The Last Jedi Retrospective - One Year Later
In the final article of our look back at The Last Jedi we discuss how our views changed (or didn’t change) and how we see the movie and franchise now.
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More from the TLJ Script...
After Kylo supposedly tells Rey about her parents:
"Rey believes him, she fights her emotions back."
Nothing there about believing him because of repressed memories. Hmm...
swshadowcouncil reblogged
gaypalpatine
idk how y'all feel about this but personally i really still hope rey is a skywalker ..?
i always think about that part in tfa where maz says that the lightsaber was luke’s, and his fathers before him and now it calls to rey and i’m like… hmMMMm interesting… also .. obviously i know kylo said that her parents were junkyard nobodies but he’s manipulative and i’m 9999999 percent sure he was lying so
Oh, Rey is a Skywalker alright and The Last Jedi knows it.
That Crystal is Definitely Not Staying Broken
The Case for Rey Skywalker: Another Interpretation
In the first Case for Rey Skywalker, we presented the idea Luke knew who Rey was at the end of The Force Awakens and kept it from her to protect her. Now we present an alternative possibility.
Rian Johnson referred to Luke and Rey as the “beating heart” of The Last Jedi. Yet the film he made portrayed their relationship as contentious and emotionally distant. Either Rian Johnson has a very unusual idea for what constitutes the beating heart of a film, or there is more going on between these two characters than meets the eye at first glance. In our first series of articles, we proposed that Luke knew from the moment he saw Rey that she was his daughter, whom he had long thought dead, and that he made the painful choice to reject her in order to spare her from the sort of tragic fate that Skywalkers are prone to.
Now, we present a second possible frame through which to view the film — that Luke does not know Rey is his daughter when she first arrives on Ahch-To, or at least does not believe it to be possible. In this interpretation, Luke’s motivation for rejecting Rey is not part of a concerted effort to drive her away, but is rather a response to how Rey reminds him of the loss of his own daughter (who, incidentally, would be right around Rey’s age and have a similar appearance and temperament). While this interpretation retains the overall shape of our initial Rey Skywalker interpretation of TLJ, it provides an intriguing new context for Luke’s behavior towards Rey, and towards the overall development of their relationship.
The Last Jedi Novelization Update
When the novelization of The Last Jedi was released back in April, I noticed there was additional dialog in the scene where Luke confronts Kylo on Crait. In the movie Kylo just says:
I will destroy her, you, and all of it.
However, this is what he says in the book:
“Rey,” Kylo said, speaking her name like it was poison. “Your chosen one. Chosen over me. She aligned herself with the old way that has to die. No more Masters. I will destroy her, you, and all of it. Know that.” (p. 304)
I immediately took interest in the “Your chosen one. Chosen over me.” line as it doesn’t make sense in the context of the movie or book and speculated it refers to unrevealed backstory. This week I confirmed with Jason Fry that the line was indeed from an earlier script.
We at the Shadow Council have argued for some time that the story of TLJ is not what it seems and Rey is indeed Luke’s daughter. That line strongly supports that line of thinking and gives us a motive for why Ben would want to get rid of Rey: jealousy. Ben saw himself as the heir to the Jedi and the Force, but Luke either favored his own daughter or Ben simply didn’t like the thought of sharing the position (he also got rid of his father’s ship while he was at it).
What we have is the classic lost heir and usurper story. (Or the Lion King IN SPACE!)
-robotical712
Snoke called Kylo the Son of Darkness. As Luke means light or light giving, Rey would literally be the Daughter of Light.
For those who think we're delusional or crazy for still thinking Rey is Luke's daughter, all we can say is you're missing one hell of an emotional ride in the Sequel Trilogy.
swshadowcouncil reblogged
The Skywalker Saga
The central theme of the Sequel Trilogy is that of identity. It drives all of the major characters’ arcs. Rey, Kylo Ren and Finn all wear masks when we first see them. Each grapples with finding who they are and their purpose.
So too with the legacy characters Han and Luke Skywalker in each of their respective movies. Both must remember who they are. I have no doubt that is or would have been Leia’s as well.
The central theme of the ST is the central question of the saga and what Episode IX must answer. The saga isn’t about the individual Skywalkers and its end isn’t tied to their individual stories. The saga comes down to one question:
Who are the Skywalkers and what is their purpose?
-robotical712
The Skywalker Saga
The central theme of the Sequel Trilogy is that of identity. It drives all of the major characters' arcs. Rey, Kylo Ren and Finn all wear masks when we first see them. Each grapples with finding who they are and their purpose.
So too with the legacy characters Han and Luke Skywalker in each of their respective movies. Both must remember who they are. I have no doubt that is or would have been Leia's as well.
The central theme of the ST is the central question of the saga and what Episode IX must answer. The saga isn't about the individual Skywalkers and its end isn't tied to their individual stories. The saga comes down to one question:
Who are the Skywalkers and what is their purpose?
-robotical712
Symbolism!
Immediately after Luke passes into the Force, The Last Jedi shows the emblem of the Prime Jedi half in shadow. Luke has achieved true balance within himself and the Force.
And Luke will return more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
swshadowcouncil reblogged
The TLJ Case for Rey Skywalker
The case for Rey Skywalker can be summed up in a few lines from TLJ:
Luke: You went straight to the dark. […] It offered something you needed. And you didn’t even try to stop yourself.
Luke: […] My nephew with that mighty Skywalker blood. And in my hubris, I thought I could train him, I could pass on my strengths. […] Rey: […] Kylo failed you. I won’t.
Luke thinks Ben fell because of his heritage and Luke failed to help him overcome it as he did. Now Luke is terrified it will doom Rey as well (first quote). The fact Luke never actually trained Rey in The Last Jedi is a very important plot point. By attempting what Luke did for Vader and then refusing Kylo’s offer to join him, Rey showed Luke the Skywalker bloodline wasn’t predisposed to the dark, but the light. He didn’t need to pass on his strengths to her, she already had them.
The full case:
- Thematic Analysis
- Basis for the Interpretation
- Creative Commentary
- Movie Analysis Round Table
- Narrative Analysis
- Symbolic Analysis
Supplemental:
swshadowcouncil reblogged
When I first read @swshadowcouncil ‘s ReySky interpretation of TLJ I certainly wanted it to be true but between Rian’s reyl0 baiting and all the “fan expectations” talk it just seemed too unlikely. But I can’t deny that more and more stuff coming out seems to be lining up with their interpretation.
I mean Luke’s internal monologue from the comic is so ReySky I almost can’t believe it’s real and not fanmade. What is going through Luke’s mind in that comic is pretty much exactly what I thought when the “I’ve seen that raw strength once before” clip first came out in the trailer.
Then there’s the deleted scenes, 2 of them really seem to line up with the ReySky interoperation. First there is the “Luke has a moment” scene, which is where we see him grieve for Han. Mark Hamill has actually stated that Luke was putting on a facade in front of Rey when talking about that deleted scene. So…yeah he wasn’t acting like a jerk to Rey because he’s just a jerk now. Why this scene was cut remains a mystery to me.
The other deleted scene of interest is the “caretake village sequence”. Ugh…okay I actually hate this scene and am glad it was cut. Luke absolutely does go too far in this scene first by letting Rey think the village is under attack but I think the worst part is the way he actually laughs at the way she ran off quickly before Luke could tell her the truth. That is so OOC for Luke I can’t even. All that said right at the end of the scene when Rey is yelling about how she believed in the stories of Luke Skywalker you can see that Luke has let his mask slip and his real emotions are showing through. imho the emotions on his face just don’t line up with Rey being random.
And the more I think about how much Rian loves subversion (seriously he loves it: you think that is a space ship? HA! More fool YOU, that is an IRON!!!) the more I think that doing a double subversion (is that the right phrase?) for Rey’s parentage is exactly what he’s done. He subverted expectations with the Rey random reveal and now the expectation walking into EpIX is that she’s not Luke’s daughter so if it turns out that she is after all then that’s another subversion “thanks” to Rian.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like this approach to Rey’s parentage mystery, at ALL, but at this point I’m about 85% sure that’s what Rian did. If it had been up to me Rey would have been confirmed Luke’s daughter in TFA (which i’m pretty sure was JJ’s original intention) and we could have all been spared what is going to end up being 4 freaking YEARS of this BS.
I’d say I’m a mixture of these two gifs over ReySky probably being Rian’s intention with TLJ:
This is what we live for. We're happy to help other's see all is not lost.
I really wish we knew sales figures for Star Wars merchandise from before and after The Last Jedi. That’s the only real way to measure TLJ’s impact on Solo.
That said, I am extremely worried right now about Solo’s under-performance and how it will affect the future of the franchise.
-robotical712
swshadowcouncil reblogged
reyskywalkeradvocate-deactivate
What’s so bad about Rey being a Skywalker?
“It’s boring”? Well, you can see the spin-offs out of the Skywalker Saga, or another saga, like, Star Trek?
“It has been done before”? Well, it’s the Skywalker Saga!
“Kylo is the Skywalker of the new generation”? Are y'all really denying Rey the Skywalker name and giving it to a villain that doesn’t even want it (at least anymore)? Are y'all misogynist?
“It’s a patriarchal system”? Rey is a girl, and this is a dynasty system, and, by the way, why a girl can’t be a heir to a dynasty?
“We already have Leia”? Again, what’s the problem of Rey, specifically, being a Skywalker?
“It denies the ‘anyone has the force’ message”? When did Anakin, being child of the Force, denied this message? All the Jedi that ever existed are ashamed of y'all.
“Luke treated her bad”? Y'all know he was desperate to leave her out of the war, right? That he was wanting to protect her, right? Because if he just treated her bad without a really good reason, I will have to agree with #notmyluke
“But then my Reylo is incest”? Well, that’s the worst reason ever, like, you’re denying her her real last name because of a fckin ship?
“But she said they were nobody”? Well, if y'all lived since 6 years old in a desert planet and in the apparently only chance y'all had to discover who your parents were the mirror showed nothing because, as Yoda said in The Empire Strikes Back, the dark cave only shows what is with you a.k.a y'all know nothing, wouldn’t y'all grab in the only story someone told y'all claiming it was a vision of the force after manipulating y'all into believing it would redeem?
“Ah, but you’re an anti”? I don’t ship incest or some ship that if canon is abusive, but, I was talking about Rey Skywalker, right? So y'all ran out of excuses?