ST How Could The ST Be Improved By Other SW Content? (Shows/Books/Etc.)

The story really probably should have just given her a last name up front. The last name her parents used to hide. Rey Solana, or whatever. And then her story is a journey of self discovery and a real mystery is set up.

TFA:
We're introduced to Rey Solana. She lives alone and wants her parents to come back. She knows there's something top secret about them. She wonders where they went and when are they coming back?

Then when she meets Maz, and Maz is alerted by her last name. "You're last name is Solana!?! Solana? That's a name I've not heard in many years. Many years."
Maz then tells her that "Solana is a very old Imperial family. They go back centuries. Even back to the Old Republic days. It's possible your parents...well...after the war the NR hunted down many old Imperial families. Some were arrested. Some vanished. Some created the FO."

So now we have Finn a former stormtrooper, and Rey who's family comes from Imperials as our new heroes. And now Rey is wrestling with the idea that she comes from the baddies. Doubt and darker thoughts creep in.

TLJ:
Rey meets Luke and he senses something familiar about her, although he's never heard of Solana before. There's a dark cloud over her past and can't figure it out and basically refuses to train her. Rey visits the cave for answers and sees her parents caring for her as a baby. They mention taking her mom's last name to hide from the NR, as her father was the son of the Emperor and way too famous. Rey is destroyed.

Then we get the Rey-Kylo chats. Kylo mentions that his family left him in his Uncle's care and all he wanted was to be with his parents. That he wasn't ready and just wanted to stay home and be a kid. But they wanted me lead the Jedi and that was that. Rey then opens up. She tells him how her parents left her on Jakku and how they were likely former Imperials who were hunted down by the NR. They're most likely dead. (She leaves out the important parts) Kylo asks her to meet him. And she senses a surprising friendliness through their strange connection. She agrees.

Later she meets Kylo, and they take down Snoke. Kylo then senses something strange about Rey though. He sees that she's so powerful and it doesn't make sense. Who are you?, he asks. Rey refuses to say. And then reads her mind again. She tries to get him out, but it's too late. "You're a Palpatine? You're the heir of the Empire! All of this is supposed to be yours. Rey, join me. I can train you and together we can rule this whole galaxy. We can make something new.

Rey hesitates. But refuses. Kylo then says "Then you leave me no choice."

Luke and Kylo fight. He tells Luke that 'you don't even know who she really is. I'll destroy her!" Blah blah blah.

TROS: Rey is still grappling with the revelation that she's the Emperor's heir. She's only told Leia and for the past year Kylo and the FO have been basically hunting for her. Kylo as Supreme Leader doesn't want the Imperial Heir around. At some point maybe she finds out her parents were actually good people. They didn't want the throne ever, and just wanted to be a family.

Rey can still kill Kylo. Although I think you don't even need a zombie Palpatine in this story for this to work out.

End of the movie is Rey accepting her family for what it is. Rey. Rey Solana.

Something like that. Not perfect, but at least gives her an arc over three films where she is conflicted and grows beyond her family name and it's not all just dumped in the third film.

 

She doesn't need a family name. Thats not important. No one is saying hey she needed to use palpatine now. Like everyone has to have a 2nd name. Apparently Han didn't have a 2nd name until he was given one just so he could join the Empire. She can be just Rey very easy. The family name in this reguard isn't as important as much as who her parents were and where her parents came from. Because that stuff is kinda influential on who you are and gives you an idea of the type of person you might be. A surname means very little.

Now people will bring up the Skywalkers. Well thats a little different because the Skywalkers have become an iconic label for a very unique linage. Leia is a Skywalker but she hasn't got that family name. Ben is a skywalker, But he was given the name Solo.

 

Tell that to the creators of the ST.

 

Reys second name only became important by the end of the movie when she gave herself one. Before that, her taking the name Palpatine wasn't needed. Her being related to Palpatine in some way was perhaps more important than the desire for a 2nd name.

 

No. Rey's last name was important since TFA. Leaving it blank and making a mystery box means the last name was name we've would have known or we're familiar with, hence the reason they're leaving it blank. To create that mystery. Other wise they would have just said here's Rey. Rey Solana. Or whatever.

And as far as Han Solo goes. He had a last name too. Since ANH. Maybe you saw that movie, I'm not entirely sure anymore since your posts are so over the place and mostly seem just contrarian to what anyone is discussing.

It was only in another Disney-era production that they decided his last name needed explaining. Because Disney cares about last names.

 

No the 2nd name has never been important. the only time it became relevant was when Rey was asked Rey who? and she didn't know what to say. That was the only time it mattered

Yes he was given one in Solo. The canon film. He was given the name Solo because he said he didn't have a 2nd name. He was Alone. And the imperial was like Han... Solo.

He was given a made up name just so he could have one.

 

Rey was literally old enough to remember her last name or even her mother’s name. TFA never suggested that she had no knowledge of her name. Rey was just waiting on her family to return.

Rey taking the name Skywalker will forever be idiotic to me. No one can convince me that her parents spent 6 years saying “oh, we just call you Rey. We didn’t think you needed a last name”.

Sure, her last name was a mystery to us as the audience, but it never should have been a mystery to her. Rey should have taken her mother’s last name or whatever Clone Papa Palpatine went by.

The only character that had real mystery to their name and should have had an answer to that was Finn.

There should have been a time jump and instead of the whole awkward blind date on Canto Bight, Finn should have been discovering his home planet. There, here could have found his own reason to return and join the Resistance instead of being gaslighted into joining by Rose.

 

You know that Solo came out about 30 years after ANH right? Right?

Maybe not.

It doesn't matter that Solo is cannon or not. There was no mystery to his name. It was just a last name. Until Disney decided that the name needed some special meaning for no reason what so ever.

Rey's last name wasn't mentioned in TFA and in TLJ in order to prompt a mystery box. Oooooo, who is she? Is she a Skywalker? Is she really a Solo? Is she a Kenobi? Nope...she's a Palpatine. Womp Womp. The reason why we never heard her last name was because it was a famous last name, and if we heard it in TFA, there would be no mystery.

But guess what. Being a Palpatine was a surprise to Rey. That means it's not the name she heard for herself. That means she didn't know what her last name really was. That means it was a mystery to her.

 

Whats that got to do with anything? TROS came out after Solo. What? Im counting all the films because all the films are connected.
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And because the last name wasn't as important as the mystery. But the mystery had nothing to do with her last name.

 

No more idiotic than naming Luke Skywalker (who is literally hiding because of his lineage) instead of Lars. It's silly that Luke kept his last name. Rey didn't know her last name as a form of protection. Maybe Skywalker is a more common last name than Palpatine? Who cares?

I dunno. Again, maybe this is a case of me not taking SW seriously enough. Like, who gives a **** about any of this?

 

So, if am hearing you correctly, you are positing that we are actually seeing ROTJ Luke in the remaining moments of ESB? I can kinda see it, but I am not sure I agree. His demeanor in Jabba's palace is much more forward, confident, cocksure, and commanding than anything we see in ESB.

To me, Luke's lost his mojo a bit by the end of ESB...as you'd expect from the Vader maiming/reveal. At the end of ESB, Luke is humbled, withdrawn, and quiet as you said. He's not this in ROTJ, though....

 

I'd hardly call Luke cocksure at Jabba's palace in ROTJ. He's not rushing in there, 'saber drawn, ready to bust his friends out of jail. He's calm & composed, with a plan in mind with multiple points where the whole thing could be settled peacefully, yet ready to go into action when he had the advantage.

 

I disagree a bit. Luke was prepared and actually attempted to shoot Jabba at (nearly) point blank range. Cocksure and full of swagger. He's talking smack to Jabba and everything...

 

Luke is more a jedi in ROTJ. Lucas time skipped so he could make Luke more like what he had in mind for the Jedi. Its a big contrast to the last we see him in Empire. But i think thats meant to the point. We are meant to be seeing a different Luke. He almost seems grown up now compared to Empire. But obviously that doesn't change the gap in between is not shown to us. So we skipped over any of the struggle. And i know people will bring up the training in Empire... But thats kinda showing us Luke does have a struggle learning. ROTJ just tells us he got over it and is now is closer to being a Jedi.

But yeah the Jabba plan did seem abit risky. It really did require alot of things being in the right place at the right time. And Lucky it was. Admittedly still abit of a journey to get there. I dunno if the plan Luke had really involved getting transported to the Sarlac Pitt

 

Agreed. Also, let's not forget....this Jedi did simply attempt to assassinate Jabba on the spot. If it weren't for the pesky trap door...

 

He said the growth is happening.

There is nothing like this for Rey. Give it a rest with the “OT did it too” diversions. It’s a fallacy.

 

All part of the plan. It was meant to fail, so they'd be sent out to the Sarlaac, where Jabba would be outside & vulnerable.

 

Problem with plans that are meant to fail to get to a certain place is that you have to know it wil fail the way you want it too. You have to know you won't just be executed on the spot or thrown down a hole to fight a rancor that could kill you before you get to that place.

 

The idea is that Luke knows about the Rancor, and a big part of the plan rests on killing it. Luke knows that's such an insult that Jabba won't be satisfied with just blasting him. Thus, he and the others go to the Sarlaac, where Luke will have an unexpected advantage. In fact, when Jabba via Threepio, delivers the sentence, Luke is nodding and slightly smiling. Yes, it was risky, but it had the best chance of success, in conjunction with the other parts of the plan.
I wrote out a whole analysis of Luke's plan a while back. I can put it up again, if you like.

 

He nods to R2, who has his saber safely and secretly stored inside of him.

Its all part of the plan.

 

Where was I talking about Rey? I was talking about character growth happening in between films. Thanks for speaking up for others though.

I've read your analysis. I mostly agree with your assessment. To me, the elaborate nature and meticulous designs of it all only adds to my assertion that Luke Skywalker in ROTJ is a much different guy than the Luke Skywalker at the end of ESB. Character development took place offscreen in between films.

 

Id like to see how this was planned out. So first he goes in, Presumbaly he went in with a 50/50 mindset that Jabba wouldn't give over Han Solo. And he knew that he would be chucked down into that rancor pit. He also went in without a saber. He did have a gun which he turned on Jabba with just before he was thrown into the pitt. Maybe he thought he would have a gun to kill the Rancor? I dunno. But i guess that was staged right? He actually wasn't gonna shoot jabba at all and knew he was standing on a trapdoor.

And then lucky his plan went well and he wasn't eaten by the giant Rancor because that would have been bad. And then clearly knowing Jabba well they knew he would send them out to the Sarlac pitt and not just kill them on the spot, where R2 would luckly be serving drinks so that he would be out in the open to throw Luke the saber for an outdoor battle above the pitt on some barges. Because if they had shoved R2 somewhere else in his palace and left him there the plan would be screwed.

Thats extremely convoluted. Alot has to go right for this plan to work and alot has to be assumed for all the building blocks too add up. You can call it a plan if you want. Its just a very don't think about it too hard otherwise it falls apart plan.

 

You know, I think you may be onto something. It is rather convoluted not that you mention it.

Also, Luke didn't have a gun. He force ripped it off of someone else's holster. No? How to plan for that? I now think that Luke had contingencies, but also improvised on the fly. That makes him a better character/hero anyways.

 

Oh yeah thats right he didn't have the gun. Nvm