#other: finn (tfa)

[blackwomeninstarwars]

Star Wars: The Last Order By Kwame Mbalia

About Star Wars: The Last Order New York Times best-selling author Kwame Mbalia makes his Star Wars debut with this exciting YA novel! Following the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Resistance rescues a ship full of young passengers who had been kidnapped by the First Order. As Finn and Jannah set out to find the First Order officer responsible before he can endanger any more children, the two former stormtroopers must wrestle with their own complicated pasts as soldiers of the oppressive regime. Take a deep dive into the pasts of popular characters Finn and Jannah in this richly-drawn, action-packed story that fans have been asking for. About Kwame Mbalia Kwame Mbalia is a husband, father, and New York Times bestselling author of the Tristan Strong series, for which he received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor award for Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky. More about Kwame Mbalia

[turtleneckseve]

returned to my random annual cycle where i reminisce about 2015, TFA and how finnrey is/was(??) such a good ship i can’t believe that only 5 of us exist

[sunsetonscarif]

finn and rey are like if childhood best friends were adults

[lessnowon]

😔🤜🏻💥🤛🏻😔 solidarity

confession: TRoS ruined kylo/ben for me, despite not liking him previously.

when i watched TFA in the movie theater, i absolutely hated kylo ren (not in an "anti" way, it's simply a sign of a good villian). TLJ put him on thin ice with me because like 🤢 re*lo foreshadowing (yes in an anti way, but not the point of this post so dont @ me) but i otherwise still loved to hate him, even if i didn't understand why so many fans liked him. but then the dreaded TRoS happened and i was like... "huh, i miss kylo ren?"

i mean, i know that character development is a thing, but... what happened to my darth tantrum? what happened to "let the past die, kill it if you have to"? like, it baffles me that he ends TLJ having killed his master, been rejected by rey and rejected her in turn (again), claimed the title of supreme leader, and then been publicly humiliated by his uncle/ex-master—and then in TRoS he just... ditches everything he has achieved, lets go of all the perceived wrongs against him, reverts to ben, and kisses rey? and oh by the way it was Palpatine, still, all along?? isnt this supposed to be a new story?????

obviously he wouldn't end the final movie of the trilogy in the same as he was halfway through or at the start, but i think it's stupid that he had so much build up as a villain, actively rejecting the light side and redemption at every single turn—and he had many, many opportunities—only to spend most of the third movie on the side of the light, helping to defeat the exact same villain that was defeated three movies ago

like yeah, okay, he "finished vader's business" and "killed the past" by finally defeating darth sidious, but idk... the guy started out the trilogy so determined to uphold vader's legacy that he led the slaughter of every student at luke's temple a la anakin at the end of RotS, that he murdered and tortured innocents for years, and instead of realizing that "letting the past die" includes vader's legacy and making his own way, redeemed or not but still remaining kylo—or, hell, even evolving his ambition into the determination to outdo vader where vader fell short; killing the past by becoming the new, more powerful evil—he, what???? learns that he can just shed years of deliberate bad choices because none of it was his fault anyways, and all he has to do is repeat the past to be redeemed because he is just doomed to be an echo of his ancestors that contributes nothing genuinely new to his family history, anyways?

yeah i preferred the unstable and immature yet wildly overpowered possible-sociopath on the cusp of shedding his blinders and coming into his own...

[gffa]

If you could change anything about the Prequel and the Sequel trilogies, what would it be?

I love the prequels, in all their both brilliant and dumbass glory, so as tempted as I am to say that I would have had Lucas find someone else to direct the prequels after Spielberg said no (I think he was firm in saying Lucas should do them?), I really love that mix of something genuinely good and something genuinely bonkers. I would change the Tuskens storyline to be less racist/the Neimoidians to have a different accent and I would put more Asian Jedi into the scenes, if you're going to base them on Buddhist monks, we could use a little more real world reflecting of that. The sequels on the other hand need an overhaul from top to bottom. At a bare minimum they needed to have at least planned the storyline out ahead of time and had a single vision instead of the tug-o-war that we got. I would not have made Kylo and Rey's characters all about each other, I would have spread the connections around more, given Kylo and Luke more than just the one scene together, I would have given Finn a better storyline, I would have given Poe a better backstory, I would have connected the storyline better in the movies to the world they inhabited (ie, use more established settings and alien races, etc.), I would have kept the OT trio to secondary characters, but also let them have reactions to each others' deaths in the same room, I wouldn't have made Han/Leia into that because how am I supposed to have fun with rewatching the originals knowing everything went to shit, I would not have brought Palpatine back (or at least I would have set it up from the beginning otherwise), etc. The sequels were in a difficult place, but even as many issues as I have with TFA (too much of a palette swap of ANH for my tastes), the pieces for a satisfying story were there, it's just that everyone wanted to take it in different directions and none of the three movies really seemed to get what Star Wars' themes were. I love the characters and there were great moments in there, but I would have sat them down with a bunch of Lucas interviews about what the themes of Star Wars was before starting and tried to give them a better foundation for understanding it.

[saphronethaleph]

So a sort of look at a structure one could do for the Sequel Trilogy, admittedly with hindsight.

Opening sequence? Basically the same, except that Poe is meeting with a Resistance spy - the data he's got is the evidence that means the First Order is more than just a rando Remnant faction but is a serious threat. Then the stolen TIE crashes but Finn and Poe link up together. They meet BB- and Rey, and the four of them escape on a ship - possibly the Falcon, but it could be another of the same type, they're supposed to be common. Alternatively make up a new ship type they steal and have that be the Iconic Ship of the trilogy.

Team dynamic is Poe Flies, Finn Shoots, Rey Fixes.

They're heading straight to the Resistance, or that's the plan - they may need to briefly detour somewhere if their ship got damaged in the escape (if so, this is where they visit Maz).

The Resistance is explicitly described as a deniable New Republic operation which is fighting this specific Remmant faction - at the moment. They've fought others before, they're kind of like knights errant, and they have at least one Jedi (let's say Qu Rahm) who gives both Finn and Rey some training.

The Jedi Order as a whole is not involved with the First Order fight because it's utterly routine, there's dozens of Remnant factions... at least until BB-8's information reveals that the First Order has Kylo Ren associated with it, and also the existence of Starkiller Base.

The knowledge of BOTH of those things means that the Jedi Order is able to evacuate their current temple (Naboo or Yavin? Either way it should be a known planet) just in time before it gets blown the fuck up by Starkiller base. Then there's tension involving the need to swat SK base quickly, which mostly goes as per the original film.

In the second film:

The Resistance is still tiny, and the First Order's actions have promoted them from "just another Remnant faction" to "holy fuck" and they're starting to weld the Remnant back together. It is actually not widely known that Starkiller base got destroyed and the First Order is using intimidation tactics to pretend they're unbeatably strong - not helped by how the Resistance genuinely is pretty weak, nobody on the Republic side wants to be the first to jump, and Leia is trying to talk everyone into giving more support (it does slowly tick up)

The general structure here does need more changes than TFA did, simply to fit into the trilogy as a whole, but here I think a good Driving Question could be finding out who Snoke is and where the Knights of Ren came from. Our Heroes are juggling between getting Jedi training (for Finn and Rey), launching raids on the First Order, and trying to find out Snoke's origin - the latter of which fails, but he does get killed instead by Kylo Ren, who takes control of the First Order.

The main ending note at the end of the film would be the loss of Leia; she tried to turn her son back to the light side with full sincerity, but also went to kill him if he didn't. Neither worked, but he's been badly wounded and about half of the Knights of Ren got taken out. (n.b. if this is cheating to get around Carrie Fisher's death, and it probably is, that could be Luke's demise instead - or both.) Our Heroes might well be involved with a hot-extraction of R2 and C-3P0, who have important details of what happened.

Third film:

The death of Leia/Luke/both has become a rallying point and the New Republic is gearing up for war, which gains momentum with every day that the First Order doesn't blow up a planet; it's made clear in scenes showing Kylo that he's under a huge amount of pressure, because Starkiller Base made promises that the First Order cannot fulfil. In lieu of that they're having to turn instead to more standard means of brutally enforcing their claim to authority, and it's not working out well.

Our Heroes meanwhile are involved in hit-and-fade strikes, one of which sees the death of Qu Rahm. The loss of their teacher causes Rey and Finn some problems, but Poe is the one who pulls them out of it - it doesn't matter if they have a teacher or not, what matters is who they are, and that didn't change because they had a teacher. All he did was open their eyes to who they really were.

That's the realization that drives the stormtrooper-rebellion side of things from the Resistance/Republic side, while on the Imperial side we see Phasma having more and more trouble keeping a lid on things. Finn is The Traitor and basically blamed for everything that goes wrong ever as far as the First Order is concerned.

Running out of options, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren orders a decapitation strike by the entire F.O. fleet on the capital world of the Republic. This is a serious threat, because normal strategic calculus assumes that you just don't DO this, and this is what leads to the big final battle over said capital world - the Republic is outnumbered on a tactical scale, and the available members of the Jedi Order help launch an assault on the First Order flagship to try and disrupt the F.O. fleet.

This is where the Stormtrooper Rebellion is really kicked off, as Finn brings the existing tension in the First Order fleet to a boil (key moment: a Stormtrooper panics at the sight of Jedi, one of their officers tries to gun them down, Finn kills the officer before it can happen; this is the moment that disproves the propoganda and it spreads). Rey gets the big final duel, but it's against Kylo, and on at least two occasions she manages to call in strike support from Poe flying outside in his starfighter. This means the final battle is the Jedi Order versus the Knights of Ren on a super star destroyer being torn apart by Imperial infighting, and the resolution is liberation - for the stormtroopers, for example - and the surrender of the remaining First Order fleet.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/749847926364307456/confession-time-i-shipped-reylo-when-the-force#notes

Maybe it's bc I never got into Star Wars bc I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but I'm fairly certain that Reylo was the cishettiest cis het ship to ever set sail in the cis sea, riding the het waves of the cishetero straights.

Like, that ship seems to be a staple with cishet hetero-cis young adult YA authors. I've probably seen more rewritten cishet Reylo fanfics with the serial number filled off to become #original works than any other fanfic cishet ship in a long time. Last one was Twilight Edward Bella I think.

Like that ship seems to be the staple of the cishetero foundation of todays cishetero YA market for better or for much worse. It's like the bodice ripper Fabio trashy romance, but for women under 35-50 year old. That ship was probably the most cishet coded ship I've seen in some time with any notoriety, with how it basically falls into every classic and rigid cishet romance trope, and seems to blossom in that garden of straightness. I mean, I don't think all the writers are cishet, but with that ship you you can try to take it out of its cishet story and try and make it queer, but you can't take the actual cishetness out of the it. The rainbow don't shine on them, to say it nicely, no matter how much it rains.

--

Yeah, it's a quintessential Wattpad ship of a certain type.

A lot of the pull-to-publish ventures I've seen in recent years are run by Reylos girlbossing their way to a writing career. (Like, not just individuals pulling to publish but people trying to start their own presses or apps or whatever.)

I saw TFA in the theater because friends wanted to go. I like fake death and Finn and Poe were hella hot, so I was marginally interested, but I really don't care that much about Star Wars. I only ended up in the fandom because 1. Finn and Poe are hot, as I said and 2. I got pissed about some bullying.

Anyway, we got to the scene where Kylo is leaning over Rey in all his uninspiring... uh... glory. And my friend hears this tween girl in the row ahead of us let out an "Ohhhh."

In the words of my friend: "Someone just became a woman today!"

That little girl and her audible italics are what I associate with Reylo to this day.

[terezifanclub]

man rewatching the star wars sequel trilogy is so disappointing and reaffirms my hatred for Straight™ ppl. finn and poe were gay af and had so much chemistry that went beyond a platonic bond. i remember watching tfa first time in theatres thinking those two were going to be main romance of the trilogy and so did many others. that disney might actually have the balls to portray canonical gay romance and give lgbtq+ representation in a franchise that is so massive in star wars!! like imagine how dope that would've been !! the fans wanted it. the actors wanted it. and yet... they decided to listen to a bunch of mediocre straight ppl who thought a strong female character and a white ugly disgusting fascist boy was more compelling?? that despite showing how incredibly fucked and abusive reylo is apparently it was a lot safer in disney's eyes to portray rey as a rehabilitation centre for crylo ron to audiences than having a healthy gay couple. the homophobia and misogyny is too real it hurts

[becquerel]

tfa is like here's finn he's the most obvious "indoctrinated soldier believing himself subhuman who escapes the system and realizes his humanity" and he goes and unlocks jedi powers in his self actualization quest set up. like finn is literally the main character of this fuckingggg movie. why was he just unimportant in the other two.

[jessicas-pi]

Very interested in your take on the sequels, if you want to say?

I recently watched the whole trilogy for the first time in a long time and...oof.

OOOH i would be delighted to rant and rave about this thank you for asking! (and oh boy yeah i agree with that reaction so much lol, i still don't think I've recovered enough from watching TROS in theaters to give it another go yet 😂)

And a disclaimer right to start with---everything I say is an Opinion. and there are other Opinions out there and they're valid too! so no shade to anyone who disagrees with me or anything.

ANYWAY!

so. to start off. i saw a screenshot of a post about animation vs live action a while ago and i couldn't find the screenshot post again but i found the og post and screenshotted it myself so yeah my feelings are this-

-but, like, in reverse. i watched a live action film series and there were several moments where i thought "wow i wish i could watch this same film series but yes animated and better"

that is to say, my greatest controversial opinion is that the sequels would have worked SO much better as an animated series. (and i do mean a SERIES. none of this 8-episode-long nonsense. making 8 episodes per season is for cowards and boring people. i am neither.)

Because, IMO, the greatest failing of the sequel trilogy was they they were trying to do too much. i think that every single plotline they put together---yes, even the Palpatine one---might have worked, if they gave it the time and focus it deserved. But instead, they turned what could have been a fantastic series, had it been given a total runtime equivalent to TCW, into approximately seven hours of live-action confusion.

(The episodic storytelling method would have worked really well for it, too! There could have been serious episodes/episode arcs (retrieving the map on jakku, for example) and silly in-between episodes (the bit with the rathtars in TFA and the Canto Bight mission in TLJ could each be nicely reimagined into a friendship-building-through-chaos episode for Finn & Rey and Finn & Rose respectively. Well, maybe a two episode arc for Canto Bight? IDK.))

(sorry sorry i will stop ranting about My Own Ideas now and go back to your actual question)

So, I think the sequels had some really good ideas! and really mediocre ideas! and really bad ideas! and i think the heart of the problem lies, not in the varying quality of the ideas, but the quantity of ideas that they were trying to fit into a very short time.

And in general, I think the films are kinda fun, if I don't take them too seriously! But I must confess... there is one thing I absolutely HATE about these films.

It ruined the Happy Ever After.

Star Wars is a space fairytale. Now, I'm not saying that it should have been completely perfect no problems whatsoever, because that's just TOO unrealistic, and there wouldn't be Sequels anyway. What I'm saying is that maybe there's still metaphorical space dragons in this space fairytale, but the heroes should fight the metaphorical space dragons and come home again afterwards. And yes I KNOW there was no way in heck they were gonna be able to drag Harrison Ford back for another three films but MY POINT STANDS. (and yknow if it was an ANIMATED series they wouldn't even have had to drag him back at ALL they could have used voice actors like they did in TCW) They should have been able to live happily ever after. Their defeat of the Empire shouldn't have been in vain. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind the other issues half as much, if they hadn't undone everything the Rebellion fought for.

And I am well aware that there is some personal bias on my part. like, my 2nd most used tag on AO3 is "alternate universe - everyone lives/nobody dies". OBVIOUSLY my biggest beef is going to be with people not living and also dying. I thrive on fix-its, and the sequels were a break-it. But the fact remains that when the heroes save the day in a fairy tale, you don't write a sequel where everything they worked for gets destroyed and they all die. you write a sequel where they go on more adventures and it still ends in the same fairytale way! but that is Not how the star wars sequels went. and I just don't think that's very groovy of them.

SO!

In conclusion: it could have been great! but it was in the wrong media format, didn't have enough runtime, and---most critically---was not a Space Fairytale. so it wasn't great. it was, like... genereally tolerable. occasionally good. had awesome cinematography. but it does NOT hold up under a microscope. or a weak magnifying glass. tbh i'd have to take off my glasses and hold it ~10 feet away so it's a blurry blob before it could maybe start to hold up.

*deep sigh*

You were so close, Lucasfilm. So tragically close.

[piglet26]

Top Five Reylo Scenes

Before I start I do want to add why Reylo means so much to me. Recently I went through a really deep depression and part of what pulled me out of it was Reylo. I was able to write essays and do analysis about this OTP. Rewatching the films and focusing on theirs scenes helped get my mind off of some pretty deep stuff. I was also able to receive love and connection through the Reylo community. It's meant a lot to me! Also, I know that Tumblr is very supportive to anyone going through a tough time and directing people to self help lines. If you are going through a time that is really dark or challenging I Love You in Reylo.

Now my top three scenes is tough cause I love them all, but if I had to focus on an order to the game I'd say........

5 " You Need a Teacher"

“There’s a history in Star Wars of the attraction between the light and dark…”

Truth be told I'm surprised this scenes ranked as high as it did with me because I do not like that she beat him. The more I thought about it I realized why I did want to rank it. There is something raw and dirty about them here. The look of sheer amazement he gives her after that lightsaber flew to her was everything. The force theme beginning to play. Then when she lit the lightsaber and he was like "oh, you wanna duel? ok, let's duel then." The moment they found the force together with their faces beautifully lit up. It really is great.

There is nothing violent really about their fight, like I don't fear for their lives. Resembling the scene where Kylo Ren said could ��take whatever he wants” and “Don’t be afraid, I feel it too” while looking at her lips. The chemistry took me by complete surprise and I shifted in my seat uncertainly watching this the first time. Surely I shouldn’t like a murderer and a villain with Rey, but I couldn’t help it. This very chemistry, though probably amounting to less than ten minutes of actual interaction between each other, leaves the audience with a hungry desire for more.

Reylo and Anidala could be mirrors of each other with Anakin falling to the Dark Side because of his selfish love for Padme and Kylo coming back to the Light because of his selfless love for Rey.

When Kylo is with Rey, he is calmer, and calculating. For Kylo, the seduction is to the Light. However, when Rey first searches out the Force with her feelings, she immediately ends up in the Dark Side, and is unafraid to take what she wants from it. In battle, she is furious, screaming and bent on destruction. As I mentioned above, Anidala and Reylo could be the Force’s attempts at balancing itself. Where Anidala was destined to fail, Reylo is destined to prevail and finally balance the Force.

4 "You'll turn........I'll help you"

“The Abduction,” the song in TFA when the “bridal carry” happens, has a very similar ascending line of notes to a recurring theme in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture.

I love everything about this. The infamous elevator scene. Reylo once again dominates the screen in The Last Jedi, easily rendering Finn’s growing romance with Rose bland and tedious in comparison. Rian Johnson is a Reylo stan so I stan him. This is the first time Rey and Kylo are physically side by side since she tried to kill him in the forest on Star killer Base. It's the most sexually charged body language! They spiffed up for one another. She’s changed her clothes, put on makeup and decided to leave her hair down. His hair is freshly washed with a spritz.

“Ben” She’s using his real name now and like in every scene with her now he's calm. He hates his name, but when she says it he hears her. She's appealing to his true nature, or, what she believes it to be. It's possessive as well. He is HER Ben. The way he tried not to have a reaction to her until she said his name. He's trying to stay blank and not give away what he intends to do, but none the less has a reaction to her.

Rian Johnson basically confirmed that Kylo / Ben wanted to kiss Rey in the elevator scene. It’s canon so I am prepared to fight. Not to mention, Johnson tells us that Adam Driver, as Kylo / Ben, seriously considered kissing Rey in this scene. He is, indeed, staring at her lips in the elevator with the most intense eye contact.

Reylo speaks to me, and many others, on a spiritual level. Like many stories of both maiden and monster, Reylo shows us what it means to be a heroine. A heroine reaches her hand out to monsters and says: you deserve love and compassion, no matter the mistakes you’ve made. We're in a movement where women are tired of "fixing" men and I'm here for it. I honestly think that's why so many woman found it difficult that Reylo is not soft and sweet.

3 ........Ben?"

Adam Driver says Kylo Ren can’t help but harbor admiration for Daisy Ridley’s Rey in the Last Jedi. “I think there’s something familiar there, as well as something to be feared, or something… that he (Kylo) can’t quite place.”

Let me go ahead and say that I'm going to cheat.... I'm including the novelization in this because that mixed with novel is what gives me life. TROS brought such mixed Reylo emotions. We got great stuff! In small doses *eye roll* In the novel. She was glad to see him. Glad to be with him in this moment. It was the greatest gift she could have given him. His heart was full as Rey reached for his face, let her fingers linger against his cheek. And then, wonder of wonders, she leaned forward and kissed him.

The way Rey sits in wonder...... never mind she was borderline dead..... Ben is there, really there and she's just staring in wonder. Ben is looking at her in painful awe and relief. They are both almost child-like in their affection. The way Rey hesitates, after years alone, it takes her a moment to work up the courage for her first kiss. Ben just lets her take her time. The way he waits patiently for her to work up the courage and then the moment the kiss, he pulls her to him like she is the air he breathes for his first kiss. Oh! The smiles. Seriously?! Ben and Rey are happy! There was fireworks, champagne and pussy power! Rey’s hand. Ben gave his very life essence to Rey because his love is that absolute.

And let’s not forget the novelization of TLJ had this quote “They will never have to be alone again”.

Now this is where things get messy as hell. Adam was on the set of Tatooine..... but as they cut that ending. Daisy stated regarding the ending “the crew was shaken in a way I had not seen before. and I thought, ‘my god if this is people’s immediate reaction when the scene isn’t even ready, imagine what it will be like to see it in the movies, with the John Williams soundtrack and all that." When Ben faded into the force...... no one felt anything for a moment then there was just confusion and disappointment. You cannot nor will you ever have me believing that this janky ending was the real deal.

2 "Join Me.......... Please"

“He (Kylo) sensed his and Rey’s destinies were intertwined, but how?......"

The Throne Room Proposal! Kylo premeditated in the purest Sith way regarding the murdering of his Master for his bae. Then he gives Rey a furious speech on killing the past in a bid to win her over and fulfill his dark Queen fantasy. “You come from nothing, you’re nothing—but not to me,” Kylo tells Rey, in one of the most beautifully twisted declarations of love ever uttered in a family blockbuster, before quietly pleading with her to join him like he’s the most desperately lonely person in the universe. The duo’s visions of their future together—Rey sees Kylo turning to the Light, and Kylo witnesses Rey joining him in the Dark. However, upon Snoke’s death, the bond still stands. Kylo offers Rey a place at his side and his hand in marriage, but it is the proposal of an awkward boy, grasping desperately at a relationship he has only begun to understand.

And you can see it in her face, that she’s torn, there is a part of her that wants to take his hand, not to rule the galaxy, that’s not her ambition, but to simply stay with someone who truly understands her as well. But it’s the ‘please’ Adam Driver showed that Julliard education with that one word. Both actors just brough it. You can see how far they've come and yet still so far away from each other.

1 "You're Not Alone.......Neither are You"

“When Rey feels rejected by Luke Skywalker, who also sees parallels between the power in her and the abilities of his estranged nephew, the old Jedi master inadvertently pushes the two towards each other.”

You knew it was coming. In TLJ, Kylo is at his most sympathetic and tempting; Rey at her most understanding. Both are outcasts because of their power, they are both lonely, whispering to each other comfortingly “you’re not alone” and “neither are you.” Kylo sees more in Rey than she does within herself. He also challenges her as an equal. Ben ultimately encourages her to not only expand her mind, but in embrace her womanhood. It is no wonder that Rey goes to him. After experiencing Luke and his failings as a master and failing to find the answer's she's been looking for....... Rey ends up relating to Kylo. Kylo, for once, has put the whole of misery and life lessons into something productive.

When we find them alone in a dark hut, slowly lean towards each other, and very hesitantly touch hands in a scene fraught with romantic tension. Notably, the Force music plays during the scene, signaling their relationship’s importance. A tear crawls down Rey’s face as the two connect and understand each other on a level so deep that it is reminiscent of sex, and causes Luke Skywalker to pull the ultimate Dad move and blow up the hut.

As Rey and Kylo develop their bond we see the force attempting to balance itself. Yin and Yang....... the imagery littered throughout the sequel trilogy is drawn heavily from those belief systems. We see continuous parallel shots with Rey and Ben to represent this duality. Both are presented in contrasting surroundings that represent the duality of the masculine and the feminine. In many shots half of their figure is bathed in light and the other half is bathed in the darkness.

This connection is as spiritual as it is romantic. As Jason Fry explained, romance is merely the analog we have in the living force for this deep spiritual bond.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

The Moon's Lies (2)

Summary: Kylo Ren x named!Reader. It was never going to be black or white, Light or Dark, friend or foe. Who wouldn't let the galaxy burn to keep their loved ones safe?

Warnings: 18+, unspoken threat of bodily harm, twisted morals, Kylo Ren being himself, vehicle wreck

Masterlist

Canon Divergence Notes: There is no Rey. Finn is the destined Jedi, and he leaves the scar on Ren’s face during the climactic fight on Starkiller Base. The only original canon kept after TFA is the destined Jedi (Finn) leaving to find Luke and Snoke pushing Kylo Ren to the breaking point, continuing the student-kills-the-master cycle. Summary: No Rey. Finn is training to be a Jedi. Kylo Ren takes the throne from Snoke.

A/N: All hail the new alpha/beta reader! Three cheers for @aralezinspace! And thank you all for the support so far. <3 You make my galaxy spin.

2.

Years ticked by with battles fought, secrets found, and the rise of a new Supreme Leader to the throne of the First Order. Matters of life and death. To some.

Dyrrine judged the political upheaval like the weather. Rarely dangerous, but often an inconvenience. She couldn’t control it, and she worried more about sheltering her family from the rain than forming opinions about it.

At the moment, however, as mud sucked her boots down to the ankle and cold drops rode the wind to blast under her hood, she felt a lot of ways about the rain. Literally and figuratively.

Of course her responsibilities took her to Dantooine during the rainy season. And, of course, the First Order had no interest in accommodating the long line waiting for permits and passes.

Most of the year, Dantooine was lovely. Dry. Fairly temperate. Dyrrine would’ve enjoyed being off the ship and soaking in some sunshine while the rusty wheels of bureaucracy slowly groaned along. Instead, she dreamed of hot cups of tea and kept her hands stuffed deep in her wide sleeves as the queue inched forward, bowing under the storm’s onslaught. There were so many people still ahead of her, and she could barely see the service window through the downpour.

Good thing she’d reserved a seat on the next morning’s shuttle. She’d never make the evening flight. If things didn’t pick up, she might not reach the end of the line before the offices closed. Then she could do this all again at ass’o’clock in the morning, standing in a fresh downpour in day-old clothes without even the marginal warmth of the sun. What fun.

Off to the right, the depot’s primary doors slid open, spilling light into the miserable, sludgy afternoon. Stormtroopers in gleaming white armor stomped out, far too many for a patrol, and the eyes of every civilian turned their way. No one dared watch openly, but they peeped, and shrank, and waited. The ‘troopers formed two lines, facing each other to create a kind of path between the depot and the small collection of shuttles and TIEs left outside the hangar.

No wonder the administration was doing such a spectacular job that day. They had a VIP to entertain.

Dyrrine looked down at her feet, trying to work them free of the muck as the Adarian in front of her inched forward by half a pace. She had her priorities; keeping her place in line without losing a shoe was higher on her list than some First Order crony with extra polish on his boots.

One foot popped free with a noise like a belch, confirming Dyrrine’s belief the planet was trying to eat her. The second foot came loose by inches, and she was so consumed with keeping her balance she didn’t register the growing chill until the source stood in the open doorway.

Foot free, a step forward, and sinking into a new swatch of muck, she felt the menacing aura of a wildly powerful Force user. One didn’t need to be Force sensitive necessarily for animal instincts to register a threat, especially when said threat just loved to make a scene, to infect the very air with fear so every lesser creature would stay bowed low – where they belonged. She glanced back to the main entrance as the towering figure in black started down the ‘trooper-lined path, and her blood turned to ice.

She didn’t know his face – not this one, anyway. Last time they’d met, he’d hidden behind a chrome scowl, but his lightsaber was unmistakable, and kriffing hell if she didn’t remember that. It swung from his belt, bulky cross guard hilt on full display. The faint burn it once left along her neck took a week to heal, and this time there was no one to call him away before he introduced her to the blade properly. He was no one’s attack dog anymore. He’d slipped the chain and brutalized the fool holding the leash.

Kylo Ren. The new Supreme Leader.

The downpour suddenly didn’t feel like enough. Blinking away drops clinging to her lashes, she prayed for a flood, for the water to fall in sheets to curtain her from view, for the mud to gulp her down whole. Her gaze snapped back to the ground, hoping as she studied the trembling puddles that her spike of anxiety blended into the frightened crowd. What was one more terrified civilian in a sea of faces?

She resisted the urge to tug her hood lower. That would draw attention, tell anyone looking that she wanted to avoid being seen very, very badly. It took far too much attention to breathe, and she fought to release the mote of panic burning bright in her chest. No need to snuff it out. Just let it free. Like a firefly – still very real, but out and away from her thoughts. Drifting farther and farther, leaving a quiet void in its wake.

She was still. She was silent. She was invisible.

“I remember you.”

She was so kriffing screwed.

Drawn by the voice she would never have recognized without the helmet’s modulator, she looked between the shoulders of the nearest Stormtroopers to meet the Supreme Leader’s gaze. He towered over them, a wall of shadow behind their white armor. And there was no doubt he was speaking to her. He stepped forward, and the ‘troopers parted.

Too late to hide.

His presence crashed down like a wave, suffocating. Crushing.

She turned fully, facing him head-on as she reached deep to grasp the calm assurance that helped her through so many dangerous scrapes in the past.

“We never finished our conversation.” A playful edge sharpened his words, and she hunted through the flickers of expression that slipped past his guard. He wasn’t quite the same beast she met before. This time he was all confidence, secure in his position as the head of the First Order, free to stop, to take the time to pull her apart just for fun. His eyes traced her from dripping head to sodden feet, coming to stop on her pendant. “And you’re still wearing your protection charm. I thought you were going to leave it behind next time.”

With a dim smile that was entirely polite and not at all pleased, she repeated the short bow she’d offered on their first meeting, eyes dipping with her knees as she proved her respect. But she didn’t try to cower. When she rose, she resumed eye contact, letting her expression go placid in the face of her worst nightmare.

“Apologies.” Her voice came strong and steady. It didn’t even shake from the chill. “But as you said, we never finished our conversation, and I never heard whether it was offensive or just surprising.”

Humility, sometimes seasoned with feigned stupidity, could get a civilian far with the First Order. Sometimes officers appreciated the break from the usual hysterics of oppressed locals fighting for rights they no longer possessed. Sometimes a neutral attitude just made her forgettable, which was always the best outcome.

Unfortunately, she’d made a much deeper impression than she’d realized in this case, and she knew he wouldn’t let her fade into the mist like a ghost a second time. Even in the dreary weather, his eyes practically sparkled.

“We should fix that.”

She bowed again – quickly – and without looking away.

“It would be an honor, but I wouldn’t dare take any more of your valuable time, Supreme Leader.”

It was as close to begging as someone could get without yielding, and she knew she’d failed by the quirk of his lips.

“Then you can honor me aboard my shuttle.” He moved on, not in the least encumbered by the mud holding the rest of the planet hostage. “Bring her.”

Two ‘troopers who’d been following in his wake stepped up, but she moved. Springing forward as lithely as she could given her footing, she passed into the hall of white armored bodies of her own volition. It flummoxed the guards, and she offered a simple nod and smile as she continued after their leader. He hadn’t said to arrest her. Or bind her. Not even seize her. She still had some room to work, and so long as the ‘troopers didn’t know whether or not she was a prisoner, she could keep dancing.

So, she kept just ahead of the guards and well back from Kylo Ren, wading through Dantooine’s hateful sendoff to the waiting command shuttle.

The Supreme Leader’s thunderous steps echoed back down the ramp as she entered the hollow of the ship, following muddy tracks across the pristine floors. It felt like sacrilege. Like truth. The honest filth of the First Order’s dominion, and the inevitable tide beyond all illusions of control. Beneath her careful tranquility, a smug spark of emotion kindled. Not even the great First Order could stay polished in the face of a good storm.

But the spark faded as the Stormtroopers marched up after her, and the ramp groaned shut.

The ship was cold. A dead cold. Black with flashes of white and red lights that chilled her worse than the rain. She wondered if anyone in the Order �� voluntarily or compelled – ever really saw their ships and bases as home. Something always seemed to draw them back, but she was willing to bet it was the blaster in the arms of the soldier beside them over duty or desire.

The passenger compartment opened directly into the cockpit, where four flight staff were prepping the shuttle for takeoff. There was only one other chair she could spy, and she knew better than to claim it. Guest or prisoner, she shouldn’t sit until her host offered, and she seriously doubted he would.

Leaning over the pilot and copilot, the Supreme Leader rattled off orders, checking his people’s work before it was even complete.

Was he a pilot, too? She knew that flavor of backseat driving. It was why they banned so many temporary residents from the Kuma Lisa’s cockpit. Once you’d had a ship’s controls in hand, most people struggled to accept them in someone else’s.

Ren’s low voice carried through the small space, disinterested in keeping secrets from the damned. “Set course for Ord Trasi. We’ll rendezvous as planned with the Steadfast.”

She closed her eyes and took a beat to breathe through the bubble of panic at the planet’s name. None of this was planned. He didn’t know she’d been on her way back for a rendezvous of her own. If she was careful, she’d remain the only one in danger. They’d know something was wrong when she didn’t return in the morning…

And right now, she needed to open her eyes and play the game. Or she’d never get to wade through a muddy queue ever again. She’d never touch solid ground, feel the rain on her face, or swear at a too-hot sun if she met her end on a damned star destroyer. Or on this shuttle, for that matter.

She got a reign on her fear and looked back to the cockpit just as Ren turned. His black ensemble maintained his regal air even with wet hair sticking to his forehead and ten inches of mud climbing his boots. His cape was no less ominous for the messy streaks on its hem as it flowed behind his long, determined stride. She doubted she’d weathered the rain so well. But that might work in her favor. Anything, given the right approach, could work in one’s favor. It was just a matter of strategy.

The ship lifted off from the mud, hard rain streaking down the viewport like it could drive them back to ground, and Kylo Ren left his flight staff to handle the voyage. While the craft was spacious for a shuttle, it was far from a cruiser, and he closed the distance like shadows rushing in after a light switched off. She held her ground. Waited like a good little subject until his boots came within inches of hers.

She knew this tactic.

Men like him loomed over their prey for one of two reasons. He wanted a fight, or he wanted a trembling victim to torture. He was waiting to see which she’d offer.

She’d deny him both. If it came back to bite her in the ass, at least she’d die satisfied with her decision.

He’d kill her in a heartbeat if she tried to fight – unarmed, trapped on his ship, surrounded by his lackeys. If she served up the fear he craved, he’d wring it out of her until she ran dry, and then she’d be just as dead and twice as grateful to expire.

With the board set against her, she must change the rules.

The ship’s low rumbling beneath her feet reminded her she was already in the belly of the beast, and she must be very clever to climb back out again.

“Who are you?” For all his casual intimidation, he didn’t hide the curiosity in his voice, and his anger didn’t singe the air like it did once upon a time on a planet far, far away.

He recognized a game when he saw one, and the moment he was humoring her. Or at least humoring himself.

She didn’t bow, though she dipped her eyes for the fraction of a second it took her to gather air for an answer. There was a fine line between a silly little stranger and an annoying fool. Too much bobbing would look anxious, anyway. But she held his eyes as she replied.

“Dyrrine Bairdne, sir.”

“And you’re from Lethe.” His eyes traced the strands of beads around her neck, the rings on her fingers, and bracelets on her wrists.

Slowly, mindful of the many guns and deadlier things on display, she raised her hands and lifted her hood. The Supreme Leader’s attention swung to the ornaments woven through her hair, and he scoffed.

“I see you’ve added more armor.” He stared her dead in the eye, daring her. “Expecting to meet a monster?”

She let her nebulous serenity grow warm. A blast from a cheap, old heater on a bitter winter night. Hardly the sun’s rays. But it wasn’t like he wanted that.

“Not at all, Supreme Leader.” She touched the longest strand of beads, keeping his focus on the Selenubis. “I’m training to be the next Naine of my family. Carrier of a thousand wishes, which is what these – ” She lifted a handful of necklaces, letting them rattle to draw both eye and ear. “ – represent.”

He plucked one from her grip, and his eyebrows furrowed. A frown bent his mouth as he rolled the smooth grey stones between gloved fingertips. He studied them like they had a secret script he might decipher in the fluid lines weaving over the face of each sphere.

“Take them off.”

She blinked, masking a busy mind with a face full of surprise. “Sir? They are offensive, then.”

“They’re a nuisance.” Though he didn’t let go of her jewelry, he did return his attention to her face. The amusement had waned. He wanted through her defenses.

Twisting his grip, he dragged her off-balance, and she jerked half a step forward.

Lips by her ear, he repeated, “Take them off.”

With his hulking shoulders out of the way, she could see through the viewport again. At some point, as she bantered for her life, they’d jumped to hyperspace. If he ran her through, right here, at least she’d have a familiar view.

The instant she pulled the faintest comfort from the thought, the ship was spat out of hyperspace, and a planet filled the view.

“Sir,” the flight officer called. “We’ve reached Ord Trasi. On route to rendezvous with the Steadfast now.”

The ship must be hiding on the far side of the planet, away from the hyperspace lanes.

Ren shoved her away, and the two ‘troopers stepped up to flank her. While his intentions were still far from clear, she wasn’t the honored kind of guest. She caught herself before her guards had an excuse to put hands on her, and as the Supreme Leader stomped back to oversee the last leg of their journey, she folded her shaking hands back inside her wet sleeves.

She seized the opportunity to breathe. Still alive. Still in one piece. And another distraction had bought her another precious few minutes. What she’d do with that time she had no idea, but she had it anyway.

Three TIE fighters wheeled into view, streaking past in perfect formation. The first sign of a larger First Order presence.

“I didn’t order an honor guard,” the Supreme Leader snapped. “Order them back to the ship.”

Oh, he was definitely a pilot. He was practically twitching. Too much protection must insult his ego, especially when he wasn’t behind the controls.

The flight officer leaned into the comms and relayed the command, but the TIEs did not disperse. They roared past again, moving behind the shuttle, and she swore she could feel Kylo Ren’s oppressive attention physically lift from her to this new problem.

Doubtless, Ren had something to say. More orders. A good threat or three. But before he could express his wrath beyond the creaking of his glove around his fist, a series of blasts rocked the transport.

Alarms wailed, and the flight crew began shouting updates and alerts as every standing passenger – apart from Ren – lurched into the wall. Beyond the racket from the cockpit, she could hear the wheeze of a dying engine somewhere below.

Kriff.

“Where are our shields?” Ren demanded.

Frantically switching toggles, the pilot shouted over the cacophony. “The readout shows they’re online, sir, but the damage suggests – ”

“Sabotage.” The Supreme Leader all but spat the word.

Shrieking by for another pass, the TIEs sent a hail of green laser fire over the shuttle, and she listened to the hull groan. The wall under her face was warm, and she carefully worked her way to a line of emergency grip points above. She clung on for dear life, looping her arm through and preparing for the worst.

She would not go down with the ship.

And the ship was definitely going down. Hazy clouds blurred the stars, the dark of space fading into atmospheric blue as they lost altitude.

“Sir, we’ve lost too much power. The planet’s gravity is – ”

“Supreme Leader, they’re coming about! Brace for - !”

The side of the shuttle exploded.

The angle of the blast sent debris spearing into the cockpit, and from the corner of her eye she saw an arc of wet crimson splash across the view screen. Now entirely out of control, the ship rolled, and the two stormtroopers tumbled boots-over-helmet through the hole that used to be the other half of the passenger compartment. Their voice modulators warped their screams as they fell.

She screamed, too, lifted off her feet, thrown into wall-ceiling-floor in a dizzying cycle. Her belly leapt into her throat as the engine heaved its last breath and the craft dropped into freefall.

Smoke and sparks filled the air. She couldn’t see what had happened to the flight crew or their dread leader, but no one was doing anything to slow their descent. If there was sabotage though, who was to say the shields were the only system affected? Even if they were conscious, Ren was the only one with the power to do anything at this point.

Well. Not only Ren.

Moving from grip to grip, she worked her way closer to the damaged half of the ship. She needed perspective. She had to see what she was doing.

A blur of green and brown appeared between flashes of blue, and she cursed. All her wonderful protective charms kept flying up to smack in her face, tangle in her hair, and obscure her view. She had a choice to make, and she needed to make it quickly.

Regardless of whether or not Kylo Ren survived, she wasn’t ready to die, certainly not like this. So she’d just have to take her chances.

Letting go of her precious handhold with one hand, she set to work, tugging and tearing the necklaces from her throat. She ripped the rings off with her teeth, and half the bracelets snapped as she jerked them free.

Her senses blossomed, expanding beyond her skin, beyond her sight. She felt the distance between the ship and the planet below, teaming with life, and another dim pulse somewhere onboard. Another survivor. She’d worry about that later. She’d save herself first.

Reaching into the flow of energy and motion that kept the galaxy turning, she pulled. Just as she’d found the grip inside the ship to keep stable, she grappled with air currents, gravity, and space to stabilize the shattered craft’s descent.  

It had been a long, long time since she’d tried anything on this scale, and it tore through her the way too much exercise ripped fragile muscles. Something wet dripped down her neck as the spinning slowed. They were still dropping too fast, and she pushed down at the planet until her ears rang with the effort.

Gradually, painfully, she took control of the fall.

This wouldn’t be a pretty landing.

But they just might survive it.

[substantial-exposure]

"Ten Little Troopers"

From the "Where We Gonna Leave It" Series

Summary: Over a year before TFA, Stormtrooper FN-2187 had a crush on a superior officer. He'd never spoken to her but one day he got his chance. Then of course a crash landing renders half their team dead. It's up to Phaedra Taraay to get all her men to safety. A romance begins to bloom along their perilous path...

WC: 2k (estimated?)

(A/N): This series has been in the works since January and I finally got around to start posting it! Finn and Phaedra are worth the wait I promise you!

FN-2187 worked in sanitation.

Just like every Stormtrooper in the last twenty five years he was taken as a child from his family. No memory of any of them. He was left without an inkling of an idea of where he came from.

He was put through induct camp, processed into batch eight, and somehow despite being marked a literal soldier and member of the FN Corps he'd been funnelled down to work in sanitation. Part time soldier, part time janitor.

Amazing.

FN-2187 did his job. He very rarely had personal free time. The First Order didn't exactly allow much time for anything else. He would spend a day as a soldier just occupying space. Then he would spent a day going floor by floor. He enjoyed sanitation days more than the alternative. He still never quite understood how they were helping the galaxy. Their presence on planets seemed to just be intimidation. That they were only there to beat people into their space and make them fall into line. The only violence he ever saw was in training simulations. He spent half his days contemplating and feeling guilty. The other half he spent happily parading around Star Killer base. Nothing made him more excited than the one time a week he got to pass through Precinct 9904.

Unless there was an foreseen circumstance, he was guaranteed to get a glimpse of her. He looked forward to this day every week. His chest would grow tight and he would swear he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. Despite being hid behind a uniform and a helmet, he could see her every time.

Last week he'd seen her leave the training room, tired and angry and pulsing with energy. He'd been in the middle of opening up a wall panel when he heard the thunder of her footsteps. He had heard the angry huff in her breath and he had seen her tight grip she held on her saber.

She looked absolutely pissed. And he hadn't cared. All he cared to realize that she wasn't wearing her helmet and she'd gotten her hair cut.

FN-2187 wondered what she'd be doing this week. Maybe she'd walk passed him like she had last month. Or maybe she would be walking with General Hux? There even was a chance she'd be in the training room again.

Except as soon as he scanned through the precinct, a blaring alarm sounded.

He looked through the visor of his helmet. He heard them before he saw them. A large group of stormtroopers, six elite troopers and six execution troopers came marching down the hall. FN-2187's heart began to pick up as he saw who led them. Standing fierce and tall and powerful.

Phaedra Taraay carried herself highly as she marched down the hall. FN-2187 stared in awe as she approached. It was as she took each step closer he realized that he had never actually been this close to her. He felt like he was going to throw up in his helmet.

He failed to actually acknowledge her as his superior. He didn't salute, he didn't say anything, he just stood there. She held her hilt in one hand and her helmet was held tightly in the other. She looked too preoccupied to even care.

Because as soon as she reached FN-2187 and his partner in the hall, her voice reverberated inside their skulls.

"You two with me." She had stated, not slowing down in the slightest. The two Stormtroopers fell into line far behind the other troopers. They marched in line, following blindly to the nearest hangar. The group had managed to pick up another four troopers on the way. The soldiers piled into her ship. It was state of the art Upsilon-class shuttle, it fit the soldiers as well as Phaedra comfortably.

Two soldiers took control of the piloting and another took care of the calculations necessary for them to jump to light speed. The rest stood at arms. A total of eighteen soldiers in total. They were on their way to a battle happening outside the atmosphere of Dantooine.

A resistance safe house was found only a few short hours ago. Phaedra was called in as reinforcements, she had grabbed her usual squad of random Troopers she had never really cared to learn the names of and any one of them she could get her hands on after.

Phaedra stood tall in the center of her ship. Her held tight on her lightsaber hilt as she tapped the barrel end anxiously against her palm. She took a few deep breaths, like she was mentally preparing herself for a bloodbath.

Meanwhile FN-2187 was certain he was shaking. This was her shuttle. He was standing inside her shuttle. Forget that, she was standing right there. He looked at her from this new angle. So close and so present. He could see the crease in her brow from her furious and hard expression.

He thought it was rather cute. Granted he shouldn't have, but he couldn't help but find the pout she wore endearing. He watched her take a deep breath and stare out the large windshield and stare at the hyperspace streaks just outside the window.

They exited hyperspace after a few short minutes. As soon as they exited the jump, it was a firefight. Phaedras breath caught in her throat as she looked at the sky surrounding them. By now the entire sky was streaking with hyperdrive rings. Lasers from battleships were firing from every direction. It was a whirlwind battle. As far as the eye could see it was confusion and mayhem in all directions.

FN-2187 stared in horror. He watch as Phaedra Taraay stepped towards the front of the ship. She stood before the pilots seats and she pointed into the distance.

"Get me to the surface. I need to get into that base." She had said. Her gaze fixated on the land down on the planets surface. Phaedra had her own objective here. The Boogeyman had her orders and her kill list. All that was left was to sit back and let her off of her leash.

The last thing anyone should ever do in that situation was question her or disagree...

"With all due respect, ma'am, we can't maneuver around. They're in the process of an air strike... I don't know if it'll be safe or even possible to land." The one Elite Trooper told her from the pilots seat. He flipped a switch and looked up behind him. Looking at his superior and waiting for her instruction.

"I dont repeat myself. Land." She ordered.

FN-2187 took a shaking breath and held onto his blaster. So were they just storming this place with no actual clue what was going on? He wondered for a moment if the other Troopers were actually briefed on this.

The entire ship shook, much to the surprise of everyone. It seemed like all eyes looked around the vessel, to its ceilings, to its floorboards, to its doors. And then it shook again.

"What's going on?" Phaedra asked. The ship sputtered, falling a few feet lower to the ground.

"They're shooting at us ma'am." The co-pilot stated.

Phaedras eye twitched. "I know that." She grumbled. "Why aren't the shields up? They shouldn't be able to get through." She said grabbing ahold of the seat and leaning forward to look at the screens of the console.

"They are. Shields are at fifty percent ma'am."

She didn't have time to grapple with the fact of how that was even possible. Phaedra walked to stand between the two pilots, she squinted trying to ignore the particle beams and explosions outside the window. The light was moments blinding as she stared at the screen in the cockpit. The readings didn't make any sense.

The ship shook again. This time Phaedra didn't waste a second. "Get me down to the surface."

"Ma'am our fuel supply... I think.. I think it's draining."

"What?" She asked. Her eyes went wide as she turned to a separate screen and watched the numbers slowly decline. She wanted to break something. Kick something. Snap a bone or hear the sound of her saber melting solid metal till it pooled and solidified to something even slightly more helpful. Instead she took a deep breath and tried to curb the searing anger inside her chest.

"What are our orders?"

"Ma'am!"

"Get us out of here." She barked the order. The entire ship shook violently. Sending everyone aboard lurching a few steps forward. An insistent and constant rain of fire was 'blocked' by their shields, they were barely held together now. Phaedra held tightly onto the back of the pilots chair as she tried to keep her footing. She had called upon the force just to keep herself upright.

"The nav system is shot" the copilot said. His terror was evident in his tone.

Phaedra wanted to scream into the void of interstellar. "Make the jump!" She had told him anyway. "We need to get out of here. Make the karking jump!"

"But the computer!"

"Put it for the coordinates we just came from!" She said quickly. They'd been here less than five minutes for karks sake! Besides if they stayed here a minute longer the ship was more than likely going to explode.

The exterior hull of the ship was degrading from the onslaught of attacks and their physical shields carried a whopping integrity of 8%. They were quite literally sitting ducks. They were running out of fuel at an accelerated rate and they couldn't even protect themselves from oncoming fire.

Her voice came out loud and angry. A yell so deep, so forceful, her own will was imposed on the pilots. "Make the karking jump!" She influenced their motions without even trying to. Within seconds the cockpit windows showed the slow jump to hyperspace.

It was a second of peace before a chorus of loud bangs rattled the ship. The entire thing gave out and a blinding light came from the window. Within seconds the ship had begun free fall. Fighting with gravity the entire ship rattled and threw every soldier to their left.

They had been thrown out of hyperspace.

FN-2187 scrambled along with the rest of the soldiers to make it into the crash seats. The ship was hitting turbulence as the crew panicked and tried to make it around. Another violent tilt of the ship sent Phaedra stumbling, once again calling upon the force to lessen the blow she had only fallen onto her knee.

As she looked up, a hand was outstretched right before her. Immediately she wrapped her hand around the troopers and hoisted herself back to her feet. FN-2187 might of actually felt his heart stop beating. He actually touched her, he had helped her, he had felt that infamous iron grip.

Kylo Ren fought to keep his fighter upright. His hands were grappling at the controls and using all his sheer strength to pull it each which way. He seriously hadn't expected the afternoon he'd had.

He watched it happen. From where he sat it looked like an ambush. He watched the shields deteriorate and finally give way, he saw the way her ship began to fall.

He was watching it with his own eyes. Smoke billowed and began to pour out from the dispersion vents at the rear of the ship. Kylo was watching it happen. He had seen the dead hit that he knew was going to ground the shuttle.

Phaedras shuttle had taken a hit that had blown one of the repulsar lifts clean off from the underside carriage. Even if they managed to land, it was a guaranteed crash landing. Kylo had tried to call her over his own ships communication. His voice had been nothing short of concerned.

"Rhidlu." He stated quickly. The headset he wore had a direct link to her ship. She should have been able to hear him. "Rhidlu, come in." He said watching the ship descent into the open space. It hit debris and knocked around.

Phaedra didn't answer

Kylo reached out to her with the only other way he knew how. He attempted to contact her, the same way he had many times before. Within the force he tried to make contact with his apprentice.

They had forged their force bond ages ago, kept intact and used it nearly every day. On any given day he could practically read her mind, see through her eyes and she could see through his. And yet in that moment, as he watched her ship get nearly shot down, he couldn't see a thing. His vision was black and all he could feel was panic intensive enough to leave him dizzy. To make his head ring and his stomach turn Kylo had only experienced something like that once a long time ago.

He couldn't reach her, her emotions and mind were too scrambled. So undisciplined, he couldn't get through. The male took heavy breathes as he watched the back lights on the ship shut down. The air was nearly pulled from his lungs as he watched. Did they just lose power?

He practically watched it in slow motion. Those milliseconds felt like an eternity and burned into his mind. He saw those lights turn off and then he blinked. He opened his eyes and saw the marks as the ship jumped to light speed. His mouth went dry and his heart pounded. As the ship disappeared he swore he could hear her voice echoing into the dark recesses of his mind.

"Make the karking jump."

Darkness surrounded her. It stirred inside her and all around her. She could feel it. A presence she'd felt before only in spurts. An evil force, an echo of Siths past.

There were a thousand voices overlapped. Yelling obscenities and inquiring about their new acolyte. One voice spoke and eased the squabble of the others.

It sounded intrigued. "Oh..." it had drawled. "They haven't made one like you yet... have they?" It chuckled. A dark and haunting noise that reverberated inside her head before the yelling resumed.

The volume felt like motion. Like racing wind. And then it was a blinding light. 

When Phaedra woke up from the crash she was being forcibly removed from her ejected seat. Hands were unbuckling her harness and pulling her from the smoking wreckage. An Execution Trooper had yanked her from her seat to drag her back to the others.

She was definitely concussed. Her head rung with a pain that was nearly unbearable as the sun shone overhead. Her body was barely conscious but, in her mind, she was screaming. Tearing at the floors of her brain to try and awaken. Instinct took over, knowing she was in danger and unable to fully get up.

It felt like vultures were picking her apart. Screaming whilst clawing and taking her for all she was worth in their eyes.

Her body was hauled towards the others, she could barely open her eyes. She caught wild glimpses of the barren planet from within the visor of her helmet. Ruins of what was left of an ancient civilization.

She was propped up against a rock beside the others. Two hands came to hold the sides of her helmet, searching for the release mechanism. The Elite Trooper struggled to find the button, white gloved hands slapped the troopers hands aside. Coming to rest on one knee, FN-2187 reached to the back of her helmet, unlocking it the same way he'd watched her do it. The helmet hissed as it released, opening and allowing the man to slowly take it off of her.

There was blood trailing from a cut on her forehead. Sweat stuck parts of her hair to her brow and she grimaced in pain.

"Rhidlu?" FN-2187 asked trying to wake her.

Although she did not know it. The Sith Lords of old, who'd spirits haunted the desolate planet left her mind, and in turn left her one piece of advice.

"Beware, Sith'ari. You will not live. You will survive."

In the most horrifying display, he watched her eyes shoot open. Panic and fear and anger swirled inside those eyes before she lunged to her feet. Faster than he could process or think, invisible hands pulled him off and pushed him back from her.

He stumbled back, noticing that the other trooper had been shoved by the force push as well. FN-2187 had no way to describe how it felt. It felt so personal, not in the way he viewed most of their interactions. It was much like a tugging in the back of his mind, he knew it was her. Her presence had a certain feel, the same that carried into her pull. With bated breath he watched her strut closer to the crashed pile of scrap that was once their ship.

She held her palm out into the open air. With blinding speed, quicker than any of them could see, a strip of metal came hurtling from the far-off wreckage. Despite the speed and force in which it flew, she caught it cooly in an open palm.

Despite the searing headache and the blurred lines around the corners of her visions, she turned around and looked to the surviving few that sat there. "Where are the others." She yelled loudly.

The air around her felt eerie. The sands and red dust sucked at her feet and tried to sink her boots down. Its aura was heavy, weighted with thousands of years' worth of the darkest and most treacherous atrocities.

Despite the feeling, Phaedra doubled down on herself and stared at the others expectantly. If she could handle it, why couldn't they?

The troopers looked amongst each other; nobody spoke. Phaedra closed her eyes momentarily and held her side, she was quickly feeling the dull ache of a wound she had yet to find.

She didn't wait for them to speak. Instead, she raced towards the wreckage. The smoke billowed from the crash which gave clear direction as to where she was heading. She reached out into the force, searching for any life forms inside the ship. She couldn't register a single karking one. She started this mission with nineteen soldiers, including herself. Out of the eighteen troopers she took with her she feared that only nine of them remained. She checked the wreckage and her suspicions were correct. She had started with nineteen soldiers in her unit. It seemed she had blinked and then there were ten.

Dividers are by @firefly-graphics!

Taglist: @clonethirstingisreal @feral-ferrule

Thank you so much for reading! I don't get much activity on my sequels verse Fics so it means a lot!

Another authors note: if you noticed the precinct is Crosshairs trooper number you're absolutely correct! It's a subtle/not so subtle reference to the fact that in the Taraay bloodline Crosshair is actually Phaedras grandfather!

Link to Part 2

[hedefect]

okay actually i am having more thoughts. and i think i'm gonna rework tfa a little bit. we're shoved into the first order semi-ruling the galaxy right from the jump but i just think it'd make more sense if it focused on the resistance and tfo both in their early stages?? anyway this is for me to come back to

smth smth finn defecting and leia molding him into the resistance's mouthpiece as she goes to the galactic republic and attempts to warn them of how the first order will only bring chaos and a fascist rule to the galaxy. the republic kind of rolling their eyes bc no way leia organa's leading another rebellion and tfo is middling at best, it's an annoyance that no one is taking seriously. finn tells his story to anyone who'll listen, going between various chambers and senators and rulers and garnering financial support for the resistance. the republic STILL refusing to see. half the galaxy scoffing at the resistance, the other half nervously watching because so many children have gone missing, smaller nations under seige as the first order grows and grows and nobody can truly understand WHY this seemingly small military state is expanding so quickly. there being rumors of entire villages and planets falling under the first order and leia battling via politics. the galaxy watching as hosnian prime was exploded before their very eyes.

tlj would instead then focus on the resistance building its forces in the face of tfo's new rule. leia decides its no longer time to allow things to move passively, and sends rey to collect. THAT STUPID OLD MAN DOESN'T SAY NO, HE COMES BC HIS SISTER IS ASKING FOR THE FIRST TIME AND WHEN WOULD HE EVER DENY HER? the first order barely recognizing the resistance as anything other than a fools dream and its that underestimation that allows the resistance to grow as it takes in survivors of hosnian prime and the surplus of volunteers who are infuriated and have lost their homes, their families to the first order. skirmishes across the galaxy begin to break out and finn moves to a more physical role with the pathfinders. these skirmishes often differ in how they end — sometimes its bloody on both ends, sometimes troopers begin to turn on their captains and commanders, taking them down and allowing resistance members to flee. the troopers all whisper about fn2187 who became finn. this is important. the battle comes to a head when the first order finds out about the resistance's base and decide to turn starkiller onto dqar, leading into the resistance destroying starkiller. leia and luke have been training rey (and sometimes finn) in the way of the force this whole time btw. rey and kylo fight — she takes off an arm, but they have to evacuate before rey can continue. starkiller is destroyed and the first order is dealt a critical blow as their base of command is destroyed.

tros then focusing on luke and rey vs kylo and the knights of ren. as poe and finn continue to handle these odd battles with the first order troops, rey manages to continuously run into the knights of ren bc she and luke have begun to look for other force sensitives across the galaxy. snoke/kylo have wiped a lot out (those who weren't typically joined the kor) but rey can feel some of the others within the force, and she gathers her allies. finn helps to incite a trooper rebellion within the first order, his brothers and sisters rising up against their oppressors. rey and her new band of brethren, middling and small but mighty as their passion has grabbed the force's attention, take on the knights of ren/kylo. kylo, villain to the end, puppet of snoke, is taken prisoner — he's left at leia's mercy, and she and luke manage to cut him off from the force entirely, leaving him near defenseless. he's meant to spend the rest of his days in prison. final battle is shot in two different scenes, rey vs snoke who spends the entire fight telling rey she's pure darkness, a rabid rat who'd chew off her own tail to survive, look at what she did to her parents and all she could do to the galaxy. she is stronger than them all and why not grab that power, allow herself to fall into the shadows, surround herself in the safe dark? rey rebukes him, stating there's more than light and dark and that's where she resides. she kills him. / finn reunites with zeroes, of his own old squad, who's been reconditioned numerous times but has never once forgotten about fn2187. rebellions rise at the same moment across all four current active first order dreadnoughts, and combined w the resistance's forces, the first order falls in the same moment. the end i just rewrote the sequels

[rapunziedameron]

Wait what's the deal with resistance reborn

If you meant why it's not canon, the gist is that the book exists to serve as an explanation for why no one answered the Resistance's call at Crait, which The Rise of Skywalker ignores in favor of going for a different explanation. If you meant why I don't like it, I'm so sorry you unlocked a patented Nym rant.

I made a post about this in the past, but I genuinely can't remember if it was on this account or my old one, so! Also if I sound more and more short, Nonster, I promise the attitude isn't toward you, but this godforsaken novel. Anyway, a good starting point would be anything that comes out of Rebecca Roanhorse's mouth when she's given an opportunity to talk about Poe:

There's also a tweet I saw of hers back in 2021 after The Rise of Skywalker came out wherein she claimed Poe was "ooc" because he was a 'stoic no homo shooty guy' in TROS rather than looking like on the cusp of crying every second - as if Poe isn't more vulnerable and cries the most in TROS than any other film? But you don't have to take my word for that it almost feels like a fever dream! But pretty much any interview I've read of hers leading up to Resistance Reborn, she makes it abundantly clear that she hates Poe Dameron with the passion of a thousand suns! But she thinks he's pretty!

As for the book itself, I find it...as tonally removed from the sequel era as it possibly could be. It is a slog to get through, if only because the author so eminently hates the main character she decided to center the book around: she gives Poe an uncharacteristic amount of self-loathing so that she can criticize him on every page. She has him admit to the entire Resistance he would commit suicide in a heartbeat to defeat the First Order in a heartbeat, and no one is concerned with this (it's also missing, entirely, the point of his arc in The Last Jedi. Not that I think she watched it!).

There's the fact that prior to this, she has veterans of the Rebellion tell Poe to his face that he should be killed for his mutiny against Holdo, proudly citing that they should throw him out of an airlock (in front of Leia, who NOTABLY just survived this experience! And notably, when all of command died this way), and has a number of the Resistance agree with this sentiment.

There's the fact that she calls Poe arrogant so many times in this book, it legitimately appears on the same page about six times. She also has Maz physically assault him for not wanting to talk about his feelings after turning him and the Resistance down for her aid, and then compares him to the Neo-Nazis that just a week ago captured and tortured him for an undetermined length of time (possibly three days, going off the TFA script, but it could be less).

And Maz, and the man who promoted the idea of murdering Poe, later get to flirt with him so obnoxiously that Leia has to change the subject because Poe's becoming uncomfortable: it's far from the first time he's needlessly sexualized in the novel. There's the running gag about his hair, even if he's not present during the scene, and then there's the joke about the size of his (and Finn's!) penis. And then the laughable way that she manufactures a reason to have him jump into a pool fully dressed in a tux - you can almost hear the plot screeching on the rails from the elaborate sequence of events she sets up just for that image.

Aside from that, nearly every woman in the novel is reduced to - I feel - a very misogynistic stereotype. Leia is a hardass bitch, any of Holdo's flaws are posthumously removed to make her a perfect angel, Rose is condescending and rude, Rey is shy as a mouse (!!!), Kare is the sensible wife to her hothead husband, Norra is the paranoid rude PTSD riddled mother, Suralinda is the Party Girl (and her backstory as an investigative journalist is scrubbed clean, as Roanhorse makes it seem as though Suralinda got lucky on the gift she gives Poe to give to the woman in charge of the syndicate ends up being perfectly in line with the woman's interests. The investigative journalist. Who figured Poe was in the Resistance based off, like, two details. Got lucky, okay) and then Jessika is a hothead who loves fighting and nothing else.

Kaydel is the worst offender here, with her being reduced to "sensible girl led astray by the convincing bad boy" with her and Poe acting against Holdo in TLJ, and then Zay from Battlefront II has her personality from the game completely removed to make her into an overeager, bratty teenager who wants to prove herself, rather than an extremely competent proven fighter that we see in the game. The novel also forgets that her father just died, not just her mother.

Then there's the queerbaiting. The novel ignores every other piece of canon material released around the time, and breaks Finn and Rose up, and equally emphasizes there's nothing there between him and Rey. It goes on to have him and Poe essentially go on a date, and overall, Roanhorse does her damndest to imply in the novel that the two of them are almost undoubtedly going to get together. Which she had no control over, and likely would have had some idea from the Story Group was not going to happen ever, so this is not a case of "subtext" in my opinion, but just plain old queerbaiting. And I feel like that level of queerbaiting is probably why the problematic elements of the novel get overlooked, especially with the misogyny and fetishization.

Poe is, as already noted, ridiculously sexualized and consistently harrassed throughout the novel, and put through the meat grinder for the sheer crime of being a man of color who didn't listen to two white women. That's what that boils down to. And you'd think that Finn must have a huge role in this novel, right? That he's especially memorable? If they push Finnpoe so hard?

Yeah uh. He likes making jokes with Suralinda about risky missions. He eats at the buffet. He can't tie a tie. And he watches saturday morning cartoons. And he's DEFINITELY not interested in girls!!!!!!! ewwww!!!! Yeah that's literally all he's given to do, basically.

And there was definitely some ableist moments in the novel too, but it's been a while since I last read the book/bitched about it that I can't really remember what specifically it was about. Probably Norra? Almost certainly Poe.

That's not to say that there aren't some redeeming qualities to Resistance Reborn; it has some of the most well-written Poe and Leia interactions we've gotten outside of Before the Awakening and The Last Jedi; and Roanhorse is shockingly competent at nailing the character's voices, even if things fall apart when she tries to do their internal narration. There's decent worldbuilding in the book, and there's some character traits of Poe's that I like and have taken on as my own for writing him. I love how she writes Wedge, and that we got a hug between him and Poe. But that's about the extent of it.

Also I'm pretty sure deadass halfway through the book she just...forgets Artoo, Threepio and BB-8 exist? And Poe's arc in the book is a retread of his arc in TLJ with the same emotional climax (big speech showcasing His Development, of which there is none in this mediocre fanfic masquerading book).

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

Oh this could get long, I don't talk about the sequels often lol. But I recently had to rewatch the entire trilogy as research for the podcast, so I have some more solid opinions on this now, so let's go.

Rey is a character who suffered from a fairly basic set-up in TFA that went exactly nowhere when her trajectory changed in TLJ and they couldn't figure out how to fix it in TROS (and the studio execs came in and enforced certain things to happen because they figured it would make certain fans happy). Rey IS her own character, she's not just like... Luke 2.0 or whatever, but the general set-up of "young hero stuck on their own in their life they can't escape and who ends up forced into an adventure when adventure happens to find them" is... not the most original thing in the world. It can be REALLY GOOD when executed well, there's a reason it's popular, but nothing about Rey was like... insanely original aside from the fact that she was a woman as (one of) the main character(s) in Star Wars films for the first time.

And then Rian Johnson took this pretty basic set-up that everyone understood and went "what if I threw this on the ground and spat on it and crushed it for good measure to be Edgy" and that's how we got TLJ with "Rey Nobody" who somehow already knows everything she needs to know which makes her ENTIRE JOURNEY to go find Luke completely meaningless and shifts the story from being about HER to being about LUKE. It's dumb, it's stupid, and it was bad writing.

Not following the very obvious character arc set up for her in TFA means that Rey as a character vacillates back and forth between motivations and characterizations in each new film. So it's hard to know like... who Rey even IS as a character, what's important to her, what she cares about, why she even WANTS to be a Jedi, what kind of Jedi she'd actually be, etc. In the first film, she's on a very basic journey of learning to let go of the idea that someone will come back for her on Jakku in order to recognize that it's better to find ways to connect with new people than push aside those relationships for one that has already gone. This is why she leaves Finn at the end of the film to find Luke in the first place, she can't let her connection to Finn be what holds her back any more than she could let her connection to her parents hold her back. She has a greater destiny out there to follow that she can only answer if she learns how to let go. In the second film, her entire motivation surrounds saving Kylo Ren for some reason and, as mentioned before, she apparently already knows everything she needs know and doesn't need any training or guidance of any kind which leaves her exactly nowhere to go as a character. In the third film, it's all about figuring out how to connect to the Jedi of the past for... reasons and struggling with the sudden revelation that she is Palpatine's granddaughter and therefore has extra capacity for darkness in her or something.

There's nothing consistent about her across the three films which leaves Rey and her story just... in the dust. She could've been a perfectly good and enjoyable hero character had they just let her follow the path she was set up on in TFA, and instead we got... the mess she became. I LIKE Rey, I think she's occasionally fun and I like the relationship she has with Finn and Poe in TROS, but she got absolutely SLAUGHTERED by this trilogy.

But that is NOTHING compared to what happened to Finn.

Finn is unarguably the most interesting and unique character introduced in TFA. A stormtrooper deserter with the potential to be Force sensitive AND the main love interest for the other main female character? A stormtrooper who could become a JEDI, the clear potential for a stormtrooper rebellion, the parallels and connection between Finn and Kylo that so clearly demonstrated that theme of choice (with Finn being someone raised in darkness who chooses selflessness and compassion anyway vs Kylo who was raised in light with all the support and resources he could ask for and still chooses selfishness and darkness), the possibility of having true CO-LEADS for the first time with Finn and Rey as like two halves of one hero with the romance being there to lift them BOTH up rather than relegate one of them to the side. The potential here with Finn was LIMITLESS, it was INSANE.

And ALL OF IT got squandered. Every last ounce. Finn got COMPLETELY sidelined in TLJ, separated from all of Rey's storylines and replaced by Kylo Ren, his Force sensitivity was not further explored, the entire story with the rebellion could've been what jumpstarted his stormtrooper rebellion plotline and instead he got thrown off into some weird casino c-plot bullshit to try to thrust him into a new romance that wasn't with Rey, and he was just constantly being physically hurt by other characters as though it was a joke of some kind. TROS attempted to bring SOME of it back by having him going on more missions with Poe off-screen, allowed Finn, Poe, and Rey to be an actual trio with a relationship together, and hinted at the Force sensitivity more than once. But by the time TROS came around, the damage had been done and it couldn't manage to come back from that, so Finn ended up developing nowhere in that film and does basically nothing but follow around Poe and Rey wherever they go, more sidelined than ever but at least he's not constantly being hit and he IS still involved in the main storylines in a way he wasn't in TLJ.

The options were all SO GOOD for Finn and we got resolution for exactly none of them and because of how badly John Boyega and his character got treated, we'll likely never get any real resolution for his character EVER because he is understandably not going to come back to Star Wars after this. I haven't yet forgiven Rian Johnson for the choices he made in TLJ that ruined Finn.

I actually like Kylo best in TFA because I think, much like everybody else, that's where we see the real potential for what the character could've been. Kylo in TFA is really set up to just be "another Anakin" where he went dark but can still be saved by the love of the father/son bond and then he ISN'T. They set the audience up SO HARD for that eventuality, for Kylo to be secretly not as evil as he seems, for him to be someone who can be saved like Anakin was saved, so you're sitting there expecting that to happen during that scene on Starkiller Base with Han, which is why it comes as such a shock when he kills Han anyway and turns the ENTIRE NARRATIVE on its head by telling you that Kylo IS NOT ANAKIN and isn't going to be saved the same way if he can be saved AT ALL (and it's heavily implying he CAN'T BE SAVED). TLJ basically just redid this entire narrative from TFA all over again except with Rey and the dyad, but because they did it with Rey and the dyad, there ended up being a bunch of people who ended up VERY invested in Reylo as a thing and so the studio then caved to that in TROS and saved Kylo despite that never being in the original plan according to Adam Driver.

And I think it would've been kind-of interesting to have this character who seems like he should be able to be saved like Anakin, but not everyone CAN be saved, not everyone WILL ultimately make better choices when given the option, some people are just going to double down on their darkness and commit to being evil. I like the subversion of expectations from what we were given with Anakin, the way he's like the inverse of Anakin in so many ways and looks up to "Darth Vader" as a role model of sorts without ever understanding the choices Anakin actually made, both good and bad. And if TLJ had actually, you know, expanded upon what TFA had already established instead of just saying the exact same thing all over again, maybe we could've gotten a more interesting story out of his character.

Which leads us to Luke and his role in "creating" Kylo. Here again we get what seems to be a lack of agreement between the people in charge about what this story was supposed to be and say. TFA sets up that Kylo is making his own choices, he's not brainwashed, and his primary problem seems to be with his parents. TLJ then turns around and says it was all LUKE'S fault, that Luke had a moment of weakness and it threw Kylo into a fury he's never come back from, but Luke's mistake is what ultimately led to everything that followed. And like... this isn't Luke. Maybe some people really enjoyed seeing Luke be this broken old man who just makes the same mistakes over and over again, but this wasn't Luke to me. I don't buy that Luke had an instinct that caused him to ignite a weapon in response to feeling the darkness in his nephew's mind, something he's only feeling because he's literally INVADING HIS NEPHEW'S MIND AS HE SLEEPS. There is nothing about his choices here that are in line with anything we knew about Luke from the Original Trilogy. Luke would never do this to someone he cared about, he just wouldn't.

The movie's insistence on making Luke into this broken beaten old man is also, as I mentioned above, a massive mistake because it turns the story in TLJ from REY'S journey into LUKE'S journey. Rey isn't the one who has to learn things and develop in this film, LUKE is. LUKE is the one who fucked up, LUKE is the one who lost hope, LUKE is the one who has to be taught a lesson about what it means to be a Jedi in the end. Rey does shit all in this film.

It also moves the focus away from it being KYLO'S CHOICES that led to what he's become to this weirder story about how Luke screwed up and has to fix it by... trusting that Rey already has it covered I guess? Instead of focusing on how Kylo made selfish choices and what actually PROMPTED those selfish choices despite all of the support he had and the legacy of his parents and the way that that parallels the choices being made by Rey and Finn, it focuses on LUKE, someone whose story has ALREADY BEEN TOLD. Kylo ends up a little bitchass victim in this instead of a character who is making clear and concise choices, something that was established when he killed Han in TFA, so his choice at the end of TLJ when he kills Snoke and takes over as Supreme Leader doesn't have the same impact when we've already see him make that choice in the climax of the last film. It's redundant and walking back the choice from TFA sort-of undoes everything that it's trying to say about the character and makes TLJ's conclusion feel wishy washy. Is he a tragic victim who has to be saved, or is he a villain who just needs to be eliminated? It's unclear by the end of TLJ.

Luke's role in "creating" Kylo was stupid on so many levels, both structurally and in terms of character. It never should've happened and it's an insult to who Luke is and has been to this story and I haven't forgiven Rian Johnson for THIS choice either. TROS does attempt to fix this and walk it back, as well, but much like with Finn, the damage was done.

So as far as I'm concerned, TFA is a solid film with a really interesting concept of taking a premise we all think is predictable and then subverting those expectations pretty intentionally, but the other two films are a complete and utter mess that aren't worth the 10ish hours of my life they have taken from me by watching them each twice now. There's a few fun moments in TLJ and TROS but I can't say that either film is like... a good or enjoyable film overall.