themandalorianwolf:

I’m not saying everyone who believes Rey Nobody is terrible, or that it comes from a terrible theme, but in truth Rey Nobody isn’t just confusing and unoriginal, it’s also used to erase Finn’s role in the movies, among other characters from the other trilogies.

The most common argument for Rey Nobody isn’t even about what makes sense, it’s about a theme. The theme that a hero, Rey, can come from nowhere and be the Jedi protagonist. People say it’s great that to have other Jedi than the Skywalkers in the movies as the protagonist, even better that she’s a woman.

Now here’s where the lie comes in.

The PT had a mess load of other Jedi than Anakin. In fact, Anakin wasn’t even a Jedi till the 2nd movie of the PT, little moptop didn’t even have a lightsaber. The OT had Obi-Wan. In fact most commonly I see people show a picture of the Skywalkers to prove their point, but it’s always misleading since forgetting Han and Padme, weren’t Jedi or Skywalkers, they just married into the family. Leia rejected the name and never became a Jedi in the new canon (Fuck you Disney/Lucasfilm), so that leaves only Luke and Anakin. Also, put into perspective that Rey is pretty much a genderbent Anakin and Luke mashed together, and she even has the same journey as Luke did in the OT, beat for beat. And lets face it, Daisy Ridley also looks just like a young Mark Hamil and

Natalie

Portman. Rey as a nobody, isn’t original or refreshing. It’s just the same thing…but with the last name missing.

We’ve had hero Jedi from nowhere: Luke, Ezra, Ahoksa, Anakin himself. Hell Obi-Wan struggled to even become a Jedi and had to train twice as hard to even become a the Master he became. 

The themes of Rey being a nobody who goes on to become a hero always have one recurring similarity, they never see Finn as the other protagonist of the ST and think giving him the force is a bad idea and would “ruin” his story or the movie.

In fact, in the first official trailer for TFA, one of the most racist comments under the video was “Great, they gave the nig** a lightsaber. This movie is ruined”. It was even so hard to believe that there could possibly be a black stormtrooper, that these people actually acknowledged the prequels just to hate on Finn.

People wanted Rey to be a Nobody for the story because they didn’t want to or couldn’t even think that the force wielding hero from nowhere could be Finn, so they latched onto it.

And not only was Rey Nobody used for the racists, it was also used by the sexists who thought that Rey didn’t deserve or earn right to be a Skywalker and so Kylo Ren had to be the Skywalker of the ST. Yeah, there were other people who wanted Rey not to be a Skywalker cause they thought Rey and Kylo should hook up, but those people aren’t valid to begin with.

I understand that Rey Nobody to some people means just that anyone can be special, regardless of where they come from, but that isn’t Rey. TLJ tells us that Rey is a nobody who is special and doesn’t need any training or to earn anything because where there is darkness, there has to be light, so the light made Rey stronger than anyone and she downloaded Kylo’s powers like a torrent. No struggle, no strife, and even after her mentor dies, her comrades are reduced to less than a dozen people, learned that her parents are nobodies, Rey still shows no signs of character growth and is the same as was in her introduction. 

People say they want Rey to be a nobody because it makes her relatable…It doesn’t and it didn’t. It just made her an OP character that has no flaws and doesn’t struggle, and gave every sexist and racist argument against Finn and Rey, a louder voice.

A theme shouldn’t trump a well written, with compelling characters and a cohesive plot. Giving Finn the force, wouldn’t have ruined anything, connecting Rey to the Skywalkers, wouldn’t have been bad writing. But ya know what would ruin the story? What would be bad writing that screams a forced agenda? Rey being nobody.

So, no I don’t think Rey Nobody is a good idea, and I will never think it’s a good idea. Regardless of why some people like Rey Nobody, the majority uses it to erase Finn as the protagonist or give the protagonist slot to Kylo, and IMO, fuck that noise.

I hope Rey is a Skywalker in IX. I hope Finn picks up a lightsaber in IX. Why? Cause I’m tired of seeing Rey and Finn get undercut time and time again. The worst part of TFA is the batch switch with Finn and the mystery arc with Rey. The movie would have been ten folds better if they just revealed Rey as a child who was taken from the Skywalker family and just confirmed Finn had the force. And I’m sticking to that. Hopefully IX fixes that.

I’ve compared Rey to Korra from Avatar: The Legend of Korra in that both characters are not allowed to develop their supernatural powers from hard work, but rather because some dude physically and mentally violated her. I saw a post yesterday that I’m kicking myself for not reblogging because I can’t find it now, that one way to fix Rey’s plot is by her realizing that her powers are tainted from the source and she has to start again the right way. It would also tie into my meta about a new order of Force users (link) and all the main crew training in the Force with Rey (link).

Barring a development like the above that shows the Force actually does belong to everyone and not just specially chosen white people, yeah, fuck Rey Random. So far it has been handled terribly in a way that mangles the lore and makes any possible theme incoherent while erasing Finn. If it’s just going to be a validation of the worst of Star Wars fandom, that only certain superhumans with inborn powers matter, then I don’t want it.