ST Veronica Ngo (Paige Tico) in TLJ

So, let's get back on topic...

 

She's definitely going to be the sacrificial lamb. If she was supposed to be anything more important they'd be marketing her more heavily.

I can see it now:

Space battle, early film. Paige (after maybe a scene with Rose beforehand to establish their connection and give us some reason to care) mans a cannon on one of the Resistance warships. She gets a few good hits in, then, WHAM, a missle or heavy blaster bolt flies right into her position. No more Paige.

 

That's basically what happened to Finn in TFA too. Slip dies, jolts Finn into realizing the stakes and sets him on his new path.

 

But what makes me ponder is that, from the description, she gets at least one scene alone with Poe, which makes it sound like she's not only there to serve her sister's arc. In a busy film, why would they show Poe coaching a gunner unless thats serves some purpose? e.g. the coaching session is an excuse to establish Poe's dynamic with Paige (flirting?), or he really does need a gunner to accompany him on his mission.

Going back to the Harry Potter comparison, if Finn, Rose and Poe are the Harry, Hermione and Ron of the Resistance, they can still have minor characters on the level of Luna and Neville accompanying and helping them. And even Ron's siblings and Fleur have personalities and are doing their own thing, serving the family dynamic and giving that sense of family, even though they don't really factor into the main characters' journeys much at all.

 

luke and dak got to be alooooone together in ESB

 

Good point. I mean, perhaps the "coaching" isn't so much a coaching session as a quick exchange of dialogue about instructions.

 

Just my opinion, but I don't like the excessive of "normal" names for characters in TLJ. We already have main characters with normal Earthly names (Luke, Ben, etc.) and now Rose and Paige. Sounds more like a TV drama than Star Wars. I am one who enjoyed the exotic, extra-galactic names like Dooku, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, etc.

 

Keep in mind that Paige is Rose's sister, so there's some logic there.

 

A gunner isn't a pilot. Either she's a gunner on the Resistance transport that goes to Crait (if it has gunnery positions?) or she's part of the remnants of the New Republic fleet. I'm guessing the latter. I can imagine Poe imparting his knowledge to Paige on the Mon Calamari cruiser's Flight Deck when DJ's ship arrives and out steps Finn and Rose.

 

I don't think she needs to die to motivate Rose.

She's a gunner, Rose is a mechanic. Maybe Rose has always wanted to move from engineering to fighting but never had the courage before she met Finn. Now she's not only trying to live up to her sister's example but also prevent her sister from being killed since the Resistance (including Paige) apparently spends this film fleeing for their lives.

Besides, there's more suspense if Rose is fighting to protect her sister throughout the movie (one of the things going through our heads during the Battle of Crait will be whether or not Paige will be spared) than if she's merely avenging her sister's death at the beginning of the movie.

 

How do you know she is in the Resistance?

 

Vanity Fair article.

 

Gunners can be pilots/co-pilots such as Dak in ESB.... They can also be non-pilot gunners like Finn in the Falcon, but why on earth would Poe be showing her what to do if that was the case??

Agreed!!

 

Or maybe they subvert sacrificial lamb trope and just have it that Paige is contributing directly to the fight, while Rose is polishing those guns and feels useless although she isn't. So she wants to do more. And then she hears that Finn changed his destiny by leaving FO and helping the resistance and thinks "I could do something too, don't want to remain a mechanic forever".

Either way, giving Rose a sister makes Rose character even more interesting to me.

 

Well, I can understand why taking out a "competent" character could force another unlikely hero to step up (ex : Steven Seagal early sacrifice in Executive decision).
But even then, there is no need to kill Paige : just having her wounded or captured would have the same effect.

For the first time in Star Wars, we could have a nice & touching family reunion, without excessive drama. Why rob us of that ?

So, can we keep both ? Pleeeeeeeease...

 

Remember there were originally 2 new female characters, and then things got tweaked and instead it just became 1 major new female character. I wonder if the Paige role was going to be larger originally and then was the one that got scaled down.

I hope she doesn't get killed . I like the idea that she is Rose's super competent big sister who Rose looks up to and her journey involves wanting to step up when Paige needs her, or just being more like her sister.

 

I thing Rose and Holdo are the two new major female characters.

I remember when Pip Anderson was confirmed as being in TFA, a lot of us hoped to see his parkour skills. Instead he turned up just in time to be dead. We know from looking at that still that Veronica can bust some moves, but for all we know she may just be cannon fodder minus any lines. At this stage we've no way of knowing either way, but as you say I hope she plays into the story more, especially seeing as she's Rose's big sister. I'm as intrigued as anyone to see what, if any, dynamic we might see there between the two sisters.

 

Who did Pip play again?

 

I hear what you're saying but at the same time I usually don't care for the names they do come up with when they go with something unconventional: Saw Gerrera, Qui Gon Jinn, Jyn Erso, Sifo-Dyas? Ugh...terrible names.

 

He played the stormtrooper who died in the opening scene, smearing his blood on Finn's helmet.

 

So Pip was Slip.

 

I remember being hyped for the martial arts actors from the movie The Raid were confirmed to be in TFA, sadly they ended up being fodder for cgi tentacle monsters.

 

Yeah, there's no way Paige is a major character when the casting wasn't even announced. Not that announcements mean big part (Max Von Sidow, Gwendoline Christie) but still.

 

Yeah, don't think she'll overshadow Rose at all, but that doesn't mean she has to be killed off either.... The slicer character wasn't announced either but he's still part of the plot in TLJ.

 

I hope she doesn't die. More like go "Wow, that's my sister! "