Rey Solo

I may be wrong but if I remember correctly, in the scene where Leia and Rey first see each other in TFA, the colours of Rey's outfit are the lightest of everyone in the whole scene as if she were made to stand out.

 

If they did this on purpose, I cannot for the life of me think why they'd want to make the central character of the film stand out...

 

Indeed. The saving grace for the Rey Solo theory is that it hasn't been thought through. And this is why we who are against it are against it. If it is true, it is a yuuuge mistake.

The discussion is about how Rey stood out because of her clothing - not the mistake made by JJ.

Say again?

 

The last quote you have there wasn't said by me. I think McDiarmid is the one who said it, and I have no idea what he's saying either.

One more thing, and it's more of an observation than criticism. If the story is operating under the Unrelated-Random-Hero scenario, then the character of Rey is unnecessary. The story would have been considerably simpler and less complicated if they have made Finn force-sensitive and the Jedi-to-be. We could even get the hero-from-the-dark-side, villain-from-the-light-side scenario clearly from the get go.

 

I struggle to see the relevance in that statement. Finn, Kylo and Rey represent different outcomes and choices made whilst in the early parts of their lives and the effects of those choices.

Kylo came from (presumably) a loving and caring home and chose the wrong path. I'm sure there were some issues in that family but there's no doubt he was loved.

Finn was taken from his family and ultimately brainwashed into an existence he never wanted. Yet he made a choice that took him down the right path, when he saw no hope for his future with the FO.

Rey however was abandoned and left to fend for herself from a very young age and she chose to never give up hope and belief that one day her family would return.

So to say that her character if not a Skywalker is superfluous is ridiculous IMO.

 

I was reading TFA's novel last night and one sentence kept me thinking:

"Sometimes she wished she had been born a commoner, an ordinary citizen, instead of than planetary royalty. (Page 8)"

What if Leia wanted Rey to live an ordinary life, and when the fight against the First Order broke out and her son turned evil, Leia wanted Rey kept right away from the battle, to not get involved? That's why she left her on Jakku and promised to come back for her as soon as the fighting ceased?

 

This got me thinking.... most of the audience going into The Last Jedi has no idea about the timeline. Rey was on Jakku at least 10 years before the First Order was revealed and Ben turned against Luke.

 

AS @DailyPlunge pointed out, the timeline does not work. In Bloodline, Kylo has not turned until 6 years prior or less and the First airder is not publically known as an entity at this point.

 

Has something changed on this since Pablo Hidalgo called said this was too vague? Either way, the idea that Leia would abandon her daughter is crazy. Plus, I don't think her husband would have been on board with that.

 

Among the three storylines you have listed, the first one (Kylo) gave us a villain and a new-generation Skywalker. The second one (Finn) gave us a hero and a non-Skywalker character. The third one (Rey) gave us a hero and a non-Skywalker character as well (according to those who argued that Rey was not related). So why is the third storyline not redundant?

Now you could argue that there's a difference between being abandoned by a family and growing up alone vs being taken from a family and growing up as a soldier. My response is that this difference is significant only if it resulted in fundamentally different personality between the two characters - say one is harsh and bitter while the other is gentle and friendly. Yet both Finn and Rey seemed to have fundamentally the same personality - decent and caring - despite their different background. Given that, I would argue that a simpler story would be to have just one character who was involuntarily separated from his/her (non-Skywalker) family, grew up in challenging circumstances, still ended up being a decent and caring person, made the right choices and became a hero.

If Rey is not a Skywalker anyway, then eliminating her character would also have the advantage of not rehashing the grow-up-on-a-desert-planet, blah-blah-blah hero's journey storyline from ANH. Wouldn't it be innovative to have a former stormtrooper becoming a Jedi than to have yet another lowly person from a desert planet becoming a Jedi?