ST Rey Skywalker/Daisy Ridley Discussion Thread

I'm moving this to the Rey thread because it's about her.

In the Empire Strikes Back, Luke saves his friends sans Han, but at the cost of his hand, which becomes very important in the third film. Luke did something that was seflless and heroic, but still suffered the consequences of his decision because those consequences existed independently of the nobility of his goal: he was told that it was a trap and he was told that he wasn't ready to face Darth Vader.

In the Last Jedi, Rey sends herself to the enemy without any fall-back plan and when faced with the opportunity to kill the new leader of the First Order who has just expressed his sincere intent to wipe out the Resistance, she doesn't take it. Rey suffers absolutely no consequences for her reckless behavior and she suffers absolutely no consequences for her decision to spare Kylo Ren: - it's the rest of the galaxy that pays for it, instead. Nobody learns what she did so, none of her friends feel betrayed and she loses no standing in the eyes of the Resistance.

Oh, Rey shows plenty of human emotion, I agree, but she doesn't act like a human being.

In the Force Awakens, she had absolutely no positive or even neutral interactions with Kylo Ren: they were all extreme negatives that were compounded by events such as Han Solo's death, Finn's maiming and Rey's torture.

There was no preexisting positive feelings present, like in Padme's relationship to Anakin, that could muddle the emotional waters.

In the Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is a stranger who terrorizes Rey, kills her father figure and maims her best friend, all after torturing her.

In the Last Jedi, one of these things would make it damn hard for Rey to care about Kylo Ren, let alone fall in love with him. All of them would make it impossible to transition TFA Rey into TLJ Rey, which is why the latter film ignores all but one of the events and has Rey just take Kylo Ren at his word without even asking for him to list an actual example of how his parents abandoned him.

Rey's torture and Finn's maiming affected her just as much as witnessing Han's death did.

Spoiler: Pictured: Rey's torture & Finn's maiming (TFA)

You know, I'm not actually sure that she was aware that Finn had recovered by the time the hut scene happened.

Speaking of which, in real life, the hut scene would be treated as a big red flag in real-life because friends that care about each other do not do this: they do not sit down with someone who has maimed their friend to share their feelings and comfort said someone. Rey isn't even shown to feel guilty about her feelings towards Kylo Ren, which would be the normal response in real-life.

At the end of the Force Awakens, Rey is actively trying to kill Kylo Ren because of what he's done.

Spoiler: Pictured: Rey trying to do just that (TFA)

All that rage and grief (and the feelings that were strong enough to prompt them) doesn't just go away just because the villain has a sob story.

It's pure emotional logic: If I murder someone's father figure and maims their friend so badly that they end up in a coma, that someone is not going to warm up to me, let alone fall in love with me, just because I tell that my uncle tried to kill me when I was younger. That's not how human emotions work in real-life. The few exceptions that do exist, exist because of factors, usually Stockholm syndrome-esque factors, that aren't present in Rey's relationship to Kylo Ren.

 

I don't think Luke losing his hand was a punishment for trying to save his friends though. that says it was wrong of him to do so and he is now facing the consiquences. admittedly he saved no one as they escaped without him and ended up saving him instead. but overall thats just the complex nature of the OT. rules don't apply.

As for killing Kylo. It would have done nothing really. Kylo wasn't holding the first order up purely from his force power. if Kylo wasn't there someone else would take over and do the exact same thing. probably Hux. So even her going back and saying nah i didn't kill Kylo wouldn't have exactly had a whaaaat you didn't put a stop to the war?? reaction, because it didn't matter, one steps down, another steps up.

So the consequences with Rey would have been the same either way. the difference being she would then have to go back to Leia and be like i killed your son (high five).

What is being a Human being? life is a complicated thing. people deal with things in totally different ways. some have more compassion than other do. some people trust too easy or have to much trust in others. some have no trust or faith in anyone. its all human. it all very much dictates on the sorta person you are. and Rey isn't exactly a hard-ass difficult to adjust to trusting people she meets.

 

Read my post again because I expressively said that those consequences existed regardless of the nobility of his goal. He went to Cloud City knowing it was a trap and knowing that he wasn't ready to face Darth Vader. As a consequence, he was lured into a trap and lost his hand to Darth Vader.

Yes, it would and no, I never said that.

But it wouldn't be Kylo Ren. They'd have lost a powerful force-sensitive asset as well as a high-ranking member of their military hierarchy.

If Kylo Ren can just assume control of the First Order, that implies one or two things: he's high-ranking enough and/or he's powerful enough to stake a claim and make sure nobody else overrules him.

I never said it would end the war. Don't exaggerate.

Kylo Ren doesn't just step down: he's a powerful enemy asset that would be completely and permanently removed from the war entirely.

So, Kylo Ren is powerful enough that Rey thinks he could be the Resistance's only hope, but not so powerful that she thinks killing him would be boon to the Resistance?

I made it clear in my post that my judgement was founded on real-life human psychology, but if you want to claim real-life as well, you should have no problem finding real-life examples of a relationship that matches the conditions of Rey and Kylo Ren's relationship sans, of course, the fantastical elements.

 

Moving this post to the Rey thread, as well, because it's also about her.

I also said that it was irrelevant because it has no bearing on the story.

No, it doesn't. I laid out in my previous post how the scene should not exist if Rian Johnson was using an economical method of storytelling.

Rey looking at an unconcious Kylo Ren and choosing not to take advantage of the moment to kill him is a decision that is incredible significant to her character given what she's been through because of him in the first and second film.

In the first film, she was actively trying to kill him because of the evil he had done. In the second film, she bonds with him and goes to try to save his soul, allegedly for the sake of the Resistance, only for him to reveal that he has no interest in redemption and wants to destroy her faction and by extension, everybody she cares about.

Furthermore, Rey claims she is going to turn him to save the Resistance and yet here she choses to spare him, even though doing so is endangering the Resistance and everybody she cares about, not to mention the galaxy as well.

This is a decision that carries severe consequences and a decision that would carry immense weight for Rey personally.

I also want to repeat that this kind of gap does not exist in Luke's (or Anakin's) story. We see them make their decisions and we see the emotional context to those decisions. Their respective trilogy prioritize telling their stories because they are the protagonist of their respective films.

 

But what does the force-sensitive asset add? in the long run the numbers are high in the first order. Kylo is 1. the only thing it would take away is the idea and fear of a dark space wizard ruling over them. but if you keep the order going then politically it will continue. they won't all look at each other like Oh no without Kylo we don't know what we are doing. D:

The attack on crait after could have been commanded by hux and you would still have a war going on there. although admitted they probably would have succeeded due to not having Kylo there to stall the attack because of Luke appearing. Hux wouldn't exactly stop the attack and go down to face Luke.

Should she have killed Kylo? sure. am sure she could have. take one assett out of the first order, but in terms of whether it would have impacted much. probably not enough to let the decision haunt her or be punished for it.

 

UGH, I'll say it again. Rey is the WORST. How could they do this?

 

She isn't the worst. There are many relatable aspects of her.
She is strong to suffer the consequences if her choices without regressing into selfrighteousness (much)

 

Its not the character or actress's fault. TPTB at LFL just dropped the ball with her story - like they did with most of the ST.

 

I like how she can take a punch in the face and still take down opponents.
I like how she'd fight till her last breath.
I like that she's emotional and not some cold uninteresting heroine...I like how she gets mad. Has a full range of emotions.
I like she looks like a tomboy not like a princess.
In so many things she is almost as innocent as a child....i like that innocence....reminded me of PT when Yoda said...truly wonderful a mind of a child is...children sometimes can see the truths better than grownups tainted by bias...

 

And thats a big No-No for being a Jedi.

And while some will say thats the PT. well even Luke was learning how to manage it during his jedi monk phase in ROTJ

 

There's one thing I hate about Jedis.
Surpression of emotions!!!!
That's why I absolutely love the Rey character. She gets angry, shows kindness to little BB-8, and she's semi-jerky to Kylo.
I think that Rey was one of the BEST characters to be a Jedi... since shes basically telling everyone:
I'm a Jedi and I can have emotions.
Luke in ROTJ... he did have some emotions... like the anger part with Darth Vader... but... its not the same...

 

Yeah but Lukes attack on Vader was meant to be an example as to why they suppress emotions. Its why Luke was shown to be almost meditating while Vader was trying to provoke him.

 

True, but Luke had a lot of emotion in ANH and ESB.

 

Luke was SO whiny in ANH and he did get angry at Darth Vader for killing Obi Wan. But I have to go to Tosche Station!
Empire strikes Back.... he screams when his hand gets cut off... he's irritated with little Yoda, hits his head, and on and on..

 

But thats also why Yoda said he was too old. and thats why they train them young. Luke grew up as a normal kid. anakin was much younger when he trained and even he was challenged by his emotions.

I know many don't like it. but honestly it makes a load of sense for Jedi to need to learn it. negative emotions can make people reckless. and i think we would all be underestimating ourselves if we said he didn't do stupid things while in a negative frame of mind.

 

Everybody makes mistakes even Palpatine!!
Emotions can be reckless but its how you use them is what counts.

 

A big part of Yoda not wanting to train Luke was because of his daddy.

 

I don't think the jedi promote supression of emotions. All the main jedi showcase emotions at points in the prequel movies.

 

Then why he wants to train Leia? I think it's more likley he found Luke to be just like him. As he said he wanted adventure.