#also kylo: it is very important that i fight this one (1) man rather than go after the little bit that remains of the resistance

[theputterer]

rewatched THE LAST JEDI which is still very good and very fun and one of my favorite parts is when kylo ren fights a ghost and fucking loses

the definition of "get rekt, asshole"

[whetstonefires]

mcu ethics bad

The thing is that, while I was angry at Tony during Age of Ultron, particularly when he rode over Bruce’s compunctions about building a giant combat super-robot and pressured him into the project like a very very bad friend who happened to also be wrong...

...and when he equipped Hulkbuster armor and fought the Hulk in the middle of a city rather than attempting de-escalation or attempting to haul the Hulk out into the giant adjacent desert....

(And my suspension of disbelief snapped like a frayed cable when he brought down a skyscraper that had had no time to be evacuated on a street full of fleeing people and the only reason we were given to believe he hadn’t just cold-bloodedly created massive civilian casualties was that he told his AI to find the impossible magic angle where doing this wouldn’t kill anyone...)

While I was angry with him then, and unspeakably relieved that he recognized his own damage and retired at the end, haha psych, I was revolted by him during Civil War.

It’s supposed to make us sympathize with a character more, spending so much time with them, getting into their heads, being shown their emotional drives and reactions to things, and we spent so much time with Tony during that film, understanding his point of view. And...I did understand him. He’s not complicated. I even sympathized with his emotional state.

But in the context of his actions, throughout the film, I gazed into that understanding the way I did into Kylo Ren’s face in the seconds after he first unmasked. I see you, I know you, everything you are is written here, and the lines of your shame and self-revulsion are so thick upon you, and you should be ashamed but your self-destruction does not expiate or justify one jot of the harm you do.

Because everything Tony did in Civil War came from a place of selfishness. He was selfish all throughout that movie down to his very spine.

And selfishness isn’t itself necessarily bad--you need a little, to get through life, you have the right to your own portion of it. Your boundaries and your needs. But the type of selfishness that is forcing other people pay dearly for your emotional comfort and sense of control: no.

That is tyranny. That is not acceptable.

And you know how I know he was being selfish? Because his motive for pushing the Sokovia Accords was his personal guilt for the destruction of Sokovia.

But the Accords didn’t address that at all! They were tangential to the issue! None of the terms of the Accords would have saved Sokovia--in fact, the existence of them could easily have prevented the evacuation and harm-reduction the Avengers managed there, without saving a single soul.

The Ultron crisis was something Tony did, not as Iron Man but as Tony Stark, with Bruce Banner’s help, and which Wanda as criminal fugitive later helped exacerbate, and which all the other Avengers were involved in only to mitigate harm.

Legislation, or...treaties, idk, the UN isn’t actually empowered to pass laws so who knows what this thing was...aimed at preventing another Sokovia would mandate constant ethical oversight of billionaire science man’s mad science. At the very least! He never has to run things by ethics boards because he’s self-funded, at the very least let’s invent a mechanism to make up for that.

That would address the actual Sokovia issue, both in terms of risks and in terms of Tony’s personal guilt feelings.

But no one suggests that! It’s not even on the table! Because no one, certainly not any government, can tell Tony Stark what to do unless he lets them, that’s been a clear matter of record since Iron Man 2.

And because no one writing this legal instrument of whatever description was actually motivated by wanting to avoid another Sokovia, or even another ‘Wanda tries to neutralize a suicide bomber but merely gives him a different, smaller victim pool’ incident.

They didn’t care! They blatantly didn’t care! The entire thing was a ghoulish use of the dead to gain enough political leverage over the Avengers to put a leash on them!

(Which might not be a bad thing in principle, everything needs its checks, but when the last quasi-governmental organization you worked for turned out to be Nazis who were only prevented from staging a mass slaughter of undesireables by the skin of your teeth, I think you’re well within your rights to be very choosy about who you agree to obey, and to be firmly against pledging your honor to follow people whose first move was dishonest coercive tactics.

Actually you’re well within your rights to demand to negotiate the terms of even a much less sweeping contract, even without the Nazis. The whole approach to this thing stank to high heaven.

The fact that it was written by the UN like a treaty, expected to be signed by private individuals like a contract, and then enforced like a law except not because 1) laws are for everyone 2) if you break a law you get a trial not extrajudicial incarceration and 3) being pressured to consent to a restriction and then punished for refusing consent is hypocritical circular logic and in fact police corruption at its finest, all continues to show it was a bullshit nonsense franken-document.)

The whole movie is people ghoulishly using the dead to manipulate Tony into making bad decisions in response to his emotional pain. That’s. The plot of the film.

Then Zemo staged T’Chaka’s assassination and framed Bucky for it to raise the tension, ramp up the pressure, and prevent any sitting-down and talking reasonably through this, which might have allowed for the recognition of how extremely bullshit the entire concept was.

Tony was being used. Tony was a tool of bad people for most of that movie, and while Zemo banked on using his wrath for it, the politicos were leaning on his guilt.

And there’s honestly little I hold in deeper scorn than going out and hurting other people to assuage your own guilt and treating this as having the moral high ground. No. You don’t have the moral high ground on account of your guilt motivation. You have it if the actions you took were just, or at least could reasonably be assumed to have been so at the time.

And Tony fucking knew they weren’t. He didn’t even last to the end of the movie before recognizing that he’d been manipulated and fucked up, and doubling back.

That he then walked into a different manipulation, turned on a dime, and had to be stopped from doing a murder doesn’t unwrite that.

And it drives me nuts that people will say Tony was acting out of principle while Steve was acting out of personal attachment. Because sure, the Bucky thing was important, was the reason he was walking forward against all opposition instead of standing still to argue, but it wasn’t the reason Steve said no, while...

Tony wasn’t acting out of principle. Tony isn’t...very good at having principles. That’s not even a criticism or condemnation, it’s just how he functions. Since Iron Man he’s been substituting good intentions and emotional investment, which has worked out to varying degrees. It works best for huge, difficult, very straightforward decisions like ‘ride the nuke through the portal and save my hometown.’ It works less well for nuanced situations.

Tony was, as usual, acting out of emotion. And some awful shitheads who’d figured out where his levers were had calculated how to jiggle his emotion switches in the right places to make him do exactly what they wanted.

And you can tell he wasn’t acting out of principle because, for example, someone who was trying to get the superhero community under outside control for the sake of harm mitigation...

...well, firstly wouldn’t have chosen to stage a massive battle? But it’s possible someone in the UN specifically told him to do that, and in theory they at the very least signed off on it, presumably for its PR value of making Captain America look deranged and violent since it’s a deranged decision from every other angle, so yay, he can pass that responsibility up the chain and not have to angst about it, as promised.

But I was going to say would not have approached a minor who (this timeline takes pains to show us) had no prior experience of battle or even, somehow, serious violent crime, to recruit him to go be a government child soldier on another continent, without his guardian’s knowledge or consent. There were overtones of blackmail in Tony’s approach, before it turned out Peter was such a big fan he didn’t need that. What the fuck frankly.

That is not the action of someone who wants to start doing things by the letter, scaling the violence down, keeping within the law and putting the power of decisionmaking in other people’s hands because he’s realized he can’t trust his own.

And frankly even if he did act like that I wouldn’t necessarily support his choices, in particular his snap decision to behave coercively toward other Avengers with vastly less social power and security than he has.

And that’s the other thing! Everything about ‘Tony + Accords BFFs’ rings so hollow because he has never thought rules applied to him, and he knows perfectly well the entire time he’s fighting to force this surrender of agency down other people’s throats that he is going to be practically immune.

This man was technically a terrorist, proabably the most prolific single terrorist in world history until his rogue android exceeded his body count, but he was immune to prosecution because he was in tight with the United States military-industrial complex and basically untouchable due to his status within capitalism, and pursuing their international goals anyway. In the time between Iron Man and Iron Man II he was basically a one-man upgrade of the US drone program, and so good at it that the crest of blood he carved through the Middle East allowed him to announce he had ‘privatized world peace.’

(You are never going to get a world peace worth anything on the basis of a giant flying gun, okay.)

He went to war as a private individual, against non-state actors who were not directly threatening him, which is very much defined as ‘mass murder’ in all domestic and international law, and the US army in response sued him for control of his weapon. And lost! Lost.

No one attempted to press charges. No one. Because Tony Stark is above all that. And he knows it.

And like. I’m willing to accept the mass murder under the heading of ‘superheroing’ within the terms of this setting! Even if, after his vengeance rampage on his specific kidnappers, this violence was kept strictly off-screen for a reason. I did that! I bent that far! Genre convention!

But this history is kind of vitally important to any analysis of what he thought he was doing, and what he actually was doing, when he decided to become the iron gauntlet of the Sokovia Accords.

The currently active member of the Avengers who needed muzzling most was very manifestly Iron Man, and he knew even as he jammed the muzzle on all his comrades to make himself feel better that it would affect him the least, even if he didn’t finally retire for real this time. You don’t force Tony Stark. Not if you want anything out of it but blown up. You persuade him.

And once you have...oh, look at what he can do.

[hitbythunder]

Chandrilan Moons - 2

A Kylo Ren x Reader story with much angst, possessiveness and dark themes (warnings will be updated as the story progresses) –> Read also on AO3

Summary: Growing up under the loving care of your foster-mother, Leia Organa, there had been nothing for you and Rey to want for. Though not of kin, you loved Rey as your sister and spent a happy childhood with her on Chandrila. But when the boiling galactic politics demanded for Leia to take action, for the Resistance to rise and fight, the girls could no longer evade the cruelty of the world. Kylo Ren sought a map as a key to revenge, to freedom, and had no use for a force-unsensitive young girl like you. You were simply a means to an end. Until his darkness latched onto you, drawn in by your light as you were by the demon that is Kylo Ren - inevitably gravitating towards each other, bound to be one. Like the Chandrilan moons.

****

____________________________xXx____________________________ 2- Prologue II

It was the following afternoon, when we had lunch with our friends Poe and Rose, as well as two other pilots of Poe's unit.

Dean and Jared? Jack? - I really should pay more attention to such things, if I want to get better at socializing.

Most of the time I felt somewhat uncomfortable even among friends, while Rey seemed to be just in her element, conversing in a charming and slightly flirting manner with ease.

"So what's this about you super-secret mission Poe?" Rose inquired over desert.

"Well it is terribly dangerous and absolutely top-secret, I can assure you." the curly-haired pilot replied, smirking sassy as he leaned with one arm on the table, body twisted casually to the side. He hadn't touched his chocolate-pudding, which he never did actually, and because Rey was too proud to ask for it they would engage in cunning banter before he would eventually give it to her. I had watched the process far too many times by now and thus had begun to bring my holopad to lunch, zoning out in between to read the latest news across the galaxy.

"Oh come on, Dameron!" one of the unnamed pilots groaned, obviously envious of Poe's status as most proficient pilot and commander of the starfighter-fleet.

"Yeah, Poe, give us at least a hint. I know you're dying to boast about it!" Rey grinned from ear to ear, far too much enjoying teasing her friend, while Rose snickered like a little girl with giddiness. In her opinion, Rey and Poe were the perfect couple and the way they stared at teach other with moony eyes was just so romantic - or so Rose had described it to me a few weeks back.

They surely are a handful together, I mused as I watched the exchange, soon choosing to return my attention to the holopad in my lap, browsing through some news.

"Sorry, ladies. My lips-" Poe closed his mouth, index-finger brushing languidly across his full lips in an almost sensual manner. "-are sealed." Pilot #2 whistled indecently, Rose blushing even harder, while Rey remained cool and just glared at Poe. "Fine. I won't tell you of our super-important mission either." she leaned back in her chair and gestured between me and herself.

"You're allowed to go on a mission?" Rose almost jumped out of her seat at the news and the guys too looked rather surprised. Rey's proud smile widened, sitting up straighter in her chair. It was common knowledge around the base that the General stubbornly refused to let her girls go off-planet despite our persistent pleading.

"No way you got the General around on this one." Poe shook his head incredulously, fluffing up his curly brown locks by doing so. Stars, no wonder half of the base's population (aka the female part) fell for the rhoughish pilot.

"You bet we did." Rey scoffed beside her, folding her arms across her chest. "She can't keep us on the ground forever, anyways. In two days we're off and finally get to see someplace else!"

"But you're not in for something too dangerous, are you?" Rose, to the other side of Rey, brought genuine concern to the discussion, the worried expression on her round face most endearing.

"Of course not. Just an easy one, in and out. We'll be back before you know it." came Rey's reply that seemed to put poor Rose at least a little at ease, but pilot #1 apparently didn't bother as he said:

"In and out like on Felucia, you mean?" meant as a joke, his words hung like a dark cloud above the small group, no-body laughing. Rose sat motionless, eyes big and watery. Reflexively, I put my hand on Rey's forearm, sensing her anger as she glared at the pilot from across the table.

"Kriff, Joel!" his comrade hissed at the same time as Poe hit him at the back of his head, not too hard but enough to make him shut up.

Eight months ago, a Resistance unit had been sent to negotiate with possible new allies on Felucia, an insignificant jungle planet with few inhabitants and little natural resources. Thus making for an ideal meeting point if one was to avoid unwanted attention. But after years of (partially open) war, which only marginally impeded the growing influence and military power of the First Oder, the few parties that had maintained their neutrality so far weren't all too eager to change that. It had taken all of Leia's disarming charm, experience and then some convincing to even agree on that meeting on Felucia. And it had ended in a disaster.

Through a well-placed spy, as confirmed later, the First Order had been aware of the meeting and seized this opportunity to remind the rest of the galaxy of the consequences should one merely even consider to side with the Resistance. The knights of Ren, rumored creatures of legend and vile descent, the First Order's most effective and feared unit had been sent there, led by none other than Kylo Ren, rumored heir of Darth Vader. In their wake they had brought destruction and death upon Felucia, hunting and slaughtering every living soul in a blood frenzy. Rose had lost a brother that day, the Resistance yet another straw of hope to turn the tides of the war.

"It will be nothing like that." said I and leaned towards Rose, who nodded in reply and forced her tears away. Hopefully, though, fate wouldn't prove me wrong.

On my way to the private quarters of the base, I walked past the canteen, stopped there as I could make out cheerful voices from within. A moment later, as I was about to peek further into the small hall, Poe appeared in front of me.

"Sorry for Joel's behavior yesterday. He's just a tactless idiot and I know how close you are with Rose." Poe began with a rueful tone, rubbing the back of his head which caused his locks to fluff up even more. It was an unexpected exchange and although he was wrong about me and Rose being besties - that was more Rey to be honest - I felt somewhat flattered by his concern for my opinion about him or his comrades.

"Thanks, Poe. Though he should be apologizing to Rose but that's not your responsibility." I replied and when his face lit up more, I quickly averted my gaze. An odd silence fell between us, which the pilot didn't hesitate to fill in his charming manner.

"Anyways, we're just hanging out before the mission tomorrow." he gestured towards the occupied table at the back of the otherwise empty hall, paused, then turned fully towards me. "Wanna join us?"

As if on cue, when our gazes met, my heart quickened and I felt heat rising to my cheeks. Now he was indeed flattering me, because so far I had only been invited along with Rey to such gatherings and never personally. Since I hadn't had that much experience with guys in my young life, this sudden attention of the handsome pilot surely felt exciting. But as tempting as it was, I had to decline.

"I'd love to, really, but I have meditation-lessons with Rey... and Leia will know if I skip them."

Not that I'm improving that much recently... Still no force-connection in sight...

"Oh, don't bother." how easily Poe waved of a rebuff, so sure of himself, and added without an ounce of doubt: "Then we'll grab a drink together when I'm back."

With a disarming smile and a wave of his hand, Poe made his leave to return to his comrades, while I remained standing at the doorway as if in a stupor, my mind still turning over his words.

Does he mean 'we' as in 'you and I', like the two of us? Have I just been asked out by Poe Dameron?!

"Yeah, great! I-" I stumbled most awkwardly and was probably red as a tomato by now, whispered all to myself as I proceeded down the corridor with a smile. "I'd love that."

+++

+Present day - on board the Finalizer, orbiting Jakku+

Deadly silence hung over the command center of the ship, officers in grey and black uniforms tapping very quietly at their workstations, while General Hux and Kylo Ren had a small stand-off in the middle of the bridge. Although everyone was curious about their conversation, eaves-dropping wasn't a feasible option because the Commander would know immediately if someone's mind was not occupied with their work.

Kylo sensed the staff's unease at his presence, their distrust bordering on superstition regarding his powers, but by now he didn't care much about it. In fact, to have his subordinates tremble at his name gave him a distinct kind of satisfaction as well as affirmation that he was becoming a major entity within the galaxy, a person not to be meddled with. With that in mind, he let his gaze sweep over the sheep beneath him and felt the Force rippling with their fear. If not for his helmet, one could have spied the tiny smirk tugging at his lips then.

"The Supreme Leader will be most displeased if we don't acquire the map soon." Hux's voice brought Kylo back to the task at hand, his helmeted head snapping back towards the ginger-haired man.

"Then why did it slip your grasp twice now?" his voice a hiss, barely concealing his contempt for the man as well as his methods. But before Hux could even think of a snippy reply, an officer to their left announced that the droid containing the sought-after map had been sighted on Takodana.

"Excellent!" Hux beamed and barked a few commands to get a squadron of troopers on-site immediately, a sudden agitation filling the room as everyone was eager to comply.

"Prepare my ship!" Kylo ordered a nearby officer, then said to Hux in a no less commanding voice: "I'll go in myself and get that map."

"How gracious of you to join the efforts." the General sneered, but could not hide his wounded-pride at the repeated failure of his men regarding that blasted map. As reserved and in control Hux might think himself to be, his beetle-eyes betrayed his every emotion so that Kylo didn't even need the Force to have a good guess at the man's thoughts.

"It's not my head that rolls first if this gets fucked up again." he stated boldly and loud enough for everyone to hear, leaving behind a fuming Hux as he marched out of the command center. Truth as it may be that Snoke wouldn't punish Kylo for the loss of the map - not severely and perhaps not even directly - Kylo couldn't let that chance go wasted. If he wanted to shed his former life and become stronger in the Dark Side he needed to best his old master, his cursed uncle, once and for all.

First Luke Skywalker, then Snoke himself, so that there would be no one left to challenge him.

[bexterbex]

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 32

If you haven’t heeded my warnings by now you have done it to yourself.

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

MASTERLIST

Chapter 32: A Morning Exercise

Your alarm woke you up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM. You rolled out of bed and started to get ready. At 5:45 you were finished and left your room. The lieutenant was waiting for you in the living room like usual, as was Kylo who was wearing a similar outfit as the morning before except this time he was wearing a white tank instead of a black one.

“Good morning, are you ready to head to the training room? It is halfway across the ship, so we should get going,” asked Kylo.

“Yes,” you replied excitedly.

He took your arm and you left. You made your ways through the halls and you were surprised to see that there were little to know officers and ‘troopers roaming about. You supposed that the ship really only wakes up at around 6:00 AM, as it was still Alpha shift. You made your way to a room with a larger than a normal door.

Entering the room you notice a large number of generals and other high-level officers on the outside of a large training area. Many of the high-ranking officers had lower-level officers by their sides, much like your own Lieutenant Mitaka.

Kylo released you next to Allegiant General Hux, who greeted you kindly. “Good morning m’lady, my suggestion to you this time around would be to place credits on the Supreme Leader.”

You laughed at his suggestion, and then promptly yawned as you had yet to have any coffee.

“Shall I order you stimcaf m’lady,” asked the redheaded general.

“Stimcaf? Is that like coffee?”

“Yes, m’lady but with a much higher caffeine count.”

“Yes, please” you groaned out. Which earned a hearty chuckle from the general who turned to his aide.

Within a few minutes, a junior officer appeared with a steaming cup of dark liquid in their hand. You thanked them and proceeded to wait for the sparring to begin. Kylo was discussing something with an officer and then turned to the knights to begin.

If you thought watching Captain Phasma and Commander Pyre was amazing, it had nothing on what you were witnessing now.

Kylo was monstrously strong.

They were sparing like the captain and the commander with metal staffs and dull swords. It was six against one at the moment, Kylo was showing his strength and dominance by easily maneuvering out of the way of any oncoming hits. Something about the way he was moving and dodging was magical. You couldn’t have paid the best ballerinas in Paris to move more gracefully than the knights and him. They put The Nutcracker to shame.

All while they were fighting various officers were giving Kylo updates on things around the First Order and he was responding in time. He was truly a marvel to watch.

Even though you thought it might be impossible seeing as the knights were all really strong, somehow Kylo was even stronger. He was broader and taller than his knights, but the strength comes mainly from his chest, shoulders, and thighs. You wondered how his massive hands might help his overall strength.

Although they were all graceful Kylo seemed more refined in the way he fought, but very ferociously. His whole body was an extension of the weapon in his hand, his sword. He was deadly, you wondered how many people have faced him on the battle and lived, you doubted if there were very many if at all.

You watched as they all tried to attack him at once he took them down with calculated efficiency without any obvious use of the Force. Cardo and Ushar were sent down to the floor, Ap’lek and Trudgen flew back to the wall, Kuruk and Vicrul were sent stumbling back into a group of officers who thought they were a safe distance away.

You failed to notice General Pryde come up alongside you, opposite to Hux. “Magnificent to watch isn’t he,” asked Pryde.

You were startled before you agreed.

“Unlike many in the First Order now, I had the glorious opportunity to watch his grandfather, Lord Vader, fight. They have many similarities. It was truly an honor to watch,” said Pryde. There was something disturbing in the way he was watching the training. Somehow he had an air of lust for the power that Kylo held, it rather disturbed you.

“Now Pryde her history lessons are with me after lunch. There is no need to plague her with your useless ideals of the past,” said Hux sneering toward the man.

You could tell that Pryde was holding his tongue, probably as to not get in trouble so soon after the last time. He bowed and stepped away from you joining the Admiral Griss in a discussion with another officer.

“It would do you best to avoid him for now, I don’t believe he has truly learned his lesson yet,” said Hux who then gave some sort of order to his aide. A female officer who appeared to be a general gave out the debrief of, “Yesterday was the last day of registration on earth. Currently, we still have less than 1 percent of the population that needs to register. The unregistered seemed to be mostly from populations that are normally inaccessible from earth’s records. Might I suggest that we send in a company of ‘troopers to each location.”

“You said they were typically inaccessible? These are mostly people who have little to no contact with the outside world. Sending in stormtroopers would only lead them to panic and possibly attacking them. You should consult with an anthropologist before proceeding to make contact,” you responded to the general.

Kylo paused in his sparring and the other officers paused in what they were doing. All eyes were on you. There was a look of confusion on his face, but before he spoke General Hux spoke upcoming to your aid. “Why do you suggest this m’lady?”

“I am assuming some of the people you have yet to come into contact are various tribes from around the world. They still might be using bows and arrows and have no idea what electricity is. They may even still worship the sun as a god. They also do not tend to have any papers of any kind or they may not even have any sort of writing system. Our governments leave them alone for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is they do not have the same inherent immunity to some diseases so unless you vaccinate them immediately they may all die soon. They are an important part of history on this planet and should be disturbed as little as possible,” you said.

“But these people will have to follow the will of the First Order,” said the female general pleading to the Supreme Leader.

Kylo took what you said into consideration before saying, “You heard Lady Ren. Unless I dispute her, what she says goes.”

“And what of the people who are not in these tribes? There is a large portion of people out in the state of Utah who refuse to register and some many others across your planet. What are we to do with them,” asked the general still seemingly indignant.

“Well by the way you are describing it, I believe you are discussing a cult. I personally have no problem with sending in stormtroopers unannounced to them. In my opinion, they have it coming to them. If there are any small groups or families that have failed to register I would do the same thing by sending ‘troopers to them,” you said.

This seemed to pacify the female general sufficiently and Kylo resumed his sparring with the knights after a head-nod to you. You were happy with your minor victory.

“Well done m’lady, not many are able to stand their ground with General Parnadee,”  said Hux quietly with approval. Everyone seemed to turn back to what they were doing before your interruption.

“Thank you general. I will take that as a compliment.”

“As you should m’lady. You have done better than anyone has expected you to do,” said Hux with a slight bounce of pride.

You gave him a smile and a nod. At this time the knights and Kylo had ceased sparing. Each of the knights seemed to try to catch their collective breaths while Kylo seamed already collected. He approached you and you could now see the nice sheen that his sweat had created on his skin. He was glowing.

“Shall we return for breakfast,” asked Kylo holding out his arm to you.

You nodded, words failing you as you marveled in his glow. He guided you through the halls which were now filling with people but unlike when he wears his mask, people were giving him a much wider berth. You wondered if there was a rule against seeing him without his mask or if it was just a faux pas.

You were back at your chambers and went immediately to the dining room to order breakfast and coffee for the lieutenant. Your breakfasts came and you enjoyed them before the lieutenant gave you your morning schedule update.

“Today you have a long heath committee meeting that starts earlier today at 9:00 hours. The Supreme Leader will be in attendance. This meeting will also be a luncheon. After the meeting, you are to return to the ship to receive an extra hour of tutoring to make up for yesterday. Then you have dinner with the Supreme Leader as normal. Is there anything you would like to add m’lady,” asked Mitaka.

“The only thing I would like to add to that schedule is several orders of stimcaf.” This received a shy chuckle from the lieutenant and a smirk from Kylo who got up and headed to his room to shower away his morning sweat.

Kylo was in and out of the shower in a matter of a few minutes. You were both ready to go at 8:30 for your shuttle descent to the surface. You were joined by Ap’lek and Kuruk as your guards and Hux was still the general escorting you to your meeting.

You knew that this meeting would be worlds different from the others for the simple fact that Kylo had decided to join you. You were worried about what it would mean and the outcome. As he had said earlier, what you say goes unless he disputes it. But what if he disputes everything you say? You were not ready for that. You held out hope that you would still be able to fight for your planet. Even if that meant fighting Kylo for it.

[sagebaileyspeaks]

Strap in folks, this is gonna be a long one

Please be warned that the following review is going to be filled with spoilers. 

With every review, I try to provide a bit of context as to how I approach a subject. In the case of Rise of Skywalker, it's really only important to know two things about me 

1) While I have seen The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, I am not a fan of Star Wars. I am aware of Star Wars because of how embedded it is in American culture, but on a personal level it holds no emotional significance

2) I show up for endings. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2. came out, I saw it in theaters even though at that point in my life I had never read the books and knew very little of the story aside from the basic Voldemort wants Harry dead, Harry = chosen one. I also saw Infinity War opening weekend even though the only MCU films I had seen up to that point were Civil War and Black Panther. Retroactively, I went back to watch the first two Avengers, Ragnarok and Winter Soldier, but I went into Infinity War knowing next to nothing. 

Those two things established, Rise of Skywalker was a painful movie-going experience. I was bored out of my mind and the film seemed never-ending and more damning, I realized that when Rey has her "I am Iron Man" moment, that I did not give a single damn about what was going on in front of me. 

This is a movie that is supposed to be about the end of a war but it has no stakes. Chewie's dead! No, there was a second ship. C3PO (I think his name is) will have his memory wiped! No, R2D2 has a backup. Kylo Ren is dead! Nope, nevermind. Rey is dead! Well...actually. This isn't helped by the fact that there are multiple instances where Rey and co are captured or right in front of Kylo Ren and they just...get away. I think there are three instances in this movie alone where they are in handcuffs or surrounded by Stormtroopers and they get away in time to find the next mcguffin making everything pointless.

Compare this to Endgame which started low stakes - Thanos is dead and the world has moved on - and gradually built to higher stakes: 2014!Thanos is onto them. Old Nebula has hidden in their ranks. She brings Thanos to the present. As an audience, we know that Thanos is capable of wiping out life. We saw him do this with and without the Infinity Stones. If Thanos gets his hands on them our heroes are dead and all hope is lost. 

And speaking of Endgame, there were many callbacks to prior movies ("on your left," "I can do this all day" the first Avengers group shot) but it never felt cheap. Every callback had weight. Rise of the Skywalker felt very lazy and like it was going out of its way to retread the same ground. After The Last Jedi, I did not give one shit about Rey's parents. I thought it was very well established that we can't hold to the past and need to move forward with who we are and who we want to be. But this movie has Rey stalking around wondering about a legacy like it's the most pressing issue in the galaxy. 

Not only that but having her go to Luke's island and literally have Luke retcon the last movie by catching his lightsaber and saying "I was wrong, you should respect your weapon" is so...frustrating in its desire to appease. 

Also, on the topic of Rey, she is bland as all hell. I didn't like how she just kept taking off and leaving her team, I hated how they had Finn constantly chasing after her. The entire movie she isn't driven by a desire to end the war and aid the rebellion but rather discover who she is and become all she can be which is so...selfish. 

Kylo Ren is also bland as bread. In the first movie, it was interesting to see a guy who had turned against his mother and was conflicted about following in his grandfather's footsteps. In the second movie, it was interesting to see a guy who wanted to "let the past die" and move forward. But in this movie, you have the same conflicted "I killed my dad and am hunting down my mother, do I feel bad about that" drama and it's boring. It is BORING. 

Not to mention, him suddenly deciding to be Ben Solo because Rey saved him is SO LAZY. Walking around not being sure you want to kill your parents is NOT an indication of goodness. It doesn't erase the terrible things he's done and the murders he's committed and for the movie to agree with the sentiment that, "he's sad and sorry and therefore redeemed" really annoys me. Kylo Ren did NOTHING to earn redemption and his constant pursuit of Rey, insisting that he will turn her to the Dark Side is incredibly troubling because this movie rewards this by validating his manipulative and evil behavior by having Rey kiss him. 

Just because a man and a woman look at each other in a movie DOES NOT mean they are meant to be together and fated across the stars. It is LAZY.  And this ending...not only are there no stakes it ripped off Endgame so much that it made my eyes roll. Poe's speech as they prepare to leave, that "this is it, this is our fight for the galaxy," is basically the same thing Cap says before they go to retrieve the Infinity Stones. Poe saying, "I don't know what to do, we're alone" and then Lando coming with reinforcement is so much of a ripoff of "on your left" that my SEVEN YEAR OLD pointed it out as we were leaving. But let us not forget:

"I am all the Sith" / "I am inevitable"

"And I am all the Jedi" / "And I am Iron Man"

I mean come ON.

A story is only as good as its ending and the story of this trilogy is disjointed. I don't know what they wanted to say, what points they were trying to get across only that the Skywalkers are the most important even in a galaxy full of other people. Specifically speaking about this movie, it felt longer than Endgame and frustratingly convoluted. Even the lightsaber fights became tiring because it was the same catch and release throughout the movie and honestly, I would have rather gone to see Cats again than sit through this mess. And I'm glad that there will be no more Star Wars movies that my son forces me to see.

Rise of Skywalker gets ⭐⭐ out of five. 

P.S. Finn and Poe should’ve been a thing. They were so adorable and they went out of their way to give Finn and Poe other love interests. 

[pulltothelight]

I’ve heard people talk about how Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s redemption arc is repetitive and unnecessary because we already have that in either 1. Darth Vader’s redemption or 2. Finn. 

I was reading the TFA script and where Finn tells Rey that he’s a stormtrooper, and it’s interesting because redemption is a huge theme in Star Wars, and here, we have a redemption arc for a group we have never had redemption for, the troopers. I mean there’s the humanization of them with the Clone Wars, but once they’re under the control of the Empire, they’re either all loyal to the Empire or they never really fell. Like they jumped out once they realized they didn’t want to be a part of that. 

Now, in the script, it has Finn talk about how he ran in his first fight. Finn was kidnapped and raised in this life and ran the moment he knew it was wrong and that he could not do it. 

Note: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT REDEMPTION ARC

Also: this is a different redemption arc than Darth Vader’s and different from Kylo Ren’s. But we need all three to show that redemption is possible from every stage.

Darth Vader’s redemption arc is about being redeemed even after you’ve fallen more than you thought you could fall.

Finn’s redemption is about being redeemed before you’ve stepped off the precipice and done something you would have always regretted. 

I’m hesitant to go any further about Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s redemption because we only have 2/3 of his story, and we don’t know how it will play out. In fact, in act I of his arc, he’s fallen, we watch him fall, we watch him kill his own father one of our beloved heroes. And we see him REGRET IT. We see him call himself a monster! We see him believe himself beyond redemption. “You’re a monster” “Yes I am” He’s not saying that to be scary and intimidating. He’s saying that because he’s hopeless. He’s saying that because he does not believe that he could be a hero. He’s lost his hope and he’s deep in that hole. We walk into Ben’s story where he believes he will never be redeemed, but what a beacon of hope that will be to show this man who’s made bad decision after bad decision, believing himself irredeemable, come back to the light. How he is ultimately redeemed will flavor the rest of his story. But we know that he WILL BE REDEEMED. The details in the stories, novels, extra material, video games, comic books, interview, and social media that we’re receiving is all painting a very sympathetic view of Ben Solo that is leading towards redemption. It’s all very reminiscent of the beginning of the Prequel trilogy where we see little Ani who’s such a sunshine boy that we want to root for, even though we know he will fall. That’s creating a sympathetic character. All of this background we’re getting for Ben Solo is creating that sympathetic character we’re rooting for, we want him to be good and to be redeemed. 

Finn has already had his redemption, and he’s growing as a person learning to do the right thing, no matter which side he’s on, regardless of which side he’s on. He’s doing the right thing. He’s living in a post redeemed state. I’m very proud of this sunshine boy navigating the world he’s in now and his moral compass. Finn’s redemption is nice, it’s easy, it’s a golden boy with morals who’s choosing for himself. Finn’s never killed for the First Order. Finn’s horrified by war. Finn’s friendly. Finn is such a good golden boy who’s biggest downfall(which he’s overcoming in TLJ) is that he’d run from a fight rather than face it. 

Kylo Ren is the child of our heroes constantly being told he’s a monster and believing it.

Kylo Ren isn’t redeemed yet, but that’s where this story is headed. BENDEMPTION

[chipper9906]

The Best Laid Plans- Chapter 2: An Interrupted Meeting

Link To Chapter 1

Pairings: Kylo Ren/ Rey, Ben Solo/Rey

Ratings: General Audiences

Word Count: 7,088

Status: Multi Chapter Fic- In Progress

Chapter Preview: 

“FN-2187?”

Rey spun around on the spot, a moment of full-blown panic gripping her at the sight of Kylo Ren stood on the opposite side of her hut. He was sans his helmet this time, stood with his back straight and arms folded behind his back, his head ever so slightly tilted to the side as he regarded her with a questioning look. Fear washed over her at the thought that he might have listened to her and Finns entire conversation without her even knowing, unwittingly letting the Supreme Leader of the First Order know information about the Resistance that would surely give them the upper hand.

“That’s who he is, isn’t he?” Kylo continued “Finn?”

“Do you have to say his name with such discontent?” Rey spat, feeling a tickle of anger rise in her chest as she listened to Kylo Ren speak about her friend in such a disgusted tone.

“He is a traitor. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable way to speak of him.”

Link To Fic

OR

Click Below To Keep Reading

Chapter 2: An Interrupted Meeting

Sometimes, no matter how much you apologize, no matter how much you regret your actions, some people can never forgive, and certainly will never forget what you did.

As it turns out, one of those actions is slicing off a section of rock and sending it careening into a caretaker’s homemade wheelbarrow.

Rey was sure they probably weren’t that hard to make, but still… She hadn’t exactly had the best of introductions to the caretakers of the islands (what with her also blowing a hole in the side of her hut with a blaster, she had almost forgotten about that somehow), and not to mention the fact that she was certain they blamed her for the destruction of her old hut. Even if she had recorded and showed to them on a Holocron that Master Luke had been the one to tear down the hut walls, they would still find a way to place the blame on her.

They had still been cleaning up the mess when she had returned to the island, glaring up at her the second they caught sight of her as they sluggishly picked at the stone remains of the hut, taking their time to clear it away into their wheelbarrows and haul it off who knows where. Perhaps, if she asked, they would tell her they were using it to build another hut. She doubted she would get any much out of them anyway, other than perhaps a scoff or a few select choice of words…

When she had first come to the island, she had practically been Master Lukes's shadow, clinging to his side and following him wherever he would go. One of the things that had stood out most to her in that time was the simplicity of his life. She had heard of Luke Skywalker, of course. Who hadn’t? The Skywalker name was one that was known across the Galaxy, a legend of a tale that grew large enough that it almost felt like people were born knowing of it. The story of a poor young orphaned boy, who grew from nothing to the most powerful Jedi the Galaxy had ever been, turning away from his father's path and following that of the light. A Jedi that was so wrapped in the light, that he was able to sway Darth Vader, his father, a Sith whose name instilled fear in any that heard it, back from the Dark and into the Light. All of that she had heard, had grown up hearing snippets of stories from passing scavengers, and so when she had crested the hills of Ahch-To and caught a glimpse of that man… He hadn’t been what she had been expecting.

Luke Skywalker may have once been a legend. But now? Now he was…A farmer?

That much became increasingly clear, the more time she spent with him. Watching him patrol the perimeter of his home, spending time checking on the rather odd-looking beasts that sat upon the mountains of Ahch-To. She had been curious at the time what the many glass canteens he had been holding were for, but had come to regret this upon watching as he milked the creatures, fighting the urge to look away in disgust at the sight of their green milk dripping down his greying beard. Her heart very nearly jumped out of her throat when he had ran off the cliffside with that outrageously gigantic pole, only for him to come to a gracious stop at the cliff edge on the other side, lifting a pole she was sure would be incredibly heavy and bringing it down with ease. It had been quite a surprise to see him lift the pole back up, being greeted by the sight of a big, scaly creature flailing as it tried to escape the wooden spike that had pierced through its flesh.

Even just watching him do those tasks had been exhausting. So now she was the one the responsibilities had fallen to? Rey hadn’t felt this exhausted in quite some time and was hoping with all she had for her body to adjust to her new work schedule soon. Otherwise, she doesn’t know when she might ever get to resume her Jedi training…Even if she is now without a master.

‘You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force!’

Rey shook the irritating voice out of her head, not wanting to get anywhere near that issue right now. With an exerted huff of air, Rey swings the bundle of fish she had caught over her shoulder, hoping that the old net she had found seemingly abandoned in one of the huts would hold her dinners weight. The cold wind of Ahch-To bit at her skin as she trudged across its now muddy hills, nearly losing her footing a few times, the recent torrential downpour of rain turning the grassy hills into mudslides.

Rey raised a hand to her face to wipe off the sheen of sweat across her brow, the sweat having begun to freeze her face in the chilly wind. As she drops her hand back down, she pauses, listening to the whispers of the wind as it blows past her.

Except… Except it wasn’t the wind that was whispering.

Her head whips around, looking curiously for where the whispers were coming from. It didn’t seem to make sense;  the whispers were coming from everywhere. It felt like something was calling out to her, but not from anywhere on the island, rather, it seemed almost as if it was coming from the Island itself. Or at least, a part of it.

The Cave.

That horrible, dark, manipulative place. She had been unable to resist its call once before, so desperate in seeking her answers that she was ready to throw everything away to get them. It was her weak spot, and it seemed like those that wanted to use her knew it. The cave had refused to give her an answer to her past, and when Kylo had offered it to her, lured her in with that knowledge… She had fallen right into his trap.

It wouldn’t be like last time, though. She would be able to resist its call this time around. Kylo had, in a way, helped her with that.

‘Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. It’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.’

For too long, she let herself be ruled by her past. Clinging to this idea that she came from somewhere important, that her parents were equally so, that one day everything in her life would change when her parents returned and whisked her away from that sandy, sweltering planet to where she was meant to be. And here? This is where she’s meant to be. She’s sure of it. She had escaped that dreadful life, had become so much more than she could ever have imagined, and you know what? She didn’t need her parents for that. It didn’t matter where she had come from. No, all that mattered was who she was now, and who she wanted to become.

But… While she was certain she was on the right path, existed in the place she was meant to be right now, there was still something…Off. It felt like something was still missing. Missing from this island, from her life, even from herself. The most frustrating thing was that it felt close by, within arms reach and yet, she could never seem to keep it within her grasp. It was odd, not knowing what this thing was exactly, but she felt like she had experienced it, once. She felt like she missed it. Whatever it was, she wanted it back.

The cave hadn’t answered her questions back when she had given into its tempting calls. Or, perhaps it did, but she couldn’t figure out what it had been trying to tell her. It wouldn’t exactly be surprising if the cave had been lying to her, it was one that existed in a place of Dark after all. But maybe… Maybe it would be different, this time?  Perhaps it would give her the answers she was looking for? Maybe…Maybe it would tell her how to find what she’s been missing…

A shrill set of beeping sounds rip her out of her thoughts, glancing down to the blocky device on her wrist that the irritating sounds were emitting from. Once she shakes herself out of her thoughts, she realizes that she’s been standing in front of the door to her hut for who knows how long now, not even realizing she had finished her walk from the fishing spot back to her place of rest. She must have zoned out pretty hard… At least, judging by the rather skeptical look she’s receiving from a caretaker that’s maintaining a neighboring hut.

Hurriedly bustling her into her hut, she releases the net of fish from her shoulders with a relieved sigh, rubbing a hand across her sore shoulders which were aching from carrying the heavy contents of tonight’s meal. The Holocron on her wrist continues to beep at her, seeking her attention. It had been one of the conditions the General had set, to let her come out here. Every week or so, the Resistance would check up on her, give her updates on their movements and then in return, ask her for any updates, mostly on her training. Truthfully, Rey just thinks they’re scared she’ll follow the same path as Luke, cutting herself off from everyone and isolating herself completely. It’s a silly thought really, considering the Resistance know the location of Ahch-To now. Though, she supposed that wouldn’t stop her from simply boarding the Falcon and jetting off to another deserted island that the Resistance didn’t know about.

Not that she would do that, of course.

With a few swipes of her fingers across the Holocron, the device whirs to life, beeping up at her as it connects her to the Resistance. She feels a smile break across her face as Finns face pops up in the hologram, one that he eagerly returns once he catches sight of her.

“Finally convinced the General to let me take over this meeting,” Finn tells her. “I mean, y’know I have to relay all you tell me to the General and… I’m fairly certain she somehow has a way to listen in on us anyway but, whatever.”

“Good to see you too, Finn,” Rey says with just a hint of sarcasm that’s quite easily disguised behind her tone of laughter.

“I don’t think you need me to tell you I’m glad to see you, to know that I am.” Finn insists, pushing away slightly from his own Holocron, which she can only assume has been placed on a desk, seeing as she can see him sat upon a rolling chair. If she were to guess, he was currently in his own private quarters, unsure as to where else he would be able to make this call privately.

“How are you doing, Rey?” Finn asks in a genuinely worried tone, one that he really does not need. “You taking care of yourself?”

“I’m okay,” Rey assures him. “Trust me, this island is much more plentiful than Jakku was. I mean, yeah, I still have to find a way to get food but…It's pretty much assured that I will. It's nice, having that kind of security. To know there’ll always be a next meal.”

“You could have that here too, you know,“ Finn points out. “In the Resistance.”

“Finn…”

“I know, I know,” Finn quickly brushes the point aside. “This isn’t the ‘place to be’. I got it…”

“Finn, I already know what you’re thinking. I’m not out here to get away from you, or from the Resistance. Don’t think for a second that I don’t miss you all like crazy, because I do, I really do-“

“Then come back,” Finn begged, his eyes mirroring the pleading in his tone. “We can help you here, we all can!”

“Finn, listen,” Rey stressed. “There was a reason Leia sent me out here-“

“To find Luke-” Finn butt in. “-But you did that. You found him. You got through to him Rey, you convinced him to come help us! But, now that he’s gone-“

“Yes. He is gone. For us. But no one’s ever truly gone. Not in the way that we think.”

Finn’s face dropped at Rey's agitated tone, a slight wince on his face that he tried to hide as he looked away in shame.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that.” Finn apologized quietly, eyes flicking up to her as he spoke. “Both you and Luke, you saved our lives. And I’m grateful for that, and for…for what he sacrificed. I’m just… I miss you, okay? It’s different around here with you gone.”

“Poe not keeping you entertained?” Rey joked, ignoring the squeeze of her heart at his words.

Finn's lips twitched at the corners, shaking his head as he tried to suppress his laughter.

“When he’s not rushing around the place like a crazy person, trying to keep everyone in check? Or in the five seconds we get to talk before he’s jumping into the cockpit? Yeah, of course.”

“Wow, he’s taking this whole ‘leadership’ role seriously, huh?”

“Ever since what happened on the Raddus? Yeah, I’d say so. He never really talks about it, but… I think he’s really beating himself up about what happened. Especially whenever someone brings up Vice-Admiral Holdo.”

Rey’s expression softened at the former commanding officer's name. Although she had never met her, she had been exposed to the effects her death had had on the group. In the few months that Rey stayed within the Resistance, there had been an almost awkward tension within the group. In the rare times where it felt somewhat normal, it was almost like a routine where Holdo's name would be brought up. Just like that, the care-free atmosphere in the room would go dead, and most eyes would drift over to General Organa. The second everyone caught sight of her crestfallen face, devastated at the reminder of a close friends passing, the room would begin to clear, returning the group to its usual awkward tension.

“We, uh…” Finn sighed, running a hand through his rapidly growing locks. “We actually...kinda...had a bit of a fight…”

“Wait, you two fought?” Rey asked incredulously. “I didn’t even think that was possible… What was it about?”

“Poe had just come back from a three-day excursion, one where I know damn well he didn’t get a wink of sleep, barely ate… He gets back, and what does he do? He goes to Leia, asking for the next mission! The guys gonna hit the ground hard, and I can’t let that happen! I brought it up, told him he was being reckless and, well… He didn’t like that. He started yelling at me, telling me that I don’t know everything. I tried calming him down, but it just seemed to rile him up even more.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like Poe.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I know that with all that’s going on, he’s going to be saying things he doesn’t mean, so I just…let him be. I walked away. Mostly because, if I stayed, I…I don’t know if I could have held my tongue.”

“Listen, everyone makes mistakes. Even when they think they’re doing what's right. It’s good that he’s doing all he can to learn from his mistakes, but don’t let him work himself to death. Give him a bit of time to process all of this in his head but… Just be there for him. Be someone for him to go to, to talk or vent to, just… Be a friend.”

“Yeah…Yeah, I will. I’m just worried about him, is all.”

“How long has this been going on?” Rey asked, trying to rack her memory for how Poe acted while she was still at the Resistance. From her memory, Poe had been… Well, Poe. Same jokey, cocky, BB-8 loving, upbeat pilot. Then again, maybe she hadn’t been paying attention to her friends as much as she should have…If she didn’t look close enough, it would be easy for Poe to hide how he was truly feeling from her.

Not from Finn though.

“I mean…” Finn trailed off, scratching at his face as he thought. “It only started getting really bad these past few weeks… Everyone’s under a lot of pressure here right now, especially with what’s been going on.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen?”

“You could say that,” Finn said with a tired-looking smile. “We received a message from a mining ship not too far away from the base. They said they had some information for us.”

“Sounds like a trap to me.”

“Yep, sounded like one to Poe too.” Finn agreed. “He spent weeks scouting the place out, gathering what information he could find from the ship, from who employs them. Even tried to figure out who the informant was.”

“And did he find out? Who they are, that is?”

“No- And he was upset about it, to say the least. When we found out that the mining ship was employed by the First Order, and Poe said he still wanted to meet the informant, it kicked off another argument.”

“Please don’t tell me he went...”

“Of course he did,” Finn grumbled. “But you know what the worst part was?”

“…What?”

“It was the right move.” Finn scoffed, leaning back and folding his arms with a scowl. “Turns out, the informant was in contact with someone in the First Order; A spy.”

“A spy?” Rey asked, her interest piqued. “In the First Order?”

“Yep. Pretty high up too, it seems.”

“What did they find out?”

“They gave us a warning; They told us the First Order is still dead set on looking for us and taking us down. Apparently, they’ve narrowed down their search to the same system. They’re close, Rey.”

“Then what’s the Resistance going to do? Are you planning on moving base?”

“No, not yet. Even though there aren’t many of us left, The General thinks that moving everyone might be too suspicious. The First Order has eyes everywhere, and if someone sees a group of ships leaving a planet not long after they’ve narrowed down possible locations? They’ll be on us in no time, and there’s nothing we could do to defend ourselves. Especially when you’re not here.”

Before Rey could get a chance to speak up, Finn continued speaking.

“If they get closer, then… We’ll have no choice but to relocate. For now, our orders are to just lie low, and hope the First Order doesn’t pick up on the limited operations we’re running.”

“And you’re sure the information you got was correct? How do you know you’re not just being fed lies?”

“They could be. But I don’t know what the First Order will get from us being more cautious.”

“Other than limiting what you can do? Stop you from moving against them?”

“That’s…That’s true, but…” Finn muttered. “You know what the weird thing is?”

“What?”

“Apparently, the spy said the same thing you said.”

“That…They’re stopping you?”

“No, that they know that we might think they’re lying. So, they gave us an extra bit of information, as a gesture of… Goodwill? Anyway, they told us that a small First Order Patrol was being sent out to Ossi, a small planet being used by the First Order for scrap collection, and that this patrol? This patrol was made up of a collection of Troopers that were in the process of being reconditioned.”

“Which means…?”

“Oh, right.” Finn shook his head, getting too far ahead of himself. “The Storm Trooper program isn’t 100% efficient. It’s… It’s brainwashing, is what it is. The First Order steals kids from their homes, raises them, if you can call it that, with their rules. We’re trained to be soldiers with no morals, loyal only to the First Order. Not to each other, not to the people. Only The First Order. They order you to burn down a village? You do it without question. They ask you to shoot your brother in arms for treason? You should be happy to do so.”

Rey felt her stomach turn at the thought of her best friend having to go through such torture. To be ripped away from parents that loved him, raised in a cold, metal home with no love, only orders and pain? They may share the same pain of being stripped of their parents, but she had never been forced to do such horrific acts, and to have been raised to believe that such acts were right.

“But you escaped.” Rey pointed out. “What made you turn?”

“Like I said, sometimes their program doesn’t set in right. Sometimes, there can be a specific order or just the sight of something, and you just… You snap right out of it. It’s like waking up from a bad dream. Like the real you was hidden away, your body controlled by your superiors, like a puppet.” Finn spat the last word, his fury at the First Order shining in his eyes, even through the Holocron. “I’m not the only one that broke free. It does happen. And when you’re caught…You go in for reconditioning. They try and reset your mind, beat you into submission. They make it clear that it’s the First Order, or nothing. For most, the smart move is to just give in to their will. Less pain, that way.”

“So why are the First Order sending a group of Troopers when they’re at risk of disobeying orders?”

“It’s a test, to see if they’ve ‘passed’ their reconditioning. They’re being sent along with a commanding officer to a community within one of their main scrap collection sites. The rumor was that the people there are sympathizers to the Resistance. The trooper’s orders will be to round up all on-site, interrogate them for what information they can find, and then execute them.”

“All of them? The whole community? What about those that aren’t part of it?”

“It doesn’t matter. The First Order prefers to be thorough.”

“They’re willing to wipe out a whole community to be ‘thorough?’”

“The First Order is willing to do a lot in the name of ‘order’. When it comes to the Galaxy, what’s a few billion lives?”

“They did it, then? They slaughtered them all?”

“Nope,” Finn said, his satisfied smile returning to his face. “When Poe told General Organa of what he’d learned, she let him take over the mission. He was pretty torn up about what to do for a while, whether it was worth the risk, but eventually, he made up his mind. He sent out a small team, which actually included me this time, to intercept the incoming troopers.”

“And they were actually there?”

“Yep, just like our spy had said they would be. It was a small group, only about 7 troopers along with one officer. We managed to take ‘em by surprise while they were going door to door, rounding up residents. Rey, I’ve never seen Storm Troopers so…Willing to give up. The second they caught sight of us, they put down their guns, dropped to their knees and put their hands in the air.”

“So, there wasn’t a fight?”

“Only a small one. They might have been willing to surrender, but the officer with them? Not so much… Ideally, we wanted to capture him and take him back to the General to find out what he knows, but uh… This was the kind of guy who, if he was going down, it wouldn’t be alive. There were eight of us and only one of him, so… The firefight didn’t last that long…”

“And the Storm Troopers? What did you do with them?”

“They were apprehended, cuffed and returned to the Resistance. They didn’t say a word, just went with whatever we wanted them to. But the residents that we had just saved? They were… a little less quiet. I don’t think I’ve ever been hugged by so many strangers, Rey.”

“Not much of a hugger, are you?” Rey asked, trying her best to suppress her laughter.

“Listen, I like hugs just as much as the next guy, alright? It’s just common sense not to restrict someone you don’t know, who still has a loaded blaster in his hand. Besides, that’s not the best part.”

“Oh? And what is?”

“Turns out, they were a lot more than just ‘sympathetic’ to the Resistance’s cause. They wanted to join us. They were just waiting for the right opportunity and then, what do you know, it comes along. The Resistance now has forty new members, Rey. Forty! I know its nothing compared to the First Orders numbers, but…”

“It’s a start.”

“Yeah, exactly.” Finn breathed. “We’ve still got the Storm Troopers in lock up. They’re a bit… unstable right now. Coming to terms with the changes that have happened. I can still remember how disorientating it was, when it was happening to me…  But, I’m hopeful that soon, we’ll have another seven members to add to the Resistance. Truth be told, I’d rather they weren’t still in the holding cells. It would be good for them to be out with us, to see the Resistance for what it really is, but… The General doesn’t want to take the risk, which I completely understand. After all, this could easily be an elaborate set up by the First Order. Have a fake spy supply us with false information, trick us into taking in troopers we believe are on our side…”

“They’d have eyes and ears on the inside.”

“Exactly. But… It’s hard to fake that look, Rey.”

“…Look?”

“When a trooper breaks free, and they begin to regain control over who they are again. There’s no better person to recognize that look. Not when I saw it reflected back at me, the day I broke free.”

“This all sounds like wishful thinking, but…. But if all of this turns out to be true, that we have a spy in the First Order, and we can keep getting new members, then maybe…

“Maybe we’ll stand a real chance in this,” Finn finished, an excited gleam in his eyes. “One day, we won’t have to be in hiding. One day… We’ll bring the fight to them.”

Finn's gaze wandered over to something that Rey couldn’t see, a brief look of panic fluttering over his face as he cursed quietly under his breath, swiftly rising from his chair and reaching for the Holocron, fumbling slightly with its buttons as he spoke.

“Shoot, I lost track of time. I’m sorry Rey, but I’ve got to go. Poe’s gonna have my ass for this…”

Before Rey could get out any semblance of a goodbye, Finn had disconnected from the other side of the Holocron. The blue glow of his figure slowly melted away from sight, his hologram seemingly being sucked away into the confinements of the device sat upon her wrist. With a heavy sigh, Rey reached up and switched the device off, cutting off her end of the connection.

“Good to speak to you too, Finn…”

Rey dropped her arm back to her side, glancing wearily down to the netted fish at her feet with another weary sigh. Her conversation with Finn had exhausted her, and now the thought of having to prepare all that she had caught was looking less and less likely of being done by the end of the day…

“FN-2187?”

Rey spun around on the spot, a moment of full-blown panic gripping her at the sight of Kylo Ren stood on the opposite side of her hut. He was sans his helmet this time, stood with his back straight and arms folded behind his back, his head ever so slightly tilted to the side as he regarded her with a questioning look. Fear washed over her at the thought that he might have listened to her and Finns entire conversation without her even knowing, unwittingly letting the Supreme Leader of the First Order know information about the Resistance that would surely give them the upper hand.

“That’s who he is, isn’t he?” Kylo continued “Finn?”

“Do you have to say his name with such discontent?” Rey spat, feeling a tickle of anger rise in her chest as she listened to Kylo Ren speak about her friend in such a disgusted tone.

“He is a traitor. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable way to speak of him.”

“You don’t even know him. All he is to you is a unit, a selection of random letters and numbers.”

“You’ve seen the size of our army, haven’t you? Assigning names to each trooper would be pointless-“ “That’s beside the point. Looking past the fact that they had names before you stole them from their families, you treat your people like…Like they aren’t people. They’re just a part of the machine, something that can be replaced if it were to break down.”

“That’s what happens when you’re part of something this big. The First Order isn’t the first to use such methods, and we certainly won’t be the last. Sometimes, you have to look at these kinds of things from a different perspective.” “I’m not sure how else you can look at kidnapping and brainwashing children.”

“We give them a roof over their heads. We give them food, we give them security. We give them purpose. We’ve taken away hundreds of children from poor lives, prevented them from growing up in a community that’s doomed to collapse.”

Kylo narrowed his eyes at Rey as she scoffed, taking one step closer to her as he continued to speak.

“Tell me, Rey, have you ever spoked to any of the troopers, other than your… ‘friend?’”

“It’s not exactly like I get the chance.”

“Then how do you know how they feel about their lives, Rey? Unless you walk amongst them every day, as I do. Those amongst us serve with pride, satisfied in the knowledge that they are working to create a stable Galaxy. That’s a goal we share, is it not? For our Galaxy to be in peace?”

“Yes.” Rey agreed. “But I think we both have very different ideas of how to obtain that.”

“It’s simply how this works,” Kylo stressed. “Sometimes, peace can only be obtained through war.”

“One day, I’ll get through to you.” Rey raised her voice, storming over to Kylo with a stormy expression, pointing a finger directly into his face as she spoke. Kylo didn’t move an inch, staring down at her with a blank expression as she continued with her outburst. “I know I will. Someday, you’ll realize how wrong you are about all of this.”

For a while, Kylo said nothing in response. In fact, he barely did much of anything, the only movement from him she could see the steady rise and fall of his chest, and his slow blinks as he gazed down at her.

“You can try.”

What took her most by surprise wasn’t his words. No, it was the pain that was laced within them, a tone almost of…almost of begging. As if, deep down, he truly wanted her to try. He was pleading with her to do her best, to do all she could to convince him otherwise. To give him a reason to turn away from all he’s ever known, for the majority of his life.

“I will.”  Rey reached out a hand and, without thinking, wrapped it around his forearm, the urge within her to comfort someone so clearly in pain overtaking the reasoning within her mind. For a brief moment, she had forgotten who he was. She wasn’t reaching out for Kylo Ren, she was reaching for Ben Solo. To try and grab hold of the man he once was, to pull him out of the façade he has encased himself with. Another persona, acting as his shield against all that has ever wronged him.

Kylo dropped his gaze from her down to where her hand met his arm. In that moment, the blank expression disappeared. Something almost…Almost tender crossed his face, a longing for comfort he has most likely gone years or decades even without, powerful enough to overtake his usual defenses. Rey was too awestruck, taking in such expressions she had never thought she would see on him, that she found herself unable to tear her hand away from him. The silence they had fallen into seemed to stretch on forever, and yet at the same time, only seemed to last mere seconds.

 “Can I ask you something?” Kylo finally broke the silence, breaking his line of sight with her hand on him to meet her eyes. Rather hesitantly, and still in somewhat of a daze, she nodded her consent. “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

That…Certainly hadn’t been what she was expecting.

“What?”

“You could have if you wanted to. After the fight. When we fought for Skywalkers saber. The blast had knocked us both unconscious, but when I awoke, I was alone. You awoke first. You could have taken my saber and ended my life right there. But you didn’t. Why?”

“It didn’t seem like a fair fight.” Rey joked, deflecting his question away. Judging by the narrowed eyed look he was giving her, he could see right past that. “Besides, one day, I’m going to beat you in a fight when you can’t blame it on already being injured.”

There it was again. That ‘almost’ smile.

“I think we both know that’s not all there is to it.” Kylo refuted, increasing his accusatory look. “I had just killed the Supreme Leader of the First Order. You had the opportunity to take out their last remaining powerful leader. Granted, the First Order would continue to function, but it would have been significantly weakened. We would have never chased you to Crait. Skywalker wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself, to let you all escape. I thought everything you did, you did to help your ‘friends’. Yet, you chose not to kill me. Not only that, but you left me with my saber.”

“What else was I to do? Leave you without a weapon? I can’t imagine it would have looked good when they found you in that room with your leader cut in half…” Rey trailed off, turning around to pick up the net of fish she had neglected on the floor of her hut.

“You could have,” Kylo stressed, and she could hear him take a single step closer to her. “That way, my blood wouldn’t be on your hands. There’s no use lying to me Rey, and there’s no use lying to yourself. My death would be an advantage, not only for the Resistance, but for you. You should have, but you didn’t. So, I ask again; Why?”

“I couldn’t, okay!” Rey snapped, whirling around to face him and flinging the bag in her hands to the other side of her hut. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I know I should have, but I didn’t!”

“And why is that?” Kylo whispered, something akin to excitement in his eyes.

“I…I don’t know…”

“Oh, but you do, Rey.”

“I… There…There was a part of me that… That wouldn’t let me do it. Just the thought of it, of doing that to you, its…”

“It’s almost painful, isn’t it?” Kylo asked, his face inching even closer.

Rey dared a glance up to his hopeful face, regretfully nodding in agreement.

“It felt like my thoughts weren’t completely mine… As soon as the thought of…of killing you crossed my mind, it would be replaced by those damn visions; It would remind me of what you could become, of what I tried so hard to get, and… After all that’s happened, I don’t know if those visions will ever come true, but I know they won’t- if I were to take away your life.”

Kylo took in a sharp breath through his teeth, his head snapping back away from her in his shock. Rey took a few dazed blinks herself, the sudden distance between them making her realize just how close he had managed to get without her paying much attention.

“You still see them? The visions?”

“Sometimes.” She admitted. “Not often, mostly in my sleep but… I can’t escape from them.”

“I still see them, too. Of you and I, sat upon the throne.”

Rey shook her head, disappointed at how certain he sounded of his vision. It didn’t make sense. Why would the Force show them two different visions? Two different outcomes to… To…

To their what? Their relationship? There was barely one as is. They were supposed to be enemies. ‘Supposed to be’ being the keywords here. Any other resistance member would be throttling his neck right about now (if they could get close enough, that is), and here she was, having what was essentially a civil conversation with him. The worst part was, she didn’t really mind.

“Why is it doing this to us?” Rey asked him, gesturing in the space between the two of them. “What purpose does it serve? It feels the force is trying to push us together, trying to keep us from killing each other and for…For what? Why would the Force benefit from that?”

“We’re the most powerful pieces on the board, Rey. This upcoming war between The First Order and the Resistance; it’s inevitable. There has to be a victor at the end of it all, and me and you? We could be the deciding factor in that.”

“Are you trying to say that the Force doesn’t want for us to be fighting?”

“Possibly.” Kylo began pacing back and forth what looked like the perimeter of Rey’s hut, but as she couldn’t see where he was through their connection, she had no idea where exactly he was pacing. “I’m not ashamed to admit you are my equal, Rey. Your power within the Light is just as powerful as the one I have within the Dark. For us to be fighting against one another would be nothing more than a waste. But together? Together, we would be the balance in the Force. The Light, and The Dark, as one. This war may be inevitable, but who says either side must win?”

“Don’t… Ben, please, not this again-“

“It’s what makes sense,” Kylo hissed, his pacing coming to a sudden stop, snapping his head to the side so he was facing Rey. “We both know that neither side will stand down. If one side wins, there will always be another that will try and reclaim power. But you and me? We can be the balance of power this Galaxy needs.”

“I can’t leave them to die,” Rey insisted, hoping her words will get through to him. “Good people will die in this war. And if I was to join you, with or without the First Order, then I’ll be an enemy of the Resistance. These people are my family-“

Kylo scoffed at this, throwing up his arms in frustration and shaking his head vehemently in disagreement.

“They are, Ben. Maybe not by blood, but they are. I could never fight against them, or watch them die, even if it wasn’t by my hands. I could never live with myself. My loyalties lie with them, and with the Jedi.”

“The Jedi?” Kylo snorted, his lips curling into a sneer at the name. “The Jedi are gone. ‘The Last of the Light’. You say my storm-troopers are brainwashed? The name of the Jedi is worshipped like a religion. They become almost like mystical beings to the common people, treated like Gods. They show up to the homes of Force Sensitive children, and ‘ask’ for their parent's permission to take their child-“

“Yes, that’s the difference.” Rey snapped. “They ask for permission-“

“Do you really think anyone would say no? Even if they wanted to? The life of a Jedi is not a good one, Rey. Believe me, I had a taste of it. Forced to limit our given powers, forbidden from any connections with others? I came to the realization that the Jedi were the ones in the wrong, just as my grandfather did before me.”

Rey wanted to argue back but realized she couldn’t, not when she knew so little about his grandfather. She knew of Darth Vader, of the terrifying apprentice to the Emperor, but such well-known stories tend to have the truth twisted and warped for entertainment. She doesn’t know the full story of Darth Vader, not like the man before her most likely did.

“What do you think will be the end of this, Ben?” Rey whispered, the exhaustion she had felt earlier beginning to seep back in now that the adrenalin that had coursed through her at the sight of him was fading away. “I want things to be different. I don’t want for you to die. I shouldn’t say that, especially not to you, but… I want you to live. I want for us both to live, to somehow exist together in peace. But right now, I… I don’t see how we can achieve that.”

“What do you see?”

“I see one of us fighting against the Force. I see one of us falling to the other.”

Silence followed Rey’s confession; one she was sure Kylo must have seen coming. His hardened expression crumbled away, his anger-filled tension draining from his posture as his shoulders sagged, dropping his gaze to the floor with a deep breath.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but…” Kylo broke the silence they had settled in, lifting his sorrowed gaze from his feet back up to her and replacing it with a look of determination and sincerity. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. Whether it goes my way, or… or even your way. I won’t turn away from what the Force is leading me to.”

“You’ll turn away from the Dark?” Rey dared to hope.

“The Force has led me down the path I am on. It led me to Snoke so that he could teach me the ways of the Sith. I go wherever the Force guides me” Kylo told her. “What reason do I have not to trust it? Especially when it has led me to you.”

Link To Chapter 3

[dedkake]

So. Here’s something about me. I’ve seen the Star Wars movies more times than I can count. I love them. Star Wars is part of my fandom life on the internet and part of my life IRL. BUT. TLJ happened. I saw TLJ once or twice in theaters, and that’s it.

I know there’s been a lot of meta on TLJ over the past few years, but I watched it again last night because my mom asked me--to prepare for tros. And now I have enough emotional distance to finally say things about it. feel free to ignore, as most of it is complaining.

Problems:

1. Pacing -- what the hell. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

2. Holdo and Leia’s lesson for Poe. WHAT THE HELL. His problem, that he says out loud, multiple times, is that he just wants to KNOW what the plan is. Not that he wants to take over or change things. He literally just wants reassurance that they’re not all gonna die because they’re in a terrible situation and the leader he knows and trusts is in a coma--so can this new leader do something to show his team some respect and earn trust. Holdo is played off as SUCH A LEADER AND HERO but she’s NOT. Part of being a leader is yes, being able to see a solution and go for it even when the people around you don’t see it yet. But it’s also super important to give your team a vision for where you’re taking them. Inspire them into action, don’t just assume they’ll do whatever you say--definitely don’t do that right off the bat. And you need to recognize different personalities on your team and work with them all. Poe’s personality and problems are swept under the rug by Leia and Holdo with a smirk and a laugh, even though they are legitimate (like, tell me we have a plan not to die). They know he’s the type of guy to rush in and save the day and take over, so why not work with that instead of yelling at him and talking down to him and kicking him off the bridge??????? Seems like you’re setting yourself up for failure, ladies.

3. Kylo Ren is irredeemable -- which is a terrible message for star wars. The entire franchise is set up around the fact that Vader is redeemable. He went to the dark side because he wanted to save people and felt restricted by the Jedi Order. He wasn’t a bad person. Luke was able to convince him of that again. COOL. AMAZING. But now Kylo has done so much crap that one movie to redeem him would be like a slap to the face. He hasn’t earned it. We know nothing about his struggle, really, besides that one time he mistakenly thought Luke was gonna kill him so he killed a bunch of kids at his school and ran off to join an evil army that he learned about by secretly communicating with its leader (and isn’t THAT a heavy-handed message). That’s not enough for a redemption arc. It won’t be enough. And that SUCKS. 

4. Luke’s entire story. It’s just not Luke. I hate it.

5. Romantic love being used like That. Where did it come from? I’m sorry, according to this movie they’ve known each other for a handful of HOURS. Why does she have to kiss him in order to show the message of saving what you love??? Why is romance the best way to show that??????????? Also, she’s been working off her sister’s sacrifice the entire movie (yknow, a few HOURS) and that sacrifice was not romantically charged. Why does Rose’s have to be??????????? Maybe this is just a complaint of my aroace self, but it just came out of the blue and doesn’t jive with any of the other stories being told?

6. I still really honestly do not understand the first order. Its structure? Its purpose? How it came to be??? Like. I’m sure there’s lots of places I could go to get that info, but it’s not clear in the arc of the movies alone, so that’s not good enough.

7. The heavy-handed lesson on war profiteering. This was just not subtle at all. There was no nuance and it didn’t fit in with the other stories being told. Like. How hard would it be to weave this into the larger story in a more meaningful way?????????????? Example: They actually go work with this code breaker and in the course of working with him, find out that he knows so much about First Order tech because he helps (present tense!) design it. He’s in it for the money from both sides. Or, what if they needed a part for one of their own ships, not a code for First Order stuff, and they go to find their supplier and learn THEN about the money made from war and the fact that people profit off both sides??????? Idk man. Do better.

8. The heavy-handedness of all the lessons in this movie. What the hell? Protect what you love. Save lives instead of being a hero. Hope needs to be there even when you can’t see the light. Destroy stuff in order to start over fresh and strong. People make money off wars, the good side and the bad. Rich people are evil because they take advantage of kids and animals. What the hell? Why did we need to be slapped in the face with lines about all of this? Multiple times??? Are we just done building stories that teach us things through actions rather than words? It’s just all so shallow. Let me see these problems during this movie, let the characters see what happens when you don’t do those things, when you don’t recognize them--and then let them change because of it. Bad things happened to all the characters (still most mad about profiteering) and then someone just told them what they should learn from it, before the characters or the audience even had time to process what had happened.

9. The idea that rebellions need to be almost completely destroyed to start over. The idea that anything that isn’t working correctly needs to be completely destroyed in order to be fixed (Jedi order and resistance). I’m sorry. That’s not as hopeful as you think. I get cleansing fire stories. I do. They have their place. But on this scale? To wipe out hundreds or thousands of people in the resistance to finally get to a point where it can work?? This would make sense if the resistance was full of corruption, but that’s not shown AT ALL. Or it cold make sense if this was tied into the story of war profiteering, and all the parts of the rebellion that were being capitalized on were destroyed (i mean, they were, but that wasn’t shown--the people were shown). At least with the Jedi Order, they showed us that there was corruption and hubris and that things needed to be balanced out. What’s the balance found between a corrupt government killing all the people resisting it??????????? Don’t put these two stories on the same plane please. Terrible message, sorry.

10. The fact that Rey has like 0 training. It’s been pretty heavily laid on us in the entire Star Wars franchise that training is important and takes a long time. Even Luke trains for multiple movies in the original trilogy, and it’s seen as pretty hasty training. I understand that there’s a critique of the way the Jedi do things but -- is the lesson we really want to go with that anyone can wield this power untrained and without study????? Education, training, experience--those are all very important in gaining self-control and wisdom.

Things i liked and had not realized or forgotten:

1. The lesson that the way to defeat evil is to love and protect is cool. More than cool. It’s a great lesson. I have NO IDEA why it needs to be so heavy handed, either. And again, stop with the romantic love being the epitome of that.

2. Yoda’s force ghost convincing Luke to get his butt into gear and move on from protecting/living in the past. Luke was stuck, and Yoda was so Yoda to get him out of being stuck and it was lovely. Although, I’m not sure what’s served by not including a scene of Rey taking the books. Why did she do it? What was she thinking? Was it a hard choice for her? Was it Yoda and not Rey????

3. We need a legend. From the first moment of this story Rey is trying to become like what she thinks Luke is--the guy who saw good in everyone including Vader and defeated the Empire because of it. Which is AWESOME. What a cool idea, people trying to live up to their heroes to defeat evil empires. GREAT. Frustration again: after this movie, I don’t want her to succeed with Kylo. Which SUCKS because it’s my favorite thing about Star Wars. (can you get more iconic than throwing away your light saber in the middle of your final battle and saying that you’re not gonna fight anymore???????)

4. I just love Rey, Finn, and Poe. They are so GOOD. All of them.Every time they’re on screen, I’m so HAPPY.

[kylo-ren-writes]

Pumpkin, Part 2

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Reader

Summary: you take the pumpkin back home to your apartment, but after you get out of your car, you realize that you won’t be able to carry it. You text a certain someone to come help you...

Warnings: none.

Tag List: @beautifulbows924 @celestiaelisia @bluudhavens @just-another-starwars-fangirl

A/N: imma do a part 3 because I’m having too much fun with this little AU. (Gif not mine!)

The drive back to your city is short as you spend most of the time in your head, thinking about the infuriating yet intriguing stranger named Kylo Ren you met only 20 minutes prior.

Your eyes would shift over to the pumpkin sitting on your passenger seat, perfectly orange and round without a single flaw in place. That is how you had met Kylo, fighting over who saw the perfect thing first. You were still surprised with how he just gave it to you, when a man like him could have just taken it for himself easily.

You imagined a man like Kylo could take nearly anything he wanted. The thought sent a shiver down your spine, and you tightened your grip on your steering wheel as you pulled into the parking lot to your tall apartment building.

Taking the keys out of the ignition, you immediately grabbed your phone from where it sat beside the pumpkin and pressed the power button to see no new notifications.

The sight put a frown on your face. It wasn’t that you expected Kylo to text you back right away, you were just somehow hoping, you supposed, that he would.

Maybe he had changed his mind. Or perhaps he was just busy. Or, maybe he didn’t know it was you who had texted him in the first place. After all, you had only sent him a “Hey.”

You unlocked your phone, the screen immediately switching to your text conversation—or rather, lack of one—that you had kept open.

Your single text sat there, unread and untouched. You sighed to yourself and tapped on the space to type, typing out a quick “It’s Y/N, by the way... from the pumpkin patch...”, and hitting send before you could delete it. You closed the app and let your screen go dark as you got out of the car.

Then, remembering the pumpkin sitting on your passenger seat, you went around the car and opened the door. How the hell were you going to take this up to your apartment?

The older building had a functioning elevator, and your small apartment wasn’t a long walk, but you still had to carry it. You couldn’t even manage to barely lift it at the pumpkin patch when you were trying to put your claim on it in the first place.

Right as that thought floated through your head, your phone went off.

You looked down at the illuminated screen and felt your heart rate pick up at the notification. You hadn’t even put a name on the new number in your contacts, but you knew who it was.

“I assumed,” sat underneath of the number on the screen. You stared at it until it went dark. It was such an innocent reply, but you could imagine the sarcasm and smirk that probably lined his face as he sent it.

Lighting the screen back up, you opened the message and tapped on the message box to type. What could you say to him?

Before you could think of anything, however, another message, sent by him, popped up on the screen.

“It’s Kylo, by the way... from the pumpkin patch...”.

You rolled your eyes. “Haha, very funny,” you quickly texted him back. He was still an asshole, that was plain to see. But you also did welcome it in a way, too.

Your gaze settled back onto the pumpkin as you tried to figure out how you were going to move it. You didn’t know anyone in your building and everyone mostly kept to themselves. It wasn’t like you could just ask someone to help you, nor did you really want to ask a stranger to help or be in your apartment...

Could you... would it be crazy...

You glanced back at the messages on your screen. Kylo was still a stranger, but you did, sort of, know him. Well, you didn’t know him, but maybe... just maybe... you could ask him for his help.

Frowning down at your screen, you began typing out the message. “Hey, um... do you think that... you could help me... bring this pumpkin up to my apartment. You totally don’t have to, it’s just... it’s, you know, heavy.”

You cringed at yourself and hit send. You had never been the person that asked anyone for help, much less a man. Not that asking anyone for help was bad, you were just very independent, and Kylo was also a random stranger, really. For all you knew he could be an axe wielding serial killer.

Your phone dinged seconds later with his reply. “What’s your address?”

Was he really going to help you just like that? And were you really just going to send him your address?

You typed out the address of your building and hit send, hoping that it wasn’t the biggest mistake of your life. His reply was immediate.

“Be right there.”

Kylo’s reply made your stomach flip with anxiety. Although, for some reason you trusted him. Deep down you 100% doubted that he was a serial killer.

The weather wasn’t too cold, so, as you waited, you leaned against your car, compulsively checking your phone for any possible messages that he could have sent. But your screen, for the most part, stayed empty. Only a few notifications from Instagram and other game apps popped up.

It also felt like he was taking forever. Although, as you looked at the screen and glanced at the time, only 5 or so minutes had past. You wondered how long he would take to get here.

A whole 10 more minutes passed before another car pulled into the parking lot. You would have completely disregarded it if it weren’t for how much nicer it was compared to the other cars parked here—including yours—and also for the fact that it pulled up right next to you.

You released a breath that you hadn’t even known you had been holding and swallowed.

The car shut off and the door opened, revealing Kylo, looking the same as he had almost an hour ago.

He had a mischievous glint in his eyes as his eyes trailed you over.

You pushed yourself off of your car and stood up straighter as he approached. “You got here quick.”

Kylo lifted a brow as he stood in front of you. “You were keeping track?”

Your eyes widened the slightest then you frowned. “No... I was just waiting.”

Kylo smirked the slightest and nodded. “I didn’t think I would get to see you again so soon.”

You stepped aside to reveal the pumpkin from where he had placed it. “Me either.”

Kylo eyed you then reached down and picked the pumpkin up just as effortlessly as he had before. It almost annoyed you.

He backed away and you closed the passenger door, locking it, and lead him up to the building. “Thank you for doing this, I don’t really know anyone here that could help.”

“It’s not a problem, little wolf.” Kylo looked down at you.

You blushed at the name, having forgotten all about it, and led him over to the elevator. The building was warmer than the outside, so you undid you jacket as you pressed the button to go up.

“I didn’t interrupt anything?” You asked curiously.

Kylo shrugged. “You did, but this was far more important.”

You furrowed your brows at him as the doors to the elevator opened. But before you could say anything, Kylo stepped inside.

“Coming? I don’t know which floor you’re on.”

Stepping inside the old elevator, you gave him a look and pressed the button for the sixth floor. “Maybe this was a mistake.”

Kylo smirked in amusement. “Why do you say that.”

“Because in the span of an hour, I already forgot how irritating you are.” You could feel the elevator lifting the both of you up, ascending to the sixth floor.

Kylo chuckled. “You wound me, little wolf.”

You turned to him. “Why do you call me that?”

“What? Little wolf?” He questioned innocently.

“Yes.”

Kylo smiled. “Because you’re so aggressive for such a little thing.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Excuse me? Little? And I’m not aggressive, you’re just hard to be around.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

The doors to the elevator opened up behind you. “And yet, here I am,” Kylo mused as he stepped past you.

Grumbling to yourself, you followed after him before the doors could close on you. “This way,” you mumbled, turning left.

Kylo followed as he let you lead the way, smiling to himself. He enjoyed getting you riled up.

After you led him down the hall a short distance to the door to your apartment, you unlocked it and opened the door, stepping inside. “This is it,” you threw over your shoulder.

Your apartment was small but not incredibly small. You had your own bedroom with a separate bathroom, and the kitchen was decently sized with a smaller living room. The way you decorated the place wasn’t so bad either. You weren’t allowed to change the paint colour on the walls or the type flooring, but you made do with the bland theme of the place anyway. It was home to you regardless.

Kylo stepped inside after you, looking around at the space. It was smaller than his apartment, definitely, but he didn’t mind yours. You seemed to have a sense for decorating. It seemed homey and inviting.

“Where would you like this?”, Kylo asked you as you removed your jacket and hung it up in the small closet beside the door.

“Oh.” You had nearly forgotten. “You can put it over there.” You pointed over to your kitchen table.

Kylo nodded and walked over to the table, setting the pumpkin down in the middle of it. You took the opportunity to observe him while his back was turned. He wore dark jeans and a black jacket. He looked just as big from behind as he did when he faced you.

You walked over to the hulk of a man and went around the table to the other side across from him, reaching out to touch the pumpkin.

“So, should we do this now?” Kylo suddenly asked.

“Huh?” You looked up at him with furrowed brows.

Kylo glanced down at the pumpkin. “Since I’m here. Our agreement, remember?”

You definitely did remember, you just didn’t think that he would hold you to it right now. “Now? Don’t you have... anything else to do today?” You asked.

Kylo shrugged off his jacket, revealing a black T-shirt underneath. Your gaze immediately fell to his arms and how thick they were.

“No,” he responded, smirking at your stare. “I cancelled what I had. For you.”

You blushed as you looked back up at his face. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Kylo shrugged. “I wanted to.” He set his jacket down on the table. “Now, do you have any pumpkin carving tools?”

Picking up his jacket from the table, you went over to that small closet and hung it up next to yours. “No. I have kitchen knives though.” When you turned back around, you were met with a scolding expression.

“Don’t tell me that you use kitchen knives every year to carve your pumpkins. That’s so dangerous, little wolf.” Kylo crossed his arms over his chest, unintentionally flexing them.

You swallowed and ripped your gaze away from them. “They work just fine. It’s not like I do anything intracit anyway,” you defended. You didn’t like to be scolded, especially by him.

Kylo shook his head. “I’ll be doing the carving then.”

Rolling your eyes, you returned back to the table. “Alright, then I’ll take out all the guts and seeds from the inside.”

You picked up today’s newspaper and separated the pages, setting them down around the pumpkin to protect the table. Kylo rummaged through your drawers until he found some knives for the job.

“Could you grab two bowls, please?” You called out to him.

Kylo brought the knives to the table then went back into the kitchen, wordlessly opening cabinet doors until he found two large plastic bowls for what he assumed all the insides of the pumpkin would be going into.

You smiled as he returned and took the bowls from him. Your excitement was beginning to grow. You couldn’t wait to dig inside the pumpkin to take out all the slimy insides and the seeds. It was your favourite part.

“Can we start now, can we?” You asked, giddy like a child. You didn’t even care how childish you probably seemed to him.

Kylo picked up a big enough knife from the table and smiled lightly. He enjoyed seeing you so happy. “Eager, little wolf?” He teased.

You gave him a playful glare. “Just start already!”

Chuckling, Kylo brought the knife to the top of the pumpkin where you had already sketched a black circle around the stem with a sharpie, indicating where he was supposed to cut.

He had a feeling that this was going to be an enjoyable afternoon...

[poeticandors]

I’ll Come Back For You Part 1

Poe Dameron x Reader

Summary: Y/N is the adopted daughter of Leia and Han Solo. When she is sent on an important mission with Poe Dameron, she sees someone she never thought she would see again. 

Warnings: Mentions of death, violence.

A/N: Hi everyone! SO I decided to rewrite this series as I was honestly shocked at how my writing was when I first started lol. I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as you all had before.

Sitting closely to your fellow partner, you watched as he was handed the very thing that could change the outcome of the battle between the First Order and the Resistance. Specially chosen by the General herself, you and Poe Dameron were sent on a mission to obtain the last piece of a map that led to where Luke Skywalker was.

To say that you both were capable of handling this mission, which you both knew could end badly, was an understatement. Poe was the best pilot in the Resistance and you were a skilled intelligence officer—as well as the General’s adopted daughter.

When you were just a baby, there was an attack by the remnants of the Empire that happened where you were living. Han Solo arrived in search of survivors when he heard your crying and found you bundled up in a little blue blanket. After searching for your parents and finding out they had been killed in crossfire, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for you and decided to take you to Chandrila, where Leia was taking care of their two year old son, Ben.

It didn’t take long for Leia and Han to accept you as their own, and for Ben to adore you as his younger sister. As you got older, your parents focused mainly on the rebuilding of the New Republic, and you could see that Ben took it harder than you did. While your mother sent Ben to train with her brother, you stayed behind and decided you wanted to be a member of the Resistance—which is how you met Poe.

Ever since the two of you met, you were often paired off with one another for missions. At first, there were many disagreements on how a mission should go, which led to many close calls in which one of you would usually come back battered and bruised. As you two became more familiar with each other, you became very close, which eventually led to the both of you developing feelings for one another, but refusing to say anything to one another.

Lor San Tekka squeezed Poe’s hand and smiled,

“This will begin to make things right. I’ve traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy.” He pulled away, leaving you and Poe staring at theremaining piece of the map, “Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force.”

“Well, because of you, now we have a chance.” Poe stated.

You grabbed Lor San Tekka’s hand and smiled, “Yes, thank you for this. The Resistance can now finally stop the First Order from causing any more harm. The General has been searching for this for a long time.” Lor San Tekka smiled back.

“Oh, the General? To me,” he winked, “she and you are both royalty, my dear Y/N.”

Poe chuckled softly and say, “Well, they both certainly are.”

Before you could reply with a witty comment, Poe’s droid, BB-8, came crashing through, chirping rather quickly. Taking in a breath, you looked over at Poe.

“We’ve got company,” Poe said in a low voice.

Poe stood up quickly and stepped outside, with you and Lor San Tekka following behind. Poe was already looking in the distance with his quadnocs as you stood next to him, placing a hand on his arm.

The villagers were all running for cover, yelling orders at one another. From afar, you could see lights from what you deduced were First Order ships coming closer to the village.

“You have to hide,” Poe murmured.

“You have to leave.” 

You turned to look at the old man and felt your heart drop as you grabbed his hand.

“Come with us,” you begged, “it’s not safe for you here.”

Lor San Tekka looked at you with sad eyes and smiled, “My dear, it is not my place to come with you. I would only slow the both of you down.”

“But-“you felt someone grab your arm and you turned to look up at Poe as he nodded to you, his eyes also showing a hint of sadness.

Turning back to Lor San Tekka, you lowered your head as you released his hand and pulled him in for a quick embrace, which he returned.

“You need to go, Y/N.”

Pulling away, you glanced back at Poe and nodded that you were ready. The both of you began running back for the tandem X-Wing you came in.

Behind you, a bell begin to ring and you were also able to hear the First Order ships getting closer. As you ran past them, you saw all of the villagers grabbing their weapons and taking cover.

A small part of you wished that you could stay behind and help, but you knew that if the First Order obtained the missing piece of the map, that it would make things worse than it already was.

Blasters began to go off and you knew that the First Order had arrived. Hearing the villagers screaming only made you feel worse, but you pushed yourself to run faster.

“C’mon slowpoke and BB-8, hurry!”

You huffed angrily and yelled back, “You are choosing now to make fun of me? You are so going to get it when we get back to the base, Dameron.”

Poe began to laugh—with BB-8 chirping— as you punched him in the arm when the both of you arrived to the X-Wing. Poe helped you into the X-Wing, ushering you to hurry, and when he knew you were inside safely, he followed inside.

Poe started the engine and as soon as you had put your helmet on, the ship began to shake harshly as it was hit from some blasters. You groaned.

“Hello Mr. I’m The Best Pilot in the Resistance? Are you ever going to shoot at the Troopers?”

“Yeah, yeah, I see them Y/N/N,” he stated as he pulled up the blasters from the ship and shot back at the Troopers.

When the coast was clear, Poe exited the X-Wing and you quickly threw off your helmet as you climbed out to follow him. Poe was examining the X-Wing when you ran up and you sighed when you saw how much damage it had took.

The screams of the villagers began to intensify and you turned around, only to see them become overrun by the Storm Troopers. Smoke had surrounded you as the houses were being burned down and that was when you couldn’t stand to be there any longer.

“We have to help them Poe!” Before you could turn off to help, Poe grabbed your arm and shook his head.

BB-8 rolled next to you and Poe brought you down with him as he handed you the piece of the map. He looked between the both of you.

“You take this. It’s safer with the both of you than it is with me.”

“No,” you began to shake your head, “Poe I am going to help you.”

“You and BB-8 are the Resistance’s chance at surviving right now, Y/N. You both need to get as far as you can from here okay?” He glanced down at BB-8, “Do you hear me?”

You tried to object once more, but Poe merely ignored your request as he embraced you in his arms.

“I’ll come back for you,” he whispered before placing a soft kiss upon your cheek, causing your heart to race.

Poe pulled away and gave you that sideways smirk that he always gave you before he took off running, his blaster in tow. You looked down at BB-8 and motioned for him to follow you before you ran away in the opposite direction.

Gaining quite a bit of distance from the village, you suddenly began to slow down as a heavy weight began to overcome your body. The village, you noticed, was now silent and you couldn’t help but worry for the villagers and Poe. BB-8 bumped into your leg, chirping at you with concern, and you knelt down in front of him.

“BB-8 you have to take this,” you handed the droid the map, “I need to go help Poe.” The droid tried to argue with you but you stopped him.

“We will come back for you, don’t worry BB-8. Now go, please.” BB-8 beeped sadly, but obeyed you and began to roll away into the dark of the sand hills.

You waited until he was no longer in your sight before you ran for the village. The weight that you had felt had begun to feel stronger and darker as you got closer to the village.

Hiding behind a boulder, you gasped quietly as you saw Lor San Tekka’s final moments as he was killed by a tall, dark figure with a lightsaber. Your heart dropped as you recognized whose lightsaber that was. You hadn’t seen your brother in so long—seeing him here only made you feel worse.

Suddenly, a blaster shot off but before it could even come close to hitting your brother, he threw his hand out and stopped the blast in midair. Turning your head, you saw Poe in front of you, standing up as if something was holding him back.

Typical Dameron, you thought, always trying to save the day.

Two Troopers grabbed onto Poe and took him to face your brother. After a short conversation, they began to lift Poe up and walk him back to one of the ships.

Then, the Troopers lifted up their blasters to kill the remaining villagers that they had grouped up. Before you could stop yourself, you shot up and ran towards them.

“No! Stop!” Before you could lift up your blaster, something stopped you in place.

Trying to fight the invisible force that was holding you back, you could only watch as the one who caused this was looking down on you.

“It’s been a long time, little sister,” said the robotic voice of Kylo Ren, “I have truly missed you.” You   scoffed.

“Oh, really? Hard to tell when you use your stupid Force powers on me and harm the people I care about!”

Kylo Ren started to circle around you, “And you are still as stubborn as the day I left you. Disobeying direct orders from your Commander? So like you.” You swallowed and clenched your jaw.

“If you hurt him I swear that I will—“

“Interesting,” he interrupted, “the both of you were given the map to Luke Skywalker.”

“I have told you before to stay out of my head, Ben!”

“Ben is no more, little sister,” he stood in front of you, “now tell me where the map is.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that to get what you want from me, Ben,” you said, glaring at him.

“Very well,” he started to walk to the side of you and the last thing you heard before blacking out was Poe yelling out for you.

[ashaywalker-author]

Natural Instinct (Poe Dameron/Reader Fic)

SUMMARY: Reader is a simple Jakku miner who finds herself in the middle of a First Order assault on Tuanul. Although unaffiliated with the war, she steps in for a Resistance pilot, and has to face the consequences.

CHAPTER WARNINGS: Some strong language, references to death

PAIRING: Poe Dameron/Reader (slow burn)

A/N: There is not NEARLY enough Poe Dameron in the fanfiction world. This fic makes a couple of very minor changes to The Force Awakens (specifically Poe’s capture, interrogation from Kylo Ren, and his escape with Finn) but don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a repeat of the movie’s action. It’s 99.9% original ideas. Please enjoy

Chapter 1 - THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME

Mining in Cratertown had become a kriffing joke. If it hadn’t been, if operations hadn’t become as flighty as the sand, I wouldn’t have had to travel further west on Jakku’s unforgiving wastelands, and I certainly wouldn’t have found myself stuck in the middle of a First Order assault. If I hadn’t been hunched over from dehydration and heat exhaustion, I would have hightailed it immediately once I saw the X-Wing parked a little way up the Kelvin Ravine, on the outskirts of Tuanul. What was it Ergel had said when I had complained of the lack of work while throwing a can of Knockback down my throat?

“Nothing good comes from Tuanul. Force worshippers, Jedi sympathizers. You’d do well to walk a long ways ‘round the Ravine.”

Not that Ergel cared who worshipped what—he was friendly with anyone who could hold their alcohol—but anything that put any of us miners and un-allied Jakku scavengers at risk wasn’t worth the trouble. We wanted nothing to do with the Cold War. Nothing to do with the Resistance, or the First Order. But I hadn’t planned as effectively with my supplies as I had assumed, and so I found myself in Tuanul, the morning before a battalion of stormtroopers decided to pay a visit.

A great majority of the religious villagers had sprung up upon noticing the impending ships, blasters out, ready for a fight. Whatever they were willing to die for, I wanted no part of it. I ran in the opposite direction, dumping off a rucksack filled with gathered goods that ought to pay for my meals for a week. The weight was too much, and I hadn’t acquired a beast or a speeder with which to carry it. Sand billowed around huffing engines as I heard them land behind me, and the clunk of heavy boots against the ship’s ramps had me careening up a small dune. When I heard shouting far too close for comfort, I froze and turned to the source, where I saw the X-Wing’s pilot several meters away. He was running as well, a frantic orange and white droid hot on his heels, rolling small craters into the sand. If the insignias on his bright jumpsuit were at all legitimate, he was Resistance. So why the hell was he running?

I pulled away from it all and continued to move far, far away from the sharp squeal of blaster shots and the distant but obvious void when one by one, Tuanul’s villagers died. The sounds of boots and blasters were already far outweighing the sound of human life. And then the chaos was warped and swallowed within the sound of an explosion. It made the sand around my feet tremble and the heat blow a lasting breath against my back. The X-Wing was nothing more than a heap of hot, smoking metal. It didn’t matter. It was one more Resistance fighter down among an innumerable group of dead, not the first, and certainly not the last. But I still turned back.

The screaming had stopped. The village below the dune was crouching in bated breath around a masked black figure, tall and broad in the shoulders. Even from where I was, next to the remains of the destroyed ship, I felt his power. I felt the tendrils of raw, tainted energy flicking in the air even before I witnessed the blaster shot, still but writhing against an invisible force. I’d never seen anything so unnatural as that. Then there was the pilot, a tremble himself, his blaster arm forced down against his hip and his body frozen mid-step. This was beyond me, completely beyond a simple miner’s paygrade. Nothing good comes from Tuanul. I wouldn’t call what I did next bravery; simply, it was idiocy.

I didn’t have a weapon—not that it would have made a difference—but I still slid down that dune, kicking up clouds of earth, creating enough of a disturbance to capture the masked man’s—if he could be called that—attention. Just the slightest tilt of his mask’s chrome embellishments, and I knew he saw me.

“Leave him alone!” I screamed at the expressionless visage.

There was a beat of silent apprehension, and then every blaster in the area was on me. I resisted the urge to hold out my hands in surrender. Out the corner of my eye I saw the pilot, still unmoving, along with the pale blue bullet streaking the sky. Damn myself to hell.

The masked man in black—who I assumed was Kylo Ren; I was a Jakku miner, but I still heard the important rumors—motioned toward both me and the pilot, and we were drug toward him. I didn’t give the armored soldiers any trouble. I’d dug my grave, but I wasn’t too keen on just diving head-first into it. The pilot drug his sand-caked boots along, not really fighting, but not too eager either.

When we were both forced to our knees in front of Ren, I didn’t look at the pilot. Instead, I stared straight up the long legs of the First Order’s most deadly weapon. He was horrifyingly large; broad shoulders, towering, the air around him crackling so much that I couldn’t find it in me to pull enough breath into my lungs. Then he stooped, mask inches from my nose. He tilted his head back and forth between the two of us, maybe considering the most entertaining form of murder. I was such a kriffing idiot.

“Do you talk first or do I talk first?”

Okay, scratch that. I wasn’t quite up to par with the idiocy the Resistance pilot showed. I considered smacking him, but I could barely move for fear.

“The old man gave it to you.” Ren said, his deep voice laced with the barest metallic echo.

“It’s just very hard to understand you with all the…” the pilot waved his hands, “apparatus.”

“Search him.”

The pilot was hauled back up and patted down. I stayed put, preferring to stare down at the grains of Jakku’s earth, wishing I had kept running. Shouting did nothing. What did I change? Nothing.

“Nothing sir.” One of the troopers said.

“Put him on board.”

Ren turned his masked face down to me, tilting it softly.

“Put them both on board.”

Despite being on our best behavior—or, at least, decent behavior on the pilot’s part—we were pushed and pulled down hallways of a First Order Battlecruiser. Kylo Ren had disappeared on his own transport ship after ordering the murder of every person in Tuanul. I hadn’t known anyone, not specifically, besides the dark-haired woman who had offered me water when I stumbled into the village. Regardless, I felt like a Sarlacc had wormed its way into my stomach and was slowly eating me from the inside-out. I was terrified on the inside, so much so that I felt blank on the outside. I went everywhere I was ordered without a second thought. It was all I could think of to survive.

“I’m Poe.”

It took several seconds for the pilot’s greeting to get through to whatever part of my brain was still functioning. I turned my face to him, blinking a few times. He looked… okay, meaning he didn’t look like he was walking to an execution. In fact, his eyes were bright. When I didn’t respond at first, he looked around the bridge we walked through, as if taking the place in with genuine curiosity and not indominable fear.

The stormtrooper guiding me pushed me more roughly when my steps slowed a tad. His blaster poked against the small of my back, a simple but effective reminder.

“I’m… (Y/N).”

Poe nodded, smiled, and that was that.

Finally, we were dumped into a cell. I was a bit surprised that they would keep us together; it felt to me that isolation typically came with true imprisonment, but I had never actually been in this type of trouble, so what would I know? Our supposed cell also wasn’t what I would picture. It was dark, yes, and heavily unfurnished. The ducting lining and twisting the ceiling was uncovered, and the floor was unheated and void of any rug or padding. Bright red lights popped from each corner of the room, and I knew immediately that they were cameras. Off to the far-left corner was a chilly-looking chrome toilet, and I balked at the idea of having to relieve myself in front of Poe and whoever was manning the surveillance cameras. Luckily there wasn’t much in my system to get rid of. The last thing I noticed was the single bed in the far-right corner, which was rather more like a built-in shelf with a thin, foam covering.

I stood in the middle of the room for a while, the door the stormtroopers left through having long since merged with the rest of the wall, barely a groove to show its existence.

“You’d better rest while they let you.” Poe said.

He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling his boots off his feet. What was with this man?

“Do you get captured and imprisoned a lot?” I asked, unable to keep the snark from my tone.

He looked up with his broad eyebrows raised, a bit surprised I spoke up the way I did. My nerves were making me testy. I wasn’t usually the type for confrontation, but I was pissed at myself, and scared shitless. Anger seemed the safer option at this point. He considered me a moment and I considered him back, taking a moment to really see the person I stepped out of my relative safety for; messy brown-black curls, round eyes, a strong, square chin free of stubble. What I noticed most of all was how soft he looked. Or maybe soft wasn’t the right word. Whatever it was, it was nothing you found on Jakku. Everyone on the desert planet was made of some sort of stone, the sand constantly etching away at their surfaces. Frowning and exhausted was the natural state of being on Jakku; hard-eyes and an angry, stubborn resilience came with weathering the planet for many years. For someone who fought in a war, Poe looked decidedly less cauterized than anyone else I had ever met.

“This is actually my first time,” Poe said, gesturing to the small, square room we found ourselves in.

“Well you seem to know the ropes.”

“The supposed ropes you get with the First Order are pretty damn short. I’ve been dealing with these assholes for a while now.”

I truly hoped the cameras were not equipped with sound as well.

“Well then what do we do?” I asked.

He looked up at me with those frustratingly bright eyes and smiled. It was an actual smile too, one with teeth. That’s another thing you don’t see on Jakku much.

“You rest, (Y/N),” he said, patting the empty spot on the bed. “Within the next thirty minutes or so some stormtroopers are going to burst in here and try to torture information out of me. I’m not going to give it to them.”

“Then what happens?” I said, deciding not to sit quite yet.

“That’s a good question.” Poe said, cracking his neck. “I’m sorry, you kinda throw a wrench in the typical torture scheme. I don’t know what they intend to do with you.”

I tried not to panic, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it. But somehow Poe must have seen something of the new and realized fear that encapsulated me, because he reached out and grabbed my hand. I started at the contact. He had taken his gloves off at some point, so it was just skin, calloused and warm.

“Try not to worry,” he said, and I almost laughed out loud. “You don’t know anything. Do you have an allegiance?”

“No,” I insisted, glancing once at the nearest camera. “I was searching for places to mine outside of Cratertown. I only went to Tuanul because I needed water and some food and rest.”

“They will see your stepping in for me as a pledge to the Resistance. When they question you, you need to insist upon your neutrality. Although its likely they will force you to pledge to the Order instead.”

There was nothing accusatory in his voice or gaze, as if he would understand if I chose to become loyal to the First Order to survive. I would have thought he would urge me to deny the First Order, even if it meant death. Looking at him, I was sure that’s what he would do.

“Thank you, by the way,” he said, giving the knuckles of my hand the briefest swipe with his thumb. It felt nice. I was amazed that I could feel even a grain of safety when I had no idea whether I would be dead by morning or not. “That was brave of you, stepping forward.”

“It wasn’t bravery. It was stupidity.”

A soft chuckle, and he released my hand. “You’d be shocked how often those two traits go together.”

Then there was a pause. Something in the way he looked off took a small bite from his buoyant spirit.

“Can I ask why you did it?” he said.

I didn’t answer. I don’t know for how long it was silent, but somewhere in that void between his question and my answer the door to the holding cell slid open, and as Poe had predicted, stormtroopers filed in.

“That’s my cue.” Poe said, standing and brushing down his flight-suit. He left his boots at the side of the bed. “See you later, (Y/N).”

Once again, his shoulders were roughly taken, and with them he was pushed out and through the doorway. Not one word was said to me, and in a moment I was alone, standing in the same spot I had planted myself on upon entry.

“See you.”

[avengcrwanda]

TLJ Commentary

This is just my compilation of the different responses I had to folks who were sharing their metas/interpretations on The Last Jedi. Mainly for my reference since I might do a review/analysis in the future once I’ve got a copy of the bluray.

 This will cover the following:

Finn and Rose in Canto Bight is not a useless arc.

Hux and why he can be a Big Bad.

Kylo/Ben and why he’s wrong on “letting the past die.”

Kylo/Ben is not worse than Anakin/Vader, like some people want to believe.

Kylo/Ben was let down by his family, but that doesn’t mean they are bad people.

Paige Tico - she is important.

Poe and his reaction to Holdo’s plan.

Rey’s parentage and why she really is a nobody.

Note: If you choose to read this, please keep in mind that this is my opinion and reflects how I read the movie. You can have a different interpretation.

1. Finn and Rose’s adventure in Canto Bight is not a useless arc, and highlights that we shouldn’t be viewing Star Wars as black and white. Originally posted here, in response to grejedi’s commentary here. @darth--darcy​ had some awesome points to add which you can find here.  

The Canto Bight arc showed us several points: (1) that when you choose neutrality (just like DJ), you choose the side of the oppressor; and (2) that the good guy-bad guy dynamic depends on your point of view. Let’s focus on the second point.

Finn and the Resistance view the First Order as the Bad Guys; therefore, the Resistance is the group of the Good Guys. This is true to a certain extent - after all, the First Order somewhat represents oppression and fascism. But when the Resistance defeats them and the Good Guys win - what happens next? New government, another New Republic. Will it be a rehash of the Rebellion defeating the Empire? And then another form of the FO comes popping out? If I recall correctly, the new government/New Republic didn’t exactly live up to their promises and bring peace to the galaxy. There were still corrupt senators, and the system they established allowed the FO to breed in the first place. And their same system allowed the Canto Bight folks to profit from selling weapons. (And for a bigger picture – Jakku seemed like a forgotten town, with folks there suffering from extreme poverty. Didn’t they care about them?)

Both the FO and the Resistance (as well as the old Rebellion) contributed to the hardships of the galaxy. And maybe both have something good to fight for. Maybe instead of an all-out weapons war, these two groups could meet in the middle. Balance, anyone?

If you recall what Luke said in the teasers, “It’s so much bigger.” He was probably referring to the force, but I think it applies to the whole war as well. I try to understand that maybe some folks just do a surface read and walk away with incomplete tidbits and say, “Oh this is just another war movie: the Resistance is the underdog we must cheer for and Kylo and the rest of the FO are the oppressors the underdog must completely eliminate.”

But - newsflash - even real-life war isn’t so black and white. People need to dig deeper and understand - why did the war start in the first place? Were the "winners” really justified? What were the “losers” fighting for anyway? Because if we just take it at face value - “Oh, this group won because they were fighting for the good thing. Everything else from the losing side is garbage.” - we will just repeat the cycle. If the root cause isn’t addressed, the future will just be the same; the new government will again be ineffective and another insurgent faction will creep up.

Even the characters aren’t so black and white. The sequel trilogy wants its viewers to think and question what we know. Example: Luke, Leia, and Han.

One of the major beefs of the fans of the OT - and I know this has made countless rounds online - is that the original heroes didn’t turn out how they expected, i.e. always pure and good. “Luke was a hero at the end of the OT, he should remain a hero for the rest of his life. Leia and Han resolved their differences and got together, they deserve their happily ever after.” And to go against this will be out of character for them.

But what they need to realize is that people change and evolve depending on their experiences. The major characters of Star Wars weren’t meant to be one-dimensional. How boring will that be? Heroes can’t make good decisions all the time. We must give them room to make mistakes.

People make mistakes. People make bad decisions. People fall off from the high pedestals some put them on. We must be able to accept this. The way they wrote Luke, Leia, and Han made the characters very relatable – they’re people who make mistakes and bad decisions. Han AND Luke were able to accept this before they died. They knew that they failed Ben and confronted and apologized to him for it. And they moved on. But some viewers haven’t, apparently.

2. Just because Hux is not a Force user, and that he had some comedic moments in TLJ, does not mean he cannot be a Big Bad in Episode IX. Originally posted here, in response to daxcat79’s and i-live-in-the-reylo-moon’s post here.

While he had a lot of comedic moments in TLJ, you have to give Hux credit.

It’s been mentioned in various sources and by a number of folks that Hux is cutthroat and ambitious. He also has a delicate ego and is very sneaky. I believe the TLJ Visual Dictionary even states that he has an assassin on command – and that this assassin is afraid of Hux himself.

A see a lot of folks saying that Hux is weak and won’t be able to kill/plot against Kylo/Ben because he doesn’t have control over the Force. But recall Order 66? All those clones did not have any ounce of Firce power yet they were able to successfully eliminate most of the Jedi. The element of surprise + sheer numbers – I bet Hux has control over the First Order officers and troopers – can overpower even the most skilled Force user.

Personally, it will be interesting to see a big bad who cannot use the Force. Just like the Rey heroes-can-come-from-anywhere storyline, Hux can be the villans-can-come-from-anywhere one.

3. Kylo/Ben’s view of letting his past die is actually hurting him rather than making him move on. Originally posted here, in response to reylo11’s post here.

The only way to go forward is to embrace the past, figure out what is good and what is not good about it. But it’s never going to not be a part of who we all are.

This is what Kylo/Ben needs to realize. I feel that he struggles so much with himself because he’s so intent on killing his past (“Let the past die.”), even doing so literally. He wants to create a new version of himself by forgetting where he came from. He looks at his past with so much hatred. I understand that it wasn’t all fun and rainbows given that his parents abandoned him and his uncle and master tried to off him in his sleep (at least from his point of view). But instead of him accepting these experiences, he wants to throw them away as if they never happened. Because his view is these experiences make him weak.

Those who do not know how to look back to their past will not arrive at their future. One has to be able to look back into your past and accept all your experiences if you want to be the best person you can be.

We are made up of all our experiences, even the shitty ones we want to forget. They build character and make us a stronger person. The good things and the bad all contribute to our character. Kylo/Ben needs to accept this so he can finally decide what his future will be.

4. Kylo/Ben is not worse than Anakin/Vader. Originally posted here, in response to @renperor-of-the-galaxy​’s post here.

Until the novelization comes out, we probably wouldn’t know what really happened in Luke’s Jedi temple. We just know that (1) Luke thought about offing Ben while he was asleep; (2) Ben misinterpreted Luke’s action as a definite attempt to murder; (3) Ben brought down the hut, rendering Luke unconscious; and (4) By the time Luke woke up, his temple was burning, some of his students were dead, and Ben was gone with a number of his other students.

It’s possible that Ben killed his fellow padawans/knights. It’s possible that he didn’t – maybe the two groups of students just fought it out. The thing is, we don’t know for sure. While Ben is known as “The Jedi Killer,” this could also be based off rumours.

To say that he is worse than Anakin/Vader isn’t quite right. Remember the scene in ROTS where the younglings looked up to Anakin while the temple was being attacked? “Master Skywalker, there’s too many of them. What do we do?” The younglings were so relieved to see him and then Anakin suddenly ignites his lightsaber. They were completely defenceless.

Now, versus Luke’s students – we don’t know if there were younglings. We don’t know if they were defenceless. If we go by the Visual Dictionary, it looks like they were Ben’s age, so would have been able to fight.

To sum it all up – calling Kylo/Ben worse than Anakin/Vader is premature.

5. On Ben’s family, and how it doesn’t mean they are bad people. Originally posted here, in response to a longer thread here (commentary by shallowlethargy, a-heart-of-kyber, and renpressrey).

There’s a difference between calling Luke, Leia, and Han as bad people vs bad parents. Antis need to understand this. Even good people - and heroes - make mistakes. For the Skywalker-Solos, it translated to not being there for Ben enough when he needed love and guidance.

To Antis saying Ben is a grown ass man so he should know better - not necessarily. His formative years weren’t exactly fun and nurturing: parents busy with other things, culminating with (from his POV) attempted murder from his uncle/second father figure could mess someone up. Add in Snoke to the mix and you have a very troubled person (which Kylo/Ben is).

He is still very conflicted (pull to the light, etc.) so this makes me believe he is inherently a good person. It’s just hard for him to reconcile this because of his experiences: the people on the “good” side (his family) didn’t exactly treat him right AND he has Snoke constantly whispering in his head. In a sense, he was sort of conditioned to act a certain way, which is very hard to break, no matter how old you are.

6. Paige Tico is also important. Snippet originally posted here.

I feel like Paige isn’t being talked about enough. Not gonna lie - I was so emotionally invested in Paige. Her death is the second saddest moment of the film for me, after the Reylo throne room conversation.

She gives a face to all the forgotten less-than-side characters who sacrifice themselves so the heroes can go save the day. Versus Holdo, who is a high ranking official, she shows that even the ordinary folks are able to contribute to the big picture.

7. Poe’s big lesson on trust. Originally posted here, in response to a longer thread here (commentary by hunterinabrowncoat, whtwlf, frozenmusings).

TRUST was really a big lesson for Poe.

Some people are complaining that Holdo just should have told everyone of her plan. From an audience standpoint, this would make the most sense; as a viewer, we won’t question the decision, right? And maybe we expect the characters/Holdo’s subordinates to do the same.

But the members of the Resistance are active participants in this. There’s a chance they won’t just “go with the flow.” There will be arguments, just like what happened with Poe. The mutiny could have happened earlier, and the Resistance will still be in a bad shape.

With the clock ticking on the Resistance, they just couldn’t afford drawn out discussions on what to do. Holdo had every right to make an executive decision. Given her rank and experience, as well as that of her team, she more or less knows the direction she should be going.

And guys, this happens in real life, too. You don’t have the leadership teams of various organizations (even non-military ones) broadcasting each and every detail of the plans they have as they go along. There may be a right time for this.

8. On Rey’s parentage. Originally posted here, in response to skysilencer’s analysis here.

Earlier in the movie (shirtless Force Bond scene), Kylo/Ben tells Rey that she can’t stop needing her parents who threw her away like garbage - “It’s your greatest weakness.” And this is true. Rey wanted to go back to Jakku, a backwater planet, because she’s still holding on to the idea of her parents coming back. She was willing to throw away her future and her potential because of this weakness.

As stated above, the delivery (especially the throne room) wasn’t exactly great, but it helped push Rey into the path of acceptance and moving on. I think a lot of people miss that she was the first one to admit that her parents were nobody. And what Kylo/Ben is telling her is that it is okay - okay that she doesn’t have a big background, okay that she doesn’t come from famous parents. And it’s great that she can now move on from the past! She defeated this weakness and can be what she was meant to be, so to speak.

Rian says, “If the answer presented to her was, ‘Your parents are so-and-so, here you go, here’s your place in this story.’ That would be the easiest thing for her to hear. And easiest thing for us to hear! Wish fulfilment. It’s like, ‘Oh, great! That’s who I am. That’s that.’ The hardest thing she could hear is, 'No, you’re not going to get that answer, that definition.’”

A lot of people were shocked over the reveal, which I guess was the point. As mentioned by Skysilencer above (and in other metas), the whole movie was about failure and subverting everyone’s expectations. A lot of folks expected Rey to come from somewhere - just like Rey was in denial and that her parents were coming back - and by revealing that she doesn’t come from an important family, we share her pain.

As talked in this article, Rey is on a journey of self-discovery. Her bigger conflict is not the current war of the First Order vs the galaxy - it’s figuring out who she is and what her place in the story is. To quote from the article, “To have her learn some kind of easy answer about a noble ancestry would not only immediately zap away that important conflict, but would also totally freeze and dismantle her important journey of self-discovery. Without the simple explanation, the heroine must stand on her own and carve out her own path, rather than just follow one already carved out for her.”

[absolxguardian]

Rey Palpatine Theory

Now the problem with a lot of Rey parentage theories is they can’t present a good reason why she would be on Jakku of all places. You know, the site of a battle and really just a really bad dead-end planet, worse than Tatooine, and even then Luke was left in the care of his aunt and uncle, not a scrapper like Unkar.

Well, there is one theory that answers that, and even hinges on it. Rey Palpatine. All because of Palpatine’s contingency plan.

So for those of you who don’t know Palpatine’s contingency plan, it is in the case of his and Vader’s death:

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn’t force sensitive.

A scorched earth policy on several planets, called operation Cinder(you might know that from Battlefront 2)

A series of tests to gather the best and most loyal remaining members of empire led by an orphan on Jakku Palpatine groomed named Gallius Rax.

After choosing who is worthy out of the empire that failed their emperor, as much of the empire as possible should make a final stand on Jakku, an out of the way planet with a building called The Observatory on it. (There were several, but this one was important for the contingency)  This building contained information about paths through the unknown regions and presumably instructions for creating the first order.

However, one thing is off about this plan. Palpatine believed in a Sith Empire as much as he believed in a Galactic Empire and well, Rax wasn’t force sensitive.

But what if there was a reason? What if Rax wasn’t his only heir? What if the Jakku Observatory contained more than unknown regions maps, a replica of the emperor’s yacht, and a Sith thingie to blow up Jakku. A child, created by the force, to be the heir of the Sith Empire.

The thing is, the contingency plan didn’t fully work. Rax was killed by Rae Sloane and she was the one who led the first order. And she didn’t know the whole plan. What if part of the plan was that there was a child, grown part through cloning tech, genetic manipulation, and force/Sith magic? Galius has hidden information in his POV before, so it makes sense to hide the existence of a Sith heir from the reader. But how did Rey come into the possession of Unkar? Well, there were most likely many or at least a few stormtroopers and other low ranking imperials who survived Jakku and stopped fighting. Not every imperial was a zealot. We already saw this in the Poe Dameron comic with Terex and Corlac. And with both Ciena and Admiral Veriso calling an evacuation of their ships before crashing it, many escape pods could have landed all over Jakku. And that’s only counting the ships we know had time for people to get to. And that’s who Rey’s “parents” are. They could have come from the Inflictor somewhere else, been stormtroopers or officers. That part doesn’t matter. What matters is that they shed their allegiance to the empire, were desperate, and were left on Jakku after the battle. Or they could have even been people who were already stranded on Jakku. Whomever they are, all that matters, is that years after the battle they found the Observatory.

And there they found Rey in stasis. They released her and since the child had no memories but a blank developed mind, she naturally bonded to her rescuers. Eventually, they reached Niima outpost and met Unkar. Desperate to get off planet, they traded their “child” and possibly some relics from the observatory to get off planet.*

Sounds a bit far-fetched? Well, if we use the criteria from MatPat’s Rey parents theory, I can answer each of them, most importantly the left on Jakku part. Those criteria were:

1. British/Core World accent 2. Strong connection to the force 3. Luke/Anakin’s lightsaber calling to her 4. Good piloting skills 5. Left on Jakku as a child 6. Thematic meaning/“It’s like poetry, it rhymes” In addition, I will also apply my theory to a few key scenes:

Kylo’s reaction when he first hears of her Rey’s flashback Kylo’s “you still want to kill me?” line Rey’s ability to use a mind trick untrained The Leia-Rey hug Some lines from trailers The Chosen One Prophecy 

So let’s begin. First the core world accent. A lot of people have used this as evidence for Rey Kenobi, however, accents are barely genetic. And a lot of people including Phasma and probably Tarkin changed their accents to seem more respected and from a core world(rather than post-apocalyptic and outer rim)

MatPat’s point about her picking it up from Unkar stands, but if the first words Rey heard were imperials, who odds are adopted core accents, that could also explain how she picked it up. And strong connection to the force? Palpatine would have made his clone-child extremely powerful with the force, as powerful as he could make her. So that’s pretty much covered. Also, her main displays of force powers were from the dark side. The pushing back on Kylo’s mental connection and use of a mind trick were both motivated by fear. Being able to hold her own against Kylo could be the force assisting her via the dark side. And as we saw from Ezra in season 1 of Rebels, the dark side is much easier to call on than the light. As for Anakin’s lightsaber calling for her, that doesn’t even have to do with familiar relation. The inquisitor’s kybers called to Ashoka and they most certainly aren’t related. And a green kyber crystal called to a random Tusken Raider when she was asked to steal it from the Jawa’s that sold R2. That was a really weird story and I wonder if it was setting something up, but it doesn’t matter. It’s canon. The kyber crystal in the saber or the force in general was calling Rey. Because it chose her. Because kyber crystals are basically wands from Harry Potter. And her piloting skills? That could easily be explained by a combination of force boosted instincts/reaction time and well, practice. She did know all of that stuff from using an old flight simulator. And the point about piloting skills could be used just as well to make her the child of Thane as it points to Han or Luke on its own. There’s a lot of really exceptional pilots in the galaxy. As for being left on Jakku, I guess I should explain the timeline better. According to the TFA script, she is 19 in 34 ABY(when the movie takes place). And she looks to be about 4 during the flashback scene of her being left with Unkar. At first, that doesn’t seem to add up, but Palpatine would have set his child into a non-aging stasis after they reached a reasonable age for starting dark side training and feeling into the Unknown Regions. If the Empire survived much longer than it did, the contingency plan using an adult with no memories would be weird. Heck, after reaching 4, she could have been moved to carbonite (do people age in carbonite? I’m not sure if that’s been answered. It’s not important). Terex and Corlac seem to have been on Jakku for a while, so Rey’s “parents” could also have, surviving as scavengers before finding the Observatory. This would also give enough time for the scavenging economy to get properly set up, as Niima Outpost was only founded after the battle of Jakku. 11 years would have been enough time that a low-quality ship from Unkar could actually be purchased. And for thematic meaning. Well, we got that down. We got Kylo, the child of two rebellion war heroes, trained as a Jedi having turned to the dark side. And we have a child, who grew up in a situation even worse than Anakin, who was literally created to be the next emperor who chose the light. This would fit with Star War’s strong themes of personal choice and growing beyond heritage. It would also fit with the newer themes of the force not being so black and white. And without the Aftermath series, Rey’s parentage could easily be explained as “Palpatine had a contingency plan that ended with a final battle on Jakku. The man the emperor choose to lead the soon to be first order died on Jakku and so the plan couldn’t probably be carried out. That including retreating to the unknown regions with a clone-child created by the force who would be raised to be the next emperor.” And for readers of Aftermath, it would strengthen already existing parallels. Those between Rey and Gallius Rax. We got Rax, who even before being groomed by Palpatine was very cruel and did what he had to for survival on Jakku. And then Rey, who is basically the child of evil, who remained kind in a cruel environment. And then both of them ended up on ships off Jakku and were found by their original owners (Han and Palpatine). Upon finding the orphans, both owners preformed mentor like roles. The ships also brought them into the organization they would become a vital member of. Rey also didn’t want to leave Jakku, while that was one of Rax’s only wishes. And for Rax, well the desert planet became his grave. Now that we got all of those points squared away, what about those scenes I promised to explain? Alright, let’s start with when Kylo first finds out about Rey. As MatPat pointed out, his reaction is much too violent for having never heard of Rey. Well since Palpatine was in magic sith force communication to what we can assume to be Snoke, it is possible Snoke knew of the contingency plan, including of Rey.

Later when Kylo joined the First Order, he would have been informed of the failure to properly carry out the plan. Of course as far as they knew, Rey would still be stuck in the Observatory in stasis and not worth extracting. As for Rey’s flashback, a lot of the scenes she saw would have came from the force or from reading the history of the object, but even that is indicative of powerful force abilities. However, the scene we know is either memory brought to the surface or unlocked by the sequence is when Rey has just been sold to Unkar in exchange for a ship, the very one we see flying off. The imperials would have been the only humanoids and comfort she would have known at this point, explaining her reaction to being abandoned even if they were ambivalent to her. The reason Rey thinks they are her parents is because that was probably the lie they told Unkar to explain where they obtained a literal child, or what Unkar told her. To the scrapper, they seemed as people so desperate to leave after the battle, they would sell their child.   As for Kylo’s line “you still want to kill me” witch MatPat took to mean Kylo knew Rey from before, there’s another way to read this line that supports my theory. The “still” part refers to their encounter on Takodona, when Rey tried to shoot him. Because he knows or suspects Rey is Palpatine’s heir he expects it to be easy to turn her to the dark side. This is also why he says she needs a teacher, because he sees her as similar to him, the descendant of a Sith Lord. As for the mind trick, my other points about Rey’s artificially created power stands, but I feel like I should specifically address this. Palpatine was extremely adept with mind tricks. In Lords of the Sith, he manages to control a Twi'lek child so well she would stand there as Palpatine and Vader argued over killing her, their lightsabers in front of her face. This pales in comparison to the suggestion Rey manages to pull of in a moment of extreme stress and fear. And since Rey was only supposed to be awakened after his death, the emperor wouldn’t mind making her more powerful than him if she was fully trained. As for the Rey Leia hug, I don’t have that good of an explanation, but neither do Rey Solo-Organa theorists. You’re not going to be able to recognize someone you only knew as a child a minimum of 20 years ago as a child. All I could think of is that since Leia’s untrained force skill (Ashoka book tells us every untrained force sensitive has one skill their sensitivity manifests as) is sensing (sensed Luke hanging from cloud city and Han’s death) is that she could sense the dark side coming off of Rey and from knowing Chewie isn’t a fan of being comforted, she decided that Rey was the one who need comforting. And the aura of darkness coming from Rey would be part her predisposition and part the anger and rage towards Kylo for killing Han and possibly Finn. Ok now how about some lines from the trailers? Well first we got Luke’s “I’ve see this raw strength only once before” line is most likely about Kylo, however it is referring to Rey because she’s so damn strong with the force. Don’t forget the trailer has a scene where she cracks open the ground, to Luke’s shock and horror. As for Snoke saying “Fulfil your destiny” that’s probably to Rey, and under this theory, it’s because he still sees her as meant to join the dark side, because that’s what she was created for. Alright, now for chosen one stuff. Well we know 2 things about the prophecy: 1. The chosen one is created through the force (technically midichlorians but it’s better if we all forget those exist) and 2. Will bring balance to the force. Now with the new narrative angle about the balance of the force being much more literal, with things like Bendu, Rey reaching out for “something else” may signify she is the chosen one. Of course that’s if the prophecy is real. And if you follow the theory that it was by force magic that Anakin was created by Palpatine, it just means it’s possible for Palpatine to make another force child. And with an increase access to lore after becoming emperor it’s reasonable he could create a force child with no human parent at all. I hope this theory actually makes internal sense and there’s no thing from the eu that could ruin this theory. Or maybe there’s something that could enhance it. All I could think that I haven’t read that could apply is Rey’s Survival Guide, the full tfa novelization, and the visual dictionary for Tfa. Thanks to @lj-writes for checking this theory before I posted it and pointing out the script says Rey is 19. I guess we’ll find out if this works or not on the 15th

*@lj-writes also states that it might not be possible for a ship to be purchased with a child and some scrap, especially since Unkar wouldn’t see the value of sith artifacts. She states that it is possible that the “parents” sold Rey as “look at this child we found in the observatory, she’s probably magic or something.” And then when Rey didn’t show an obvious signs of power, she was put to work as a scavenger. Unkar simply hasn’t told Rey because he’s too embarrassed at seemingly being conned, so Rey simply thinks they’re her biological parents and left her.

[saiyanshewolf]

Anyway so I’m apparently in the minority but I loved a lot about TLJ.

1. Rey.

I have never identified with someone so much.

Let me preface this with: Kylo Ren is a manchild with anger issues who throws temper tantrums where people end up dead. He is the EPITOME of “cool motive, still murder.” I am not making excuses for Kylo Ren.

Now:

Kylo Ren is a terrible person who has done terrible things, but Rey still thinks she can save him.

I get that that is exactly why people are pissed: the fact that a female character like Rey spends the movie trying to rescue an unbalanced, hateful man like Kylo Ren. The trope of pure-girl-from-the-archetypal-light-side rescuing the dark-broody-violent-boy-from-the-archetypal-dark-side with her Goodness and Love is a very tired one indeed, and what young girls take from stories like that is that if they are good enough, if they just love them enough, if they put up with enough, the man will change.

In reality, however, that rarely (if ever) happens, and girls are often left feeling like something is wrong - that they’re not doing enough and it’s their fault that the man they’re with isn’t healing.

In TLJ, however, the point is that Rey doesn’t rescue Kylo Ren. She doesn’t save him.

But she tries.

She tries because she is a fundamentally good person. She tries because she does not want to fight when there’s a chance she can make an ally. She tries because she wants to believe the best of people. Most of all she tries because she comes to understand what turned Ben Solo into Kylo Ren.

She tries, and for a short period of time they are allies (their fight scene teamup was gorgeous and I’m not sorry).

Their alliance is short lived, however, and then Kylo Ren asks her to join him. He tells her the truth about her parents and he does it with blunt cruelty (which could come from either a place of manipulation of a place or awkwardness, but it is cruel either way; intentions, the road to hell, etc). He tells her that she is nothing and then immediately tells her that he does not think she is nothing, perhaps the most manipulative line he has (again, intentions, road to hell). In a callback to Anakin and Padme, Kylo Ren begs Rey to stay with him and rule to galaxy. And yes, he does beg. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley’s acting was lovely in that moment; I really felt how desperately he wanted her to say yes, how deeply they both wanted someone by their sides who understood them.

And yet.

(“You’re breaking my heart. You’re going down a path I can’t follow.”)

Padme’s words, not Rey’s, but they’re appropriate nonetheless. Rey cannot and will not follow Kylo Ren. She tried to help him. He failed her - like we all knew he would - but she tried.

What does she do then? What does she do when she realizes that Kylo Ren is refusing to change his ways, that he is, in fact, asking her to join him, to accommodate him?

She leaves.

Do you understand what that would have meant to my dumb, impressionable little 13 year old self?

To see a story where the girl actually leaves when the broken man she’s trying to save refuses her help?

A story where she leaves and doesn’t die shortly afterward (like Padme)? Where she doesn’t languish in misery and self-loathing afterward? Where she leaves him and makes an active effort to oppose him and all he stands for?

My entire life I’ve had a problem with wanting to fix men, to save them, because that’s what I’d been taught was my job. The media I passively consumed had normalized that kind of behavior to the point that I didn’t even begin to think twice about it until I was almost in my mid-twenties. I was made to believe that if I just stuck with them, that if I endured their bullshit and showed them how patient and loving I could be even when they were downright cruel, they would eventually change.

I endured years of shitty treatment, of straight up emotional abuse, and not a goddamn one of them ever changed.

Rey tries. She tries to help Kylo Ren because she’s a good, kind person, because she senses his pain, because she’s empathetic, and sure, maybe because she’s also a little bit naive.

She tries, and he fails her, and Rey leaves.

Rey leaves and finds the rebellion. She leaves and does something to combat the man she was trying so hard to save, because he refused her help.

It seems like a ridiculous thing to be happy about, I know. I understand if people think that the better message would be in Rey refusing to try to help him, period, and that’s certainly a valid point of view. For me personally, however, that would remove the main reason that I identified with Rey to begin with: her empathy, her desire to help others who are suffering, her ability to see the potential for good in others, no matter what.

Rey doesn’t save him. She isn’t killed by him. She isn’t destroyed by not being able to save him. It isn’t presented as some failure on her part that she doesn’t save him.

Little girl me DESPERATELY needed that particular message.

Rey trying to help Kylo Ren and leaving when he ultimately fails her is, for me personally, more powerful than if she had never tried to help him at all.

2. The multiple failures, narrow escapes, and near misses.

Rey isn’t able to break through Kylo Ren to bring Ben Solo back.

The legendary Luke Skywalker, in a moment of weakness, a moment of fear, a moment of humanness, raises his lightsaber against his sleeping nephew...and when he is caught, disaster ensues.

As a result, the Luke Skywalker that Rey finds is not who she expects him to be.

The rebels lose all their bombing fleet and are tracked across space by the First Order, having their ships picked off one by one.

Finn and Rose do not find the hacker they were looking for, and are betrayed by the hacker they do find.

Finn, Rose, and Poe’s plan to remove the tracker and escape the First Order fails.

The First Order picks off the rebels’ transport ships as they try to escape.

The base the rebels escape to is decrepit and they are essentially trapped there waiting to be killed; many more of them are killed as they try to take down the ram.

Almost every single turn of the story seems hopeless. General Leia herself admits to giving up hope.

Until Luke Skywalker gets his shit together long enough to exploit Kylo Ren’s weakness, buying them time to escape...and even then there is the disappointment that it isn’t “really” Luke, that the concentration required saps him so completely that he dies.

Even when the rebels do try to escape, their path is blocked, leaving them vulnerable.

Until Rey appears...and lifts the rocks.

There is very little hope to be had in TLJ, but there is hope. There is always hope, no matter how faint.

That, I think, is a very good and very important message...particularly given the current political climate.

Which brings me to...

3. The way TLJ paints its villains and the way it chose to portray the ultra-rich.

Snoke was a frightening villain. Snoke was an intelligent villain...to a point.

Snoke underestimated Kylo Ren...which ought to make Kylo Ren a more frightening villain, but that isn’t what happens.

Kylo Ren killing Snoke really illustrates the selfishness and self absorption inherent in the dark side, I think. Snoke didn’t believe that Kylo Ren would dare. He does dare, however, and he does kill Snoke. It’s almost too easy...almost anti-climatic.

Snoke was a frightening villain, but he was self absorbed enough not to see his own death coming...thus he is replaced by Kylo Ren, who is really not a frightening villain at all. We have only to look at Hux to see that: he refers to Kylo Ren as Supreme Leader only under the duress of being force-choked, and even after that he is barely able to conceal his irration with Kylo Ren’s petulant demands to fire everything they have on a single man; he even makes a snarky comment to the effect of “Do you think you got him?”

Would anyone speak to Darth Vader like that? (As in original trilogy Vader, prior to the context of the prequels.)

Darth Vader was terrifying. Kylo Ren is not. You’re meant to hate him, but...

A lot of people who are fond of characters like Kylo Ren don’t hate him because they understand why he turned to the dark side. I myself tend to fall into this category with a lot of villains. I don’t defend what these characters have done (cool motive, still murder) but I do believe that understanding the why makes them more interesting characters. I’m not going to get into a debate about “is it okay to like villainous characters” because that’s not something I’m interested in, but this view seems to focus on the fact that Kylo Ren is a fictional character, rather than who that character would be as a real person.

For others, I think that hatred of Kylo Ren as a villain manifests as a really dull, disgusted sort of hatred: he’s angry, volatile, angsty, and violent, a manchild who throws temper tantrums at the slightest provocation. There’s little real fear there, and what fear there is is full of that same disgust, almost as if you’re disgusted that you have to be afraid of such a person.

That being said...what kind of people are running our country right now? Yeah.

I also really enjoyed the scenes on the gambling planet and how all the ultra-rich assholes there were very obviously portrayed as exploitative assholes. There’s not much else for me to say on that point. It was pretty thinly veiled.

TLJ is, I think, a movie about not giving in, no matter what. (“Never tell me the odds.”) Rose and Finn don’t give in even when the First Order literally has their boots on the backs of their necks. Rey doesn’t give in when Luke first refuses her and she doesnt give in to Kylo Ren no matter how much she wants to help him; Luke gives in to his moment of fear, and then later on doesn’t give in to the fear that has been keeping him uninvolved for so long. The rebellion itself never, ever, ever gives in despite incredible, overwhelming losses.

...but all that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

[asajjvxntress]

okay, so I am finally on my computer and I have... A LOT of feelings about TLJ and most of them are negative, and honestly, I have never walked out of a movie angry and last night was the first time I did which SUCKS because Star Wars is my happy place, and now it’s ruined So.... opinion under the break.

1. Luke. What the fuck? Luke Skywalker, innocent and wide eyed farm boy was completely and utterly shit on. I feel like Rian Johnson never even saw the original trilogy. Luke jumped at any chance he got to help his friends, his twin sister, and now you’re saying he won’t?  Even for Leia? That’s such bullshit. The way he treated Rey was.... not good. He was so resistant and resentful towards her for no reason. Luke and Rey’s relationship being the heart of the film? Okay, Rian, go fuck yourself because it sucked. Luke’s fucking death scene? I’m more angry about it than sad. It did nothing for the story, and it was just a really bad way for him to go. He deserved something so much better if they were going to kill him off (which, again, Rian go fuck yourself). Luke not believing there was still good in Ren? Okay like... I get it, but Luke would have never, never, tried to have killed someone, but rather save them. This is the man who looked Vader in the face and said “There is still good in you, let me save you.” and you’re telling me he feels nothing anymore? No. Luke Skywalker is mine. He is so important to me and I feel like that movie was just a giant slap in the face. As someone who loves Luke with all her heart, I am sad and just very upset. I still love Luke so much, and there were scenes that I adored with him in it, but I’m still upset.

2. Rey Random, I am totally fine with her being a no one. Like, I am. But why the FUCK would you tease fans with the possibility of her being a Skywalker when she wasn’t? Why have the Skywalker lightsaber call out to her, or choose her over Ren? Why make these parallels with Luke if she wasn’t his daughter. Why have her and Leia feel each other, and feel like they know each other, if they don’t? I love Rey with my whole heart, but this movie did my girl a HUGE injustice.

3. Finn. Amazing man, a hero, my favorite male lead. Completely sidelined for fucking Kylo Ren who I have literally no shits about. What a fucking disgrace.

4. Again, I gave no shits about Ren. Stop trying to make me sympathize with him. He is a cool character who could have so much potential, but no. I admit, the scene where he and Rey fought the guards was actually awesome and great, but the way they set up Rey and Ren was gross and I hated every minuted of it. Rian owes me $50,000 for making look at Ren with his shirt off. He also owes me $10,000 for every fucking gross ass r*ylo who makes a gifset because ew. Stop shipping girls with their abusers, bye.

5. I HATED THE ENDING SO FUCKING MUCH. I DON’T CARE ABOUT RANDOM CHILDREN, DON’T RUIN A TRADITION WITH A SKYWALKER AT THE END. WHERE WAS MY BAD FEELING? WHERE WAS MY WILHEM SCREAM? RIAN WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING .

I honestly have so many thoughts, and yes there were parts I loved, but walking out I just felt so underwhelmed and sad. Maybe I need to see it a few more times to get over the shock, but honestly? Idk.

TLDR; @ Rian Johnson, fight me in a CVS parking lot. Help me, JJ Abrams, you’re my only hope. 

[film-clown]

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

So this is about... 3 months late? I usually post reviews a couple weeks following the film’s release, but the last few months have been nothing short of awful. Maybe this quarantine has a good side - I can finally finish writing this! As I write this at the end of March 2020, I have literally 90% of this review finished. I don’t know what held me back.

But here we go. My thoughts, discussions, and a generally unbiased review of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. Major spoilers ahead, obviously.

Many people continue to emphasise the fact that the Star Wars films that have been released under Disney are all horrible. Although I do agree to an extent, The Last Jedi did end up being one of my favourite Star Wars films, and the trilogy wasn’t all that bad. But, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker surpassed my predictions in so many ways. It was hilarious, emotional, shocking, disappointing, and aggravating to the point where everything left me crying anyway. So what am I gonna do to cope? Write about it.

Straight off the bat, the most important point I will continue to emphasise for all my time - Finnpoe should’ve been canon. I will ALWAYS stand by this statement and there were numerous scenes that prove my point. They have such an incredibly tight bond and it continued to grow tighter throughout this film. Always having each other’s back no matter what, with such a deep-rooted connection. I wish they had kissed after the hug in the reunion at the end - it was perfect. I would also like to send out a special thank you to Mr. Oscar Isaac for genuinely speaking out about the injustice done towards finnpoe and overall LGBTQ+ representation. He was so incredibly vocal about how scared Disney is to have this happen, and how amazing and impactful it would have been if they were canon. John Boyega said a lot about finnpoe too during press, which made me incredibly happy to see such support from the actors. Not a lot of actors speak out against poor decisions made in their movies, which is why there’s almost no change for the good.

On the topic of ships that were done injustice, let’s talk about Reylo, shall we?

The topic of Rey and Ben as a couple is extremely controversial. Another reason it took a while for me to finish this review is because I’ve done a LOT of research for evidence from both sides of the argument. Due to the incest factor, I’ve looked into if Palpatine is 100% Anakin’s father, but everything I’ve found has been contradicted with another point, or just speculation. But it’s a very important topic, so I’m going to discuss it in a non-biased manner, and as if the incest of it all has not been confirmed or denied. Please do feel free to send over any sources, I’m always open to look at it and discuss! Because whether or not their bond is considered romantic, it’s intimate and has a deep meaning to it.

Okay, that being said: they deserved better. Ben did not deserve to die the moment he finally felt loved and finally made a decision that was his own. All his life he’s been nothing but tormented by Palpatine, been told what to do and always had such awful inner conflict. Rey saw that conflict, she chose to try her best to help through everything. You cannot excuse the fact that what Ben has done in his life has been awful, but what we can do is understand that the voice that’s been telling him to do all this hasn’t been himself. He took control, he fought (WITH A BLUE LIGHTSABER, HOLY SH*T) side by side with Rey. The moment they finally got to hold each other out of war, he smiled for the first time; and then he died. The whole point of this was to see him redeem himself, and although he did, death should not always equal redemption! His story was supposed to be different, he was supposed to live. They were supposed to have a happy ending. And after reading several conspiracies, I’m fully convinced that he was supposed to live. Ben Solo DESERVED to live and it is beyond me that they chose to end one of, if not the most important film saga in cinematic history by letting him die in the hands of his LITERAL soulmate. It’s painful, and traumatising for people to watch.

Not only was his death painful, it just didn’t make any sense! The whole point of this trilogy was that Rey and Ben were a dyad in the force, and it was shown through certain scenes from The Last Jedi, and verbally mentioned by both Ben and Palpatine.

“A dyad in the force. A power like life itself.” (Palpatine)

“We’re a dyad in the force; two that are one.” (Kylo Ren)

So why the hell did Ben die? They built up this bond and portrayed it for 3 fucking movies just to have Rey defeat Palpatine herself? This bond was supposed to bring balance to the force. Rey and Ben are literally two force-sensitive beings, who share the power of one, which is BY FAR the most complex and influential relationship between 2 individuals that could possibly exist in the galaxy and you’re telling me that they touched on this topic for 5 minutes at the end of the entire trilogy and then threw it all away by killing off Ben? Seriously?

They had the capability to defeat Palpatine TOGETHER, and that would have been one of the most acclaimed scenes in Star Wars history. The symbolism of a Jedi and the Supreme Leader of the First Order fighting side-by-side would’ve been the most ideal representation of balance in the force.

I’ve also heard several contradictions towards Reylo and how it’s an abusive pairing? As an abuse victim, I believe that these two were at war as the Resistance and the First Order. Did you expect them to hold hands in TFA and TLJ? Hopefully not. All the hurtful things they did were just out of spite towards each other, if anything. And I think this is where I’ll go on and disagree with the Reylo kiss. It just didn’t make sense! There was tension throughout the film and just because he became Ben Solo again, they’re suddenly in love? I don’t know, if they wanted the kiss to make sense, Kylo Ren should have become Ben Solo in TLJ, so TROS could have worked on their positive relationship. The kiss was purely fan service, and it clearly did not please people anyway.

Moving on, the idea of Palpatine returning is absolutely beyond me. What was the point of the celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi? What was the point of the entire last two trilogies if they were just going to bring him back for shock effect? What I can say though is that the shock effect did work, and that the climax of the film was BRILLIANT. I’m sorry, but the scene where his force lightning makes contact with all the resistance ships, the scene when Rey fights his lightning with two lightsabers (Ben should’ve been there, but anyway...), it was visually stunning and deserves only a bit of praise.

But Rey being a Palpatine is the most RIDICULOUS plot twist in Star Wars history. Not only was it a terrible attempt at shocking the crowd in a “No [Luke], I am your father” way, the whole point of Rey’s arc was that she is from nowhere. SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE REY FROM NOWHERE. And now she’s Rey Palpatine. Force powers don’t have to be hereditary. Like she did the same mind-controlling thing that Obi-Wan did at one point so why couldn’t she have been a Kenobi? They showed her letting out force lightening so they could justify her bloodline, and I think this is one of the most severe flaws of the film.

The sidelining of Rose was so disappointing to me. Not only of Rose, Finn too. JJ Abrams literally confirmed that we were going to get Finn’s backstory and we never ended up getting it. All we got was him yelling Rey’s name another 40 times. And, the one person’s story which we got, aka Poe, turned out to be a drug dealer. They made a Hispanic man a drug dealer. I will never, ever forgive them for doing all of this.

Another problem was of how rushed this entire film was. An incredible amount of information to put in a 2 and 1/2 hour film, and it wasn’t done all that well. Just when the audience had genuinely believed that Chewie had died, we see that he’s alive. If you’re gonna do a death-scare, make it believable? 3PO getting his memory wiped but then getting it back from R2 was rushed as well; what was the point of the whole emotional “Taking one last look sir, at my friends” if he was just going to get his memory back anyway? Overdramatic AND unnecessary. Once again circling back to Reylo; they started off the film indicating no signs of romantic tensions but they ended up kissing at the end? You could pull the enemies-to-lovers card on this, which would make sense to an extent but also could not justify how rushed their romance was. I wouldn’t say that such twists in the film weren’t interesting, but if they carried out the concept to a point where it made sense, it would have been better. This was just unnecessary and ruined the film even more.

Back to Finnpoe once again; the idea that they were each given a heterosexual partner in this film AFTER all the hype and the shipping was done, is queerbaiting at its finest. Maybe that’s not the right word, but it’s something shitty. Jannah and Zorii had a lot of potential as their individual characters but were reduced to love interests because Disney is homophobic and it really, really is disgusting to me.

Since when does the Force do all these things. Resurrecting people? Being dead and still being able to force lift things? Not to say that such powers couldn’t have been discovered by each individual, but to have brought them into the film as a plot device rather than a power each respective character has developed during their arc, is once again, unnecessary.

After the release, the fans got all but concept art and excerpts of the film, and what COULD have been. Explanations of what was trying to be conveyed in the film. If you are forced to explain the film you have just released through interviews, it sucked. There’s a saying that as a filmmaker, you must “trust your audience”. Abrams trusted his audience, and all we could see were the flaws and missing details.

Generally, several flaws of this film spawned out of the petty film-feud between JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. What Johnson tried to do in The Last Jedi was outstanding, and was a very unique concept compared to other Star Wars films. Sure, it had flaws, but a Star Wars film is not a Star Wars film without plot-holes and shitshows. But what Abrams attempted in The Rise Of Skywalker was to contradict almost everything in the previous film. The Force Awakens was outstanding, don’t get me wrong, so I couldn’t really say that Abrams isn’t good for Star Wars. But the two directors’ creative differences should NOT have gotten in the way of telling a good story. This trilogy had potential, and this film was beyond important for millions of fans of all ages.

Adam Driver’s performance was brilliant. It’s upsetting that he didn’t even get much to say in the 3rd act other than “Ow” but he managed to do so well even without dialogue. He didn’t even have to speak to show the true transition between Kylo Ren and Ben Solo, you could see it through the tenderness of the emotions portrayed by Driver overtime.

It’s upsetting that Domhnall Gleeson didn’t get half as much screentime as he did in The Last Jedi, and the way they finished General Hux’s character arc was honestly pathetic. For a character with such antagonism to be reduced to a plot device that dies like THAT? Regardless, still an amazing performance by Gleeson as per usual.

John Boyega and Oscar Isaac continue to be my favourite people ever. Their characters deserve so much better and I am GLAD that John is speaking his mind on social media, regardless of the... aftermath of it.

If I talk about the way that Han and Leia deserved better, I will not stop talking. Just know that is a point I want to get across. And, Rest in Peace Carrie Fisher. We love and miss you tremendously and it hurts me to know that had you been around, you would not have let this film be so awful.

To conclude this extremely lengthy and overdramatic review of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, I would like to push aside the numerous flaws of this film and try my best to look at the bright side of the disaster. The rainbow after the storm. Whatever.

I believe that this film was really good if you disconnect it from the rest of the franchise. For round 3 of this film in theatres, I went with a friend who had only seen The Force Awakens and about half of The Last Jedi; and she loved it. It’s definitely not a clear judgement, but I tried to look at her perspective and I got it. Disconnect the story, the expectations, and the background of each character which inevitably leads to expectations of the end of their character arc. It’s difficult, and honestly stupid to look at it like this, but as someone who just wants to smile during a film; I think there’s no fun in hate. Most of the effects in this film were gorgeous (let’s forget force ghost Luke). Take that, the larger-than-life scale of events, the emotions, the impeccable score, I believe it to be nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. I’ll take the tomatoes you throw at me because I have to admit, watching this film in theatre was an experience I’d love to have again. I cheered my ass off when Ben pulled out the blue lightsaber in the climax.

I don’t think I could ever be a real film critic solely because I will always find some way to enjoy the film no matter how awful it is.

As usual, honorary mention to the phenomenal score that is present in every Star Wars films. Hats off to John Williams, thank you for making the audience cry for 40+ years. We love you!

It’s 5:45am as I’m finishing this off and as a side note, since I’m overly-emotional, I’d like to say something. The hatred and conflict created by The Rise Of Skywalker has blinded us of our true love for what Star Wars once was. Star Wars is a film saga about hope, love, faith, and the way (almost) every film has managed to convey it, always brings tears to my eyes. It upsets me to see it, and I hope that everyone slowly grasps back onto their once-love for Star Wars.

May the force be with you.