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Post #1411368

Author
Neerb
Parent topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1411368/action/topic#1411368
Date created
18-Feb-2021, 9:35 PM

Hal 9000 said:

I’m not sure it’d be worthwhile to try to tone down the noble attitude of Rey’s parents because it’ll still be implicit.

The nobility would still be implicit unfortunately, but by drawing less attention to it I think it could help de-emphasize the parents’ overall role in the story and their value in Rey’s eyes, particular with the Palpatine showdown. Even if her parents still seem noble on Kijimi, by cutting their reference on Exogol we at least aren’t still thinking about that nobility so late in the story.

As it is in the theatrical, the “my parents were strong” scene both muddies Rey’s arc (she spent the last two movies learning to not rely on her parents for self-worth) and undercuts the tension in the scene (Palpatine wants Rey to kill him in hate, but she basically says “my rage is already righteous and justified by love and the audience knows it”).

But without that line, Rey’s parents, noble or no, basically just act as plot points, as they should: their bloodline means Rey’s a Palpatine, and their death is used by Rey as an excuse for her hate, but the story’s not about them and they aren’t talked about as empathetic characters Rey truly cares about after Kijimi. The only source of hope and light that Rey takes into the final battle with her, and that she is actually saved by and rewarded for believing in, is that of the Jedi and the Skywalker legacy.