Tag: meta

jewishcomeradebot:

Finn and Rey are Padmé and Anakin, only with a happy ending.

Their story so far has many of the same beats as Anakin’s and Padmé’s had in TPM and AotC. 

In the first installment of the story Rey (Anakin) is trapped in a life of servitude on a desert planet. While she might not be a slave exactly, she comes across as a form of indentured servant. 

Finn is the rebel against the status quo, the way Padmé rebelled at the stagnation and indifference of the Senate and at the end of the day will take matters into their own hands and resort to armed might to set things right, when the large galaxy appears to don’t give a fuck about their issues.

In part two, they’re kept apart. Where what kept Padmé and Anakin apart was social strictures and rules, Finn and Rey are kept apart physically. But in both cases both of them are yearning to be with each other against all the odds.

Their reunification after the battle is as tender and passionate as Anakin’s and Padmé’s after the Battle of Geonosis. They rush to each other and hold on tight, finally in the arms of the person they love.

But unlike Padmé and Anakin, Finn and Rey don’t have to hide. There are no strict Jedi masters spouting a dogma against romance to tell Rey she can’t show the love she feels for Finn. And Finn’s position in the Resistance as a leader and hero is not at odds with him loving and showing love, for Rey.

So though we lack an actual wedding scene I wonder if in Episode IX we’ll be presented with Finn’s and Rey’s romantic relationship as a already given entity, they’re simply presented as a couple from the beginning. Or if the confession of their love will happen very early instead.

Either way, it would make the most sense if the two of them spend most if not all of the movie as a couple and we see them navigate the obstacles of an ongoing war alongside the obstacle they face as a couple, the same way we see it with Anakin and Padmé in RotS. Only in this case Finn and Rey will have the happy ending Anakin’s obsession denied him and Padmé.

YES I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER. Finn and Rey are genderflipped Anidala with a happy ending and better lines.

Other similarities, if you go back to TPM:

– Padmé/Finn originally met Anakin/Rey under an identity they assumed for safety reasons

– Both eventual couples became friends under Padmé/Finn’s assumed identity, and Padmé/Finn willingly revealed their true identity much to Anakin/Rey’s shock

– Both couples were good friends first. This stage was much longer for Padmé and Anakin since they were children when they first met and there were 10 years between their meeting in TPM and realizing their feelings in AotC. It’s pretty clear Rey and Finn were attracted to each other almost from the moment they first met, but they still started out as friends first and foremost.

Additional similarities with AotC:

– Rey and Finn  meet at almost exactly the same ages Anakin and Padmé
were in AotC, 19/23 to Anakin and Padmé’s 19/24. Incidentally 19 is the traditional age for Skywalkers to begin their adventures as adults including meeting prospective love interests, and 23 is the traditional age for Skywalker men to choose a side

– Padmé/Finn was marked for death due to their principled actions, and Anakin/Rey became involved in the situation by order or circumstance

– Padmé/Finn went to rescue a friend (Obi-Wan/Rey) despite the threat to their lives

– The rescue did not go as envisioned and it turned out the rescuee was more than capable of handling themselves

– Padmé/Finn is slashed across the back by a monster

– There’s a heartfelt declaration by both Padmé/Finn and Anakin/Rey, though the guy made the first move in both cases (”You are in my very soul, tormenting me”/”Rey, come with me”) and the girl initially refused (”It’s impossible”/”Don’t go”) before she reciprocated in the face of almost losing him (”I’ve been dying a little bit each day”/”Thank you, my friend.” I’m not kidding about the better lines here…)

In TLJ, arguably there was a form of social stricture that kept Finn and Rey apart physically–Rose and her demand that Finn give his full allegiance to the Resistance. As I discussed in The Temptations of Finn and Rey (link), this was a callback to Finn’s being coerced to give everything to a “higher cause” his whole life. This in turn ties back to the similarities between the FO’s Stormtrooper program and the Old Republic Jedi, taking children from their families at a young age and transferring their attachment to a larger cause. I like to think Rose grew as a character and realized that she had been wrong about Finn, but RJ’s execution is so muddled it’s hard to tell ¯_(ツ)_/¯

For this reason I think there’s a chance that “will they or won’t they” will still be a thing in Episode IX. Finn and Rey ended TLJ on essentially a misunderstanding and on opposite ends from their last real talk on Takodana. For all they love each other they are still essentially strangers who spent maybe a grand total of one day together in the midst of a galactical crisis. (That’s another parallel to AotC Anidala, incidentally.) The crisis is worse than ever at the end of TLJ, providing plenty of excuse for two uncertain and traumatized people to bury themselves in work and avoid talking about things too close to their hearts.

What if Reylo does happen in the third movie? A bit apprehensive because I wouldn’t know what to think if Reylo is confirmed.

actualreyofsunshine:

hanukkahfinn:

Not happening. It seriously isn’t.

I wrote this a while back and nothing have changed my mind at any point. And @lj-writes and @diversehighfantasy wrote some more on the topic yesterday that pretty covers everything I hadn’t already said.

It makes crap sense from a story point of view and JJ was never about that. I could see him be pressured into a Benny boy redemption perhaps, only Kathleen appears to be the only one who’s interested in that and her position at the moment looks, shall we say somewhat precarious. Especially when you add that Disney who’s the overruling factor in this is interested in one thing and one thing only, making money.

And so far, investing in Benny boy has been a really bad deal over all. The Kylo Ren merch post-TFA is still knocking about in some stores because it sold so badly. TLJ may not exactly have flopped but it certainly under performed according to expectation which should hammer home that overfocus on Benny boy is never going to be a seller. TFA with its focus on Finn and Rey made Disney 2 billion dollars, TLJ with its focus on Ben Yolo undershot expectations with several hundred millions.

So Reylo and Benny boy redemption doesn’t just make fuck all sense storywise, it makes for really bad business sense too. 

But let me for a second entertain the thought that reylo did become canon, I always did enjoy thought experiments, it would be the one thing that would kill Star Wars stone dead for me. TLJ came close, but it was really just a case of extreme shiptease with Rey slamming the door in Kylo’s face at the end of the day, because she’d found a place and people who cared about her for her unlike Kylo.

But if they pair the leading woman off with a neo Nazi allegory, never mind how “redeemed” I’m out. Permanently.

Not gonna happen though. My money is still on canon Finnrey, with a lesser amount on single!Rey and some ambiguous Finnpoe. You know, Korrasami style ending. Disney is ten years behind everyone else and doesn’t have the guts to make open Finnpoe canon. They’ll claim it’s because China, but really it’s the homegrown homophobes they’re trying to placate.

But I’m wandering off topic.

Tl;dr Canon reylo isn’t happening.

Here’s the other thing too–even if Reylo does happen by some incomprehensible long shot, that doesn’t make it an okay pairing or anywhere close to being in the realm of acceptability.

This is the other thing that Reylos don’t seem to understand. They think the issue boils down to whether or not the ship is canon, and that people who don’t like the pairing are angry abt it being canon in lieu of what they choose to ship, when the truth has always been that the ship is bad, period. Even if it becomes canon tomorrow, it’s a bad ship, based on bad storytelling and a horrendous mischaracterization of literally everyone involved.

There are plenty of ships that are technically still canon, but are objectively bad, and reylo would be one of them if it were to become a reality in the next movie. Thankfully, and perhaps hopefully, it won’t.

lj-writes:

lj-writes:

lj-writes:

Never Enough is a beautiful horror song.

The lyrics are very clearly saying that the person will never be satisfied, that it’s about their insatiable hunger and not about love or the person being sung to.

The lyrics are “’Cause darling without you/All the shine of a thousand spotlights/All the stars we steal from the night sky/Will never be enough/Never be enough.” However, “you” appears only once in the song and the most often repeated & emphasized parts are “Never enough/For me.” It’s about the singer and the fact that she will never be satisfied, with the barest lip service to being a love song in the whispered “without you.” It is an unscrupulous and manipulative narcissist’s song, a foreshadowing and warning for the character of Jenny herself (who is no more the historical Jenny Lind than the song is an opera number, of course.).

I really appreciate that the song is so heartfelt, beautiful, glittering, charismatic–because that’s what manipulation often looks and feels like when you’re being reeled in. You feel special, like you’re privileged, like the two of you exist apart from the world in a golden bubble. That you are safe and loved, that they are the most amazing and at the same time the most vulnerable and relatable person in the world and they need you. This is the magic of the abuser, creating an alternate reality with their charm, their personality, and above all their burning need to hook you in.

Of course it feels real when you’re going through it, in fact it feels hyper-real, better than reality. In a way, that’s because it is real to the person creating the experience, they need it to be real. This is the pull of the void that can never be filled. It is the strongest force in the world. Love is such a basic need, and people who do this kind of thing don’t have it–they seek a substite for it, but of course nothing can take the place of love. So they are always empty, always pulling, always needing. This is understandable, though not defensible, because a part of them is drowning, trying to survive.

The manipulator is, ultimately, as hollow as the lovely bubble they have created. It frays at times, and you can see the real world outside. You are told that’s a trick of the mind, or you being ungrateful and selfish. It stifles you because there is not enough air and the manipulator is sucking in all of it, all the energy, all the life, all your vitality.

And then if you are lucky enough or determined enough it pops, and you are out in the cold and gasping for breath, forced to face how much of yourself you wasted for this person who took and took from you. At least you are free, with all the messes that implies, and you can start healing and rebuilding.

A part of you might always miss it, though. It’s very likely no one else will make you feel quite like they did, and other relationships might pale in comparison. You remember how much they need you, how much they “loved” you, and how you left them bleeding and hurting and, most of all, hollow because they needed you to fill them up.

That was always a fiction, of course. They could never be filled, at least not by using you. They had to face their own shaky core first, the need that compelled them to drink people’s souls. Rather than do that, they turned to you.

It is never enough, never, never.

lj-writes:

lj-writes:

Never Enough is a beautiful horror song.

The lyrics are very clearly saying that the person will never be satisfied, that it’s about their insatiable hunger and not about love or the person being sung to.

The lyrics are “’Cause darling without you/All the shine of a thousand spotlights/All the stars we steal from the night sky/Will never be enough/Never be enough.” However, “you” appears only once in the song and the most often repeated & emphasized parts are “Never enough/For me.” It’s about the singer and the fact that she will never be satisfied, with the barest lip service to being a love song in the whispered “without you.” It is an unscrupulous and manipulative narcissist’s song, a foreshadowing and warning for the character of Jenny herself (who is no more the historical Jenny Lind than the song is an opera number, of course.).

I really appreciate that the song is so heartfelt, beautiful, glittering, charismatic–because that’s what manipulation often looks and feels like when you’re being reeled in. You feel special, like you’re privileged, like the two of you exist apart from the world in a golden bubble. That you are safe and loved, that they are the most amazing and at the same time the most vulnerable and relatable person in the world and they need you. This is the magic of the abuser, creating an alternate reality with their charm, their personality, and above all their burning need to hook you in.

Of course it feels real when you’re going through it, in fact it feels hyper-real, better than reality. In a way, that’s because it is real to the person creating the experience, they need it to be real. This is the pull of the void that can never be filled. It is the strongest force in the world. Love is such a basic need, and people who do this kind of thing don’t have it–they seek a substite for it, but of course nothing can take the place of love. So they are always empty, always pulling, always needing. This is understandable, though not defensible, because a part of them is drowning, trying to survive.

The manipulator is, ultimately, as hollow as the lovely bubble they have created. It frays at times, and you can see the real world outside. You are told that’s a trick of the mind, or you being ungrateful and selfish. It stifles you because there is not enough air and the manipulator is sucking in all of it, all the energy, all the life, all your vitality.

And then if you are lucky enough or determined enough it pops, and you are out in the cold and gasping for breath, forced to face how much of yourself you wasted for this person who took and took from you. At least you are free, with all the messes that implies, and you can start healing and rebuilding.

A part of you might always miss it, though. It’s very likely no one else will make you feel quite like they did, and other relationships might pale in comparison. You remember how much they need you, how much they “loved” you, and how you left them bleeding and hurting and, most of all, hollow because they needed you to fill them up.

That was always a fiction, of course. They could never be filled, at least not by using you. They had to face their own shaky core first, the need that compelled them to drink people’s souls. Rather than do that, they turned to you.

lj-writes:

Never Enough is a beautiful horror song.

The lyrics are very clearly saying that the person will never be satisfied, that it’s about their insatiable hunger and not about love or the person being sung to.

The lyrics are “’Cause darling without you/All the shine of a thousand spotlights/All the stars we steal from the night sky/Will never be enough/Never be enough.” However, “you” appears only once in the song and the most often repeated & emphasized parts are “Never enough/For me.” It’s about the singer and the fact that she will never be satisfied, with the barest lip service to being a love song in the whispered “without you.” It is an unscrupulous and manipulative narcissist’s song, a foreshadowing and warning for the character of Jenny herself (who is no more the historical Jenny Lind than the song is an opera number, of course.).

diversehighfantasy:

lj-writes:

diversehighfantasy:

imagine-mystrade:

jewishcomeradebot:

Why does Rey intended to try and bring Kylo back to the Light? She makes it clear to Luke that she’s doing it for the Resistance’s sake when he still refuses to return after offers him the lightsaber for the second time.

But why would the Resistance ever need Kylo? Even without any kind of training Rey kicked his ass. She “borrows” Luke’s books, presumably to use them as a reading course for brushing up on Jedi skills. With that she’d be more than able to kick his ass again.

If the Resistance has her it’ll never need Kylo, Ben or whatever he might choose to call himself.

Except, the Resistance doesn’t have Rey does it?

She had no plan on joining forces with the Resistance after they deliver BB-8 to them, only wanted to go back to Jakku. In TLJ her two constants while she is with Luke is to consistently ask him to return with her and try to get information about or word to Finn. And her last words to Finn in TFA is that she believes they’ll see each other again.

In fact she seems intent on dispensing with her errand as quickly as possible so  she can return to the Resistance so she can return fast. Last she had a chance to really talk to Finn he made it clear he had no intention of becoming a part of the Resistance or stick around, for all she knows he’ll be gone the moment he’s up and about.

She has no intention of sticking around with the Resistanc, she just want someone else who can deal with all of this and when Luke refuses to return, Rey turns to Kylo as her second option. If she can turn him back to the Light then she can dump the Resistance and all this Force nonsense in his lap and fly off into the sunset  with her new boyfriend – the only living person who cared enough for her to make sure she was safe and free even at great cost to himself – and enough knowledge that she doesn’t create mishaps with her new abilities.

I think a lot of people miss this, tbh. Rey was looking to get back to Finn. You get the impression that Rey felt that the “Luke issue” was not that he was depressed, necessarily, but that he was somewhere no one could find him and that as soon as he was found and told that the First Order was killing people, he’d just come back immediately. She likely thought she’d be on Ahch-To only long enough to find Luke, tell him the deal, help him back his stuff, and then head back to the last reported position of the Resistance fleet.

It’s still bad writing for her to assume that Kylo is the last hope. Why not try to find Maz, who is Force Sensitive, though not a trained Jedi? Maz said in TFA she knows the Force, and I think she probably knew her way around a lightsaber. She’s obviously worried about Finn. He’s out of the woods in TFA (which is another continuity shitball courtesy of Rian Johnson), but not conscious. It’s clear she wants to return to him. I think she also wants to help rid the galaxy of the First Order, but I think she thought her part in it was to scoop Luke up and bring him to where he could help. The whole “There’s something inside me that’s awakened” is Rian Johnsass’s projection bullshit that had no place in this movie.

If you look at Rey as the actual protagonist of her own arc, her story is like a classic Odyssey; like Odysseus the goal is to get back home (Finn has replaced Jakku as her belonging place). She faces a string of mental and physical challenges to reaching that goal, including breaking through to an uncommunicative Luke, finding the lightsaber, learning Force control, facing herself in the cave, and, of course, Kylo Ren, who tries to Siren-song her to the Dark Side, and the physical battles with the Guards and the FO ships at Crait.

Holy shit this adds a whole new meaning to the look Rey gave Finn and
Rose. It’s like Odysseus braving gods, witches, monsters and what have
you to come home to Penelope, only to find her beleaguered by suitors.
Finn has a new commitment to the Resistance and at least one new
friend–perhaps girlfriend?–that he cares about very much. Rey doesn’t
know how hard he tried to keep her safe and meet up with her, and we
don’t know if the deleted scene where he saw BB-8′s recording is canon.
The deleted scene being canon would explain much about his attempt to
leave, but there’s also dramatic irony in the two of them being like
ships passing in the night, each pining for the other while being
unaware the other feels the same. It’s the classic “mutual unrequited
crush” situation, except with magic, lasers, and fascists.

And
now Luke is gone and Kylo has refused yet again to return to the light.
Rey is the only known Force user left to fight for the Resistance, and
Finn, who had asked her to come with him, is staying of his own free
will. In TFA it was Finn who said “Come with me” and Rey who told him,
“Don’t go.” In TLJ it was Rey who was fighting her way to his side, for
the chance to say  “Come with me” with a clear conscience, and now both
the needs of the universe and Finn himself are telling her without
words, “Don’t go.”

As Rey watches Finn and Rose, is she
regretting the fact that she didn’t go when he asked? Wondering if she
might be the one he would be tucking in if she had left with him? But
also realizing that this isn’t  just about the two of them, they can’t
ignore the threat of the First Order and now they are both enmeshed?
Wondering if they will ever be able to live free of the looming menace
and the moral obligation to fight it, whether they will both make it out
alive to think about a future together, doubting whether the two of
them together is even on the table for him anymore?

Like John said on Twitter (link here), that look said it all.

Yup. Finn isn’t purely a Penelope, since he has his own hero’s journey. But in the context of Rey’s journey, he’s a classic Penelope, complete with a “suitor.”

Exactly. What I love about their intertwined stories in TLJ is that they are each their own Odysseus and the other’s Penelope. (Also I love the idea of a Black man being a cherished and protected love interest that a heroic woman is lifting heaven and earth to come home to.) Rey has her Odyssey but so does Finn, to protect Rey and also to find a new purpose, a new commitment. Rey also has her “suitor,” the Force and being a Jedi, and this is made quite explicit in the novelization when Finn fears, right before their reunion, that she might no longer be the Rey he knew. And then Rey falls into his arms, laughing and sobbing at the same time and my heart send help

diversehighfantasy:

imagine-mystrade:

jewishcomeradebot:

Why does Rey intended to try and bring Kylo back to the Light? She makes it clear to Luke that she’s doing it for the Resistance’s sake when he still refuses to return after offers him the lightsaber for the second time.

But why would the Resistance ever need Kylo? Even without any kind of training Rey kicked his ass. She “borrows” Luke’s books, presumably to use them as a reading course for brushing up on Jedi skills. With that she’d be more than able to kick his ass again.

If the Resistance has her it’ll never need Kylo, Ben or whatever he might choose to call himself.

Except, the Resistance doesn’t have Rey does it?

She had no plan on joining forces with the Resistance after they deliver BB-8 to them, only wanted to go back to Jakku. In TLJ her two constants while she is with Luke is to consistently ask him to return with her and try to get information about or word to Finn. And her last words to Finn in TFA is that she believes they’ll see each other again.

In fact she seems intent on dispensing with her errand as quickly as possible so  she can return to the Resistance so she can return fast. Last she had a chance to really talk to Finn he made it clear he had no intention of becoming a part of the Resistance or stick around, for all she knows he’ll be gone the moment he’s up and about.

She has no intention of sticking around with the Resistanc, she just want someone else who can deal with all of this and when Luke refuses to return, Rey turns to Kylo as her second option. If she can turn him back to the Light then she can dump the Resistance and all this Force nonsense in his lap and fly off into the sunset  with her new boyfriend – the only living person who cared enough for her to make sure she was safe and free even at great cost to himself – and enough knowledge that she doesn’t create mishaps with her new abilities.

I think a lot of people miss this, tbh. Rey was looking to get back to Finn. You get the impression that Rey felt that the “Luke issue” was not that he was depressed, necessarily, but that he was somewhere no one could find him and that as soon as he was found and told that the First Order was killing people, he’d just come back immediately. She likely thought she’d be on Ahch-To only long enough to find Luke, tell him the deal, help him back his stuff, and then head back to the last reported position of the Resistance fleet.

It’s still bad writing for her to assume that Kylo is the last hope. Why not try to find Maz, who is Force Sensitive, though not a trained Jedi? Maz said in TFA she knows the Force, and I think she probably knew her way around a lightsaber. She’s obviously worried about Finn. He’s out of the woods in TFA (which is another continuity shitball courtesy of Rian Johnson), but not conscious. It’s clear she wants to return to him. I think she also wants to help rid the galaxy of the First Order, but I think she thought her part in it was to scoop Luke up and bring him to where he could help. The whole “There’s something inside me that’s awakened” is Rian Johnsass’s projection bullshit that had no place in this movie.

If you look at Rey as the actual protagonist of her own arc, her story is like a classic Odyssey; like Odysseus the goal is to get back home (Finn has replaced Jakku as her belonging place). She faces a string of mental and physical challenges to reaching that goal, including breaking through to an uncommunicative Luke, finding the lightsaber, learning Force control, facing herself in the cave, and, of course, Kylo Ren, who tries to Siren-song her to the Dark Side, and the physical battles with the Guards and the FO ships at Crait.

Holy shit this adds a whole new meaning to the look Rey gave Finn and
Rose. It’s like Odysseus braving gods, witches, monsters and what have
you to come home to Penelope, only to find her beleaguered by suitors.
Finn has a new commitment to the Resistance and at least one new
friend–perhaps girlfriend?–that he cares about very much. Rey doesn’t
know how hard he tried to keep her safe and meet up with her, and we
don’t know if the deleted scene where he saw BB-8′s recording is canon.
The deleted scene being canon would explain much about his attempt to
leave, but there’s also dramatic irony in the two of them being like
ships passing in the night, each pining for the other while being
unaware the other feels the same. It’s the classic “mutual unrequited
crush” situation, except with magic, lasers, and fascists.

And
now Luke is gone and Kylo has refused yet again to return to the light.
Rey is the only known Force user left to fight for the Resistance, and
Finn, who had asked her to come with him, is staying of his own free
will. In TFA it was Finn who said “Come with me” and Rey who told him,
“Don’t go.” In TLJ it was Rey who was fighting her way to his side, for
the chance to say  “Come with me” with a clear conscience, and now both
the needs of the universe and Finn himself are telling her without
words, “Don’t go.”

As Rey watches Finn and Rose, is she
regretting the fact that she didn’t go when he asked? Wondering if she
might be the one he would be tucking in if she had left with him? But
also realizing that this isn’t  just about the two of them, they can’t
ignore the threat of the First Order and now they are both enmeshed?
Wondering if they will ever be able to live free of the looming menace
and the moral obligation to fight it, whether they will both make it out
alive to think about a future together, doubting whether the two of
them together is even on the table for him anymore?

Like John said on Twitter (link here), that look said it all.

joenessalovesu:

lj-writes:

joenessalovesu:

my honest to god aesthetic till the end of time itself

tweet: https://twitter.com/d_mich2013/status/1004027227380449280?s=21

The entire (small) thread following the tweet is made of win, too:

Never apologize for being right, Danna.

Update: It got better. They snapped.

Some may not agree with the last tweet in this thread (I personally do), but the rest is spot on honestly.

Omg we got an anti in the house 😂 Always refreshing to see pushback for these horrible apologetics. And ftr I agree with the final one too and wrote an analysis where I read the Rey and Kylo scenes much as Danna did, that Kyle was trying to do to Rey what Snoke did to him. Pablo Hidalgo of the Story Group has also said that being manipulated doesn’t absolve Kyle of responsibility. Many reylows, and many antis tbh, refuse to see that nuance.

Finn, Kylo Ren, Rey, and the Cycle of Abuse

themandalorianwolf:

lj-writes:

This is spun off from @jewishcomeradebot‘s post about the parallels and contrasts of Finn and Kylo Ren in TLJ–how they both kill their abusers but, where Finn walks away and is free, Kylo Ren stays despite the death of his abuser.

Finn and Kylo’s paths diverged from the very beginning of TFA, of course, at Tuanul. It was the start of Finn’s escape and Kylo Ren choosing to enmesh himself all the deeper, and it was the trajectory of these choices that led to them to the events of TLJ.

In understanding Finn’s leaving and Kylo’s staying, not to mention the nature of abuse in general, I don’t think I can emphasize enough that leaving an abusive situation is unbelievably hard.
Isolation is a big part of abuse, and leaving often means
you have little to no support or resources outside that relationship. Leaving itself may be punished by violence, which was very much true in Finn’s case. Finn had to risk his
life and fight through a space fortress just to physically leave. Once
he had escaped he had absolutely nothing and could have died in the
desert but the Force wouldn’t let him, of course. At
the end of TLJ he’s one of about 20 survivors on a space weed van (I will
never not be amused by that expression), marked and
hunted, his future uncertain.

By contrast Kylo stayed, and he
has all the comfort and resources of the First Order at his disposal.
He is powerful and important, heck, he played his cards right and he’s
effing Supreme Leader now. By all external measures Kylo is way ahead in the game.

Then there is the relational
aspect. Finn not only had to brave significant dangers just to leave, he
had to figure out an entire new way of living and relating to people.
You see him doing that even before his escape was assured, when he built
trust with Poe who was a complete stranger to him at the time. Later he became
friends with Rey and BB-8 despite a rocky beginning, even earned Han’s
trust and respect. When Rey asked him not to go on Takodana, he didn’t
tell her she’d be alone without him or she was a bad friend for not
understanding his fear. He bared his soul to her but respected her
decision completely, something no one had modeled for him in the First
Order. He had to start from scratch in so many ways, much like he had to find his way in a trackless desert to survive.

Kylo? He’s clearly
had many models of non-abusive relationships growing up in a loving
home, but he chose to discard them in favor of Snoke’s way of
manipulation and dominance. TLJ’s Kylo and Rey plot was a long exercise
in Kylo roping Rey in with superficial charm and shallow appeals to
sympathy for his own advantage. I believe he was recreating both the way
Snoke manipulated him and the dynamic he had with Snoke, undermining Rey’s self-worth so that she would easier to control, trying to get her to destroy her friends in the ultimate act of isolation like Snoke did with him. This model of relationships was easy for him, intimately familiar through Snoke’s manipulation and abuse. He chose not to explore the possibility of a relationship that did not depend on subjugation and violence, with Rey or anyone else. Despite killing his abuser he chose to continue the same destructive pattern, this time with himself in Snoke’s place.

In a way I can understand Kylo here, because again, leaving often demands a high, seemingly impossible price. I’m pretty sure nothing about Finn’s defection from the First Order inspired Kylo to follow suit, because externally speaking Finn’s life went to absolute shit from leaving and opposing the First Order. Aside from the abovementioned near-death at his former comrades’ hands and wandering in the desert with nothing, Finn was cut off from a once-absolute sense of purpose and became a wanted man. His allegiance went from an absolute power that seems poised to swallow the galaxy to a pack of pitiable losers whose lives could be–and will be, if Kylo has his way–snuffed out at any moment. What could be more foolish? In fact I would not be surprised if Kylo, in his wavering moments, used Finn’s fate as a way to harden his resolve to stay.

Unlike Finn, Kylo also has the additional prospects of prosecution for various war crimes including mass murder, torture, and complicity with genocide to look forward to, not to mention the patricide of one of the galaxy’s beloved heroes. He, like his idol Vader, has earned the kind of hatred and infamy that would outlive him. In addition, were he truly to admit to wrongdoing, the guilt and regret would and should tear his soul apart for the rest of his days. It’s like the line from Macbeth, “I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” He could, if he chose, brave the consequences and return to the light. But he chooses to believe he has come too far, and rather than throw away his comforts, his power, his conviction, his purpose, his sense of self-righteousness, and his ability to dominate and control, he chose to continue on his path.

This is why Finn’s and Kylo’s fates still diverge despite killing their respective abusers. For Finn it was a continuation of his journey away from abuse, not only his abusers themselves but the abusive dynamic itself. For Kylo it was a logical culmination of his journey into abuse, to continue the dynamic but with himself as the abuser rather than the victim. Finn chose to break the cycle while Kylo chose to continue it. Rey, who Kylo wanted to take his own place as the victim-apprentice, chose to break out as well and join Finn. She chose to live and fight by his and the Resistance’s side in the uncertainty of freedom, not the glittering cage of absolute power. Snoke may be dead, but as of the end of TLJ he has the last laugh because his legacy lives on through his apprentice, now become the master.

The Supreme Leader is dead. Long live the Supreme Leader.

This is an interesting analysis that I personally agree with.

The funny thing I have noticed though is this is what people usually fail to grasp when watching the last Jedi. There is a large part of the shipping community that seems to think of the last Jedi ends with Hux as the big bad and Kylo reluctantly staying in the First Order, though that isn’t the case. Kylo is now the big bad.

Personally, that wasn’t what I wanted for the character. After the force awakens, I thought it would be revealed that the character actually believed in his mission, his master, and would be a subversion from Vader who was just waiting to kill the emperor, but I still thought it was an interesting take to have a character outrightly reject redemption in favor of pose, while another character, Finn, chose freedom and struggling over power.

“Reluctantly?” Binch he took over that joint what the fuck are they even going on about? He was going to destroy the remaining Resistance and somehow he’s reluctant? That’s some next level reach lmao.