The Force in Rogue One

One great thing about Star Wars is that throughout the universe's manifestations in different media (cartoons, films, comics, novels, etc.), we are treated to a variety of interpretations of the Force. I mean to say, how we as an audience interpret the Force, as well as how the characters in the stories interpret it.

One thing that struck me after viewing Rogue One -- cannot believe this did not hit me earlier during the trailers -- was the liberal use of Jyn saying, “May the Force be with us.” I never really thought of the concept of the Force being introduced to the Rebel Alliance before Luke joined their ranks. Jyn’s message to her team is an adaptation of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s aphorism told to Luke’s at the end of Episode IV when Obi-Wan speaks to Luke in the X-Wing cockpit: "May the Force be with you." It is weird to think that the Force was with the Rebels even before Luke came into the picture.

But on to what I really want to say in this forum thread....

First, I would like to draw a correlation between the Force and the Matrix. Because. Second, I would like to provide a few examples of how the Force guides our heroes to successfully achieve their mission to steal the Death Star plans.

In The Matrix Reloaded, the protagonists doubt their actions after speaking with the Merovingian, who is unwilling to reveal the location of his key maker. Suddenly, a new ally, the Frenchman’s wife Persephone, offers them an opportunity to meet with the key maker, because her strategy in the Matrix is to play against her husband.

Morpheus: Are you certain the Oracle didn't say anything else?
Neo: Yes.
Trinity: Maybe we did something wrong.
Neo: Or didn't do something.
Morpheus: No, what happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way.
Neo: How do you know?
Morpheus: We are still alive.​

I cannot help but to think of this -- you may call it providence -- in the context of Rogue One.

Our heroes in Rogue One endure so much. Specifically, Jyn goes through a lot -- she is physically challenged as she races from planet to planet, and she is also mentally challenged with the death of her mother and then father. She keeps going and never gives up. The same goes with her teammates. For them there is no other choice.

Think about it. There is only one ending to the story. We already know the ultimate outcome, because we have read the opening crawl to Episode IV and we have seen Princess Leia record her message to Obi-Wan Kenobi aboard the Tantive IV. Rogue One could never escape the fact that it is a prequel. The story could have unraveled a number of ways, but all of these alternate stories would have come to the same conclusion.

Think back to the opening sequence of Rogue One before we see the main title card. Now ask yourself, “Would this story have happened as it did if Saw hadn't found young Jyn hiding in the rocks in the cave on Lah'mu...or, if our rag tag assortment of heroes had not converged at Saw’s fort on Jedha?”

Perhaps not, but rest assured that John Knoll, Gary Whitta, Chris Weitz, and Tony Gilroy all racked their brains as to the best way to tell this story.

Storytelling and mythmaking in Rogue One is best represented in its unconventional interpretation of the Force. There are no Jedi proper in this film, for one, and the Force serves as a character in some sense. It is used as a device to propel characters through the story. Think of the Force as a storytelling device much like the Journal of the Whills was a storytelling device in those early story treatments of Star Wars by George Lucas in the early 1970s. The Force in Rogue One is what brings our heroes together, and it is what seems to guide them to success and to a new hope, despite the Empire and certain Rebels seemingly conspiring against them.

There are a few key scenes in Rogue One where the Force seems to be at work:

1. “Today of all days...." Saw surmises something was meant to be as he receives a message from his friend Galen on the same day that Jyn, Galen's daughter, arrives. That is not to mention the Imperial defectors, the Rebel Alliance members, and the Guardians of the Whills, who assemble and escape the planet before Jedha is destroyed by the Death Star. Saw Gerrera acts a little superstitious in this scene, not in the same sense that Han Solo originally viewed the Force, but because Saw has been waiting for this moment to happen. He knows he's done his job, so he is willing to stay behind, sacrificing himself.
2. "Jyn's path is clear.” This is what Chirrut, who is blind, says to his pal Baze when he decides to follow Jyn through the darkness on Eadu in search of her father. This happens after the scene where Chirrut comments on the Force surrounding Cassian. His air is one of a murderer. This is interesting because it casts Chirrut as seeing the Force and how life moves around him and others. On Jedha we are introduced to Chirrut and his pal Baze, who are both Guardians of the Whills. Chirrut is a Force-devotee, one who believes in the Force, but cannot necessarily practice using it. A similar idea was first introduced to us in The Force Awakens with the character Lor San Tekka, who follows the Church of the Force and also is not Force-sensitive. I guess Chirrut cannot manipulate the Force per se, but he can see it and use it to his advantage. Chirrut’s mantra goes, "I'm one with the Force. The Force is with me." He repeatedly says this to concentrate on the task at hand; it helps him mediate and to overcome his blindness. (Also, this is similar to how Neo can see the Matrix code and use it to his advantage.)
3. “The Force Theme” score. During the scene on Yavin IV when our team leaves for Scarif, Michael Giacchino chooses to underscore the moment with the beginning notes to John Williams' Force Theme. What an odd moment to use that motif, you say! Originally, this motif can be heard at the beginning of Episode IV when Princess Leia gives R2-D2 the Death Star plans; then we hear it as Luke gazes at Tatooine's binary sunset; and then we hear it reprised when Obi-Wan Kenobi introduces himself to Luke. In Rogue One, it is fitting to hear the motif take shape and mature just as our band of misfit heroes agree to take on this dangerous, suicidal mission to Scarif. Here the motif symbolizes what was meant to be and how all the pieces fell into place in order for the mission to begin.

In conclusion, the mission is successful because Jyn’s team and the Rebel Alliance believe in her call for action. They believe in the Rebel Alliance. They all know stealing the Death Star plans is what needs to happen and they will do whatever it takes. The galaxy's future and freedom from the Empire depend on them. To me this is best exemplified during the heart pounding scene at the end of Rogue One when Darth Vader cuts down the Rebels trying to prevent the optical disc storing the Death Star plans from being passed on to the Tantive IV. This scene played out like a relay race where the baton is passed from one willing runner to the next, each of them giving his all for the team.

Thus the Death Star plans inevitably reach the hands of Princess Leia, who glows radiantly in a white, veiled robe almost like an angel. "Are you an angel?" Anakin said to Padme as he slaved away in Watto's junk shop. Freedom. Providence. It exudes the galaxy.

“What happened happened and couldn't have happened any other way.”

 

I am planning on opening my copy of Catalyst soon. Couldn't get around to it before the seeing Rogue One in theaters...had to finish reading Neal Stephenson's epic Seveneves!

 

I guess for the Rebels, yes. Obi Wan Kenobi said in Epiode IV there is no such thing as luck. From the prequels, which provide the foundation for his regrets, causality is life. Choices inform outcomes...not luck.

While watching Episode IV tonight, I noticed that the musical cue that plays when Obi Wan Kenobi asks Luke to join him on a trip to Mos Eisly is a theme that is reprised in R1. I think it's"Jyn's Path is Clear".