Discussion Daisy Ridley (Rey Skywalker) in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars film

Luke almost did, until he looked at Vader's and his own missing hands and then cooled down. I don't think they should mirror that scene with Rey, that would be silly rhyming. But she could still at least be tested somehow.

 

Tested is fine. Just no actual turning. I think one of Rey’s defining qualities is her inherent goodness. Like when we first meet her she’s poor and starving and yet declines a pile of food because she knows BB-8 would be in danger with Unkar Plutt. Turning to the dark side would just be too out of character for her.

 

All it takes is the right push. Vader threatened Leia, and Luke nearly killed him. Rey has shown flashes of darkness, but never quite had that same level of threat to really push her over the edge.

I don't necessarily want to see Rey fall to the dark side either, but what's especially vague about this new film right now is what the personal stakes might be for her and the film as a whole. We know Rey will be faced with the challenges of rebuilding the Jedi Order and contending with the legacy of the generations that came before her, but it's hard to dramatize that in a meaningful way (It also might be why we've cycled through several writers).

 

Rey got tested in TLJ and TROS.

 

Yeah Rey doesn't have a true weakness, which is the main problem with her character. She has no fatal flaw because she's a Mary Sue. They tried to give the illusion of dark side temptation in the ST but never once did I feel that Rey could fall to the dark side because her temptations and outbursts were vague and not rooted in any believable character traits. She doesn't have those character flaws like Anakin with his pride and jealousy and attachment to Padme, or Luke with his impetuousness, faith in his friends and protectiveness over Leia. Because of this Sidious and Vader knew exactly where to squeeze, respectively. They don't have to turn to the dark side but we should, as the viewers, believe that they just might. That's what makes them such interesting characters because you do fear for them because the threat is real and believable because of their inherent character traits, whereas it isn't so much, if at all, with Rey. Anakin turned against the Jedi who raised him to save the one he loved, Luke had to fight his own father. What did Rey do or risk that had that same emotional impact? In fact, TRoS implied that her potential for darkness was because she was a Palpatine, a bloodline that is completely out of her control, even further removing the character from accountability. I hope this new film can improve upon Rey's character because I do like her, I just felt the writing in the ST did the character dirty.

 

It very much did.

She might have been tempted to kill Kylo when she woke up before him on the Supremacy, but we never see it. What would tempt her? Based on what she values.

 

Rey's inherent goodness shines straight up in the first 20 minutes of TFA with the climax being when Unkar Plutt offers her the 60 portions for BB-8, I love all that stuff. "Actually, the droid's not for sale." And then when the two goons try to take BB-8 from her she kicks one dude in the head. "Oy!"

 

Rey is still a fairly underdeveloped character IMO, mostly because the ST was too focused on nostalgia to flesh out its new leads properly. Also, let’s face it, there was no way the middle aged men who wrote those films, ( JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kassandra ect.) would have been up to writing a complex woman, and making her a badass action hero on top of that.
Giving Rey a serious brush with the Dark Side, could be a useful means to a deeper exploration of her character. e.g. what/who matters the most to her in life? (Provided that it was well written.)

Also, I agree that difficulty cracking the story is probably why this film has been through so many writers.

 

Claiming that Rey has no weakness, or that the ST didn't show any flaws in her character, has nothing whatsoever to do with reality. She very much had plenty of them, and they were not only obvious to see but also exploitable in the same way the weaknesses of Luke and Anakin that got mentioned above could be exploited.

Stuff like "In fact, TRoS implied that her potential for darkness was because she was a Palpatine, a bloodline that is completely out of her control, even further removing the character from accountability." just goes completely against what is shown in the movies. Her "potential for darkness" was not based on being a Palpatine, but on her self-doubt regarding herself and her background. Which is not the same as the background itself being the reason.

 

She also straight up said that Palpatine killed her mother and father and she was going to destroy him, that felt pretty dark side-y

 

Aside from her self doubt, which was overcome after a pep talk from Luke's ghost telling her how great she is, what other flaws did she have and how were they exploited? Hate and anger, something we were told by Palpatine instead of previously being shown thru character actions? Both Luke and Palpatine mention her bloodline which comes off as blaming something she has no control over. Anakin was told he must continue down the path of the dark side in order to become strong enough to save Padme. That's a tangible emotional hook rooted in established character traits. Luke was told his sister could be turned should he refuse. That's also a tangible emotional hook rooted in established character traits. Rey doesn't have anything like that because her character was underdeveloped. Palpatine's "temptation" of her on Exegol consisted of him telling her that it's her birthright to become Empress (something she showed no interest in) and that if she kills him he will just transfer his spirit into her. Doesn't sound very tempting to me but rather very off-putting. I was in no way ever concerned in the slightest that Rey might give in to the dark side because the writers didn't give me any believable reason to do so. I'm hoping that's something that will be remedied in this new film if Rey is going to be the lead.

Ah yes, the grandfather she just found out about in TRoS and the parents she barely remembers who abandoned her to keep her safe from grandpa. Again, I felt no concern because those relationships were never fleshed out or even established so there was no emotional hook for the character. Contrast that with Anakin's relationship with Padme (and even his mother,) which was well established and fleshed out over 3 films, same with Luke and Leia. What we've got with the PT and the OT vs. the ST is a classic case of showing vs. telling.

 

Well we know Rey cared a lot about her parents. Even if it was more the idea of them. She likely spend most of her life waiting for them to come back. Its consistant in all of the movies how much she held on.

Whether its seen as good enough or not, it works on that level that it meant something to her. Probably since she was a child. So finding out Palpatin took them away from her, thats gonna stir up emotions. Let alone finding out they died because he wanted her. Let alone the ties to him creating confusion for her.

 

She wasn't even moved to take her parents name... so the film/films (inadvertently) paint Rey as quite a vacuous figure. The film tells us she cares about her parents, but it doesn't show it... and that's a common issue with the sequels... particularly in terms of characterisation and character development, which at best is perfunctory.

 

If your parents names were basically the Star Wars equivalent of Hitler, would you want that name?

 

I don't think it ever tells us that she cares about her parents. She cares about knowing where she came from, which is not the same thing.
And by the end of the trilogy, she takes on the Skywalker name because, ultimately, they played a greater role in making her who she was than her parents did.

 

Because she is no one....
Luke comparatively had a fairly good upbringing in the circumstances so Rey needs more love

 

Ehhh. She makes up fantasies about them being classified or something important. Because she feels unloved and unimportant. She reflects on memories about them leaving her, and wants them back. Or at least is waiting desperately for them to return to her, so she can prove to herself that they love her.

I'd say she does care about them. But yeah, they could have done far more to showing this bond. A six year old would absolutely know and remember their parents. A six year old would know their last name. Even if it was a fake name that her parents made up when hiding. And if no name was actually given, or used, I would imagine that someone in Rey's position, would eventually want to honor her parents. Especially after learning that truth; that not only did they love her, not only were they actually important, but they sacrificed their lives for her to survive.

And what does Rey do with this info. She takes someone else's name entirely and forgets about them. Such a weird anti-climatic ending to that story.

 

Which is why Rey is ultimately a vacuous figure. Her parents literally died for her. Luke Skywalker DID NOT. She knew BB8 for longer than she did Luke. The situation is written really badly... and no amount of jumping through hoops (unfortunately) can make it make sense... other than DLF realised they ****** up by killing all the Skywalker's, so they did the last thing they had left, which was to just have her randomly call herself Skywalker. It's really more about how much one allows this to be an issue for ones enjoyment (or not)... but it really *is* a writing issue. But hey... I forgot that Skywalker's are now considered overrated in Star Wars.

It depends on what the message is. Is it about accepting yourself and being a better person for it, or is it about lying and covering up who you really are? It certainly shouldn't be the latter... not unless one has a warped perspective. But of course there isn't a 'message'. This is just about bad writing... and somehow Palpatine returned.

 

DP...

 

She could have taken her mother’s maiden name too. But that wasn’t a thing that even factored into anything in the story at all.

Given what ending we had, best way to honor everyone she loved would be to just go Just Rey and be nameless. Which given that Finn is also nameless would have been kinda sweet.

 

I agree with the rest of your post, but I fundamentally don't blame her for not wanting to be called Palpatine, but I think it's not particularly meaningful or significant. It's just common sense to not want people to be prejudiced against you because of your last name. We would have to actually believe she had a risk of falling to the Dark Side for her rejecting the Palpatine name to be significant, and I personally didn't see much darkness to her, especially not in terms of her relation to Palpatine. That was never a serious, believable temptation. So to me, not wanting to be named Palpatine is just something obviously desirable but essentially meaningless.

 

I wonder if she even knew it. She was quite young when she was left on her own. I can't remember how old I was when I learned my mother's maiden name.

To be clear, I do understand people's complaints about her taking the Skywalker name. I think if LucasFilm wanted that to really work, we would have needed to see a much better bond between Rey and Luke in TLJ. If it had been something like the Miyagi/LaRusso relationship in the Karate Kid films, it could have worked.
I don't blame Rian for that, of course, since that wasn't the story he was setting up.

Bringing this back to the upcoming Rey movie, I do wonder how much any of this will even be addressed.
One possible plot I could see them using involves some of her students learning that she is not really a Skywalker, and they begin having doubts about her. As her students dig into her past, they learn she is actually a Palpatine, and they become convinced that she is manipulating them, and so they break away from her teachings, genuinely thinking they are doing the right thing. The film's new villain then uses her students' doubts about her to bring them under his influence, and it's up to Rey to find a way to bring them back. It would be a way to have some force users fall to the darkside without it just being about revenge, power and/or greed.

 

My 6 year old gets angry when we call him nicknames (like "bear"). He knows both dad and moms last names because that's what mom's dad, his grampa is called: "Abuelo Maiden Name" Even our 3 year old demands that his name is his name and cries when we try calling himself a made up fun nickname. "Nooooo I'm ....."

It's okay if some kids don't. That's completely fine. Its okay if Rey didn't. They're in hiding so sure whatever. But the story doesn't even mention this or treats it as anything worth thinking about is a failure of the writing because it makes us wonder why Rey doesn't. What names did Rey's parents go by? Did they all just go "Just Rey. Definitely not a Palpatine". Because that's weird too. Even in SW land.

The whole thing is thoughtless.

 

It is, but I don't see it as any more thoughtless than Luke being "hidden" with his relatives in a home that Anakin was well-aware of and letting him keep the Skywalker name. At this point, I guess I just figure it's best not to overthink stuff like this in SW. It's meant to be a fairytale, basically.