ST How do you feel about how Anakin's grandchildren were handled in the Sequel Trilogy?

I was personally disappointed about how they were handled. I hate the fact that Anakin Skywalker only had one grandchild (Ben Solo) and that's it.

When the Sequel Trilogy was first announced, I was hoping that Han and Leia had both a son and daughter, and that Luke had a son, and I was hoping that all three of Anakin's grandchildren would all be Jedi and be the centered trio of the trilogy. But that never happened!

 

Mixed. I almost put satisfied, but if the truth be told my feelings were mixed. Rey is only an adopted grandchild so maybe she doesn't count, and that makes my feelings kind of mixed. I liked both Rey and Ben as characters, when you look at the entire sequel trilogy. But I kind of wish there were at least two biological Skywalker descendents.

 

My hopes were not very high for the Sequel trilogy. I am a Lucas loyalist, and I (contrary to some, even some who call themselves Star Wars fans) consider him a surpassing genius. There are still layers to what he did in the prequel trilogy remaining to be explored. I consider myself in Lucas' debt because he gave Star Wars to me. I do not get the ungrateful and petulant attitude of people who hate him just because they didn't care for one or more of the prequel installments. Maybe that is a little unfair, but I am just being honest. I think it's better to appreciate Lucas and it's a shame this kind of nastiness emerged in fandom post-Epsode I. I'll demur from putting my theories about that here.

Since I had been disappointed with many previous EU continuations, and gagged on most of the fan fiction I found (unless it had me giggling) to me the ST was a pleasant experience in terms of high production quality and fairly interesting characters and situations. There were aspects where I wanted "more." This is the main weakness for me. I just wanted more of certain things. However they only had three movies. The main problem for me is an unevenness in terms of "epic" quality. I don't mean uneven "quality" but that the epicness of the ST is not consistently grand. Parts of VII and VIII felt more like fairly good television, when they should have had more grandeur. I blame the "nearly immediate" time gap for much of this. That was televisiony. Somehow I think they should have given us a time gap to imagine growth and change in the characters and relationships.

 

I didn't go into this trilogy with huge expectations regarding legacy characters. I knew it was a given that they would at least exist in the trilogy, and I only had a passing interest in post-ROTJ stories at the time, so I wasn't expecting the Skywalker Family as presented there.

I got invested in the idea of two grandchildren after TFA, and after I'd learned of Lucas's original intention for it to be that way. It seemed inevitable and it also seemed like the best route to take: Two grandchildren, one boy and one girl, that each represent the two halves of Anakin's legacy fighting one another.

There's enough drama in that to carry the trilogy by itself. Somebody had theorized that Rey was Ben's sister that was lost and presumed dead after an attack when he was young, and he held resentment for his family for not protecting her (though they tried their best). That resentment would boil over after being sent to Luke, and once he finds out Rey is still alive in TFA, he tries to turn her because he's essentially a big brother who desires the lost relationship with his little sister.

That was my favorite "Rey Parentage" theory post-TFA, but it could've taken numerous other forms. I just hate the final product ignoring the family bond because it hurt the overall saga in several ways, and they could've easily had a heartfelt story that was universally relatable where siblings/cousins fight but still care about each other.

 

Mixed. I was a big old Legends fan and grew up on tales of Jaina and Jacen and Ben and was personally hoping that - even though they ditched the old canon - the options would be cast a little wider.
With Luke having no children and Han and Leia only having the one, that limited everything a bit, although I understand why that path was chosen.
Ultimately, I had no complaints about Luke's path - his decision to fade into obscurity and cut himself off from the world was painful but also wonderfully realistic. I still wish that Han and Leia had had more than one kid, because that would have opened up so many more options for the trilogy. And I enjoyed the theories that Rey was related to Kylo somehow: that would have been my ideal outcome.

I guess I understand why the decision was made to only let Han and Leia only have one kid though, and to have the entire sequel trilogy hinge upon that child's path and destiny. It's focused. It reinforces the new (and previously existing) narrative of Star Wars that one's birth does not define one's future. And at the end of the day, with the introduction of new characters such as Rey and Finn, did the Skywalker bloodline matter all that much? Not really.

I think the Sequel Trilogy made a very strong effort at subverting and departing from the old Skywalker bloodline, and I personally feel like it succeeded very well. As a big fan of the old EU, I would have loved to see those characters made flesh, but we can't have everything! Those books still exist, that canon still exists, those stories still exist, and I'm fine with that.

Above all else, I'm kinda glad to know that the Skywalker Saga is done with. Ain't nobody can keep something like that going for 9+ movies and keep every fan happy. Let's break free and try something new now.

 

Disappointed. I preferred Ben Skywalker, Anakin Solo, Jacen Solo, and especially Jaina Solo-Fel.

 

Disappointed.

I have never read the stories in the EU about Jacen, Jaina and Anakin so I was not expecting anything from any novels but Kylo being the only descendant and his woobie story was horrible.

 

I recall that someone once said that Jacen as Caedus behaved as though he were on extremely bad drugs. Well, Kylo Ren acted like he needed to be on medication.

 

Grandchildren????

Did I miss something?

 

Disappointed.
I was disappointed that Anakin only ended up with one grandchild and in the end, his bloodline is gone forever.
I also much preferred the 4 he had in the EU (or "Legends" I refuse to call it that) because they were developed much better.

 

This was my first response when I read the thread title.

 

Disappointed. I really like Adam Driver as an actor, but Anakin and his grandchildren, were pretty much redundant as characters integral to the plot. Kylo Ren could have just been anybody really... Him being Leia and Han's son was actually a distraction the story didn't need, and was reflective of the (seemingly) confusion as to whom the central character of the ST actually was.

 

It's worth considering that there were three epic films to handle the entire issue compared to the sprawling and in principle unlimited expanded universe. How many novels were there? Didn't Kevin J. Anderson write multiple books a year for a while, and comics too?

 

Disappointed to say the least. Being a fan of the EU, I knew there was real potential for the "next generation", especially for Ben/Kylo, to be a decent characters. They had a roadmap for the ST and the characters, despite the unbelievably ignorant “no source material” comment. However, Kylo ended up just being a lazy imitation of Jacen/Caedus who lacked any real depth and motivation; beyond the writers saying "we need him as a villain". Adam Driver gave an amazing performance and was the best part of the ST, but Kylo/Ben as a character is very shallow and is only now being given a backstory via comics; too little too late imo. The fact that the Skywalker lineage ends with Ben's death is also wasteful since it means Anakin's sacrifice (and redemption in general) is ultimately meaningless; and Rey is not a Skywalker by any means. That also removes any potential for future stories. I feel like Ben/Kylo was handled poorly and should have lived in the end, even if it meant Rey dying; this was the "Skywalker Saga" after all. Heck, I'm not a "Reylo" shipper, but having them both live and go on to found a "New Jedi Order" would have better that what we got. As it is, the "Skywalker Saga" ends with all the Skywalker's dead, having been failures and achieving nothing in the end.

 

I feel massively disappointed by how underdeveloped Kylo and Rey were in the ST and how they were treated throughout the trilogy. One of the biggest things that got me excited about the ST in the lead up to TFA was the idea that Rey and Kylo were both related to Han, Leia, and Luke. Now the trilogy is over and all those characters are dead and Rey is a Paplatine who adopted the Skywalker name without the narrative letting her truly earn it. It's like the writers went out of their way to squander the potential these characters once had. I have zero interest in the further adventures of Rey Fake-Skywalker.

If Rey was Luke's kid and Ben turned to the light side and was living in exile I'd be much more interested in seeing those characters in future movies. Now I hope to never see them or hear them mentioned again.

ETA: If Rey has kids then that's more Palpatine's in the GFFA, presumably more Palpatines using the Skywalker last name. Over the next 40 years are we going to be getting Star Wars movies about Palpatine's great grandchildren and and great, great grandchildren while the Skywalker bloodline remains extinct?

It's super weird to think about so many Palpatine characters in future Star Wars movies when there will be no actual Skywalkers.

 

I don't think Rey will have children, at least not if she keeps to the original Jedi code.

 

Well she kinda breaks all kinds of Jedi rules so I'm not sure why she would be beholden to the no procreation rule.

 

It's time for her to study and develop the new rules for a future Jedi order.

Or will she name it something else...?

 

^The Order of the Pastkillers.

 

I still cannot believe that's what we got after waiting for 30 plus years....insane. What's worse for me it HAS dampened my view of the previous films.

 

Will all future Jedi take the name Skywalker similar to Kylo taking the name Ren. Or Sith Lords using Darth.

 

Everyone is a Skywalker now. Skywalker is love, Skywalker is life