We haven’t seen Rey and Rose yet, because Finn and Poe are in a battle of the sexes with them to see who can kick more First Order ass and look good while doing it.
The girls, in a dangerous bid to win, go to the FO’s headquarters to hunt them at the source. They end up bringing down the entire FO within the first hour and the rest of the movie is just them celebrating and smoking weed.
If it’s true that the Force belongs to everyone, then why not have the other main heroes in addition to Rey–Finn, Poe, Rose, and “Caro”–Force-sensitive as well? They can be Rey’s first pupils (though it’s more a mutual teaching/study group situation) and, going off the books Rey got from the Jedi Temple, develop their own theory and practice of the Force. Here’s how I envision their respective specialties and powers.
Rey
Summary: The generalist Jedi and melee combat specialist
Description: Rey has the most obvious and familiar, seemingly supernatural Jedi powers. She has impressive Force telekinesis, Force telepathy, has had Force visions and dreams, and the mind trick. She is a force, or should we say Force, in melee combat. She is the tank of the party and all-purpose Force powerhouse, not to mention a potent symbol to revive hope when the Jedi seemed all lost or fallen.
Rey still has limitations, however. While her abilities are very strong, they are generally obvious and one-off in nature. She can use the Force mind trick to get a Stormtrooper to take her shackles off her, but trying to use the mind trick in negotiation, for instance, would be noticeable and end up breeding distrust. Similarly, she can be a whirlwind of destruction in combat but can’t turn the tide of a large-scale battle on her own. She needs a team, and having trusted friends can in turn help her resist the lure of the Dark Side, which can be strong for a Force user as powerful as she is.
Finn
Summary: Empath, death sense, Battle Meditation
Description: A Force user on par with Rey, Finn has the ability to sense life and, less pleasantly, the ending of life. We saw him go into a panic attack at Slip’s death, seemingly sensing him die. We saw this ability again on a larger scale with the destruction of the Hosnia system, when he sensed the mass deaths much like Obi-Wan did. Highly trained and talented at both long-distance and melee combat, he has probably been unconsciously powering his military prowess with the Force all his life. He knows how to read a situation and people instantly and use this knowledge to great effect. Particularly skilled in small unit combat, he is the undisputed tactician of their group.
His tactical genius and empath abilities intersect for devastating effect in the form of Battle Meditation. He senses the battlefield and the combatants and, with a mental nudge here and a tug there aided by his own extensive strategic training, shapes the battle like a sculpture or a Rubix cube. The Resistance/Rebellion pulls off victories out of all proportion with their resources this way, especially with Finn’s extensive knowledge of the enemy. His strong empathy can be a liability as well as an asset, however, and sensing the deaths of so many people could result in trauma and burnout. He needs emotional support from a caring network of people, and fortunately he is no longer alone.
Poe Dameron
Summary: Force-aided instinct and reflex, micro-visions, inspiration
Description: A young leader of the Rebellion and Leia’s chosen successor, Poe has been using the Force unconsciously for his piloting much like Anakin and Luke Skywalker did. Sensing events in the split second before they happened gave him uncanny reflexes and saved his life in many a tight spot. Further developing these abilities gave him an edge not only in his reflexes but in planning and leadership as well. Sensing danger in advance helped him avoid costly mistakes and, conversely, being able to sense payoffs for risks enabled him to take risks in a calculating, advantageous way.
As Leia pointed out, though, he has to be more than the pilot or kickass spy he’s used to being; he also has to be a leader. With his deep roots from his parents in antifascist resistance, you might say rebellion is in his blood. He inspires others with this conviction, and being in the same room with him or even watching a holo of him speak can electrify audiences despite–or perhaps because of–his simple, down-to-earth style. It is one of the many qualities that his enemy General Hux, known for his bombastic rhetoric, scorns about him.
Description: Loving droid owners like Poe have always known that there was more to their companions than gears and electricity, and Rose’s awakening Force power confirms this. She can sense and communicate through the Force with droids and computers, including ships that are equipped with droid brains. The Force is the connection between living beings, after all, and sentient machines are just as alive as organics if in a different sense. Rose’s exploration into this side of the Force endlessly fascinates Rey and Chewbacca, both enthusiastic mechanics, and Rose’s insights into the needs of the cranky old droid brains that run the Millennium Falcon have done much to place her in its good graces.
Rose also has the Force ability of shatterpoint, rare and once thought lost. She can sense pivotal points where a single outcome may change the course of events. In this she takes after legendary Force master Mace Windu, and some have speculated that she may have family ties to Ghôsh Windu, Master Windu’s clan which nearly died out with him. When Rose risked her own life to save Finn’s on Crait she sensed a shatterpoint, convinced he had to survive that moment no matter what. It was more important than her life or the lives of the entire remaining Resistance. Subsequent events proved her right, and fortunately the grim payoff did not come to pass thanks to the intervention of Luke Skywalker.
On the flip side of Finn who is a strong empath, Rose is strong in broadcasting her emotions, particularly negative emotions such as fear and pain. Some of her occasionally unhealthy interactions with Finn may have resulted from their respective abilities going in a feedback spiral. Now that she is aware of the effect she has on others, Rose works hard to modulate her emotions and is particularly careful around Finn. Her friendship with mechanical sentients, who are less moody than organics, helps in this regard and she can frequently be found meditating in hangars and repair rooms while curious droids look on.
Caro*
Summary: Force echoes, life powers, shadow friends
Description: Caro thrives on the balance of all things, passion and peace, anger and compassion, life and death. Rey admires how she not only understands but lives the concepts that Rey herself has only begun to grasp. Rey, Finn, and the others to different degrees can talk to the spirits of powerful Jedi masters who live on in the Force, like Luke Skywalker, but Caro goes farther. She is not only more effective at communing with these spirits, she also hears echoes in the Force itself from every being who has ever been in the Force. Not all at once, of course, which would overwhelm any mortal, but she can sense snatches that she seeks or that simply come to her. She can attempt to get more information through concentration and meditation, and this was how she found Finn: Through the memories of people living and dead who had crossed his path. Slip remembered him kindly, Caro told Finn, though he still thought him an awful showoff. Due to her powers she frequently seems to know people before she meets them, which some find unsettling.
As befitting a Jedi who is a master of the Balance, Caro has deep connection to life as well as death. She is a healer of great skill like Barriss Offee before her, and has saved many lives. An expert at integrating medical technology with her powers, she has worked with Rose to pool their strengths for better medical care in the Resistance. Though Caro is more accepting of death as a part of the Force than Barriss was and has proven more resilient to the trauma of losing patients, she can be saddened by the mounting losses. Finn and the others take care to draw her gently from her solitude where the events of her life and her unique powers sometimes lead her to take solace. She is particularly loved by defected Stormtroopers who have never experienced such caring, and quite a few are open about being willing to fight and die for her more than the Resistance. She has found a loving partner in one of them and their companionship brings her much joy.
Through great concentration and focus Caro can cause these “echoes” in the Force to take temporary physical form. They can help with set tasks and even go into battle with her, although the effort can be taxing for her and their actions can be unpredictable. Such is the nature of the Force, and she accepts that. It is key to the peace and balance she keeps with the Force.
* Caro’s powers are purely speculative at this point, of course. We don’t even know her name, to say nothing of her abilities or relationships with the other characters. But it’s fun to imagine and there was no way I was going to leave her out of this post, okay?
star wars episode i: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode ii: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode iii: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders; also, beware angsty white boys”
rogue one: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode iv: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode v: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode vi: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
star wars episode vii: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders; also, we fucking warned you about angsty white boys”
star wars episode viii: “um, doing anything besides following direct orders is in fact the true evil? (unless those direct orders were to an angsty white boy to commit genocide in which case let’s spend two hours finding shades of gray.) but anyone else? how dare??? you not follow direct orders??? don’t you know star wars has always been about rigidly adhering to regimes???”
UPDATE
solo, a star wars story:
star wars episode vi: “sometimes the only way to protect the galaxy and serve the common good is to go against direct orders”
so we’re 9 for 10 on this, for everyone keeping score. and the only person fandom-at-large decided to court martial and send to a penal colony for ten years was NOT, as might be logical, either of the angsty white boys who committed fucking genocide. no, it was the brown guy who, by the rules of every other star wars movie, would be (aka, IS) an unquestioned valiant hero.
thank you for coming to my ted talk, we’ll reconvene with more stats after episode ix.
As someone who was actually in the military, who knew pilots irl and who identifies with Poe… Leia and Holdo were fucking idiots, sort of. It’s complicated.
The message of Episode 8 is weird and kinda obscured by the whole “follow our orders without question” subplot.
The lesson is supposed to be “people matter, individual lives matter, MORE than the mission”.
Poe violets the order to withdraw at the start of the movie because he believes taking down the Dreadnaught ship is more important than human lives. The thing is, this blow means very little to the Order. They can build more ships; you can’t resurrect a life. So the lesson Poe was meant to learn is “don’t sacrifice lives”.
However, this gets all twisted up into “don’t violate orders” when Leia and Holdo – for absolutely no reason whatsoever – decide not to tell Poe about their plans. There is no reason given for this in the movie. It COULD have been justified with “we think the Order is listening to our conversation so we can’t tell you anything”, but no reasoning is given. Leia and Holdo hold back the information purely out of pettiness, that’s the only reason I can see.
So Poe does exactly what he was raised to do, AND to uphold the lesson he’d been taught earlier: he violates orders to save lives. He thinks they’re hopelessly running away with no chance of survival, so he throws chance to the wind in an attempt to save everyone. He was taught in the first act of the movie “lives matter”, so of course he gets Finn and Rose off the ship.
In extended (but no less real) canon, he goes up against the Dreadnought as a solo suicude mission. He has no command over the bomber squadron and, anyway, thought they were across the Galaxy on another mission. The only order POE defied was his OWN return.
Tallie (the actual officer of authority over the bomber squadron) and the other bombadiers were who were unauthorized for the Dreadnought mission. We just saw Leia slap him and not Tallie Lintra bc slapping a brown guy was “funny” but slapping a white woman would have betrayed Rilo Jon’s fauxminism.
Plus, Rilo really wanted to kill a bunch of women in silent non-speaking roles and holding Poe accountable for Tallie’s actions (including Paige’s death, natch) cleared the way for his masturbatory killing-off-silent-women-in-the-name-of-equality-shut-up orgasm.
I actually really like your interpretation of the link between the Dreadnought mission (which I really wish wider fandom would acknowledge he HAD authorization for!!! Also, why didn’t Leia, the General, recall the bombadiers when she outranked both Poe and Tallie?? So many questions, so much deus ex machina to the writing…) and the later mutiny and plot with Finn and Rose! That makes so much more sense than the loosey-goosey tangent that comes across in the movie.
I think there’s plenty of basis to headcanon him as gay, though I doubt Disney/Lucasfilm will say anything about it for another decade or so. Doomereys notwithstanding he’s never shown romantic or sexual attraction to a woman (saying “hi” doesn’t count, you demons), while he’s shown plenty to Finn in TFA before TLJ and the comic did their best to retcon it. BUT I WILL ALWAYS HAVE “KEEP IT. IT SUITS YOU” AND THE LIP BITE, OKAY.
I always saw Poe as the Star Wars version of Commander Shepard, rank puns aside, Poe always struck me as someone who never put a gender or species on love.
And that Poe and Rey saying “Hi” = them about to fall in love and have sex is horse shit.
Are Suralinda Javos and Poe Dameron in love? She even says he had a nice ass. Maybe they became lovers, or maybe they’re just friends.
Poe can have friends too. Female friends. Rey can have male friends. Shippers gotta chill.
I love Poe and Suralinda’s relationship. I personally never got a romantic vibe from them, but that could be my own bias speaking.
There probably isn’t. But if people looked at every interaction a character had with shipping googles, we’d be in a Harem anime 😂
What’s next, you’re going to tell me TFA and TLJ aren’t works of harem anime about everyone falling head over heels for Finn? Madness!
I thought Poe was in the right, too, and more importantly, Leia let the attack with the bombers go forward so it felt really weird that she blamed him for how the mission went.
Oscar is the SAME FUCKING AGE AS ME. Dipshit trolls send a bunch of anons at a complete nobody like me for daring to exist online at my age, but they can’t keep a world-famous actor’s age straight?
Poe was two years old during the events of ROTJ. TFA was set 30 years later, making him 32. I mean the Visual Dictionary literally says he’s 32, while Rey is 19. Finn and Kylo have never, to my knowledge been given official ages. But most people say Kylo is 29-30, and my personal estimate for Finn’s age is 21-25.
The TFA script gives Finn’s age as 23, so he falls exactly in the middle of your estimate. I thought Kylo’s age was canonically 29 as of TFA, idk the source though.
Instead we get Rose jammed into the story alongside Finn, making a mockery of Finn’s character and hurting her own arc.
I never really understood why people thought that Finn and Poe have such an easy-going and cinnamon relationship.
At the beginning of TFA the two were arguing intensely. Poe wanted to go back to Jakku to get BB and the map to Luke, but Finn wanted to get the hell out of Dodge before the FO caught and killed them. They were arguing so much that they were too distracted and got shot down.
Yeah the two became good friends, but there is a lot of drama there that can be written, and not that stupid “Finn isn’t sure if he wants to join” crap. If TFA didn’t convince him, nothing will. Especially not a stupid casino.
Instead their relationship could focus on the fact that Poe sees all of the FO as the enemy, but Finn is still conflicted about fighting Stormtroopers, because they are like him, victims.
It provides a good argument that hasn’t been addressed yet in the sequel movies. Every Stormtrooper has the potential to be another Finn, but every trooper that is killed, that opportunity dies with them. In retrospect though, Poe can counter that there’s no way to tell if a trooper is more Phasma than Finn. they are risking the lives of good people, for the enemy.
Honestly I wish this was brought up anyway still. It’s a much better confliction than what Rose or DJ provided.
And Slip’s death could be brought up, specifically that Poe killed him and it could as easily have been Finn. There is a LOT of drama to be mined between Finn and Poe.
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