ST Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in Episode IX

Rey simply isn't the main story focus of the ST, it is Kylo. That has been apparent since the last third of TFA and remained so through all of TLJ. We may have been introduced to her as our lead and she may be the lead hero but she is clearly secondary to Kylo as far as the story. Jyn was the main character in RO but Rey is more like Obi-Wan was in the PT as we stand right now despite the initial introduction in TFA.

Rey was my favorite TFA character but clearly she isn't the main character at this point unless/until Episode IX refocuses the story otherwise. They may not have intended this but it's the only way I can make sense of the character arcs in the ST and still enjoy it. I see it like how Obi-Wan was one of the main leads in the PT and arguably the main character for a chunk of TPM (along with Qui-Gon) and he is my favorite PT character but it is still Anakin's story.

 

Padme being strong in politics doesn't change much of the fact that falling in love with Anakin changes her as a person: she becomes shallow when she's with him, and ends up useless in ROTS. Rey could very well fall in love with Kylo/Ben, or Finn, or Poe, and still be the hero who saves the day and build a new Jedi Order. The real problem would be if she chose to let down the fight to wear pretty dresses and run in the grass with her lover, who would play rodeo with cows to impress her (because girls HAVE to fall in love with guys who do things that impress them, right?). A love story would be an issue if, as you said, suddenly all her life evolved around this lover. Fortunately, at this stage of the saga, it can't happen.

I personnally only care about the scenes that remain in the final version of the film: if these scenes were deleted, obviously Lucas didn't care about showing Padme as a strong female character anymore. He only wanted her to be the reason why Anakin fell to the Dark Side, and a mother who dies of sadness when her job (giving birth) is done. Yuk.

yeah, I remember I rolled my eyes when they had Padme's already very tight outfit in AOTC scractched by the claw of the animal she was fighting with: it only scratched her back, but conveniently cut her outfit in two so she was even sexier after that, without being too injuried At least this reproach can't be made to Rey's outfit, and I don't think it will. It would seem weird to see her walking around sexy in the middle of a FO attack...

Well, no. Leia's faith seems gone when she tells Luke that she thinks her son is gone, but he gives her hope again when he says "no one's ever really gone" and gives her Han's dice: if Kylo finds them on the ground, it's because Leia purposely left them here for her son to find them. I doubt she would have done that if she would have completely lost faith.

 

I think @RetropME is right (obviously depending on how IX goes)

PT - Anakin's story (hero to villain) with Obi-Wan (a non-Skywalker) as the lead hero of the trilogy
OT - Luke's story (traditional hero's journey)
ST - Kylo/Ben's story (villain to hero?) with Rey (another non-Skywalker) as the lead hero of the trilogy

It fits with the story so far, with this being the Skywalker Saga, and makes the ST mirror the PT.

 

To be fair I said Kylo's story but called Rey the lead hero. We're clearly seeing both character's journeys. I over simplified into very generic themes, Anakin's wasn't the only story told in the PT, Luke's wasn't the only story told in the OT.

Star Wars has always been ensemble movies. The OT was more clearly defined as Luke's hero's journey, but after the PT also became the second half of Anakin's story. The PT was much more diverse, it was Anakin's story overall but there's not really one movie where you can say he is the lead over everyone else. He certainly isn't in TPM, ROTS is probably closest but I'd say he and Obi-Wan were co-leads there (and an argument could be made for Palpatine as co-lead as well).

Same in the ST. Rey is pretty clearly set up as lead in TFA but Kylo's story is also a big part of the film, so is Han's, so is Finn's. In TLJ Luke is the lead, with Rey and Kylo the main characters after him (screen time is important but not the be all and end all).

Kylo's story shouldn't require Rey's to suffer or vice versa. If one character gets thrown under the bus to serve the other's story (either way around) then something has gone very wrong. Ben being (potentially) redeemed and the ST telling his journey from villain to hero doesn't suddenly make him the main hero or mean Rey isn't the lead hero anymore.

TBH I've never got why there's such a big deal with Rey being a random. The TFA build up mystery boxed her history but TLJ never marketed itself on learning her origins or anything like that. By the same logic every Force user who isn't Anakin, Luke or Ben is a "random". You've never needed "that mighty Skywalker blood" to be a Jedi or a Sith. Her power levels are extra ordinary but that was explained (however briefly) in TLJ. Plus the marketing for the story this time seems to be "the end of the Skywalker Saga" (at least based on that first press release).

 

If the rumors are true that there will be a flashback/Forceback scene with Luke teaching Leia the ways of the Force I wonder if her lessons will resurface in the present? In other words Leia's training is foreshadow for something to happen later in the movie. If Carrie hadn't passed I'd say that we'd see Leia trying and failing to accomplish whatever Force skill Luke was trying to teach her in the flashback but then we see her pull it off in the present. Maybe something like that will sorta still happen except now Kylo or Rey will successfully do the Force skill that Leia couldn't?

 

I felt like TLJ was setting up Leia as the one to complete Rey's training, sadly that can't happen now.

 

Kylo will become full villain in E9, and survive for the animated TV show that follows.

You have to know that Disney-LFL has had new Darth Vader designs since before TFA. Imagine the action figure sales for New Kylo Vader.

I may sound like I hate the idea, but it's sort of so bad it's love things.

 

Kylo doesn't need to go beyond this trilogy for Disney to make figures of him until eternity.

If he's alive he's redeemed, if he's dead it could go either way. Alive and unredeemed isn't an end to the saga.

 

I didn’t mind that, the costume ended up very “pulp sci-fi” in appearance. Like Barbarella, or something from Buck Rogers, that kind of thing.

 

Well you see, Padme actually let the big tiger alien slash off her clothes because she hasn't had a change in so long. She needs her five outfits a day no matter what.

 

I wouldn’t mind a scene where Kylo redeems himself by flying the Falcon into an explosion to help the good guys win the final battle, and Chewie’s In the cockpit to offer a comforting hand on his shoulder in their final moments.

If we can’t get a big dramatic scene with Leia, maybe we’ll get some sort of poignant moment with Chewie and Ben.

 

And kill Chewie? And L337?
You monster.

 

No more new radar dishes either. Sad face.

 

I want to see Chewie and Lando side by side in the Falcon in the final space battle. And a scene in an ending montage of Lando, flying the falcon and dropping Chewie off on Kashyyk, giving his classic salute, would be a tear-jerker. I feel like after all this, and with Han gone, the Chewie should end the saga retiring to his home world and being with his clan again.

 

#TooReal

Maybe Lando's inclusion in the sizzle reel at least indicates that he's in the film more than a one scene/sequence cameo. Or maybe it means nothing.

 

I would say certainly say "prolific enough" over outright main attraction, but, love it or hate it, TLJ elevated him out of the purely antagonistic role into something more complex. And, honestly, to me his arc is the most open and interesting as we move into IX. I'd also say he's more than a OT Vader, we've got into his head far more in TFA and TLJ than we did Vader in ANH and TESB, but obviously less than I-VI Anakin/Vader. Whether or not he's "Diet Vader" will depend greatly on how IX goes and how they handle any potential redemption arc.

Like I said, I over simplified into a very generic theme and focused on Kylo/Ben because it both mirrored the ST with the PT, and because he is the Skywalker in this trilogy and this is the Skywalker Saga. And yes, I agree with @RetropME, as things stand after TLJ it looks more like Kylo's story (but we both said this depends on how things go with IX). But this doesn't mean that the ST is not also Rey's hero journey. I've said before I think they are co-leads for this trilogy and called her the main hero of this trilogy. A good writer should be able to handle both characters without one needing to be consumed by the other.

For me, IX needs to be a satisfying end to the nine film saga. That's all, everything else is secondary to that.

 

So we have confirmation that Kylo is looking at Vader's helmet again in Ep. IX. Cool. For some reason I'm imagining that when he's looking at the helmet he's thinking, "what am I doing? I'm I doing the right thing?Am I doing what Vader would want? Am I kidding myself? Why am I trying to be the next Vader? Will being the next Vader really make me feel better?"

 

That sounds like his imprisonment.

 

Why IS Kylo trying to be the next Vader? I really hope Episode 9 talks about why Kylo's decided to kill his parents and join the First Order, because that can really illuminate his character and make him more relatable.

 

Bloodline would have provided the answer for this if both the New Republic was not promptly decimated in The Force Awakens and his motivation was not completely tossed aside in The Last Jedi. They could have very easily made the treatment of Leia (and the Skywalkers as a whole) after the reveal of her lineage the catalyst from which Kylo Ren would have adopted Vader's mantle. It would have worked really well as an explanation if they kept the First Order as a much smaller enemy too. After all, his hatred for the New Republic given what happened would show why he'd be willing to join with a smaller force of resurgent Imperial extremists against the New Republic.