ached for him to come back to her. Kylo depressed the trigger slightly, not quite enough to fire. And then he lifted his thumb. He couldn’t do it.” [Kylo’s POV] Pg. 83

“Can you see my surroundings? ...I can’t see yours - just you.” [Kylo to Rey] Pg. 118

“Even as [Kylo] callously rifled through her mind, he had somehow revealed his own. Rey found herself in his mind even as he invaded hers. She felt his rage...But she also felt his hurt, and his loneliness. And his fear...Kylo had retreated at finding Rey in his head - had practically fled from her. But that had not been the end of that strange, sudden connection. She had seen more - far more...It was as if his training had become hers, unlocking and flinging open door after door in her mind...Kylo had urged her to let him be her teacher - had pleaded with her, almost.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 121

“Could they actually touch, across a galaxy?” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 136

“’You are a monster,’ Rey said...She stared back at him - and found his eyes full of hurt. Hurt - and conflict. ‘Yes, I am,’ Kylo said, and there was no menace in his voice - only misery.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 137

“’It was a Jedi Master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader.’ ‘And a Jedi who saved him!’ Rey objected. ‘Yes, the most hated man in the galaxy - but you saw there was conflict in him. You believed that he wasn’t gone, he could be turned.’“ [Rey & Luke] Pg. 146

“His gaze was hungry - and knowing.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 175

“Desperate, Ben’s hand reaches out...Trapped, he reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, begging the stones to heed his plea and come crashing down on Luke’s head. To save him.” [Kylo Ren flashback] Pg. 175

“She could feel that what Kylo had told her was true - or at least he wasn’t trying to mislead her...What if [Luke] had gone into exile not because of what the apprentice had done to the teacher, but because of what the teacher had done to the apprentice?” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 176

“She had felt so alone, all those nights. But never as alone as she did staring at her own reflection, beneath the island in the cold and the dark. When the tears finally ebbed, Rey lifted her head. She knew who she had to talk to about the cave, about what she had sought and what it had shown her - someone who would understand how solitude and loss could eat away at you until there was nothing left.” [Rey RE Kylo] Pg. 180

“The moment Rey reached her hut she had felt him near her, in the Force. The connection between them was so raw and powerful that it reminded her of touching a live wire in the wreckage of a starship. She had closed her eyes, opened them, and found Kylo Ren there - right next to her where she sat on the stone bench. As if she could actually reach out and touch his his, his face, his hair. At the sight of him she’d felt relief surge through her.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 181

“‘You’re not alone,’ he insisted, and she believed him. ‘Neither are you. It isn’t too late.’ Rey tentatively raised her hand toward his, expecting to see their hands go through each other and wondering if she would feel it in the Force somehow. But their fingers actually touched. She grasped his hand, jolted by the contact, and saw that the same shock had gone through him.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 181

“You failed him by thinking his choice was made...It wasn’t. There’s still conflict in him. If he were turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win...Just now, when we touched hands, I saw his future...If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn.” [Rey] Pg. 184

“Kylo Ren knew who was in the escape pod even before it opened with a hiss of vapor - her presence had been a steady pulse from the Force...” [Kylo RE Rey] Pg. 202

“I feel the conflict in you growing since you killed Han...It’s tearing you apart.” [Rey to Kylo] Pg. 203

“Look at me. Ben...When we touched I saw your future...Just the shape of it, but solid and clear. You will not bow before Snoke. You will turn - I’ll help you. I saw it. It’s your destiny.” [Rey to Kylo] Pg. 203

“She watched the emotions chase themselves across his face, echoed by jitters and spikes in the Force. Anger. Confusion. Pain. Loneliness. Longing. Sorrow.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 203

“When we touched I saw something too...And because of what I saw, I know that when the moment comes, you’ll be the one to turn. You’ll stand with me.” [Kylo to Rey] Pg. 204

“Rey stared at him, but there was no lie in Kylo’s eyes. And a terrifying realization blossomed in her mind: Kylo’s churning emotions weren’t just about himself. They were also about her.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 204

“So much strength...Darkness rises, and light to meet it. I warned my young apprentice that as he grew stronger, his equal in the light would rise.” [Snoke to Rey] Pg. 218

“You underestimate Skywalker...And Ben Solo. And me. It will be your downfall.” [Rey to Snoke] Pg. 221

“Snoke ignored the pleading look on Kylo’s face - just as he ignored the sickly waves of pain and confusion that rolled out from him into the Force.” [Snoke’s POV] Pg. 222

“He had seen his apprentice’s enormous potential when he was still a child...And he had also seen how to exploit the boy’s feelings of inadequacy and abandonment...” [Snoke RE Kylo] Pg. 222

“He called himself Kylo Ren, but as with so much else about him, that was more wish fulfillment than reality. He had never escaped being Ben Solo, or learned to resist the pull of the weak and pathetic light, or had the strength to excise the sentimental streak that had destroyed his legendary grandfather.” [Snoke RE Kylo] Pg. 222

“When Kylo’s fingers twitched behind his back, the blue energy blade of Luke’s lightsaber sprang into existence, spearing Snoke. Then, with a flick of Kylo’s hand, the blade carved through his master, cutting him in two, and flew through the air into Rey’s hand as Kylo’s ignited his own lightsaber. Kylo and Rey had a moment to lock eyes...Back-to-back, Kylo and Rey received their charge.” [Kylo’s POV] Pg. 236

“Rey and Kylo stood amid the smoke and carnage, gasping for breath, then looked at each other. Rey’s eyes were filled with joy.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 244

“Rey, I want you to join me...We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy.” [Kylo to Rey] Pg. 244

“You have no place in this story...You come from nothing. You are nothing...But not to me. Join me. Please.” [Kylo to Rey] Pg. 245

“Rey regarded Kylo’s gloved hand, held out to her in supplication.” [Rey’s POV] Pg. 250

“Rey had recovered first. She must have realized he was at her mercy, yet she’d left him alive. Almost as if she cared for him.” [Kylo’s POV] Pg. 259

“No one’s ever really gone...” [Luke RE Kylo] Pg. 290

“In the command shuttle, Kylo Ren had gotten to his feet and was staring down at the strange spectacle below. His fists were clenched and there were tears in his eyes.” [Hux’s POV] Pg. 294

“Even stronger than the anger were Kylo’s pain and fear. They filled him, threatening to devour him. Ben Solo had sought to abandon everything he had been, even casting aside his name. But Luke sensed that Kylo Ren was just a shell around the same broken boy he had tried so hard to reach.” [Luke’s POV] Pg. 297

“As Kylo stared at them he sensed something else - a tremor in the Force, the prelude to a familiar connection. He stared at Rey. She stared back at him, her gaze level and unafraid. There was no hatred in her eyes, as there once had been.” [Kylo’s POV] Pg. 306

Bonus: All Force Bond Scenes:

First Force Bond = Page 117

Second Force Bond = Page 136

Third Force Bond = 174

Fourth Force Bond = 181