Image transcript: A translated tweet by user hanSolo_spoilers_off (@qwerrewq727) reading, “I’m so sorry I lost your lightsaber Rey… please make do with this in the meantime (many tears)”
Under the text is a picture of a Rey figurine holding an elaborate Chinese-style glaive
This took me a little while, but here’s the follow up to this post about Kes and Poe!
“You know, I’ve been thinking for days and I still can’t figure it out.”
Finn, who was admiring the view of the tall grass in the waning light, gives him a curious glance. Kes cuts the end off the lash tightened around a newly-repaired fencepost before he turns to face Finn.
“What do I say to the man who saved my son’s life?“
The surprise hits Finn’s eyes and he opens his mouth to speak, then just gapes for a moment before he tries to laugh.
“I mean… you don’t have to- I needed a pilot, didn’t he tell you? It was-”
“Everything. You saved everything dear to me, Finn. He is my entire universe, and you got him out of there.”
Finn picks at a blade of grass that comes to his waist while CR-660 bobs around in the air, fussing with the fencepost. The air is still in the late afternoon, the light hot and big across the grassland.
“I thought I’d lost him in the desert, on Jakku.” Finn looks up to meet his eyes. “I thought that was it.”
“That wasn’t the end, though. Even if it were…” Kes feels a lump growing in his throat, and walks on to the next fencepost to distract himself. CR floats along behind him, chirping. “It would have been a better- a better end than that hole.”
Unable to go on, he waves CR onto the damaged post. She hovers around, inspecting the split wood before she flies off to a woodpile nearby for a new one.
“Don’t say that. Please.” In Finn’s tense voice Kes hears the echo of what he suffered in those hours when Poe was presumed dead, hours that Kes himself never knew except in nightmares both sleeping and waking.
“I’m sorry. That’s enough about that. But here’s something else I wanted to ask.” He watches CR zoom back, wooden posts floating at the end of her little tractor beam. “Are you all right?”
“Me?” Finn looks lost, not yet familiar with the question. “I… think so?”
“You don’t need to talk about anything you don’t have to, of course. CR, not so tight. You’ll split the wood again.”
The droid boops back, do it yourself if you can do it better. She does pull the lash less tightly in her rounds around the post, however.
“I want to, but I wouldn’t know where to start.” Finn is looking across the grassland again, as though looking for something. “I look at where I was two weeks ago and where I am now, and I literally can’t believe it. Sometimes I think I’m dreaming.”
“Good dream or bad?”
“Both?” Finn’s laughter is a little too sharp. “Sometimes I close my eyes and I’m back in the armor, afraid, and I think I dreamed of escaping. Then I open my eyes and I’m here. Which is real? Did I create this ranch, Poe, Rey, you, in my mind just to keep sane? Maybe the reconditioning happened and this is how it works, by keeping me in a waking dream.”
Finn catches his breath and looks at Kes with what he realizes is actual terror. “I’m sorry, I know I sound crazy. Please don’t tell- I’m really going to be locked up if I say ‘Captain Phasma,’ won’t I.”
“No one’s locking you up, you’re no danger to anyone but the guys who deserve it. Don’t lay about, CR, go do the next one.”
The droid, floating about as though enjoying the view herself, gives an indignant chirp before she flies away.
“Listen. Finn. You’ve gone through a lot in a very short time, and I won’t pretend to know anything about the life you lived before that.” Before he saved Poe, and in so doing became the second most important person in Kes’s life. “If you’re a little crazy from all that, well, who can blame you? Minds bend and break under strain, I can’t say I’m all that sane myself. Or my boy, for that matter. I’ve been doing some reading, and I heard it called a normal response to an abnormal situation.”
Finn nods slowly. “Normal. I like that.”
“But minds can be mended, too,” Kes puts a hand on the fencepost next to him. “Maybe they won’t be exactly the same as before, but enough to keep the beasties out and everyone to be safe.”
“Yes.” Finn’s smile is soft, bittersweet. “Poe is lucky to have you.”
Kes’s heart aches, as it does so often around Finn. What can he say to a loss like this, a gaping wound that sucks in the air around it and stops time, making life seem impossible sometimes?
“I’d say, and don’t let him forget it.” He adds in a lower voice: “I’m lucky to have him, too.”
His chest fills with the knowledge, that no matter how he might bleed and scream inside for Poe, no matter that he fears every day that he might lose his son to would-be Imperial goons, he had the privilege of raising his son to be a man. He had known chubby arms around his neck, scraped knees, gurgling laughter, the first glass of wine, the first broken heart. That was something Finn would never have in this deeply unfair universe.
“Here’s something else I know, Finn. You’re everything, too, to a family that never gave up on you no matter what.”
“That is, if they’re still…” Finn shrugs, looks out across the grassland in the fading light.
“No ifs. Do you think Shara, my Lady Bey, my fire among the stars, ever stopped loving our boy? Or her irritating man, for that matter?” Kes snorts. “Death would be too scared to get in her way.”
Finn bows his head and Kes goes to stand by his side, to see what the younger man is seeing, the sunset filling the sky over waving grass. “I hope your family is out there, looking for you. But if not, they love you and they always will.” In the stillness between them the wind rustles across the fields. “I also want you to know, though it’s no replacement, my home is your home and is open to you, always.”
Finn says nothing for a long moment, and Kes looks at him only to see a tear tracing its way down the young man’s cheek, glittering red in the evening light.
Kes lifts an arm, giving Finn plenty of time to pull away if he wants, and puts a hand to Finn’s back. When Finn leans toward him Kes puts the arm around his shoulders and pulls tight. They stand and face the wind together, in a world of light and the vast expanse, a crescent Yavin revealing itself as the light fades.
“And believe me, it’s not because you’re dating my son. You can dump him like a sack of sweetroots tomorrow, Force knows you can do better, and if you feel uncomfortable with him here I’ll kick him out.”
Finn chuckles as he wipes his face. “Thank you, Kes.”
“I mean it, try me! I told you before and I will tell you again, you need to play the field. You’re too young to settle.”
“Hey, lazy bums!”
They both turn to see Poe walking through the grass down a hill, spare fenceposts slung across his back, Rey behind him with a bag of tools.
“Told you we were going to beat you, Dad, droid or no droid.”
“Keep working like that, Captain Dameron, and you’ll ruin your back before you’re forty.”
“Commander. That’s Commander Dameron!” Poe puts down the posts he was carrying, which CR whisks away. “I was demoted for one day and you’ve been calling me that for a week.”
“A little humility never hurt anyone.”
“So that means you’re cooking, right, Kes?” Rey lets out a squeal. “I can’t wait!”
“Oh, it will be worth the anticipation, Master Jedi.”
“Rey.”
“Rey. Dinner is derloc caldos and roasted tip-yip, a genuine Ewok recipe, with candied slugfruit for dessert.”
“I don’t know what that is, but I know I’ll love it!” Rey turns to Finn and they scream at each other like six-year-olds.
Poe crosses his arms. “If you ever want real food you can always ask me to cook. Not that I will, as long as Dad keeps losing these bets.”
“Oh, a sore winner?” Finn pulls him by an arm around the waist, and they share a kiss and a grin. “I’m beginning to think Kes has a point about needing to play the field while I’m young.”
“Says the guy who was married at twenty-five?” The look Poe shoots Kes over his shoulder is one of pure betrayal. “You are the worst wingman and more importantly, what in space are you thinking.”
“Yes yes, we both know he is far out of your league, but what can I do?” Kes shrugs. “I have to tell the truth when I see it.”
Finn taps Poe’s chest with the back of a hand. “Come on, flyboy, bet I can beat you to the house.”
“First one in gets dibs on the yip-yip!” Rey runs ahead of them.
“Tip-yip,” Kes sighs. “I got the recipe from this Ewok tribe-”
“Not fair! You started first!” Finn runs after Rey, his feet pounding the ground.
“Um no, no! This is not the Rey you’re looking for?”
“Let’s get her, Finn!”
Kes watches them go in the fading light, the wind a cold whisper on his neck. “Come along, CR.”
The droid floats humming to his side and he starts toward the house, listening to the children shout and laugh–warriors all who have seen too much and walked through fire, yet they need to be children at times. He knows he needs that from them, too.
As he walks in Yavin’s light Kes listens to the night birds, the chirping insects, the wind, the sounds of home as the day cools to evening. His steps are steady and his heart is full.
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.
I’m confused. Like there weren’t badass female characters in SW before?
Even she is not canon anymore
And her (even if the movie is boring AF)
^^^^^ Exactly, idk why they think they’re breaking new ground here? Enfys is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but she is a continuation of SW tradition, not a break from it.
You guys remember Daisy’s comment about how romance in EP VIII was about being in love with your friends?
And how Rey is constantly worried about Finn in TLJ? “…and ask about Finn.”
Finn and Rey’s beacon parallels?
How even when she was about to surrender herself to the FO, her mind was STILL on Finn’s well-being? “If you see Finn before I do, tell him[…]yeah, perfect. Tell him that.”
And how even John Boyega himself said that Rey’s look at the end “said it all,” dispelling the whole “Rey friendzoned Finn” arguments?
Makes you wonder who Rey’s in love with, doesn’t it?
Okay, #1 he was under orders from Snoke who would have undoubtedly killed him and possibly his family just to make him suffer if he disobeyed orders. And #2 you have no sense of character depth. 🙄🙄🙄
Throwing in my two cents– even though I’m not a huge fan of Kylo, I gotta back Jaz on this one. Kylo’s been manipulated by Snoke since he was young. I’ve seen a bunch of people saying that he has no excuses because he had a good, happy family– but all that is based on assumptions. (I think– I’m drawing from the movies only, I’ve not read the text adaptations. Just let me know if I’m wrong) And even if he did have a good family– does that negate the fact that he was manipulated? No. Just because someone grew up in a loving family doesn’t mean they can’t experience abuse. It would be far more inexcusable if he HAD A SUPPORT SYSTEM from his family during that time, but we’ve not been shown anything of the sort. My point is, his family couldn’t possibly adequately help, support, or protect him if they didn’t know that he was being manipulated & groomed by a malicious person.
In no way am I excusing the fact that he murdered people– that is still wrong and it is only right that he accepts that blame, responsibility, and burden. Plus as Jaz said, he was under Snoke’s thumb. If he was indeed manipulated and groomed by Snoke since he was young, then placed in a significant position, that thus imposed a greater amount of pressure on him and would’ve given Snoke more excuses to manipulate him if he made mistakes. It would be difficult to break free from a manipulator/abuser’s influence if one’s been under his thumb for a long time. So there is a reason why he did it. Not an excuse, but still a reason.
However Luke isn’t blameless. Yes, Luke didn’t make him do it. It was Snoke’s influence and ultimately Ben Solo committed it. However, when Ben was still under his tutelage, Luke sensed that something Dark and powerful was influencing Ben. Because Ben was not with his parents at the time… as a Light Jedi, as his elder, as his trainer, and as his UNCLE, it was ultimately Luke’s responsibility to confront it– to protect Ben– to guide him THROUGH the temptation. If he had done just that, things could have been different. Ben was YOUNG. Adolescents are generally self-centered have difficulties seeing beyond that, etc– they need GUIDANCE and SUPPORT. But what did Luke do? TRY TO KILL HIM IN HIS SLEEP. (Can I just say that I really hate what the new trilogy did to Luke’s character? It’s bullshit.) Seriously? OF COURSE THAT’D MAKE THINGS WORSE. Obviously that was the last straw. And who knows what things Snoke’s been telling Ben? Luke trying to kill him may have just “confirmed” whatever Snoke’s been feeding Ben. So yes, he completely and utterly failed Ben.
Moreover, everyone deserves a CHANCE at redemption, to pay for their sins. Including Kylo. But that relies entirely on the character (and the writers)’s willingness to go down that difficult path. I’m a big fan of redemption arcs, plus I like Anakin so I feel that if Ben desires so much to emulate Darth Vader (ironic, because it was Anakin’s bondage and enslavement), it only makes even more sense for him to be saved/freed at the end too, and actually go through a redemption arc. After all, Star Wars is a story of hope.
“Ben” was 23 when he killed a school full of students. That’s mighty old for an adolescent. Also the point of the OP still stands–it was ultimately he who chose his actions, and it’s both dishonest and cowardly of him to blame Luke for it. It’s impossible for him to have a redemption of any sort while he refuses to take responsibility for his own actions.
So, how does this fuckwad explain that Kylo Ren continued to murder and abuse after he killed Snoke? When Rey straight up asks him to end it all and come away with her?
How is this Snoke’s doing? Or anyone but Kylo’s own?
It’s dishonest at this point in the story to try an pretend that anyone is responsible for Kylo’s evil except Kylo himself. There was no one in that throne room except Rey and Kylo, no more manipulations by Snoke, noinfluence except himself. In that moment Kylo could have ordered a halt to the slaughter of unarmed ships, ended the blood shed and walked away. Instead he chose to claim the throne for himself and continue the meaningless slaughter and to kill every person that Rey cared for.
Kylo stans have run out of excuses with TLJ. Kylo killed Snoke, nothing he does can no longer be attributed to “Snoke’s fault” the mane is dead. And after Kylo killed him, he decided he wanted to become Snoke.
This is Vader post-Death Star 2.0, only this is a Vader who survived. And instead of going with Luke he sized the Emperor’s throne and rules in stead.
Dude was also repeatedly shown disobeying direct orders from Snoke from TFA onward, so whatever influence Snoke had on him was pretty selective it seems. XD Was he abused? Maybe. Brainwashed and helpless? Hell no.
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