Blog Wars

Rey: Where do you come from?

BB-8: Beeb o be bep

Rey: Classified? Me too, big secret.

- Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 
I wonder if future generations will be able to really appreciate that line?



After much waiting and anticipation our old friend, Andrew Rilstone, has at last published his Star Wars articles, and as usual they are worth the wait. However, there is one of his articles that I do feel compelled to critique. I do realize that much of the time Rilstone was, as we say, joking, but none the less I still think it is fun to critique it at face value...so that is what I shall do. But first you should read his entire article here...

http://www.andrewrilstone.com/2016/02/what-is-luke-skywalkers-relationship-to.html



"Luke Skywalker can't be married. No: I don't know how the Force manages to run in families if the Jedi aren't in the habit of producing little Jedi; but the canon makes it very clear that Jedi neither marry nor are given in marriage. The whole tragedy was set in motion by Anakin breaking the laws of the Jedi order and marrying Padme Amidala". - Andrew Rilstone

Well, that still leaves the "too much Corellian ale one night" theory, But I doubt either Disney or Sir Alec would appreciate that so lets not go there.

Yoda indicates that the tragedy was set in motion by Vader choosing the "quick and easy path" not necessarily that his destination was forbidden. And this "neither marry nor are given in marriage" line sounds familiar, but I do not recall it being in any episode. I imagine Rilstone got it from a book, and as we all know the books are not canon. So lets keep our analysis Sola Cinimatra.

Lets start with Ep. I, there certainly does not seem to be anything here to indicate that the Jedi are a celibate order. When Qui Gon tells Anakin that being a Jedi is a "hard life" he certainly deos not mention celibacy. And when Qui Gon asks who Anakin's father was it seems he is at least half expecting it to be Jedi. And what is the point of Yaddle if not to be a potential love interest fro Yoda? (sory, ya I know - Sola Cinamatra) I mean that feminine looking yoda-like creature on the Jedi counsel, interesting how she disappears after Ep.I.

So what happened?

To undertand that my frinds, you must travel with me back in time...dudiludalu, dudiludalu, dudiludalu - the year is 1997 - dudiludalu, dudiludalu...

See those ques of school girls round the block? they are all waiting to see a movie every body knew the end of before it came out - so much for Rilstone's theory of suspense. Oh, I know you are going to say "just because we knew the ship sank does not mean we know which characters survive", and you are right! We have to actually wait until the first scene of the movie to find out that the girl makes it...and the guy doesn't. Congratulations! You have just won three hours of zero suspense filled with bla bla bla and a dollop of Kat Winslet's backside on top...what a deal!

So what does all this have to do with Star Wars? Well, in a ideal universe, absolutely nothing. Unfortunately we do not live in an ideal universe. The boat movie (though it defies all reason) actually became the highest grossing movie in American history - not when you figure inflation of course (Star Wars still skunks it there) but people rarely do that. No doubt Gorge thought that Ep.I would restore Star Wars to its proper place and bring order to the galaxy. But when that failed, it broke poor Gorge's mind. (I know some of you will say his mind was already broken but really, Jar Jar, medeclorians and all, Phantom Menace was not that bad).

But as Gorge sat pondering, how could he make Ep.II succeed wear Ep.I had failed? Ah, perhaps by letting Star Wars be Star Wars and having another go at it? "No" said Gorge, "in order for Star Wars to beat Titanic, Star Wars must become Titanic! Complete with grindingly boring, hideously awkward love scenes piled one on top of the freaking other. But that is not enough, there must be a taboo. Some kind of forbidden love. They must be doing something that is at least a little bit naughty. Bowahaha!"

Hay, if he had put in a scene wear Anakin draws a nude of Padme it just might have worked...ya probably not. Ok, back to episodal analysis.

The first thing in Ep. II is Obi Won saying "you have made a commitment to the Jedi order, a commitment not easily broken." He then makes reference to Padme being a politician - perhaps a conflict of interests angle. So what is this "commitment"? No sexual relationships? or just no sexual relationships with politicians? or just no sexual relationships as a padawan? its rather vague. The next thing is Padme's comment on-board the refugee ship "I thought Jedi were not allowed to love?" This statement would be a lot less silly if she did not say it in such a coquettish fashion, but the issue is, Padme is not an authority on the bylaws of the Jedi order. Let us remember that there is a nine year old Han Solo running around the galaxy at this time who thinks "its all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense". The average layman seems to know very little about the Jedi, and the Jedi probably like it that way. Once they are on Naboo Padme rebuffs Anakin with the statement "you are studying to be a Jedi, I am a Senator, it wouldn't work" or something like that. Again its the conflict of interests angle and again its from Padme. after that every thing seemed to be ok until they thought they were going to die any way and decided to have a smooch fest. because of that Anakin apperintly decided he had to make an honest woman of the Senator and merry her.

Ok, moving on to Ep.III. Anakin blows off Senator Orgona so he can go play kissie face with pregnant Padme, Orgona walks away with a cheesy smile like the whole galaxy know but thinks its cute they are still trying to keep it a secret. Anakin tells Padme that he does not care if people know they are married (note that Anakin is no longer a padawan), Padme apparently still does. Padme then says that the baby will change both their lives. Yes, well, babies have a way of doing that, but Padme seems to be particularly worried that she might lose her job - its the old carer vs family dilemma. She apparently thinks that the Nabooans would not want to be represented by a girl in trouble. But they are married, right? There was an old man there and every thing. She then laments that if the council finds out that Anakin is the father he will be expelled and I guess they would have to get by his winnings from pod racing as opposed to the no doubt vast sums of money he makes as a Jedi. Which brings up the question, where does the Jedi order get its funds anyway? Grants perhaps...from the Senate? Hum. The deleted scenes that chronicle the birth or rather conception of the Alliance (and would have made Orgona's "and so it is" line mean something) indicate that there was a conflict of interests in Anakin and Padme's relationship. Unfortunately these scenes had to be cut to make room for footage of Grievous and Obi Won battling it out on a unicycle and a giant Iguana, so I guess we could call them Deuterocanonical.

Well, there it is, one rather vague statement by a Jedi and a lot of fussing from Padme. So what was the prequel Jedi's teaching on marriage? Based on the very small amount of information that we have it seems there are three main possibilities: 1 - padawans are not allowed to merry, knights perhaps could (though their opportunities would be rather limited) but not to politicians, 2 - active Jedi could not marry but retired Jedi could (it is not clear how long one would have to serve as an active Jedi in order to retire honorably), 3 - all Jedi took vows of celibacy. And of course, we do not know if it was a discipline issue (which could be unilaterally changed by the Pope) or doctrinal issue (requiring an ecumenical counsel, which after the clone war would have consisted of Yoda and Obi Won). But the question is not by what procedure would it have been changed, but was it changed? This might be gleaned though proper exegesis of the OT.

In both Ep.IV and Ep.V Luke makes it clear that his motivation for becoming a Jedi is his father, "I want to learn the was of the Force and become a Jedi like my father" and "mostly because of my father I guess". Both Obi Won and Yoda agree his father was a Jedi, "I was once a Jedi knight, the same as your father" and "Father, powerful Jedi was he, powerful Jedi." (Note, Luke did need to be told this information, he originally thought his father was a navigator on a spice freighter). It is clear there was a consensus not to tell Luke that Vader was his father until he was "ready for the burden". So is it plausible that Luke could have been given a hard core level 3 kind of celibacy teaching in the interim? Short answer, No. That kind of teaching would have to wait until Luke was ready for the whole story about his father. And Luke had clearly not been told that story as of his premature departure from Dagobah.

Is it plausible that Luke made contact with Yoda or Blue Ghost Obi Won some time between Ep.V and Ep.VI? Well, when Luke returns to Dagobah he still has a burning question on his mind (no doubt for the benefit of audience members like me who were not prepared to take Darth Vader's word for it. After all he had turned to the dark side so; lies, deceit, spreading mistrust were his ways now...although come to think of it Dukoo was telling the truth as well so maybe its a bum rap), he asks Yoda "is Darth Vader my father?" So it would seem he has not been in contact with anyone who could clear that matter up. Yoda then replies, "Your father he is." so now that that is thoroughly settled Luke is ready for the teaching on celibacy, right? Except Yoda has already stated "already know you that which you need." There is simply no daylight there to fit a celibacy teaching in.

Solution? Option one works reasonably well in all episodes. Anakin and Padme's marriage is still certainly taboo in Ep.II and at least very frowned upon in Ep.III, Luke could certainly be told that he is not allowed to have sexual relationships while training (weaken legs women do) without it conflicting with the fact that his father was a Jedi. As for the Senate, it was already dissolved by that time. This is a good clean option that works reasonably well with all episodes and requires no inter episodal meddling with the Jedi code. Now, for those of you who insist upon smuggling in comic books like Empire: Betrayal and such, you will have to go with a more hard core option three, and then assume something happened between Ep.III and IV to change it (I guess one off screen thing deserves another). And for those of you still clinging to the idea that there is an active Jedi celibacy doctrine as of Ep.VII you have another problem, if Bin is irrevocably lost to the dark side and Rey becomes a Jedi, who is going to carry on the Anakin blood line? If Rey does not become a Jedi, who is going to carry on the Jedi? I doubt Disney payed four billion dollars for this franchise for just three episodes...and no I do not think the anthologies are going to do much.



Luke Skywalker can't be married. And even if he were, don't you think his wife would be hinted at somewhere in the story? Why is it Rey, rather than Mrs Luke, who is sent to take the lightsaber to Craggy Island? - Andrew Rilstone

You don't suppose Luke would do one of those secret marriage things do you? Nah, were would he get that from. In any case Rey's mother has no doubt been dead for about a decade and a half. Any body who knew about Rey's existence (which may or may not have included Luke) would have thought she perished with her mother, probably at the hands of one of Snoke's henchmen, maybe Ren (he would have been about 15).




When Rey returns to the Resistance base after the Bad Thing has happened, Leia embraces her. Not Chewie; not Poe; Rey. Rey the scavenger who Leia only met a few hours ago. On one side of the airfield are Leia and Rey, comforting each other. On the other side is everyone else. The Bad Thing primarily affects Leia and Rey. - Andrew Rilstone

Actually Rey was already in Ren's cluches by the time Leia showed up, so that was their first meeting. Presumably they recognized each other through their Force signatures, Leia's would have been similar to Ren's and Rey's would have been similar to Luke's. Whether daughter or niece they are still by far the closest blood relatives in the vicinity.




"there are several amusing scenes where Rey and Han say the exact same thing at the exact same moment." - Andrew Rilstone

I only counted two. They are both sentences that Rey begins and Han finishes. As such they primarily serve to show an alpha male slapping down an omega female -"You don't know anything about this ship I don't know twenty times over little girl, now go make me a sandwich". Could there be a perinatal angle to this relationship? Sure, but there is not necessarily.




"She understands Chewbacca. Neither Han or Chewie are remotely surprise by this."- Andrew Rilstone

She also seems to understand astro droid a la Luke and R2. But the real question is, where did she get that British accent? Not from Han, Liea or Luke, perhaps from her mum.




Of course we are building towards a mighty battle between Rey and Kylo Ren. Of course this is going to be a battle between a brother and sister. A famous mythological battle between cousins is barely worth thinking about. - Andrew Rilstone

Hum..do you have a crawly feeling in your gut that when Rey and Ren finally rejoin their adjourned confrontation they will have switched sides? Probably just indigestion...I hope it is. Now if they were twins Rilstone might have had something there...but they are not. She would be his baby sis, from the same parents she would have nothing on him. But her tenderness in years and lack of gender primacy would be more than made up for by being from the more primal bloodline. Yes, in this situation cousins works better than siblings.




"Since Rey is skilled with the Force and lightsaber fighting, she must logically have had some training." - Andrew Rilstone

But Rey has about as much skill with a lightsaber as Finn does, in fact I think it takes her even longer to find the "on" button. Her main advantage is that Ren just wants to kill Finn but he wants to take Rey alive. She has obviously heard stories about what the Force can do (such as the mind trick) but Ren specifically stated that she was "untrained".

Rilstone then gives us a paragraph or so of exposition illustrating how a Soloist position could still be viable. It is similar to other such proposals floating around the internet, better than most but still has the same problems common to the genre. Its busy, leaves many unanswered questions and shoves even more of the story off screen into Ep.6.5 than a reasonable Rey Skywalker line would at this point. And how would you bring that retro exposition into a movie? A counsel of Skywalker scene where a bunch of chaps set around a table filling Rey in on her backstory? What about the first rule of cinema - show it, don't say it? Perhaps a Skywalkerists type scene for illustration...

Rey and the others are exploring that ancient Jedi temple when she happens upon an artifact that sends her into another vision (you know there might one or two of those kinda things laying around there), she is in a sinister room where a woman is being tortured.

Henchman 1: Where is Luke Skywalker?

Woman: (with crisp British accent) I will never tell you!

Henchman 2: perhaps an alternative form of persuasion. (snaps fingers)

A small girl is lead in with stormtroopers on each side

Girl: Mummy!

Woman: Rey!

Henchman 2: I grow tired of asking this so this will be the last time, where is Luke Skywalker?


...Intentionally cliche of course, but you get the idea, dramatic, to the point and leaves relatively few dots to be connected by dialog scenes with Luke and/or blue ghost Rey's mum. But just for fairness lets have a Soloist scene as well...

Luke: Yes Rey, I am your uncle.

Rey: But that would mean...Leia is my mum?

Luke: Yes Rey, so now...

Rey: But then why did she not tell me when I was right there with her? And we could have had general portions interstellar coffee and talked about our feelings and everything!

Luke: Well you see Rey, I Force wiped all memory of you from her mind. That is why she did not recognize your Force signature, she has no memory of ever bearing you. This was necessary so that...

Rey: but wait, what about the stretch marks?

Luke: I Force removed the stretch marks as well. Now hark unto me Rey...

Rey: You mean you can Force remove stretch marks? does it work on crow's feet?

Luke: I suppose...look Rey you are missing the point.



...good for a late night comedy routine maybe, but I would rather not see it done by Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley.



The film is full of hints that Rey has a connection with Han and Leia; but nothing points to her having a special relationship with Luke. - Andrew Rilstone

Perhaps you were at the concession stand during the scene where the old wise woman tells Rey "the belonging (family) you seek is not behind you but before you", and what does Rey whisper? "Han, Leia"? No. She whispers "Luke". Granted, that does not sound very respectful but then both Luke and Leia referred to their father as "Vader" in Ep.V. However, just using "Skywalker" here might be to ambiguous given Leia's situation, someone wants to make it clear its LUKE! And then there is the bit where Rey and Ren are Dream-fasting and Ren pulls out that dream about an island in the middle of an ocean...sounds an awful lot like that place she found old uncle Luke, wonder why she was not dreaming about mom or dad?



Some Skywalkerists think that this is deliberate misdirection: the hints that Rey is Han's daughter proves that she is not. - Andrew Rilstone


None of these "hints" at this point "proves" anything. The question is what works best for the story. It is not like we have been told that Luke or Han "betrayed and murderer her father" but then Luke did not pal around with Anakin and Padme for half a film only to be told later, "oh, by the way those guys were your parents." At the end of the day what Obi Won said made since...what would you have said in that situation? Han and Leia not telling Rey she is their daughter, if she is, does not. That Han might not have known is perhaps somewhat plausible, that Leia would not have is just not.

Before seeing the movie I was definitely of a Soloist persuasion, primarily because of the Ep.6.5 problem. Han and Leia are both well known characters and we have even scene the budding stages of their courtship. For them to have kids running around the galaxy thirty years later requires no explanation. For Luke to have children requires a lot of story to have taken place off screen, it is typically best to do that as little as possible.

Yes, as soon as Rey started flying the Falcon I started eagerly anticipating her being Han's daughter, but that time came and went, and that was not the story we were being told, which is ok. What would not be ok is to rip up this story now to try to make it into that other story...we would lose both stories then. The other story needs to die so this story can live.