Why we really love Rey
Note: This piece contains spoilers for The Force Awakens. If you haven’t seen it yet, please direct your podracer to the nearest big screen and beg for forgiveness.
After seeing Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens today for the third time, I started thinking about just how good the new characters are. Finn’s boyish humor. Poe’s roguish good looks and attitude that makes original trilogy Han Solo seem not-so-cocky. Ben’s genuine struggle to belong in a universe torn apart by dark and light, with his own family at the center. And of course, who can resist the somehow-unbelievably-cuter-than-Artoo bleeps, bloops and thumbs-up of BB-8?
But there’s one character in this galaxy far, far away who stole the show. It wasn’t the return of a lovable scoundrel who’s a certain shade of grumpy tempered by a heart of gold. It wasn’t a princess-turned-general. Nor was it a laughing fuzzball. It wasn’t even the tease of a vanished Jedi Master and his inevitable, emotional last-second return. It was a that girl. The scavenger. Daisy Ridley’s Rey.
For fans, it’s about more than a female lead
Rey is mesmerizing in part because Ridley is stunning. Taking your gaze off her bright eyes and captivating smile is easier said than done. Yet, a pretty actress with an alluring personality does not necessarily equal an interesting character. It takes more than that to compel Star Wars fans in the same way Rey does (after all, Natalie Portman was eye candy for my teenage years, but Amidala was mostly hollow along with the rest of the prequel material).
This also has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Star Wars’ character numero uno is now a leading lady. Sure, that’s great for those who take up the causes of feminism and diversity. Sure, it’s recognizably super cool to see a bad-ass chick take down Unkar Plutt’s baddies right before exclaiming to Finn, “I know how to run without you holding my hand!” But let’s not forget Leia held her own back in the day, laying down cover fire plenty of times and even killing the mighty Jabba the Hutt. (Kudos to TFA team for making Rey desirable without the involvement of a Padme-inspired midriff shirt or slave bikini.)
And the awesomeness of Rey is also not about how great she suddenly is at pretty much everything does — speak multiple languages, pilot ships, fix things, use Jedi mind tricks, manipulate objects with the Force, lightsaber battle… you get the idea. (It is at this point I must of course mention that there are multiple reasons behind why each of these things make sense, despite the fact that many want to play the Mary Sue card.)
There’s something more than the look, the acting, the excitement of a powerful young Force user emerging from the scrap heaps of Jakku. I wrestled with it the first couple of times I saw TFA, but I finally realized that Rey fulfills two character roles simultaneously for lifelong Star Wars fans like myself. Rey is the amalgamation of the dual heroes in the original Star Wars franchise — she’s part Han Solo, part Luke Skywalker.
The best of both worlds
Ever since I saw Star Wars’ original trilogy for the first time in the 1980s, I had a difficult time choosing between Han and Luke as my favorite characters. Not often are we presented with two heroes of such gravitas. And they were also such polar opposites — the farm boy, full of hope and faith, and the smuggler, full of skepticism and greed. Yet, in the end, Luke sees there is a great deal of darkness in the galaxy, while Han slowly comes around to the ideas of loyalty and a greater power controlling his destiny. Without Luke, the galaxy is doomed. But without Han, Luke never fires the shot that destroys the first Death Star, nor does he survive the frozen temperatures of Hoth, and the Rebel fleet is doomed because the Endor shield generator never goes down.
How does a kid choose? We all want to be the Jedi Knight. But we all wanted to be the scruffy-looking, vest-wearing suave guy who saves the day and gets the girl in the end, too. It’s the never-ending struggle in the mind of a Star Wars fanboy, like choosing between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (admittedly not such a hard choice for some, I’ve heard).
I never did choose. I always leaned Han, but secretly I felt guilty for not liking Luke more. With Rey, we don’t have to be quite so torn.
She’s a young Han Solo in many ways — a skeptic (“I thought he was a myth!”), survivor, negotiator, scrappy fighter and eventually seated next to Chewie in the Millennium Falcon. But she’s also Luke (and, well, probably his daughter) — hesitant initially about using the Force, but then naturally gifted and quickly skilled, seen wielding Luke’s lightsaber, plus she’s an ace pilot and ultimately pretty altruistic. Even her attire mirrors that of the Jedi, especially from prequel lore.
Realizing the similarities Rey shares with both heroes of the original films sparked for me an underlying reason as to why I enjoy TFA so much. It’s because even though I’m rooting for an intriguing new character with her own quirks and traits, I’m also cheering for my lifelong heroes. Abrams and crew managed to use what I already loved about Star Wars to produce Star Wars juice from concentrate.
Rey’s existence ensures the Force is strong with Star Wars fandom
There are lots of things I really like about TFA. However, there is perhaps no better reason than knowing that this is just the beginning of a bright future for Star Wars. Regardless of how you rate the prequels, they were just backstory. But what I know now is that when Luke reaches out to take back his lightsaber, he’ll have at his side not just a padawan, but an apprentice who embodies a piece of all the heroes who’ve come before her. That’s why Star Wars fans really love Rey.
She’s not just a new hope — Rey is for a new generation a redoubling of what made Star Wars great, which both comforts fans and makes them impatiently enthusiastic for the next installment.
