ST How strong is Rey Skywalker in comparison to the Star Wars mythos.

Rey is somehow both the most underestimated and overestimated character in the entirety of the Star Wars Mythos.



Rey isn't a force god at the end of TROS like some people claim; however, she isn't a scrub. This woman does have serious talent and would be a worthy threat against many notable star wars characters in all continuites.

1. Physical abillites

A. Agility



Rey's speed and agillity are prodigious as she's consistently been shown as an agile speedster capable of moving faster than the eye could see, and could dodge blaster fire.


"He started to lift the weapon, but Rey knocked it out of his hand before he could even blink."

-The Force Awakens: Rey's Story




B. Strength

Rey's strength is considerable, as even before she awakens the force, she was capable of knocking out people with ease.





C. Endurance

Despite the constant heat of Jakku, Rey has gone scavenging for hours and has climbed massive structures just to barley earn enough to eat at night.



2. Lightsaber and martial Prowess.




Rey is untrained but not unskilled. Rey has perfected combat with her staff to survive the harsh uncivilized planet of Jakku. This skill would transfer over short-range melee weapons like the lightsaber.


"Rey has learned self-defense as a matter of necessity. With her battered but durable staff, she has perfected thrusting, swinging, and striking techniques to keep away unruly thugs."

"Rey's fighting skill with her staff translates well into other short-ranged melee weapons, including those she has never wielded before."

-The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary

Now to properly give an analysis of Rey's lightsaber prowess I must dissect all of her major fights. So now I'm going to dissect the following fights;

• Kylo vs. Rey TFA
• Rey and Kylo vs. The Praetorian Guards TLJ
• Rey vs Kylo TROS
• And finally Rey vs. Palpatine

Kylo vs. Rey TFA



This fight is a tremondus achievement for Rey, considering this was her first lightsaber duel with a force-wielder. Not to mention she managed to win against KYLO who is at least as Jedi master tier!

However, this fight is not an accurate measurement of Rey's ability against Kylo's for the following reasons;

• Kylo was badly injured by Chewie's Bowcaster
  
• Kylo was unbalanced after killing his Father
• Kylo wasn't trying to kill Rey

Even after all that, Rey was losing handily until she drew upon the dark side, overwhelming Kylo. (TFA novelization)

Rey and Kylo vs. The Praetorian Guards TLJ


This duel is by far the most informative of her skills.

The Praetorian Guards are not force sensitive but are trained in fighting styles such as Echani and Teras Kasi that are specifically meant for countering Jedi, not to mention their lightsaber resistant weapons and armor.

The novelization goes out of it's way to describe the fight which shows that Rey's prodigious reflexes, connection to the force, and the Elite guard's strategy played a part in her victory.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYnvUz2QiywEUDSDKSaqx3aU9KQUY0I1sxTrJ6VmJTY/edit?usp=sharing

The battle is too long to post so here's the Google doc if you want to read it.





This fight is accuratley shows Kylo's skill in comparison to Rey's. Both fighters were operating at 100%, ready to kill one another. Rey would've been killed if not for Leia.




Rey was given a temporary power boost by all of the dead clone wars era Jedi, akin to battle meditation.

Force Powers:
Force lightning - can't control
Alter abilites- Anakin Skywalker (AOTC)
Force heal - can't heal herself only other and that causes pain.

In conclusion I would have to say that Rey is clone wars era mid Jedi knight level. So that means she was on par with Cal Kestis, TPM Kenobi, Clone wars Ahsoka, and The Grand Inquisitor.

 

I think what people tend to forget is that, in terms of combat, agility, proficiency with weapons, and things like that, it makes perfect sense for Rey to be skilled in those areas because she spent the majority of her life fighting for survival in the desert. She had to be good at those things. More than anything else, she needed training with her actual connection to the Force.

We see in The Last Jedi that she’s rather oblivious to what the Force even is, and while Luke progresses her knowledge, it isn’t until we see her a year later under the tutelage of Leia in The Rise of Skywalker that she really appears to begin grasping the concepts tied to the Force. I think Rey’s journey to becoming a Jedi was a lot more emotional and mental than it was physical, and I wish more people would realize that instead of dismissing her as a “Mary Sue” when she’s obviously not.

I think you bring up a great point about Rey being untrained, but not unskilled. In spite of her lack of technical training, she does still hold her own in her duels against Kylo, who is far more experienced with lightsaber combat than Rey. She might not be as skilled as someone like Luke, Obi-Wan or Yoda at their prime, but I think she can still hold her own very well in combat and I would definitely rank her high within the list of most powerful and/or skilled Jedi, especially because her training was so minimal compared to a lot of the other Jedi, particularly from the prequel era.

 

In spite of all this, he's still spinning his lightsaber and such. I think using those things, to me, comes off as a way to justify her victory, rather than it coming from a character arc-y place. Even the unbalanced by killing his dad is explained in TLJ.

That's not in the movie.

 

Lol yes, it is. She angrily kicks Kylo's butt just like Luke did to Vader when he drew from the dark side.



The novel expands on this scene:


Slowly she shook her head. "The Force?" That was what this was about? Instead of moving to defend herself, Rey closed her eyes. Ren hesitated, confused by her actions. A long moment passed, in which Ren sensed a change in the air, a change in her. Then she opened her eyes and attacked, viciously, in a way she didn't know she was capable of, striking again and again as Ren was slowly driven back. The flaring energy from the interacting lightsabers was more pronounced than ever in the flurry of her attack. And Ren went down.

He was up again in an instant, but not in time to fully deflect a following blow from Rey's weapon. He succeeded in blocking it, but he still took the full force of the strike against the haft of his own lightsaber. The weapon went flying into the snow. Unarmed, he raised a hand and utilized the Force to fend off one slashing blow after another, until finally her fury penetrated his remaining defenses. Taking a glancing blow to the head and chest, he went down, a prominent burn slashed across his face. Weakened, he reached out toward his lightsaber, trying to draw it to him.

One downward cut, she saw. One quick, final strike, and she could kill him. The landing lights of a shuttle appeared in the distance, coming over the trees in her direction. She had to make a decision, now.

Kill him, a voice inside her head said. It was amorphous, unidentifiable, raw. Pure vengeful emotion. So easy, she told herself. So quick.

She recoiled from it. From the dark side.


-The Force Awakens novelisation

 

I think the movie shows her being mad at the end of it, but I don't think anything particularly equals outright dark side in the fight itself, to me. Someone can get angry in a fight. Maybe she was going to use it there. But that doesn't mean she tapped into it to defeat him there. Though I also think that's an easy explanation if it was what's happening, as I think neither TFA or TLJ really deals with the implications of that fight for her and how she won it.

I don't really take what the novelization says as canon really, to me. But also, that novelization doesn't line up with my reading of the scene, in that her using it is more in personal intensity than dark side directly.

 

Rey is probably the strongest force user in Star Wars... simply because it's what the writers needed to do to imbue the character with qualities that they (the writers) didn't have the wit, creativity/imagination or time to develop properly. Rather than show her learn/harness those skills, they have her download them like an Assassin's Creed game. Rather than Jedi not having the ability to save people from death (the straw that broke Anakin's back and sent him darkside), let's have Rey learn this ability 'off screen', from reading out of a book etc. etc. It's not enough that Rey knows the force, or is powerful, she has to be more powerful than anyone before... just like Starkiller Base had to be several times bigger than the Death Star etc. etc.

 

I think of Kylo and Rey as probably being a bit stronger than your average Clone Wars Jedi in Force power, but weaker with a lightsaber. I don't think either compare to someone like Obi-Wan or Mace.

 

Poor Shmi. The force heal is just ridiculous becoming a convenient power for Rey and the ST. I am sure Anakin would have loved to have been able to at least learn that much and save his mother.

 

I understand, your opinion and view are yours to make. I am not here to judge it, friend. However, Rey's connection to the force is inherently dark.

"Rey's innate connection to the force was stronger than I could have anticipated. But that strength was still raw and unbalanced and her mind was almost immediately drawn toward the darkness." - Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi.

This book is written by Disney's Luke Skywalker during the events of TLJ. I'm not gonna lie the sequel trilogy's New Jedi order is inferior to Legend's version because in the EU Luke spent his entire life learning the mistakes of the old Jedi order and atoning for its sins, forming alliances with groups that have hated the Jedi for generations such as the Matuka and the Jensaarai, sure Luke wasn't perfect, his order became unpopular with the galaxy at a certain point but he TOOK ACTION and made the order stronger and more inclusive than ever.

Meanwhile, Disney's Luke and his Jedi order did none of that, instead, it took the exact same approach that the Post Ruusan era Jedi, isolationism and only training children. Luke tried to teach Leia but she sensed the future and left. So in essence Luke learned nothing from the failures of the past Jedi. Not to mention that both he and Leia in this version of events were afraid to fail as they were easily discouraged after sensing or encountering failure.

Anyway rant over haha

 

I think that isn't really said or shown, to me, in TFA, like that.

And I think similar about Luke's failures and such not being shown or said.

 

Rey Skywalker is one of the best charcters to come out of Star Wars. She is a strong character with many flaws and it sin't until TROS she can fight like jedi can. She swings her lightsaber like a bat in TFA and TLJ. In all the movies it is shown that SNoke and Kylo oare stronger then her. Kylo would have killed her in TROS. She is strong in the force but her lightsaber skill are not that great. I see Rey similar to Ahsoka who defeats Maul, takes on Darth Vader, Greivious and Palpatine. I think they both very similar in how they use the force. When ever i see someone label Rey as mary sue is ask why, as Ahsoka is as mutch a mary sue as and Luke is. When i rewatch these movies i see both her strenght and her flaws and failings. Rey's defeat of Palpatine is one of her best mommmetns just like Ahsoka's with Maul and Vader. I always hear training, but then what about Grogu, Ahsoka, Luke, Anakin.

 

She seems roughly comparable to Luke in the OT, the difference being that Luke's abilities are shown to be developed and learned from teachers, while Rey is a kind of virtuoso who can instinctively figure out how to become a Star Wars hero. She makes more mistakes, but mostly gets the same results.

 

I don't know if I'd say she's as far along as Luke from ROTJ, Rey handily lost to Kylo in TROS while Luke defeats Vader. Still, I agree with the basis of your point.

 

Yeah I had a similar theory (not the Kylo Ren bit, which is even cooler).

The way I theorized it before, this happens because the Force is balancing out the loophole of Palpatine cheating death. The difference being that on the dark side, it's a selfish unnatural extension of one's life, whereas on the light, we 'live forever' by embracing death selflessly (as Anakin did) and passing on knowledge and lessons (and in this case, power) to future generations.

It also just seems to fit with a lot of the ST, like Maz's line about "Same eyes in different faces" and Rey hearing Obi-Wan ("These are your first steps").

Here's hoping Filoni or someone will write something like this in a series to strengthen the impact of the ST.

 

dp

 

She is basically lukes whole progression in al 3 of the OT movies but very unbalanced. when you accidentally mind trick someone as a rooky... thats pretty big.