Rey: “I saw myself on the dark throne. I won’t let it happen. I’m never leaving this place, I’m doing what you did.”
Luke: “I was wrong. It was fear that kept me here. What are you most afraid of?”
Rey: “Myself.”
Luke: “Leia knew it too.”
Rey: “She didn’t tell me. She still trained me.”
Luke: “Because she saw your spirit. Your heart. Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. Your destiny. If you don’t face Palpatine, it will mean the end of the Jedi, and the war will be lost. There’s something my sister would want you to have.”
What I love about this change is that it puts the focus on Rey’s emotions and personality rather than her bloodline. Rey is afraid of herself, afraid of her anger and afraid of hurting people.
Despite sensing that anger, Leia still trained her, because she saw that she had a good spirit, a good heart, and her emotions didn’t define her. It’s a great evolution to the old Jedi order chastising their students for their emotions. “I sense much fear in you.” “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering!” “Anger, fear, aggression, the dark side are they!”
Instead, Luke doesn’t chastise Rey for her fear. “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi.”
I think Luke began learning that lesson in the original trilogy. He learned good lessons from Yoda and Obi-Wan, but he also grew beyond them by believing in the goodness of his father when they had completely given up on him. Luke gave into his anger, but he recomposes himself and threw his weapon down.
To me, the lesson I think Rey is learning is that her emotions are natural parts of who she is, and she shouldn’t try to purge her fear or anger, but acknowledge them. This would be like assimilating with one’s Shadow, in Jungian psychology.
If anything, I would cut, “If you don’t face Palpatine, it will mean the end of the Jedi, and the war will be lost.” To me this line is too reminiscent to this interaction with Luke and Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan: You must face Darth Vader again.
Luke: But I can’t kill my own father.
Obi-Wan: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our last hope.
Obi-Wan is basically giving Luke an ultimatum, kill your father, or let the Emperor win. Luke later proves him wrong, so I don’t think Luke would/should give Rey a similar ultimatum. Not because of the implication that he’s telling her to kill Palpatine, because obviously she has to do that, but I think that kind of sentence puts a lot of pressure on Rey and not the best thing to say at this moment. I like the conversation being focused on her and her fears, rather than the bigger picture and her responsibilities.