Welcome everyone to a special episode of Radio Rebellion Star Wars Podcast. I am your host Alberto and today there are no news to go over as we will be focusing on one half of the diet in the Force, Rey Skywalker and her journey through the sequel trilogy. So let's go ahead and get started. Rey, the scavenger from Jakku that counted the day since she was left behind with Enkoy Plod and awaited her parents' return.
She is already resourceful when we meet her but she has no plans to leave the planet in worry that her parents would not be able to locate her if they came back looking for her. She was always the helping hand, saving BB-8 from Chido and then, although originally, she goes after Finn because BB-8 thinks he has something to do with poses disappearance or something, she then works alongside him to escape the stormtroopers that come after them. You can say that she was unknowingly thrust into this adventure since the troopers were there mostly after Finn for discerning and she just been in the middle of it. I love her independence in the Force Awakens and the way she reacts to Finn trying to hold her hand letting him know and the audience very early on that she is not a damsel in distress.
I never understood that criticism against her as a marisue since it's established in her mission as she is jumping and climbing inside Star Destroyers that she is a scrapper, a fighter and no surprise she knows how to fly a ship. She has been in Jakku for about 15 years, leaving or at least under the tour ledge of Enkoy Plod which is a very unsavory character so of course she will be able to take care of herself, probably run a few scams if needed and she even says when they escape in the Millennium Falcon that she has flown before, just not left the planet. Her connection to the Force, although already there, was fully unlocked first when looks like it's Sabre called to her in Master's Castle and the vision she has but mostly when Kylo ran invades her mind and she's able to resist him and then do the same to him. Her powers are awakened but she still can't access them freely or control them until the end of the Force Awakens when she follows Master's advice, closer her eyes, breathe and less the force flow through her.
Before this the scene of her using the force without really knowing how to, to call the Sabre to her is my favorite and most emotional of that first movie as it flies past Kylo into her hands and the first notes of the Jedi team start to swell. That scene works so well in moving her character forward because all of us or at least a high majority was probably thinking that at the end of the Sabre it would have been Luke Skywalker holding it but having Ray be that character it lets us know that this is her movie and more importantly her story. No matter what has happened to her or what hardships she's been through, she still is that helpful, helpful person we meet early on in Jakku. We see this when after everything that she's went through in the last Jedi she goes straight to Frix fixing and checking BB-8 Santana, her amazement at all of the Green on Takodana and also during the festival of the ancestors in Passana in the Rise of Skywalker.
Her journey in the last Jedi is a full arc as we see her go from a hopeful yet naive admirer of the myth of Luke Skywalker to the embodiment of never meeting your heroes because they will disappoint you to then accepting that you might need to follow your journey on your own but still being able to affect those around you in a positive way even those who we thought were past changing like Luke when she lived actau. She's also brought down to earth by Luke during his first lesson as she already thinks she can access and feel the force because of what happened in Starkiller Base but she still has a lot to learn of that living force. She's still driven by her emotions and I think that this is one of the reasons why Luke is wary of training her as he knows what can happen when Jedi base her actions solely on emotions. During her time in actau she's not a Jedi yet at this point.
She's used her for a few times basically a day or so earlier then is sent to find Luke and bring him back as the hope of the resistance and even though he agreed to train her she's still there thinking and believing that he is the last Jedi and the last hope for the resistance and when he still won't help after a confront seems about what happened with Ben in Luke's Jedi temple her instinct is not to say well I guess I'm the one that we have to end this it's well maybe Ben's always our last hope. She still doesn't believe enough in herself to know that she has all that is necessary to overcome those odds as Leia tells her in the last Jedi we have everything we need. She's looking towards Luke and then to Ben's last Kylo as the people that will be able to end the conflict not realizing that she is the one that will have to step up and do it. As I'm writing this I think that one of the reasons her doubt in herself as a real Jedi as the one to put in Star Wars terms bring the balance and that's why she says that she still has an earned Luke's lightsaber until she believes in herself as the one that can bring positive change without depending on others to do it for her which is very different from asking or accepting help from those around you to complete the task at hand only then will she be able to earn the saber and fully ascend as a Jedi Knight.
Backtracking a little bit her and I don't want to call it a failure in the mirror cave as the same as Luke's failure in Dagobah because even though she learns a truth about herself basically that she isn't defined by her past or who her parents were that she needs to forge her own future and her own path and I know a lot of people didn't take it this way but it still tracks with the reveal and the rights of Skywalker because Raidos and led her connection to the Emperor define who she is. She's able to say no to his lineage, know that her parents were strong and define him and she's able to put all of that aside and make her own decisions moving forward based on her own character and what defines her and what is important to her in life and not just wanting to know where she came from and what role she plays in all of this like she did at the beginning of her journey. Even with all of that she's been through she still has the compassion to help deal with those weakie will and is the only one that actually seems to care about C-3PO's thoughts about losing his memory and asking his honest opinion in the matter and then of course at the end still has that child like nature in herself to write down the sand dunes in Tatooine. It seems that Raid has an affinity to help the misfits be it BB8, Dio, Kylo or even Finn and we haven't talked about Raids connection with Finn.
The first person she meets probably in a long time that doesn't know her or she sees her as a junk trader and just sees her as a person and who she really is. He sees her flying the Falcon and they both are surprised at what they each did and from that moment on she wants to keep an eye out for him and make sure he's safe even when she finds out that he's an external trooper. The bond lasts all three movies with her running to help him when he and her find her inside Starkiller base and then he doing the same when she rescues them from the caverns on crates and of course the first connection in the Rise of Skywalker which will discuss more in depth when we do our Finn breakdown. So let's conclude our talk of Raids adventure with her journey in the Rise of Skywalker and try our best to avoid any controversies.
As we said earlier she still hasn't earned looks like Sabre and although not clearly stated what that meant with her failing in the training course of Agent Claus and still in the midst of her Jedi training with Leia she might just be referring that her training isn't finished and once she's completed it then she'll be worthy of the Skywalker Saver. At the end of the last Jedi when she finally closes the door on Kylo Ren she goes into a place where she needs to do things on her own and that she's the only one that can bring an end to the Emperor but not like I mentioned earlier, she wants to do this without any help from her friends. I love her snark at Kylo when he mentions the Emperor and she goes serving another master and that goes deep into Kylo's sense of who he is always trying to prove himself to others. Not back to Rey, she still can't control her emotions like many Jedi before her when the people she cares about are in danger and this is amplified when they think that Chew is being taken away and in her anger trying to stop the transport she shoots lightning at it that even Kylo has to take a step back and analyze what just happened.
Even after this she's still moving forward with the mission not letting it control her or shut her down but every interaction she has with Kylo is slowly stripping away at her, the connection has a dire gain stronger and the visions of what the future might be leading her to. It creates doubt in herself when she's confronted by Dark Rey in the Emperor's throne room. Before that she goes back basically to I have to do this on my own by taking the schemer I ride in it to the Death Star wreckage while leaving everyone else behind. When she meets Kylo here he breaks her with the reveal of her heritage.
That for Kylo that's the most important thing while at least he has been led to believe that you are what you came before you, what came before you. That you are defined by your parent's touch like Lois and Taeka told him in the Force Awakens I know the truth about your family, referring that he knows he is Ben Solo, Son of Han and Leia, nephew of Luke Skywalker destined for greatness and his reply of you're so right but on his end he's referring to Darth Vader, Anakin, that chosen one turned to the Fierce Sith Lord always defined by your family and that you cannot escape it. So when he tells her that plus added that now she can't go back to Leia who's basically her last family, that Rey doesn't have any other choice but to join him. So when they have their lightsaber duel there's no way she's defeating Kylo Ren at this point.
She's emotionally drained fighting recklessly and telegraphing her every move that he can easily block all of her attacks that it takes Leia's sacrifice for her to defeat Kylo. They have a tough time reading this next part. When she steps Kylo and she feels Leia's life force drain though she has a moment of regret that this is what it took for her to be able to defeat Kylo and feeling remorse or having something to do with Leia's death. That's why she uses the Force Seal on him.
Why else would she keep him alive if at that moment she thought that Ben Solo was gone? Anyways, at this time she goes on full self-isolation COVID-19 mode and returns to Acto to follow Luke's footsteps and close herself from the Force when the old Crafty Jedi makes his Jedi ghost debut a reminder of the same thing that she reminded him during the last Jedi. Hiding out and running from your problems won't stop the inevitable or it will just make it worse. You have to face your fears in order to overcome them.
Like Yoda said, the greatest teacher fear is. At this point when she understands this and Luke hands her back his lightsaber plus giving her Leia's blade does she finally earn Luke's lightsaber as her own. After all this, by the time she gets to Exegol and confronts Palpatine, he's not convincing her that she's destined to be the next emperor and following his footsteps. Why turns it around by not letting her blood be the defining characteristic's pushing her forward but instead who you truly are.
She knows that striking him down in anger, something that a few hours earlier she would have gladly done is not an option now. So when she said peace again, similar to the way she was at the end of the Force Awakens, she lets the Force in. Although of course, different circumstances because here she's beaten to an inch of her life. Then she can finally calm herself and listen to the Jedi of old and all of them helping her to rise up, rise, rise as they all say, and hint the rise of Skywalker.
She defeats the emperor and hopefully that's it for good. Okay, so the big one, Rey Skywalker, one of the most controversial decisions made by the filmmakers and one that you can argue either way if you like it or not and I will not argue negatively with anyone that has a different opinion than mine. But I will focus on why I like it. On my review of episode 4 of the Clone Wars, talking about Echo Bean adopted by the Bad Batch, I mentioned that the concept of family is tied to Star Wars literally and figuratively.
And I came was adopted and raised by the Jedi and looked after by Obi Wan and both of them referred to each other as family. Rey and Leia also literally adopted into very different family dynamics. Han Solo has no family, he finds a mentor and a family in Tobia's baguette and his crew, and as time passes especially with Chewbacca. Rey, Finn and to an extension Poe are all alone by the end of this trilogy but find a family in the three of them.
Rey's very parental figure is Han, which taken away from her pretty quickly. But look, and to a much bigger extent Leia becomes her family accepting her into the resistance and training her as a Jedi knowing that she was a Palpatine. At the end of the movie it makes no sense that she would still consider herself to be a nobody, Rey from nowhere. She was accepted into the Skywalker family and she feels connected to them.
So yes, we've found family being so prevalent in Star Wars and in life with people that have been adopted and have at the end changed their last name to that of the family that has accepted them, why not Rey? Finally, Rey's hero journey in the sequel trilogy is different than Mo's hero's journey and certainly different than Anakin's and Luke's. Both of them wanted more from their lives. Anakin was meant to help you, what else would you be here?
Shmeetos Wagon. Luke doesn't want to be a moisture farmer, she grew up hearing about the Clone Wars and wanting to join the fight against the Empire. Or they follow the traditional hero's journey. For Rey, she doesn't want to go on any grand adventure, she wants to stay in Jaku and wait for her parents.
If you think about it, the start of her journey is more similar to the hero's psychic. That person that tells the hero not to go, that their life is okay where they are and there is no need to go save the world. There are other more important people for that. Her journey is more like Bilbo Baggins than Frodo Baggins, if you want to use a lot of other rings analogy.
But by the end of the Force Awakens, she is clearly the hero. That concludes her analysis of Rey and her journey in Star Wars so far. I hope you enjoyed listening to this as much as I did talking about it and be on the lookout for our second part and the other half of the diet, Ben Solo slash Kylo Ren. Until then, stay safe and may the Force be with you.