ST Daisy Ridley (Rey) in the ST

Again - you’re taking as fact a claim that TPTB and the movie itself cast doubt on.

At this time, Rey’s parental status remains unresolved.

 

Unresolved = nameless faceless kidnappers that stole away Luke's daughter, right.

 

If you choose to believe that, fine.

I think “unresolved” means...”unresolved.”

 

@jojopenneli isn't that your theory? I can't see why else you'd defend Rey's parents from accusations of their being horrible.

 

I’m not defending her parents. I’m pointing out that Kylo’s claim simply does not have much weight. One might believe it, yes. But it’s pretty much impossible to support an assertion that it’s canon fact. It’s not so much the absence of evidence that Kylo is correct as the presence of evidence that he’s likely wrong that I’m going by.

And no I don’t specifically think she was kidnapped. I do not, however, think that whoever left her on Jakku (for whatever reason) were her parents.

 

Okay. If I may ask, are you hoping Kylo is wrong? I won't judge or weaponize your response. I mean, I'm personally hoping that the answers we got in TLJ are final. I have never wanted Rey to be related to anyone important, be it Skywalker, Kenobi or Solo. So is it partly because you prefer Rey Skywalker that you're skeptical of what Kylo told her about her parents? I know that you've listed reasons for finding him unreliable, I've read them, but you're also hoping that she has familial ties to Luke right?

 

If LFL up and asked me “Hey, we’re making an ST - would you rather the lead be Luke’s kid or completely unrelated?” I’d say the former, certainly.

But I could absolutely imagine alternate TFA scenarios where the setup made unrelated make more sense. In which case, I would likely become invested in whatever the story was there. I was GA from ~2001 til last year. I had no expectations going into TFA other than that the OT3 would have cameos and the new guys would be unrelated. (Yes, it’s very possible to be completely out of the SW loop if you’re not a fan.)

As of now? Yes, I want it. But if I didn’t believe it based upon evidence I find extremely convincing, I wouldn’t be silly enough to set myself up for disappointment. It’s perfectly possible to believe something will happen even if it’s contrary to one’s personal desires. Which is why I’ve thought Kylo will be redeemed since I first saw TFA despite initially hating the character and feeling he didn’t deserve redemption at all.

I don’t hate him now, ofc. But I tend to manage to reconcile my feelings with what I believe is/will be true, not the other way around.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to be as clear as possible. While I know you’re not suggesting this, I’ve heard so many willfully ignorant “You only believe x because you want it to be so” accusations that I wanted to head that off at the pass in case a different poster thought to try out that logical fallacy.

 

It seems like they're just biding their time for some massive trilogy-wide reveal at the expense of her character, which doesn't really have much in the way of fundamental change. They're not building on her character gradually but then again, like we've identified before, the compressed timeframe simply does not allow for that.

 

It would have been crazy to see Rey go dark but they played it to safe with her

 

Would have been great - and believable in the context of the Saga and the character - had she turned to the Dark Side. Finn could have brought her back to the light in 9, or she and Kylo could have gradually worked back to the good side together. Feels like the dramatic stakes were all there, but were not followed through in TLJ, and we're left with a blandly good, pure character. Maybe they'll do something cool with her in 9. Not impossible. She was likeable in TFA.

 

I think that's the worst thing regarding her character. She's less of a character and more of a loose amalgam of good traits.

 

Oooooooo boy....

 

I watched TFA recently and was struck by how much more likable Rey was in that film.

 

Why? It’s basic story function. TFA NEEDS to win you over with new characters so setbacks are fleeting & heroic moments are longer. The second act of TLJ flips that.

 

I don’t see how that’s incompatable with Rey being as likeable as she was in TFA?

ETA: I say this as someone who LOVES her fave characters being torn down and deconstructed so they can arise phoenix-like in the end.

 

Agreed. I LOVED Luke in ESB and that movie was no picnic for his character. Or Aragorn in LOTR. Or Harry in the Potter books.

 

I saw the article on the front page of the website which speaks about how Rey got lucky in her dual with Luke in TLJ. As a fan that is just not good enough for me. The movie portrays her as a female who just knows how to do everything without training. Many would be quick to argue that no one really cared about how Palpatine was able to shoot lightning from his finger tips especially Rian Johnson. The difference is when we meet Palpatie he his older and has clearly been in the game a long time. It is a little more believable than a teenage girl who has been a scavenger most of her teenage life knowing how to use the Jedi mind trick and knowing exactly which words to use without being taught. The next thing is flying the Falcon. She can get "lucky" flying the Falcon and all that but knowing how to do repairs on a ship without being taught? That again is hard to believe. TLJ didn't make it much better especially when Yoda says she already knows what she needs? How? Every Jedi has been taught how to be a Jedi. How to walk like a Jedi and how to act like a Jedi. Rey didn't do any of that. The comic book cant explain away Rey's mary sue status. I can get the self taught light saber part but all of the force knowledge its an insult to everything that has come before it. Luke's struggling to pull his light saber from the snow. Anakin struggling with the amount of power he has and how to use it and control it compare to Rey who just knows it all and is quite at home with being powerful and "moving rocks". Its insulting.

 

It was the opposite for me. TLJ made me sympathize with Rey in a way that TFA didn't.

 

I personally felt more sorry for Rey in TLJ, but for me that was seperate from finding her likeable.

 

Essentially, the ST is suggesting that potential is everything. Rey has the potential to be great, and thus, when given a chance, she is great. This is not how potential works. It's so messed up because he's trying to combat the midichlorian idea, that being strong in the force is biological, because philosophically, he thought that was in conflict with the idea that anyone can be a Jedi. Okay, well, I don't agree with that read of it, but let's say you do. Well the way Rey has been presented is much, much worse. In the new model presented by Johnson, there is no biological aspect at all, which supposedly opens it up for "nobodies". But then in the same breath, Rey requires practically no training or deep understanding of the force (we hear her explain it to Luke, and she understands nothing, less than any SW fan) in order to out-duel both Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker. Ok, so we've dropped the biological aspect, but we've also dropped the spiritual, philosophical, mental aspect!!!! So even if you hated midichlorians, it's a zero sum game.

 

All of this is made worse by the fact that the midichlorians were truly benign inclusions that didn't really worsen or change anything.

 

I think that Rey has passively used the Force all her life without truly understanding what it was. She has also been training herself in physical combat all her life. The things she managed to do were not totally unearned just because she did not have the privilege of learning from a proper teacher.

 

Yeah, just like she spent her whole life hypnotizing people, fighting the deadliest warriors in the galaxy and lifting several tons worth of rock via telekinesis.