Relationships and The Rise of Skywalker

 

I still can't write about The Rise of Skywalker.

It's hard to write about a movie that changes years and years and decades of your lived experience. I've tried more than a few times, but just... can't. I think I'm still processing it. Part of it is that there are several experiences that the sequel trilogy brings up for me that are so inherently uncomfortable to write about that I've not yet steeled myself for the journey. And it is going to be a journey, writing it down. The Sequel Trilogy is one of the truest and painful things I've ever watched, and I'm still more than a little scared to tie all the pieces together. But there is one thing that jumps out at me. And it's the scene where Palpatine finally corners Rey.

See, contrary to what a lot of people think, Rey has a very clear arc. She's alone, and she needs to belong to something greater than herself. She needs relationship. Like all of us, she craves it. And is afraid of it. Every last decision point in Rey's arc has to do with allowing herself to belong, to be in relationship with those around her. And that's how she finds Finn, The Resistance... and Ben.

All of Star Wars is grieving. All of Star Wars is the process of accepting frailty. And Rey cannot avoid Ben Solo. Throughout the course of our lives we may run into people that we just have to deal with, no matter how much we'd prefer not to. Folks who ship Reylo and those who hate their relationship both make a grave mistake: they assume that erotic connections (and it is clearly erotic) are positive or negative. 

Frequently it's both.

Actually, it's always both.

The only thing that matters about Rey and Ben is that, no matter what they do, their actions always cut to the heart of what the Other is going through. They may run and hide and do all sorts of terrible things, but at the end of the day the Other sees through them. And they remain linked. No matter what.

So then we get to Exegol. Rey is outplayed. The very type of belonging she's been afraid of turns out to be valid: she's Palpatine's "grand-daughter", directly descended from Palpatine in a twisted funhouse mirror of horror scenario that only Palpatine could have cooked up. Her entire existence is upended by that alone.. .and that's before she looks up and sees the friends she does actually belong with. They're dying. She's already lost her family once, she's not going to do it again. So she agrees with Palpatine's sick and twisted plan, because at least she can save her family this time!

And then she sees Ben.

And she knows, better than anyone, possibly even Ben(!), that he's finally himself. Adam Driver's acting here is the best in all of Star Wars. Point blank. Without a word Rey sees Ben and knows he's here for her, and that she can rely upon him. Of course she can see this, she's been able to see through Ben from the very start, it's why he's where he's at now! And so she goes with it. They finally achieve what the two of them have been yearning to do since this whole thing began: to actually belong to each other.

When Rey dies the decision is easy for Ben. Without Rey to relate to there is no Ben, not in the way he needs to be. Without Ben to relate to Rey wouldn't be who she is either. So Ben compromises. He puts his soul, his life force, into Rey. Rey comes back, but she now has the person who helped define the core of who she is with her, forever. Ben Solo lives on. And so does Rey.

And they're forever changed.

Luke Skywalker: The Heart of Star Wars

Luke is the heart of the Skywalker Saga. Full stop. It's not Anakin, or Ben, or Rey. Luke is our key to the whole of Star Wars: to the degree we perceive characters to be like Luke we seem to have greater popular reception. Luke is our modern mythic hero, following those rules faithfully: he must contend with his imperfect family, has strange powers, and the consequences of his actions -which usually stem from a consistent character flaw- are on a large scale.

Luke is not the common man. Whether folks like it or not mythology is not about common people, because there are no common people.

Everyone has an inheritance. 

Everyone is special. 

Everyone has to contend with their family.

This is what makes mythology so compelling; no one is from nowhere. And Luke is the epitome of that reality. Of all the characters in Star Wars Luke sits in the middle, having to decide what to receive from those who came before and what to pass on. He is the only mythological protagonist who actively criticizes the past and future. He understands that his family is strange, because all families are strange. And at first Luke tries to embrace all his family, consequences be damned.

It doesn't go well.

Does Luke stay with his family, the source of his strength? No, of course not. He goes out to re-found the Jedi Order, the very Order that he criticized and ignored by saving Darth Vader! "I am a Jedi, like my father before me", is a completely accurate statement: Anakin abandoned his family to become a Jedi, too, all so he could free the slaves. Luke isn't different from his father. He believes in a legend: the legend in his own head. 

So it's not the uncle who takes in Ben Solo, but Luke Skywalker, Legend. Luke Skywalker, The Last Jedi. Luke Skywalker, Professional Badass.

It doesn't go well.

At all.

Why would it? Why shouldn't Ben hate Luke for being an arrogant jackass? Legends don't heal. They may inspire, but inspiration isn't the only thing that matters. And Luke didn't provide that more to his own nephew. Once he gets his head turned around by Yoda, Luke is able to provide a familial relationship to Rey, mentoring her and helping her to accept her own dark heritage. And it's his voice that gets her up and moving, to destroy Palpatine. Luke may not have have undone Palpatine directly, but he provided every single conceptual tool in Rey's arsenal, along with Leia.

Luke has strange powers, even for a Jedi. He's powerful, sure, but Luke is unique: he is the only Force-User to ever see a Force Ghost with no training, at all. No one else in the Skywalker Saga has this ability, natively. Luke can do it with no effort at all. And this ability defines his trilogy in a way that it doesn't for Anakin and Rey. Anakin never even learns the ability exists, and Rey has to train hard to achieve it, but for Luke? It's completely natural. This ability to commune with the dead defines Luke's arc in the Skywalker Saga, giving him insights into the Force that no one else could ever have arrived at. 

Now we come to the one point of actual dissimilarity between Luke and us: scale. Luke's personal struggles don't just affect his family and friends and work, they affect the galaxy. That's not going to happen to most of us. But the point of a mythological scale is to exaggerate to tell the truth: there are no "private" virtues and vices; everything in your head colors your perceptions, which influences your actions. And Luke's negative inheritance, his legacy, is one of rage and fear. What most people expect is that, once you get over a flaw or failing or whatever, that it goes away. 

Nothing is further than the truth.

Luke has the same problem as anyone: you can't get rid of your issues. You can manage them better, with time and practice. But no one ever gets it perfect. Luke considering (he doesn't actually strike at Ben) murdering his nephew is a part of him. He throws a full-on temper tantrum on Vader, and almost loses his soul in the process. With Ben Luke reacts for a moment... and then realizes it wasn't what he wanted.  And Luke does manage it better. He's consumed with shame. But it's not enough; Ben goes on to become Kylo Ren. But Luke's repentance is just as large. He faces down an entire army and fools his own nephew, ensuring Ben's redemption later thanks to Leia, Rey, and Ham.

Luke's ending chapter is one of acceptance. He has realized who he is and is at peace with himself. With his newfound peace Luke is not just free, but he is powerful. He is able to help Rey admit to her parentage and that it wasn't a threat to her. Peace makes one wise. Luke finally ascends into his place as the lynchpin that all of the Skywalker Saga hangs on. And because of his guidance, because of his willingness to evolve the best he can, Palpatine was defeated; Rey's victory is specifically because of Luke's peace. And because of his guidance, because of his willingness to evolve the best he can, Palpatine was defeated.

Luke's journey was the one we started with, but it's also the most explicit reference to the rest of the Western Canon in the Skywalker Saga. Luke is not just our reference to the Skywalker Saga but to the rest of the canon we've all absorbed. Luke's journey, from wide-eyed youth to the wise, powerful mentor that he had always wanted to be, is emblematic, archetypal. It is our journey. And it is what the rest of The Skywalker Saga hangs on.