Happy belated Star Wars Day!

Since it’s only a few days from May the 4th…I thought I’d jump on this opportunity to talk about something close to my heart.

And that is…

How much I LOATHE Rey “Skywalker.”

From a writer’s perspective, from a watcher’s perspective–you just can’t make me like her. And I love Star Wars–it’s because I love Star Wars that I can’t stand her.

And the worst part?

I really, really wanted to like her.

Let’s dive in.

She’s a cardboard standee.

I’m going to level with you right now: I really enjoyed the first movie, The Force Awakens.

OH MY GOSH THAT CAME OUT TEN YEARS AGO???? Sorry, I just looked it up. 2015?!?!? How is that possible???

*Ahem*

Anyway–um, ok.

So, what I was saying is that The Force Awakens came out when I was about 12-ish. I was the first new Star Wars movie in a while, and I was PUMPED. I saw it with my family and our closest family friends, and we sat in the center row of the theater, and it was awesome. I was engaged, interested, and looking forward to how the story would continue (womp womp).

But while I enjoyed the movie (especially the group experience), I left the theater with two very specific issues:

1. It was just A New Hope but different.

Now, that wasn’t a problem problem, but I was not super impressed with the…imagination the creative team seemed to possess. However, in hindsight, making slightly different copies of the originals would’ve been better than the slop they ended up producing with the two other sequels. But I digress.

2. Rey was kind of…shallow.

The whole movie went by, and I was like “Ok but…who is this person? She feels like someone’s self-insert OC, except without some of the pizzazz.”

And don’t get me wrong: I knew it was going to be a trilogy, like the others, and characters develop, but…that’s not what character development means.

For a character to develop, they need to START one way and END a different way.

You can’t have a character go from “complete blank slate” to “oh now we can get a basic read on her personality.”

That’s boring.

But the whole movie went by, and I felt nothing. I knew nothing about her other than the big dramatic things, like “oh no she’s got to resort to scavenging to survive” and “I’m pretty sure everyone she loves is dead.”

Those aren’t great personality traits for getting a read on someone.

You won’t care if someone’s parents abandoned them on a desert planet until you see who that person is. Yes, the abandonment is basically sad, but without some kind of small connection–something to make you think you know this person–it will be a distant sort of caring, and not one to make the person memorable.

We need to care closely.

I mean, just look at Luke! His backstory is tragic–murderous dad, dead mom, unknown sister. But we only care about any of that because we learned it after we got to know him. He’s whiny and young, and we can see he’s naive but means well. We can watch him interact with his aunt and uncle, complaining about how he had plans, and how he wants to leave Tattooine. When he interacts with the droids, we see how well-meaning Luke is. We see his skills as a repair man, and his youth when he’s playing with his toys. By the time he leaves on his adventure, we know so many small details about him that we’re like “Yeah, I know that guy!” and we’re excited to see how he grows. I know I was!

But Rey? Well…

They just expected me to care.

It’s like they just expected me to care about her because she’s the main character. AND she’s a girl! Did I mention she’s a girl? Isn’t that cool? You should like her because of that, because it’s cool to be a girl. (Sarcasm FYI).

It’s true, she’s a girl.

It’s true, she’s got an awesome character design.

But like I’ve been saying, that’s not enough. Writers shouldn’t expect us to care about someone just because they’re the focus of the story (and we’re going to ignore, for now, that I don’t think she should’ve been the main character at all). And they definitely shouldn’t expect us to care just because she’s a girl.

I’m currently drafting another novel. Before I started writing, I spent a week or so just focusing on the characters. Getting a feel for who they were, what their little quirks were. I looked at the big picture (dramatic backstory), the medium picture (height, build–basic necessary stuff), and the little picture (quirks that make them interesting). Brad Pauquette has a really great video about this–watch it here!

And I forced myself to spend most of the time with my main character. I still looked at my side characters, because they matter too, but my side characters have a tendency to steal the spotlight. Why? Because in the past, I’ve spent more time thinking about them than my main character.

There’s only one main character. It’s important that they have more going for them than that fact. (I won’t bring up the egregious ending line of her assuming the Skywalker name.)

They need to struggle and fail and get back up. They can’t just be good at everything and never be in the wrong…

Oh wait.

She’s good at everything!

She can just…do things. She can just use a lightsaber, no problem. No training. She can just use the force, no biggie. She’s flipping around and doing whatever without a guide.

And she’s all high and mighty about it–she has this air of wisdom and authority that isn’t earned at all. She’s new to the conflict, yet she acts like she knows best. She acts like she knows she’s the main character.

And all of those things could’ve been character traits. They could’ve been cool things to hint to her character, to develop into a leader after getting humbled, etc.

But they weren’t!

She just stayed that way. And worse? She was justified in her shallow wisdom! She defeats all the bad guys and has no temptations (more on that later) and whenever something goes wrong (like the purple-haired lady), she and her friends are proven to be right all along. (Maybe that’s Rey catching a stray, there, but I don’t care.)

It was annoying.

And it felt shallow amidst the existing world-building of Star Wars. Because when someone’s good at everything from the get-go…what happens?

I mean, look at Anakin. He still needed training, but he was gifted. He didn’t have the guidance he needed (no shade to Obi Wan) and he turned to the dark side. His ambition turned to selfish greed, and we all know how that story ended.

And what about Kit Fisto’s padawan, Nahdar Vebb? His big ego got him killed by General Grievous! Because he was so sure of himself, because he had talent, he ran off with a no plan and paid the ultimate price.

But Rey? She had natural talent and no guide, whether a wise guide or naive one, and yet she STILL came through with no consequences! How does that make any sense?

(And we’re going to ignore here, for the sake of time, the fact that Rey could–for some reason–sense that the random Evil Dagger of Evilness, or whatever it was called, had killed a bunch of people and refused to hold. WHEN SHE HAD BEEN USING ANAKIN’S LIGHTSABER FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE AND DIDN’T CARE OR SENSE THE SLAUGHTERED YOUNGLINGS. It’s fine. It’s not, but whatever. We’re moving on.)

And we were supposed to eat her “coolness” up? I don’t think so. Because the world-building and character slop doesn’t end there with Rey (it never ends there).

Dark side? Barely know her.

Not only is Rey naturally talented and guideless, but she’s apparently flawless.

It’s a fact of life that everybody is tempted by sin. Everybody is tempted by things they can’t have, shouldn’t have, shouldn’t want but do. Everybody has bad days and bad thoughts, and nobody is perfect.

And even if people don’t give in to the temptations, the temptations still exist. Satan even went after Jesus himself (Matthew 4).

And we’ve seen ways the dark side tempts in past Star Wars stories. We have an existing frame of reference.

With Anakin, it was his love and his fear of losing those he loved. The enemy twisted his virtue into disaster and ended up taking away everything he set out to protect. For him, it was a slow descent, spawned from his continued entertainment of false teachers he thought he could trust.

With Luke, it was more spiritual. He faced himself (literally) in the middle of nowhere on Degobah. He was forced to face the truth that he is his own worst enemy. His anger, his youthful zeal, his pain–these, he learns, can all be used against him if he’s not careful. He can give into his feelings and act out, or he can refuse to let them destroy him. In the swamp, he defeats himself, but he’s still not so sure. That all comes to a head later, when he faces Vader.

But when Rey has her encounter with the dark side? In the pit on that island with the weird cow things with the blue milk? (I don’t know if that place has a name and I don’t care enough to Google it.)

Rey finds nothing.

Well, she sees herself. Lots of herself.

And then she just leaves, I guess. We don’t get shown, and nothing ever comes from it.

And I waited. I waited that whole train wreck of a movie to see what it was–what tempted her? What was down there? What was her temptation?

But nope. Nada. Zip.

Amidst all the problems of that movie (insert Hiccup’s “But you just gestured to all of me” GIF here), Rey faced the dark side and came off scot-free.

No temptation.

No insight.

No character growth.

Just Rey once again being able to do whatever she wants, however she wants.

The swap we never got.

The truth is that Rey had all the pieces to be a great character. She had plenty of chances to be somebody, but it just never happened. The writers seemed so caught up in making her cool that they forgot to make her a person.

And when you look at her in comparison to Kylo Ren, I think the solution is painfully obvious.

Rey and Kylo should’ve switched.

Kylo was set up for redemption. Rey was set up for corruption. I can’t help but wonder if that was the original plan–if amidst all the chaos of canning scripts and switching directors, and whatever other nonsense was going on, if Rey and Kylo were supposed to switch roles by the end.

Because they really seemed to build to that in the (once again) terribly chaotic and ridiculous second movie. It was the one consistent thread in that movie, and then it just dissolved in the drool that movie produced.

And whether you ship Reylo or not, her becoming evil and him becoming good still works.

In conclusion?

Rey should not have been the main character.

They really set up Finn to be the main character. He was compelling and immediately interesting. We don’t even see his face when he gets that bloody hand print on his helmet, but from his body language we can tell that he’s not a typical stormtrooper. He’s got doubts, and compassion, and empathy. That little picture detail works beautifully with the big picture fact that he’s a stormtrooper at all. It’s a tiny bread crumb, but it’s enough to keep us going and keep us intrigued.

And then there’s Poe. He’s the perfect sidekick! Because he’s loyal to Finn, but he’s also got a little bit of a Han Solo thing going on. He’s kind of a rascal, but with much more of a code. They made a good team, and we deserved more of it.

Rey would’ve worked as the perfect frenemy. She brings skills to the table as a scavenger (which is something that never really happened in the movies, for some reason, because why would they care about that?) and Finn and Poe are maybe not so sure they can trust her. And if she slowly became an antagonist as Kylo had his Zuko moment? YES!

Can you imagine if Han had been Poe’s guide? If he’d shown him how to lead? IF LEIA had helped Finn grow in his already force-sensitive ways?! COME ON!

I hope that was the original plan, because it would’ve been great.

(If you’re curious about the terms I’m using for the character types, check out The Novel Matrix by Brad Pauquette).

Do I need to write a fanfic about this? Oh boy…

And as a disclaimer, I don’t blame Daisy Ridley AT ALL. It’s not her fault, and she really shouldn’t get any flak for what happened. For all the flaws of the Star Wars sequels, the actors are not among them.

Still here?

Awesome. Comment below your Star Wars thoughts. I’d love to hear them (even if you disagree)!

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