Sequels Rant

Sequels Rant

Rey was absolutely not the issue in the sequels, she was the best part.

They should have focused more on the new trio: Rey, Poe, and Finn.

They should have followed through on the hunting about Finn being force sensitive (HE WIELDED A FUCKING LIGHTSABER?!?)

The whole point of the sequels was that anyone can be a hero, doesn’t have to be a crazy force dynasty (ex. Skywalkers), so it was very important to the narrative that Rey be no one, abandoned by scavenger parents. That was necessary, and by making her part of a blood dynasty (a Palestine), they ruined the point that Rey, coming from nowhere and no one, was still the hero.

Having her take the Skywalker name wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t powerful. It would’ve been cool if it was in a “I’ve chosen my own family” way if they had leaned more heavily into Luke and Leia being her family, not just mentors.

Kyle Ren was a poorly written antagonist. Other than having Snoke whispering to him, there was no real reason for him to be a maniac sith. Anakin Skywalker made horrible choices, but his descent into madness was understandable (BUT NIT JUSTIFIABLE!!) and I’m not saying Kyle Ren needed an entire trilogy to expand on why he became a sith, but there was zero effort to explain why. Also, he wasn’t scary enough. He felt like a cheap knock off of Darth Vader, but lacking any of the rage and grief that Vader had. Even in the original trilogy, without knowing the backstory, Vader was scary as fuck. Kyle Ren was just uninteresting, underdeveloped, and not scary. He could’ve been an interesting contrast to Rey (coming from nowhere and becoming the hero) as the villain who came from the Skywalker but still became the villain, but the directors weren’t bold enough in making him evil.

Also it’s so unrealistic for Luke to attack Ben bc he had a bad dream. This is the man who looked at his father, a genocidal maniac who killed his mentor, blew up his sisters planet, and cut off his arm, and said “I can fix him”.

Kylo Ren and Rey’s romance was pure fan service. It had potential, but instead of building emotional tension and connections, the directors relied too heavily on pure physical attraction between the actors. As a supposed force dyad, they should’ve had an intense bond, not a few conversations and eye contact. The kiss at the end undermined the force dyad as well, bc force dyads are meant to be a soul connection, not a physical one. Having their foreheads touch together would have been more touching, but they gave into fans demands.

I did really like the Kylo Ren’s actual name was Ben though. We know him as Obi-Wan Kenobi, but to Leia, the man who rescued her when she was 10 and to Luke, the man who taught him the ways of the force and looked out for him, and to Han, the old man who sacrificed himself so they could get away, wasn’t Obi-Wan. He was Ben.

I don’t even have to say anything about the piss poor palpatine plot line.

In conclusion, the directors weren’t bold enough and they didn’t have a clear image of what they wanted to say with the trilogy, so despite a lot of potential, the movies fell flat. The first one was great though!

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the pinnacle of catholic guilt

Luke in the original series: I know my father is a genocidal maniac but I can save him

Luke in the sequels: I had a bad dream abt my nephew, time to kill him

One of my favorite niches in the Star Wars fandom is Eldritch Abomination Skywalkers

Nobody made Anakin Skywalker fall.

He had a horrible life, yes. He grew up a slave, his mom died, the man who freed him died, the Jedi Council initially rejected him, Palpatine groomed him, Ashoka left the order, Obi-wan faked his death, he participated in a civil war.

All of this is absolutely horrible, traumatizing stuff and he no doubt had depression, raging bpd, and C-PTSD. However, none of that was an excuse commit multiple genocides, kill children, commit countless war crimes, choke out his pregnant wife, enforce galaxy wide tyranny, blow up a planet, and cut his sons hand off.

You don’t kill billions of people because you have untreated and unacknowledged trauma. You do it because you choose to.

He was a grown man. He could have gotten mental help, could’ve left the Jedi, could’ve rejected Palpatine, could have accepted the help of his loved ones (Obi-Wan and Padme). He could’ve have made different choices.

This isn’t an Anakin hate post though. He had good qualities. He was brave and loyal and clever and he loved deeply. But even before he became Darth Vader we saw that he was also cruel and selfish and arrogant. He told Padme that he didn’t believe in democracy. Anakin felt if everybody would just let him run things, then everything would be better. And that really is the center of his character. If Obi-Wan, if Padme, if the Jedi, had just let him run things and stop undermining and regulating him than he could fix everything.

He truly believed that everybody else was the problem not him. Additionally, his loyalty and deep love for others more often than not was unhealthy. He killed all the Tusken Raiders for his mother and killed the Jedi for Padme. His only moral compass was his loved ones and he was angry when they didn’t love him in the same way. Didn’t understand why they would be upset when he did it for them. Didn’t understand why they wouldn’t do the same for him.

At the heart of his character is Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker didn’t become him, he was always him. That’s why I believe that even if he had a different master, if his mother hadn’t died, if the war hadn’t happened, and even if he didn’t fall in love with Padme that he would’ve fallen anyways. Those event exacerbated his issues, but they didn’t cause his selfishness or cruelty or narcissism.

He was a vivacious young boy, but he was a selfish, selfish boy.

Life is so much sweeter when I choose to read fanfics about palpatine dying