Warning: Contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Director Rian Johnson’s installment in the new Star Wars trilogy brings many things – spectacle, revelations, love, but also questions.
Rather than the reasonably straight forward romp that was The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi looks deeper into the events that happened between trilogies, and the paths that brought the principle characters to where they are.
Above all that, cinemagoers have come away wondering just what is the connection between Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren? Why do they connect so profoundly, and what does that mean for the story moving forward?
It’s a question that was given more depth after Kylo Ren had killed Snoke, and was convincing Rey to join him and rule the galaxy. In his bargaining, he revealed the identity of Rey’s parents, a mystery that has surrounded the films – they were nobodies.
If Rey was wondering what her part was in all this, it wasn’t coming from her heritage. It’s a revelation as devastating as the “I am your father” moment in The Empire Strikes Back, as many believed Rey was an abandoned Skywalker, and her connection to Kylo Ren, or Ben Solo, was through blood.
So why are they so connected? If Rey is indeed a ‘Nobody’, why is she so central to the journey? One easy answer would be that Kylo Ren/Ben is simply lying. Using her own insecurities to make her feel isolated, so that the only way to reconcile the feelings she is having is to fall in with him, and create the family she has been desperately seeking.
It wouldn’t exactly be out of character for a practitioner of The Dark Side to lie, and many characters have been wrong before – Qui-Gon Jinn was wrong about Anakin. Han was let down by Lando. Leia kissed her brother!
It would be a simple solution, but an unsatisfying one. Akin to Darth Vader saying ‘I am your father’ in Empire, then coming back in Return of The Jedi and saying ‘not really’. No, Rey is taking this path for a reason, and she is connected to Ben for a reason. What if that reason is that Ben is part of Rey’s destiny? That, even though she may not be a Skywalker, she is The One who will bring balance to The Force?
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The Jedi Prophecy has been talked about many times, particularly in the prequel trilogy, a tragic saga of misplaced hope. Anakin Skywalker, as Ewan McGregor’s Obi Wan so bitterly lamented, was ‘supposed to bring balance to The Force, not leave it in darkness!’ Anakin’s son, Luke, was the next potential saviour, but while he defeated The Emperor, a new darkness rose in its ashes.
Anakin went down in history as Darth Vader, and became a martyr to future generations. Luke also failed to sustain The Jedi, and when we find him is convinced that the religion must die. Clearly, The Force had not been balanced, at least not by him.
And so we come to Rey. A ‘nobody’ who comes from ‘nowhere’, with extraordinary strength and a sense of a destiny she doesn’t fully understand yet. Instead of fathers fulfilling the legacies of sons, could the true saviour of The Light Side of The Force come from a place much more humble? With no heritage to be haunted by, she would be bringing balance to The Force through her own inner strength.
But what’s Ben’s part in all of this? Perhaps to fulfill the legacy left by his grandfather and his uncle. A Skywalker would help bring balance to The Force, but not in the way Anakin or Luke expected. A Skywalker would be the foil that Rey would have to defeat to bring about balance. The Skywalker Dynasty would end with peace, even if a Skywalker was not fighting for it. Luke’s efforts also would not be in vain.
Throughout The Last Jedi he is referred to as a legend, a symbol of hope that would galvanise The Rebellion. He resists this idea until the film’s absolutely beautiful climax, where he faces off against his former student Kylo Ren. What would be his final act would then become his legacy. His legend is what helps bring balance to The Force, a story spread across the galaxy to give hope and courage to those who have none.
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From there, Rey could raise a new Jedi Order, one made of abandoned children with gifts, like the boy we see in the final frames of The Last Jedi, ever so quickly transporting the broom to his hand with his as-yet-unrealised Jedi capabilities, even as his friend is reenacting Luke’s final stand. He would be one of many to come forward for a new Order. An order of protectors born from the very people the galaxy left to fend for themselves. A Dynasty of Nobodies.
Of course, we won’t know the real answer until 2019, when J.J. Abrams returns to finish the final chapter. It’s also worth noting that the film makers may not know what the answer is – modern blockbusters are fraught with rewrites, reshoots and last minute changes. For example, Rogue One originally had a very different ending to the one that ended up on screen, and while George Lucas claims he always intended to make prequels, A New Hope was not referred to as Episode 4 until its re-release four years later.
For now, the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren remains a tantalising mystery, but for us the answer could be both simple and satisfying – they are connected by destiny.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out in UK cinemas now.
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