Regarding Rey's rock moving skills...

Exactly right. She has far greater reason to believe in the Force and know what is capable, than Luke did early on.

 

After TFA, I was certain that she would be the only surviving student from the burning academy and that she already had some training in the Force... After TLJ, I agree that Rey seems to be willing to let herself into the Force, she believes in it, when Luke was not too much into it from the beggining...

 

Yes, the force is always something mental. You need force of will to do it, belief in what you're doing. Strength of the force is derived from mental strength. For instance Rey could move the rocks, but she was defenseless against Snoke. He mindprobed her and discovered Luke's location. She just wasn't strong enough. The lifting rock sequence touches back on that earlier sequence when Luke told Rey that the force was about more than just lifting rocks. You had to feel it and grasp its significance. That is what she did, it was the irony of that situation, that she had to literally lift rocks. But now she knows there is more to it.

Many of these 'hardcore' fans who presume they know so much about Star Wars and its lore have obviously forgotten this rather wise lesson about the force:

 

Even the freaking bad guy says it!!!!! (From a certain point of view)






This is why the whole midichlorians, chosen one, and video game-like duels in the PT come back to haunt the fanbase. All that stuff is excessive window dressing to the window that shows the Force as something..."so much more"..."luminous"....etc.

 

I think the idea of Rey being a more willing learner than Luke & therefore she has learned faster is a valid point. But young Anakin in TPM seemed to idolize the Jedi and was excited to become a Jedi Knight & free the slaves. He was also the "chosen one", and even though he seemed eager to learn, it still took him years of training to become powerful

 

He was also 9.
And able to do things it took most humans decades to master.
And able to do things no human had ever successfully done.
And built droids.
And shot down a giant Maclunkey space ship with no training.

BUT THANK GOD LUCAS DIDN'T HAVE HIM MOVE A PILE OF ROCKS

 

It's more than just the rocks with Rey, and you know it. Jedi mind tricks, defeating Kylo, force pulling vs Kylo to a stalemate in TLJ, defeating Snoke's guards. All this when a week ago in movie time she thinks the force is a myth.

 

Just like the same 9 year old kid Anikan who can some how built a button inside his pod racer that can fix his all of his pod racer problems. But let's ignore that he was able to guess the items before they showed up while Mace Windu was testing him. He didn't have any training to pull off that feat. You also forgot that Kylo accidentally helped unlocked the powers that she wouldn't have never would of used in the first place.

 

Just like Rey bypassed the capacitor & expertly flew the Falcon her first time flying it right? Seeing the images during Mace's test is a little different than mind tricks, powerful force pulls, and rock lifts no? And is that a fact that Kylo "accidentally unlocked powers" for her, or is that just you making stuff up to justify to yourself the things she's able to do? Because I haven't heard any of the movies reference that as being what happened

 

Because she's better than Anakin. Anakin was raised a slave and then by an inept organization via an inexperienced Jedi Knight. Rey relied pretty much on herself to survive. Pretty impressive with or without the Force that allows for virgin births, ghosts, prophecies, etc.

Prophecy? Virgin Birth?

Meh, the Jedi didn't even know what the prophecy entailed and watched their entire order burn to the ground. First they say it's Anakin, then a Holocron says it's Luke. Lucas says it's Anakin. Who knows? Not the Jedi. Luke wasn't impressed with the Jedi Order or their dogma, so, neither should the audience.

 

I assume he's talking about after Ren probes Rey's mind he gives her a glimpse into the force because immediately after that scene she can use the force in ways she probably had no idea was possible. If you're looking for a source I believe you'd have to go to the novelization of TFA.

 

I've said in this forum before that if there were a small time jump between TFA & TLJ where in the crawl it says "Rey has been training with Luke", I wouldn't have a problem with what she's able to do (at least in TLJ). It's just hard for me to accept that she's been able to do all of this when everything we've seen in the other 6 movies suggests training is necessary to become powerful in the force.

I haven't read the novelization, so if it says that's what happened in the book then I retract my statement. Otherwise it seems like fans are making that connection themselves in order to justify Rey being able to do those things

 

If I recall, just like Anikan she very knowledge about ships and how things work. I also recall her dragging the Falcon against the desert while trying get use to how the ship operates. Also lets just ignore what she says about her flying history in Episode 7 "I've flown some ships, but I've never left the planet." I'm sure it doesn't require rocket science to fly the falcon if you're already use to flying other ships. I'm pretty sure common sense that all ships operate similar to each other. No different than someone who grew up flying propeller planes then trying to fly a 747. It can take some time to get use but they can easily figure it out. Even Anikan figured out how Naboo Cruiser operated at 9 years old.

As far the mind probe, the movies don't state directly but it's a logical idea to think something like that could happen until prooven 100% otherwise. Oh man what did we do to fill in the gaps when we were 5 years old that the OT didn't answer. (if you grew up before PT). We got 1 more movie to go, if they don't give us an in your face type of answer that you are wanting than you have the right to complain. Use your imagination for once and you'll enjoy SW much better.

 

She flew the Falcon through a Star Destroyer....

And I'm not saying you're wrong to believe that's what happened with the mind trick, I just base what I believe on what I've seen before in canon (maybe that's foolish as new things are added all the time). I also agree with you in regards to there being one more movie to answer these questions, and I am completely open to things happening in 9 that change my opinion of TLJ for the better. But for now I personally don't think we have been given an explanation for why Rey has become so powerful so quickly (at least not a good enough one).

 

I absolutely love this idea and I will from now on keep it in mind as an explanation for Rey's extraordinary force use.

Sadly, I can't help but wonder that a lot of the flaws of TLJ are constantly covered up by great fan theories like this, in desperation to defend the film.

I don't like to use the "mary sue" trope as it's perceived by many to carry sexist connotation but I do believe the tremendous strength of Rey's powers need a better explanation than what we've got so far.

At least with Anakin there was an explanation of why he was so powerful, even though many didn't like it, it was still an explanation. With Rey we have no explanation whatsoever and that is a problem for me. It's nothing to do with gender or the need for absolutely every single detail to be explained. I actually love everything about Rey. I care a lot about the character and that's why I would like an explanation to how she became so incredibly powerful without knowledge of the force or training. She didn't even think the Jedi were real in TFA so it's been quite the jump.

I don't mean to come across as pessimistic or cynical, it's just my thoughts

 

I wish I could double like this post. You just summed up my feelings beautifully

 

Fair point but even about flying through the Star Destroyer. That's the same one that's she been scavenging out of for years. I'm pretty sure she explored that ship and was familiar with the layout (Logical assumption). If Anikan can go from driving a pod racer, to figuring out how the controls of that large Naboo Cruiser (that everyone was on) to actually flying a Naboo Fighter and Luke flew the T-16 Skyhoppers (which would of been similar to the ships Rey probably would of flown), to an X-Wing and more than likely could fly the falcon, then why is it a stretch for people to understand why Rey can fly the falcon and maneuver it really well when she stated that she flown ships in the past? What makes the Falcon different from other ships? Did Han make some modification to the ship where only he, Chewie and Lando are the only ones who can fly the falcon? They gave us an simple explanation of her flying abilities. How she flew the falcon means that she was really good at flying and must of had plenty of time to practice on different ships. We have to take her

 

I'm not that hung up on her pilot skills, I merely referenced them after you brought up Anakin's. The main sticking point for me is her ultra quick grasp of the force

 

One article argues that the use of the force has been disengaged from the Jedis. Interestingly enough, it also reveals that the NT, which copies readily from the OT, has disengaged from it as well.