Reimagining The Last Jedi: Luke killed Rey’s parents

There were several mechanical faults with the storytelling of The Last Jedi. A little while ago, I wrote an analysis that went in depth on the film’s narrative flaws. After sharing my thoughts on Reddit, I was asked several times how I would alter Star Wars: Episode VIII to improve the story and solve the issues I had with the script. Although I haven’t come up with a specific beat-for-beat outline, I have given some consideration for what I would have done differently.

In this article, I’m going to focus on ways in which character arcs can be improved, pitch new conflicts of interests that elevate the plot, and explain how a purposed plot twist can completely reframe both characters’ perspectives of events as well as our own perspective of the sequel trilogy.

Character development

In The Last Jedi, we follow two separate subplots. One involves Finn and Rose who go to the casino city of Canto Bight to track down a “master codebreaker.” Although their quest ends up being inconsequential to the rest of the film, Finn grows as a character from a selfish runaway into a selfless soldier. The problem is, this is extremely redundant to Finn’s character arc in The Force Awakens in which he goes from a coward trying to escape the Resistance to a hero willing to die for a cause.

The second b-plot in The Last Jedi involves the Resistance ship losing fuel while being chased by the First Order fleet. As this is going on, Poe has to learn how to deal with taking orders from Vice Admiral Holdo.

Director and writer Rian Johnson has stated that he didn’t group Finn and Poe together in one single b-plot because he thought they would get along too well, and there would be no conflict between them. I think this is incredibly revealing of Johnson’s abilities as a writer. There is always an opportunity for conflict between characters, even when those two characters seem to get along for the most part.

Also, we shouldn’t forget that Finn and Poe haven’t had much time to interact since their initial escape from the First Order in The Force Awakens. Since Episode VIII takes place moments after the previous film, Finn has been unconscious and hasn’t had time to catch up with Poe since Starkiller Base was destroyed. Their friendship has been severely underdeveloped and largely assumed. We should be shown more than we are told.

If I had written The Last Jedi, Poe would go through a similar arc as he did in the film. I think it’s a plausible progression of his character from Episode VII. It makes sense the best pilot in the galaxy would be full of himself and need to learn how to take orders. Except in this version, Poe wouldn’t be challenged by a new authority figure who doesn’t even do well on the job.

Instead, General Leia sees Poe’s arrogance and assigns him to go on a mission with Finn (a mission which would tie into the grander plot of the film). However, Leia puts Finn in charge. Poe’s only there to fly the ship. On their mission, Poe has to learn how to compromise with a guy he’s gotten along with up until this point. He assumes it’ll be fine. As the story continues, Poe attempts to micromanage their mission and frustrates his friend.

Meanwhile, Finn has to learn how to be a leader in the midst of pushback from the one guy in the Resistance he thought he knew. This is a natural progression of Finn’s character arc from The Force Awakens, since we last saw him as a follower choosing which side he should be on. He’s made up his mind and decided to fight for the good guys, not realizing he would eventually have to step up his game and act as a leader.

While Poe’s arc in Last Jedi is an understandable extension of VII, and Finn’s arc is repetitive of what he’s already gone through, the film weirdly lacks an arc for its protagonist Rey.

The Force Awakens introduced us to Rey as a girl who simply wants her family back. After living her whole life alone on the desert planet Jakku, she has to come to terms with the fact that her family is never coming to get her. When Rey confronts this reality, she decides to continue on her adventure and accepts the call to action.

In Last Jedi, Rey has to come to terms with the fact that her parents don’t matter, because they’re “nobodies.” When she accepts that her parents never cared for her, she faces a choice: join Kylo Ren, who had parents that cared for him who he betrayed, or she can continue fighting for what she believes in, where she’s already accepted in a surrogate family... It’s an easy choice.

In one sense, this moment feels repetitive as Rey has to break through denial for a second time. In another sense, this progression in the narrative feels completely random and inconsistent with Force Awakens. The audience wasn’t aware that Rey didn’t know who her parents were, or that she was caught up in thinking they were something other than “filthy junk traders.” To her, it shouldn’t matter who they are, she just wants her family back and to know what happened to them.

When we see her again moments after her “revelation,” Rey is flying in the Falcon having a blast, shooting down Tie Fighters. It seems as if nothing has an impact on her throughout the entire film.

Despite learning the legendary Luke Skywalker has decided to abandon the Force and the heroic Jedi Order, Rey remains optimistic and naively confident she is destined to be a Jedi, and that Luke will eventually come around to help the Resistance. Rey should be humbled after finding out Luke is just as human as she is, and she should be twice as humbled after failing to redeem Kylo Ren. But, we never see her discouraged. Although she is proven wrong multiple times, she’s never troubled.

Conflicts of interest

If we’re going to see a burdened Luke Skywalker, we also need to see a properly disheartened Rey. Since she is persistently hopeful, she needs to hear something that will flip the way she sees the universe. She needs a new hurdle to overcome. This can be accomplished through a plot twist on par with the reveal that Vader is Luke’s father in The Empire Strikes Back.

In this rewrite, Kylo Ren realizes he once knew Rey’s parents. During a Force Skype session between her and Kylo Ren, he alludes to Rey that Luke knows something about what happened to her family. Soon, Luke reveals that her parents were among his Jedi students who had been slain. In recurring flashbacks, this story is expanded upon a few times. Instead of just hearing about these events, we see parts of them take place.

Rey is sad to learn that her parents died violently that night, and is told that Luke fulfilled their last wishes by dropping her off on Jakku for her own safety as the First Order would be searching for him.

But Luke isn’t telling Rey the full story. In a final Force communication between her and Kylo Ren, he reveals that Luke Skywalker killed her parents. They were among the students who Snoke had turned to the dark side with Ben Solo. After her parents initiated a fight against Luke and the rest of the Academy, he had no choice but to defend himself and the other students by defeating the couple.

When Rey finds out, her world is crushed. Luke isn’t just a fallen hero, he’s taken everything from her. He’s the reason she's been on her own her whole life. She had dreamt of her family’s return for years, but because of Luke, she’ll never know them.

This turn of events has several implications for Rey, Luke, and Kylo Ren. First, it gives some reason and backstory for Rey’s abilities in the Force. Second, it gives Luke additional reason to be hesitant to train her. The weight of Luke’s failure becomes even heavier if his actions led to a child being orphaned. He is responsible for Rey, and abandoned her partly to escape that responsibility.

Third, Rey finally has a major conflict of interest that she must face. She can’t be passive anymore. She has to make a choice. She came to Luke to recruit him and become a proper Jedi — but everything has been turned on its head. Should she deny herself and be a hero, or give into the dark side and avenge her parents?

Similar to the “Vader is Luke’s father” reveal, this twist raises the stakes and makes them even more personal than they were previously. Dynamics between characters completely shift. Unlike the film, Rey has good reason to turn on Luke and join Kylo Ren.

This reveal also has big implications for Kylo Ren’s motivation.

In the final flashback, we see Ben’s perspective of the massacre. After hearing commotion outside, he walks out of his hut. Ben sees students fighting each other with lightsabers while the Academy in engulfed in flames. This wasn’t part of the plan. Something must’ve gone wrong.

Ben is clearly underprepared and overwhelmed, not sure he should join the newly formed Knights of Ren and fight the Jedi students, or just wait for it to be over. After observing the chaos, Ben spots Rey’s parents fighting his uncle Luke. Rey’s father and mother were Ben’s mentors, and were responsible for recruiting him to Snoke’s Knights of Ren. Rey’s mom shouts to Ben in the distance, asking him for a hand against the Jedi Master.

Suddenly, Luke defeats the couple. It is a critical moment for Ben, as well as both Rey and Luke. Ben’s mind is made up, realizing he cares more about his friends than his uncle. He charges toward Luke, who didn’t think his own nephew would be among the students to betray him. This element of surprise is what allows Ben to best the Jedi Master in a fight and escape with the Knights of Ren.

(Side note: younger Luke’s naive attitude parallels Rey’s current naive optimism. The only difference is, he didn’t know how to deal with tragedy other through shame and isolation. Rey eventually confronts her tragedy and becomes stronger for it, paving the way for Luke to return.)

Now, Kylo Ren has personal motivation to lure Rey to the dark side. After their most recent conversation in which he revealed that Luke took her parents from her, Kylo believes there’s a good chance he has a new ally. But if he can’t turn her, he knows what her parents would want him to do.

Consequence

After Rey confronts Luke, she leaves to face Kylo Ren. We aren’t sure whether she will choose to face him in a fight, or join his side. The offer was left open the last time they spoke. Arriving on the Supremacy, Kylo speaks with Rey on their walk to Snoke’s throne room, suspecting she will soon pledge her allegiance to the First Order.

If Snoke is going to meet his demise in the moments to come, we should at least learn the reason why the rest of the Knights of Ren chose to join him years ago. When Rey is presented before Snoke, he decides to tell her about her parents, and why they were right to give into the dark side, betraying Luke’s new Jedi Order to join the First (Jedi) Order.

Snoke explains that Luke had whitewashed the Jedi religion to be what he wanted it to be. He erased thousands of years of teachings to make room for the things he wanted to enforce. Luke allowed marriage and encouraged students to follow their feelings. He believed enemies could be redeemed, as he once redeemed his father, and that everyone has some good in them. Luke ignored the roots of the Jedi, and restricted students from reading the ancient texts. But despite Luke’s effort to keep the truth a secret, there were rumors throughout the Academy of the Jedi Order’s scandalous and dark beginnings.

It was Rey’s parents who first got in contact with Snoke, who claimed to know about the origins of the Jedi. In fact, Snoke claimed to be the Prime Jedi, the creator of the religion and discoverer of the Force. He told the couple that if they spread the word, he would teach a select few of Luke’s students about the Force in a way their master never could.

After Snoke recounts this story to Rey, she speaks up and finally gives her answer whether or not she will join them. She tells Snoke she won’t follow in her parents’ footsteps. Kylo Ren is surprised and turns to her.

“Wiser than they were,” says Snoke. “Gullible fools, they trusted anything I would tell them. They even believed that I was the Prime Jedi.”

Kylo Ren is taken aback. Despite knowing plenty about the Force, Snoke wasn’t all he said he was. He had lied to Rey’s parents, Ben’s old friends. Thinking of them, Kylo immediately ignites Luke’s lightsaber and kills Snoke. He had regretted being too late before and allowing his friends to die by Luke’s blade. In a turn of events, Kylo Ren is the one who avenges Rey’s parents, not her.

After killing Snoke, he Force chokes the guards surrounding the room. All of them collapse to the floor. Meanwhile, Rey doesn’t understand what is happening. She is still processing the truth about her parents. Instead of a team-up between Rey and Kylo, they fight each other in a lightsaber duel. As compelling as the sequence was upon first viewing in a theater, it’s hard to continue to take a hero/villain relationship seriously after they defend one another and take on a common enemy.

Unlike their first duel in The Force Awakens, Kylo now has the upper hand over Rey, empowered by his anger. But also much like their first duel, this one is entirely based on emotion. After Kylo bests Rey, she collapses on her knees. Kylo takes the blue lightsaber from her, holding both sabers to her neck. She is still distraught about her parents, not thinking about her current situation.

Suddenly, the Resistance ship rams through the Supremacy at light speed. Both of them are thrown to opposite ends of the room. The rest of the film plays out as it does, but Rey is no longer in a good mood. She’s forgiven Luke and has come to terms with the truth of her parents, but she’s still not thrilled to shoot Tie Fighters in the Falcon.

Progression

The runtime for Episode VIII is 2 hours and 32 minutes. Yet, when it was over, I didn’t learn much new about any of the characters. By the end of this retelling, each character grows into better versions of themselves. Finn matures and becomes a better leader, facing opposition on the way from Poe, who is humbled as he learns how to compromise. It might even make sense that Poe would eventually sacrifice himself for Finn’s survival. This would be the ultimate way he could lead by example, while redeeming himself from former arrogance.

Instead of remaining passive throughout her shortcomings, Rey goes from naive idealist to confident realist. She learns how to deal with tragedy after realizing the universe doesn’t always work in her favor. Unlike Luke, she maintains a spark of hope and knows she still can’t give up, despite matters being against her. Rey overcomes a personal conflict to be the hero she needs to be to protect her new family.

Luke also realizes he needs to accept things as they are and forgive himself to take up the mantle again and make matters right. The weight of his failings are heavier here than the film, so his return to action is more meaningful.

Lastly, Kylo Ren’s motivation is completely changed. He isn’t just trying to “kill the past” and write his own journey, he’s basing decisions on a past allegiance. Unlike the film, Kylo Ren now has something to stand for. After a paradigm shift, he sees Snoke as just another old manipulator disconnected from reality. Kylo also faces a conflict of interest, not wanting to kill Rey, but knowing he might have to.

A film like The Last Jedi should pose new and compelling challenges to its heroes who think they have it all figured out. Dreams should be crushed, motivations should be developed, and the plot should be elevated. Not only should the characters’ perspectives be altered, ours should be altered too.

We should care what happens after the film ends, but many have voiced their indifference to a followup. We weren’t given legitimate reasons to care about how conflicts might be resolved, because the conflict didn’t feel so pressing to begin with. But if Rey and Kylo Ren share personal ties that develop them as characters and affect their dynamic, there’s an additional layer of suspense. We have something new and interesting to anticipate. We want to see what happens next.