The Force Awakens: Fixing Rey's Character with One Simple Change (Applied Theory)

[@LiteratureDevil]

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[@LokiScarletWasHere]

Consumer VPNs do not provide privacy, anonymity, or security. They're data collecting honeypots protected by gag orders from ever telling you they actually monitor you harder than your ISP. Long story short, it's outright false advertising to claim a proxy (what these companies call a VPN, which is heavily lacking the P) would protect users from viruses or MITM attacks, or would protect their privacy or keep them anonymous. Your IP address is pretty much useless compared to the information collected at the endpoints, and this information is collected at the endpoints because unless you're passing the encryption stage of your connection through another party, your information is unreadable for the entire path from end to end. It's also harder to track your web activity if your IP address *at the starting point* keeps changing, such as when you go to a coffee shop or you change your router's MAC address. Their solution, of course, is to not be dependent on digital addresses to track you, rather to track you as a person by associating your data with accounts. Data trackers include endpoints like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Amazon, as well as proxies like NordVPN. Worst of all is, if you're being tracked at any time, VPN providers cannot tell you. Their obligation to the digital equivalent of wiretapping essentially requires them to log activity at all times and, if they're nice enough, toss the log when their government says it's okay to toss. And as soon as you're a person of interest, your logs are suddenly NEVER okay to toss. Because of these gag orders, their audits are rigged and they're protected from false advertising accusations. Keep in mind, NordVPN has been caught using Google Analytics, and preventing users from using NordVPN if GA is blocked. They HAVE been caught harvesting data. They just pass the rigged audits so they can advertise their bullshit no-log policy.

[@worldwarwitt2760]

YOUR NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE SENSE! :P

[@luke8458]

@@LokiScarletWasHere so what should the average (non-programer) do to protect themselves? Thx

[@LokiScarletWasHere]

@@luke8458 HTTPS and DNS over TLS, with DNS over HTTPS being a close second. Tor is an option as well, but if you use it to anonymize yourself on the clearnet, you need to practice proper opsec. As for things like viruses and identity theft, don’t use unencrypted sites or sites with self signed, invalid, or expired certificates. TLS (such as HTTPS, which is HTTP over TLS) is resilient to MITM attacks, so if you get a virus or your data is collected, that problem exists on the server, usually a phishing scam or a site that collects data regularly.

[@luke8458]

@@LokiScarletWasHere Thanks!

[@NintenUnity]

The "you just hate strong female characters" cope can be easily dismantled if you look at the fact that Ahsoka is one of the most beloved Star Wars characters in the community.

[@OspreyKnight]

More than that, she began as one of the most hated because she was an annoying brat that we got to see change and evolve into a truly powerful and wise individual. The greater the climb, the greater the character.

[@LegacyComics100]

Even outside of Star Wars there are still better examples than these fraud female characters, such as XJ-9, Hawkgirl, Bayonetta, etc.

[@proluit_igne3619]

Ashoka, Princess Leia, Mara Jade, Mon Mothma, Padme, Cara Dune, etc, there are tons of popular beloved Star Wars characters that are female. The difference is that these are strong, well written characters that are women, and Rey is a Strong Female Caricature, or I I like to call them Diversity Quota Characters (DQC for short.)

[@fritobandito5374]

Can we just go back to the days of Carrie Fisher being a drug addled train wreck and choking out slug men.

[@Mitzoplick]

This 100%. I would also say that Hitgirl was my favorite character in Kick-ass.

[@rebeccafay7402]

My biggest disappointment with the sequel trilogy is what they did with Finn. In the first teaser trailer, we hear Snoke say his awakening line, then Finn pops up from the bottom of the screen. This implies he is the main character and has the Force. He's alone in the desert and you get the impression he's escaped from somewhere bad. Then we see a team of storm troopers arriving, presumably to retrieve Finn. I was excited thinking we'd get to see Star Wars from the viewpoint of a storm trooper with the Force. Instead, Finn became the comic relief, and the black guy was reduced to a janitor. How un-woke can you get? Bait and switch, our real main character is one of the plethora of split second character shots to follow. Your single change to Rey not only would have fixed Rey, it fixes Finn too. Thank you!

[@betterlatethannever4529]

Imagine if Phasma was actually T80R and was promoted to the shiny armor in order to hunting Fin down because she was a close friend in the first order?

[@JokieJesterE]

that actually could have been a great idea. what if a stormtrooper somehow has the force?

[@jf_kein_k8590]

@@JokieJesterE Aren't Stormtroopers just normal people? So one having the Force without knowing is quite possible.

[@robonator2945]

the funny thing is, that idea is so good, I came to the same conclusion by reading your first two sentences. I mean holy shit yeah when you phrase it like that how badass would a story like that be? A stormtrooper who got the force but had some personal reason for not becoming a full fledged sith? You could not only cover their personal journey through a new trilogy but also look into new force powers that are less trained and more improvised off the cuff combat-assistants. Hell you could have sort of done something like that with Rey if she wasn't a massive mary sue. Imagine making her a literal Gal-brush sort of thing where she is just a scrapper and uses scrapper techniques like knowing which bolts or links you can pull out of certain vehicles to weaken them to breaking; replacing complete force-fueled destruction with a more mechanical approach.

[@thekittenofwar4421]

Its kinda ironic that Finn not being the next Jedi is (somehow) the best subversion out of the entire trilogy. Shame it meant he became a background character for Rey's story rather than the protagonist of his own.

[@khodexus4963]

The really sad part is that Rey's introduction was actually handled really well. We learned alot of interesting things about her with next to no dialogue and just cinematic storytelling. But then they threw all that out the window the moment she encountered the plot's conflict.

[@emberfist8347]

Except none of it was really interesting.

[@khodexus4963]

@@emberfist8347 It wasn't that it was uninteresting, it was that they didn't follow through with what was conveyed in those early shots. There was potential there. It was ultimately wasted, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

[@MMTrigger]

A lot of potential improvements are lost when you only take two years to develop the movie.

[@markharc7615]

That was because the Girl Power folks said "She can't need any man's help. That is not teaching strong independent female lessons!" (although I rarely see a girl who doesn't need a man's help to change her oil, mow the lawn or 1 million other jobs they aren't typically equipped to handle.)

[@afelias]

The fact that she was a scavenger with an interest in starships and looked up to Han Solo was a huge setup to make her the next Han. But then Kathleen Kennedy decided to give her everyone's skills because word inside Hollywood was that Kathleen Kennedy wanted Rey to be her perfect fanfic Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way within Star Wars.

[@Arassar]

I don't know how anyone can argue that Rey waiting for her parents could be ANY sort of motivation when it literally caused her to stay in one place on one planet for YEARS. Actual DE-MOTIVATION.

[@priscillabrown210]

Unless it wasn’t her parents idea to leave her there in the first place...

[@lordbiscuitthetossable5352]

Because some people who spent their entire life living in a small world will sometimes seek to return to that same environment. Which, given some random stranger approached her with a lightsaber and basically told her "yeah, you are destined for great things, just take this.", completely turning tail and booking it is actually a pretty realistic response. XD And even within the same Movie, Kylo *knows* that she was put there, he really wasn't bothered by Hux's report until that part was brought up, which even indicates a little bit of brainwashing. The heir of some potential that Kylo couldn't bring himself to kill thus chose to strand her on some backwater while he took her place as successor. The main issue is it had all this narrative gold; and basically proceeded to do the most basic stuff with it, with one film flipping the script and the other, flicking it back. The other big problem is that, unlike Luke she never seems to act out of compassion towards her friends. I mean, she gets a *little* upset about Chewie, but she doesn't try and rescue him. Nah, this plot business is much more important. XD

[@jarred110]

@@lordbiscuitthetossable5352 no their are structural problems in TFA, such as unoriginality, maRey sue, Finn being a dolt, Han reverting back, and simple lack of meaningful conflict and tension. But the greatest reason is the story never made me care one iota about it due to how bland it was.

[@lordbiscuitthetossable5352]

​@@jarred110 Ehhh, originality I can certainly agree with, but I generally don't have the same issues with the characterisation; Finn was a coward who only kept things together to rescue the only person he knew outside his cult and Rey was a backwards scavenger with a secret heritage and a mystery. Wasn't as dramatic a culture clash as the older movies; but it was fine. Just my opinion, just if you hate the movie then that's cool, lifes too short to linger on those weird movies.

[@m.poppins4843]

​@@lordbiscuitthetossable5352 Kinda feel the same. TFA wasnt great, but it was setting up some interesting roots that could have lead to something if only TLJ didnt throw everything away to go nowhere leaving us with nothing for the last episode. TFA's Kylo Ren had a really nice set up, imo. The guy on the path to the dark side but not there yet. Possibly redeemable. Ending up killing his father, a fan's favorite... surely this had to be somekind of non return point from the dark side. He can't be the charming prince after that, right?... He could even have killed Snoke, take his throne, and establish himself has the main antagonist during ep 8 to "subvert expectations", and then no need to bring back the old palpatine for ep 9.

[@shr1mpsush1]

"Fixing Rey's character with one simple trick" Putting actual thought and attention to character writing instead of trying to push "The Message" that no one cares about because it feels like it came at the expense of everything around it.

[@kyotheman69]

yep you see that the most in the last Jedi, it was there in force awaken, but it was far better movie then turds that followed

[@warpfall4654]

that was a beautiful Critical Drinker reference if it isnt imma feel really stupid "the message" still makes me laugh

[@konkon52]

@@warpfall4654 damn bro it feels like this is an insider meme in the movie critique genre

[@MrMadeinisrael]

@@warpfall4654 I can't not read "The Message" in his voice xD

[@andregon4366]

Someone here watches the Critical Drinker. I even read "The Message" in his voice.

[@trevynlane8094]

I still maintain that Rey should have lost her duel to Kylo at the end of TFA. And then Chewbacca strikes with the Millennium Falcon and forces Kylo to run. That would have made more sense and given all of them heroic moments.

[@LiteratureDevil]

Kylo should have defeated Rey easily. Especially if it's going to be a trilogy. Her defeat would show us that she still has a long way to go before she becomes the hero she was meant to be.

[@trevynlane8094]

@@LiteratureDevil agreed. It was a massive writing flaw to have her win so obviously a mismatched fight

[@fortcastellan1730]

At the very least, Rey shouldn't have gotten a clean victory. If Kylo was giving her a 'join the dark side' speech while fighting her, and she won with some sort of distraction or cheap shot, that would have accomplished the same goal. She would have gotten a moral victory, but still would still have incentive to improve before the next encounter...

[@Sbevewagon4493]

It would also be great to see chewie go nuts after only getting the opportunity for a single shot earlier

[@kennethferland5579]

@@LiteratureDevil It's more important for Kylo to win (like once ever) so that he maintains credible menace then it is for the most logically strict outcome of a fight to be what happens, if the writer is going to bend logic they should do it to the villains advantage not the heros.

[@grantsamson2384]

The problem with the "strong female characters" thing, is that they seem to take strength as "the ability to beat people up" rather than "strength of character". Laura Roslyn is stronger than all of the SFC's that have come out recently and she never hits anyone or uses a gun.

[@9tailjeza]

a strong character is the ability to beat your own weakness, not the ability to beat those weaker than you

[@robonator2945]

a much bigger issue to me is the need for "strong" characters instead of good ones. Most good characters aren't strong, strong is not only boring but unrealistic in the majority of use cases. It's the Dragon Ball Z dilemia, sure you can just say "oh my god, look at how hard they are working to overcome the odds!" but you already know how it's going to end, they fail a few times for suspense, get to try again, you get a long sequence of them REAAAAALLLY trying, and then they win. A lot of times I find it kind of revealing to simply ask myself "why should I care about these characters?" and even for a lot of shows that get praise, a lot of the time, there aren't any reasons. taking Arcane as an example, the MAIN thing that I'm supposed to feel sympathetic to the red haired chick for is that she told off her sister who due to repeated acts of rebellion and negligence killed the (functionally speaking although not technically) leader of a nation and several children. When a kid fucks up, you tell them off, if they kill several kids and destroy a nation because of pure negligence and rebelion, you tell them off, so I really don't see why I should care. One of the sisters is motivated by extreme guilt over what is, realistically speaking, the entirely correct response, and the other is motivated by an insane weave of different irrational emotions. Oddly enough in Arcane the only characters who I can see an argument for caring about are the villians and those who are portrayed as doing something wrong. The crippled dude invented fucking bionics, and someone got caught in the crossfire for not obeying lab safety. (and lets remember the old furry was proven wrong several times as well, so, yeah not listening to him isn't exactly a point against him either) The evil dude had a genuinely complex relationship with conflicting values, clearly wanting to achieve what he believes is best for his home but having to do so through means he doesn't like and having to weigh that against his relationship with his adopted daughter. And even just looking at the "bad" things these people use, the bionic matrix thing only hurt anyone because they didn't obey lab safety and the purple steroid goo CAN and WAS *_PRIMARILY_* used as a steroid, but it can clearly be used to power artifiical limbs and whatnot and we even hear that they are voluntarily shutting down production without outside pressure so it was a temporary tool. Every person we are supposed to root against in that show has more interesting and complex story arcs with worthwhile motivations and internall struggles and conflicts. The "good guys" are the inclusion points couple and tesla-turned-edision number 54263. In other words, boring. Characters can BE strong, but that doesn't justify strong characters.

[@DemiIsNotHere]

@@robonator2945 To be fair in Dragon Ball the problem is extremely the second arc forward of Z. In og. Its introduced that you can resurrect the dead cause it makes sense. You already have the all powerful mcguffin that grants any wishes. But Toriyama still keeps "a risk" by setting up that Characters can only be revived once. When Piccolo died, at the time, it really meant that the squad was going to keep dead. Later they just introduce a second wish granting mcguffin with different rules cause Japanese authors have problems committing. After that all sacrifice becomes meaningless cause there is no limit nor restrictions.

[@EmperorSigismund]

Then they would have to admit that women can have virtues that aren't watered down stereotypes of what rich effeminate men THINK male virtues are. Strange how what modern pop culture considers to be 'strong' female virtues are also what they consider to be toxic male behaviour.

[@willmungas8964]

@@robonator2945 FR I really hated Vi in Arcane, mostly because (I’ve already said this in another reply) her strength was a “fuck-off” attitude that really didn’t sit with me well because it’s exactly how my little brother acts sometimes. I found Victor and Jaces story to be way more intriguing, and it’s telling that Vi’s one interaction with Jace convinces him NOT to act like her and try to move towards actual change, working with both the council and Silco. It would’ve worked too, were it not for Jinx (as far as we know at least).

[@marshmallowvampire8503]

If I were to fix Rey..... honestly I could write an entire original story off making Rey better. Imo the one thing that would've made TLJ specifically better is swap Luke's and Rey's response to Luke's failing. Rey only new Luke through "myths" & now that she is seeing someone totally different, should respond with "what, the Jedi suck?!" Or (this is summary of what I would do different) at least give her some kind of motive to like the Jedi and is only stuck bc she is building a ship. Like maybe one of Luke's students saved her years ago and she likes the Jedi for it, so when Finn comes with a solution (being a resourceful ex-stormtrooper) they can finally have their adventure, AND so we have an opportunity to see her actual personality and skills, I would say little to no force powers. Not until she trains with Luke. PS I think Luke could've been the Qui Gon of the sequels, letting the force guide his decisions, then waited for her to come, knowing she could help fix everything.

[@LegacyComics100]

Make sure everyone knows which way is up. Hint: ⬆️

[@marshmallowvampire8503]

@@LegacyComics100 I guess it was kind of a know shit comment.🤭🤭

[@nautdead3197]

@@LegacyComics100 "which way is that I don't understand!" - the first order star destroyer personnel

[@akl2k7]

I started a rewrite of TFA that would have had Lor San Tekka be a Jedi in hiding on Jakku. Maybe they could have had her learn about the Jedi and even have some training from him? It would have made her powers come less out of nowhere, plus he could have given Kylo Ren a lightsaber fight toward the beginning. As it is, I wouldn't have had Kylo Ren (or Snoke, or whatever the current canon justification for it is) kill off Luke's students. Instead of that, he would have gone with some of them to Acht-To while the rest went into hiding because of the threat of Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren. Killing off Luke's Jedi completely undermined his status as first of the new Jedi and removed his successes (the same could be said about the destruction of the Republic for Leia, though that's a different story. The Resistance should have been the Republic instead and it would have made the sequels so much better, but no, they had to go back to the Empire vs Rebels and completely undo the OT)

[@kevinbaumhoer7359]

@@akl2k7 I would rewirte IT Like this instead of Starting in Jakub The Story would Start in Yavin 4 with a Transport bringin in New Students to Lukes Jedi Akademie and one of Those would be Ray .Once Landed She would become The Student of Ether Mara Jade Skywalker or Kyle Katan after Teaching Jaiden and Rosh Penny in Jedi Academy in The Akademie She would than Meet Jaicen and His twin Sister Jaina alongside Lukes Son Ben there She would befriend Then . Long Story Short at The End Jaicen would Become Darth Caidus and The First Movies would .at The beging of The Next Movie a New Char would be intrudecd a Sith Lord what become a Major Threat in 100 hundred years Later .

[@axetheviking6482]

A great man once compared Rey(early in The Force Awakens) with Wall-E, saying that one had a soul, and the other was Rey. Can't quite recall who made this comparison though...

[@emberfist8347]

Well he had a point. Wall-E did have a personality and was able to express it without much dialogue but through his body language.

[@pablopereyra7126]

@@emberfist8347 He has a remarkable amount of character and soul for a box robot who has like 10 different lines in the whole movie

[@andregon4366]

He said Rey is a version of Wall-E without humanity.

[@Bopperann]

The problem is you're being innovative, and modern Disney considers that overwhelmingly revolting.

[@arthurballs9632]

Sure, Iger gave Faverau $100m to make a SW TV and within 12 months of S1 airing it had earnt Disney over $10B through 100m D+ subs and ruthless exploitation of the most merchandisable character in SW history. Faverau was so confident in Grogu's marketability he convinced Iger not to spend a dime advertising D+, and that gamble paid off. Baby Yoda as the most popular Internet search of 2019 despite not becoming public until 12 Nov 2019. And you think you're more innovative than Faverau!!!

[@Bopperann]

@@arthurballs9632 And now they're confusing the hell out of Grogu by having robot Luke force him to choose between emotion or discipline. As if Luke was so very devoted to the old jedi ways that would have deemed his father damned, irredeemable. Also, Disney failed to have merchandise at the ready for Grogu's initial reveal. Grogu is Disney SW's lifeline yet they still continue to handle the franchise with absolute sloth. The park, the hotel, the merchandise, none of it is selling like it should. If they had done the park right, people would _still_ be fighting to get in. Same with the hotel. Even interest in the Mandalorian is dying down, because Disney can't stop abusing their own golden geese. They had people on a hype train, and the people that will consume anything with the SW label. But people are finally noticing in rewatch how much less quality the stories are, despite the flashing lights. I never said anything about myself. I complemented the host of the video. Yes, I think any idiot with a decent idea could have done SW better than anything Disney has rushed out. I think competent writers (whom are also big SW fans) would have tripled the audience, and, impressing the geeks would cause them to buy more and bigger. What Disney is making now is a joke compared to what they would have made if hiring better writers that were fans to the show in addition to time to flesh out the script/continuity errors. If Disney really wanted to be innovative, they would have taken the risk of making Boba Fett a darker PG13 crime story. Instead we got light side PG Boba Fett that won't stfu and supports thd Tuskcan raiders that beat and enslaved him. None of this is timeless. Grogu sells but what else? What characters haven't they killed or ruined? How much money was lost from the sheer waste of potential over and over and over? 30year+ franchise. Less than 10 years ago, I still saw kids playing with lightsabers, vader decals, Leia cosplays often (not just at conventions.) The enthusiasm, for the majority, has been murdered.

[@KneelB4Bacon]

It's like the old saying, "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." Disney isn't just risk-averse . . . they're terrified of change. So JJ was a perfect choice as a director. His idea of "doing something different" is to take something from an earlier movie and x1000 it. "The Force Awakens" is literally just "A New Hope" remade, right down to the Republic only sending a dozen X-Wings to destroy a super weapon. This is the awful, crappy way that JJ writes.

[@MarijnvdSterre]

I don't think he is actually innovative, he just follows the known and tested hero's journey. The point kind of is NOT to be innovative about that part. A creative and smart story improvement sure, innovative not really.

[@Bopperann]

@@MarijnvdSterre Well almost every story has been told before, as you rub out the details you can find a frame that has been used often. In this case, the writer is limited to _fixing,_ you're right in that "repairing" isn't necessarily "creating," but it's far closer to "innovation" than anything we've seen from Disney SW.

[@jpteknoman]

old school stories: you can become better by facing your fears and fixing your flaws new school stories: you are the best as you are and its everyone else's problem to deal with your flaws this is also the reason why games like Dark Souls are so popular. they challenge you to try, fail, learn, retry and eventually succeed, feeling proud for overcoming what seemed impossible at first.

[@trentlashbrook8412]

Imagine if everytime a boss was about to kill you suddenly you got a new power that could easily kill the boss

[@pallingtontheshrike6374]

@@trentlashbrook8412 oh, so the average power trip isekai? i would have said battle shounen but then I realized there are a number that make the MC go through a stab and a half. Well, some are also bad in that regard. This is also why roguelites, dorf fortress, and factorio are popular. Constantly just 'improve, run out of stuff/die, repeat until new record or achievo, feel good, repeat'

[@trentlashbrook8412]

@@pallingtontheshrike6374 I do not watch much anime but that tracks lol

[@hadouradiance3566]

@@pallingtontheshrike6374 Now that I think about it most battle shounen MCs get the absolute crap kicked out of them. Like Goku, Deku, especially Naruto and Luffy.

[@pallingtontheshrike6374]

@@hadouradiance3566 they often do end up using 'the power of feelings/determination/friendship' in some form or another, but not before making the MC suffer for it and/or talk-no-jutsu past the opp's points my fav still is world trigger, where not only does Osamu get rekt, even when he does a mini training arc he still gets rekt when he finishes and he has to go figure out a different way to do stuff and stop getting rekt

[@HalfTangible]

18:10 Well... no. Zuko got the life he wanted not by lying about the Avatar, but by rejecting a peaceful life and betraying his uncle, the only person who loved him unconditionally even in exile. And once he was right back where he thought he wanted to be - by the side of his father, honor restored in the eyes of his nation - he realized that it wasn't a place of glory like he'd thought, but one of deceit, abuse, and treachery. The life he wanted was not the one he THOUGHT he wanted.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Your comment is completely truthful whenever it comes Zuko’s character growth in Avatar the Last Airbender.

[@Raccoonik]

Yeah, Literature Devil usually knows his shit, but was totally wrong with that point.

[@RodimusPrimal]

When you talk about Core Wound, my mind immediately thought about Luke. The talk about the Empire being bad was ever present, it didn't hit home and push him to go on the adventure with Obi-Wan until his Aunt and Uncle are killed.

[@akl2k7]

Yeah, he was considering going to the Imperial Academy still up until then. Imagine how *that* would have changed things.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

@@akl2k7 Has anything ever been done with this? A What if tale?

[@thehammer4607]

@@lazarushernandez5827 quite a few fanfics about it, one or two are even decent

[@MythicalWolf22]

@@lazarushernandez5827 there is a Lego version of him joining the empire and being evil.

[@jeffbenton6183]

@@akl2k7 Biggs joined the Academy and ended up with the Rebels. It almost seems that whether you aspire to be a Rebel pilot or an Imperial pilot, you always start with the Imp Academy - at least, that's what I thought when I was a kid.

[@HalfTangible]

The sequel trilogy used to sadden me, because I could see so many small things they could do to make the story better. Even in retrospect. For example, in TLJ, establish that Rey is extremely adept with mental force abilities (hence the easy mind trick). She can only pull Luke's lightsaber to herself because, in her words "it's your lightsaber, that's different". And Luke can respond "No. It's no different from lifting a rock, or a person, or an X-wing fighter." It would show how much he's grown since ROTJ, AND we've set up the rock-lifting at the end of the film to be a moment of growth for her (in this hypothetical movie we've built up that she hero-worships the Jedi) Or, like you suggested in one of your other videos, make Rey a padawan awaiting the return of her Jedi master, and suddenly we have a reason for her to have all these ludicrous powers and abilities. Which doesn't fix her motive problem, but it'd be a step in the right direction at least. Or fixing Luke's apparent cowardice in ROTJ by adding a scene where he lifts the X-wing out of the water, only to discover that the years in the ocean have broken it down and ruined it. So when he shows up on the battlefield, we're left to wonder how he could've done so, and then when we realize he's projecting himself, he's *actually making up for past mistakes* instead of hiding like a bitch. It wouldn't fix everything but it would fix *that* issue at least, and be one moment where subversion of expectations might actually work. Or Mauler's idea of making Hux more like Tarkin at the start of TLJ so that the wisecracking Poe has an intimidating villain to bounce off of, elevating both characters in the process. Or swapping Phasma on Starkiller base with the random stormtrooper the fandom's dubbed TR-8R. You'd get a moment for Phasma to look like an intimidating badass in combat by trouncing Finn while also giving her moment of cowardice to some rando stormtrooper nobody cares about. You could have the random stormtrooper beg Finn not to blow up the base, because hundreds of thousands of his former brothers and sisters are on it; then Finn says "... send the evac order, *then* lower the shields". It'd show that Finn still cares about the rest of the stormtroopers by giving them a chance to escape. And these are just some of the smallest patchwork fixes; stuff that would probably not fix the movies on their own but would at least improve the experience.

[@cathygrandstaff1957]

Yeah or even have a random stormtrooper who was Finn’s friend, so his betrayal of the First Order comes not from cowardice but from a conflict between friendship and loyalty to their commanders.

[@gandalftheantlion]

I kinda wished TLJ followed through with there message of letting the past die and Rey joining the dark side. It would have been a bit more satisfying than the half-assed ending, failing to follow through with their subversion and feel a little more complete compared to what we got. Even if they followed through it still wouldn't overall save the movie but would still be better.

[@birdcar7808]

The rock lifting was actually a moment of growth… one of the movie’s themes is that people need to focus on saving, not destroying. Rey’s initial rock lift on the island was a sign that she wasn’t mindful of her power, didn’t stop herself from succumbing to the pull of the dark side, etc. Her rock lift at the end is a conscious choice to use her powers to save others, tying into the theme. It also ties in to how her ability to learn to use the force responsibly is proof that the Jedi order can live on, despite its past failures. That’s actually part of the reason why Luke doesn’t show up physically to the battle. He knew he could save people without being there, and he knew that he would not want to have to be in a situation where he would kill his own nephew (he already faced that temptation with his father and with his nephew earlier, both of which he barely resisted). Luke defeats the extremely violent Kylo Ren without even fighting him, and doesn’t give him the satisfaction of “killing the past”. It’s thematically and character relevant. It shouldn’t come off as cowardly if you’re paying attention to what the story is actually trying to communicate about peace vs violence.

[@HalfTangible]

@@birdcar7808 Amazing. Every word of that is wrong. "one of the movie’s themes is that people need to focus on saving, not destroying." This line is given in the film and it's given because Finn just tried to save the Resistance and was prevented from doing so. "The rock lifting was actually a moment of growth" Not really. It was a moment where Rey needed to do a thing in order to save her friends. There was no struggle before this point; lifting rocks was never an issue for her. And if the point is her choosing to save others, at what point in the film does she struggle to "save others"? If anything she tries too damn hard to save others. "It also ties in to how her ability to learn to use the force responsibly is proof that the Jedi order can live on, despite its past failures." Rey never used the Force irresponsibly, least of all in a manner that cost her anything. "It shouldn’t come off as cowardly if you’re paying attention to what the story is actually trying to communicate about peace vs violence." It's not what the movie is *trying* to communicate, but that's exactly what it does. Luke's decision to stay on Ach-to is framed by the narrative as an error, as something he shouldn't be doing. Rey constantly calls him out for staying on the island and not trying to save Kylo. And then at the end of the film Luke....... does exactly what the movie has been telling us he shouldn't be doing? "Luke defeats the extremely violent Kylo Ren without even fighting him, and doesn’t give him the satisfaction of “killing the past”. Except that Luke dies. Kylo didn't get to kill him with lightsaber, but he did kill him. (or more accurately, Luke died because he did a stupid thing) "It’s thematically and character relevant." It goes completely against the themes of Star Wars and Luke's character. This is the guy who, in previous films, was so reckless and eager to jump to the aid of his friends that it was exploited in all of the OT films. On the Death Star his recklessness got him and Han found. In Empire he goes to rescue his friends at Vader's taunting despite not being powerful enough to win. In ROTJ the Emperor draws out his hatred by threatening his friends with destruction. Don't even get me started on trying to kill his sleeping nephew in cold blood. And while Star Wars is primarily about redemption and family, the idea that a core theme is that you aren't supposed to destroy your enemies is completely ludicrous. Stormtroopers get mowed down constantly in these films. Palpatine was killed by Vader as the latter's final redemptive act. Luke redeems himself for hiding away and allowing the First Order to rise... by continuing to hide away and allowing himself to die for no good reason. Question: why not just fly to Krayt and project himself from somewhere on the planet so that it doesn't drain his life away? Same result, but Luke isn't running away.

[@birdcar7808]

​@@HalfTangible "This is a line said in the film". This line outright says one of the themes of TLJ as unsubtly as possible even though the movie beats you over the head with its themes constantly. Poe wastes troops on a pointless attack. Finn was about to sacrifice himself because he lost hope. Luke considered pre-emptively killing Kylo awhile ago. Not to mention, Poe's plan of infiltration backfires. So yeah, I'd say a big point of the movie is the characters should "save, not destroy". I never said lifting rocks was the issue. Her allowing herself to be drawn to the dark side was the issue. In a parallel scene, she lifts rocks subconsciously, while feeling the draw to the dark side. This is her using the force irresponsibly, plain and clear. In the end, she lifts rocks consciously, after having resisted the draw to the dark side, in order to save people. Lifting the rocks shows her growth as a person, not as a rock-lifter. I definitely think this concept could have been executed way better though, but it's not fair to imply this stuff just... isn't present at all. I never said a core theme of Star Wars was to save, not destroy, merely that it was a core theme in TLJ. However, it's definitely a core theme in Star Wars. This is the series where a guy slaughters kids, chokes his wife, tortures his daughter, and cuts off his son's hand, yet the entire point of ROTJ is that Luke needs to show him mercy. In fact, his fall to the dark side basically begins when he unnecessarily kills Count Dooku. Stormtroopers getting killed is necessary but the characters shouldn't needlessly risk lives to kill them, or risk allowing themselves to fall to the dark side to do it, or attack for bad reasons. Darth Vader attacks Palpatine specifically to save his son's life after his son shows him mercy. I don't think I understand your point about this going against themes of Star Wars? Isn't Luke supposed to resist his recklessness and other character flaws which lead to the dark side? You can see him conquering his recklessness when sparing Vader, and again when refusing to even fight his nephew. Luke let his fear supersede his hopefulness for a time. You could say that made him a coward but I would say that is overly harsh. Fear is not the same as cowardice, especially not Luke's fears, which were well-founded and revolved around other people's safety, not his own. He separated himself from everyone because he believed himself and the Jedi religion to be too dangerous for the galaxy. Because Luke is a hero, he did the only option he felt he had to protect people, which was sequester himself and the Jedi teachings away from everyone to prevent them being used for evil. He was incorrect in this (which is another theme, how the past shouldn't be forgotten but instead learned from). Him showing up to Crait as an illusion is the synthesis of what the character has learned about mercy/peace, failure, and having hope for the future of the Jedi - and it also shows that while legends aren't literally true (you might say, they're an illusion), they're still sources of aspiration and hope, still containing meaning for people. That's what his illusion means for the story. Luke couldn't get to Crait fast enough because his character arc kept him behind on the island to try to burn the sacred texts, because that's how he realizes that he can still do good for the galaxy. What you're saying is "Luke should have gone to Crait (let's say his remote, unfindable planet is somehow close enough to make it in time) but still force-projected from a closer distance so he could trick Kylo but also live". Tell me how that makes him less of a "coward". He died doing what was right in TLJ despite having lost his way for a time. That's the opposite of cowardly.

[@VinceTenia]

Its really funny that Rei; the ultimate hero of the corporate trilogy, is the exact opposite of Luke and the philosophy behind the Jedi that Lucas wrote. At every opportunity Rei took the quick and easy path to power, while Luke spent at least weeks if not months training under probably the greatest of Jedi masters only to get his ass kicked when he went aginst his masters warnings. Then in the 'final' movie we see Luke learned his lessons from losing to Vader and completed his training on his own, only to return to Yoda and have to be told "Yo theres nothing more I can teach you, it will have to do." While Rei basically shows off all this shit she can do with the force that no Jedi has ever done before to Leia and then completes Palptines plot by killing him, which causes him to take over her body through Sithtisms.

[@jimmyboy131]

So really, Rey should have ended up a Sith since she walked a quick and easy path to great power.

[@akl2k7]

@@jimmyboy131 This is exactly what I was thinking. Then again, a contingent of the fandom thinks Rise of Skywalker would have been a lot more interesting *had* Rey fallen to the dark side.

[@gamingchamp6728]

I mean… Rey IS a Palpatine after all…

[@drackestalentorgen166]

Have Rey fail, learn and grow and have her supporting cast be relevant and important to the story... Honestly having a guideline of were the story and character had to go would have fixed half the problems...

[@pohjanakka4992]

One thing I found rather satisfying about Luke's journey in The New Hope was his piloting skills, and the fact that while he tried to advertise the fact that he was, actually, a pretty skilled pilot himself, nobody seemed to take him seriously but just assumed it was only boasting by a kid who didn't really know much at all about piloting. Then, in the end, he finally shows that he is, for real, a pretty damn good pilot. Perhaps Rey could have had some unlikely skill but never gets the chance to prove it, until the end. Maybe she does have those awesome staff fighting skills, but loses her staff right in the beginning, before we ever see her use it, and then keeps losing fights because she hasn't learned to fight without one. Then when she fights Kylo in the end she doesn't use a lightsaber but some sort of special staff made to withstand lightsabers she found while they were escaping. And Finn is injured but conscious and witnesses the fight, and for the first time takes her claims seriously. While a bigger point is made of the fact that Kylo is injured than was made in the movie but even with his injuries he still nearly defeats her. Then, after they are saved, Finn gives her Luke's old lightsaber and tells her that maybe it should be hers. But then she still has to learn how to use that in the next movie even if she starts by being better than a complete noob. Because it is not a staff but she keeps reverting trying to use it as if it was, which works part of the time but not all the time.

[@fortcastellan1730]

Luke being a good pilot was just about his only unique skill. He could do generic action-guy stuff, he only used the Force when help/prompted by a voice in head, but he was a genuinely great pilot. It was mentioned early, referenced repeatedly, and played a big part in the finale. Looking back, its kind of amazing how they made such an iconic character out of so few 'special traits.'

[@Sephiroth144]

Except, of course, for Biggs- who (in one of those deleted scenes) vouches for him to Red Leader- Biggs who saw and flew with him in Beggar's cannon in those T-16s, on a similar control scheme to a T-65.

[@sev1120]

Or, hell, Rey scavenged old ships, so she can be really good at parkour and acrobatics, so she takes down Kylo not be beating him in a fight, but by wearing him down, letting exhaustion and his wounds bring him to defeat

[@kevincruz7958]

Finding that inner pain is the key to creating a deep character. Once you have that you have to start asking questions that little by little builds a personality

[@brucechmiel7964]

I like everything you said a d I agree with every point except one, Poe. Having Finn and Poe wander the desert together rhymes with the droids from the first film. And when Rey gets stomped by the Mercs. The two of them will overpower and handle the Ex Mercs. (That is how they get the blasters to fend off the approaching FO). Then when they escape, Poe will out fly the FO pilots. Rey holds the ship together, while Finn offers insight and operates the guns. But Why the Falcon? Save it for the “hell of a pilot!” Scene later on (that line should go to Poe) . The Falcon is THE symbol of the OT films. The sequels desperately needed a symbol of their own. Buy the end of TFA Rey would have that ship of her own. She goes back to buy it. Though in my head Han and Luke are fine for the most part. Han drops her off to Plut’s place and uses his swagger (and Wookiee intimidation) to convince him to sell her her completed ship for the trip to Luke’s Praxium. Han is a hopeless romantic when it comes to ships and completely understands Rey going way out of her way to buy the scrap pile she has been working on. Now if Han died like in the film than he would make sure she had the credits to buy her own ship. No matter what, The Falcon stays in the family.

[@fortcastellan1730]

The pilot/mechanic/footsoldier dynamic would have actually been interesting. And, frankly, seeing the three of them together in any way would have been better than what we got...

[@Sephiroth144]

I could get behind the keeping Poe relevant part... And a non-Aluminum Falcon that early in the movie. Heck, have Rey's ship (some Corellian YT model) break down not to far from Jakku (she wasn't the best as Hyperdrives), and send a distress call... which Han & Chewie in the Falcon respond to it. They cobble together a temporary fix, but have to abandoned constructed ship on Takodana- to be reclaimed later in the series, (say, she stops there to pick up the ship before heading to Luke's location- maybe getting Maz's story...). (Han and Chewie were coming to Jakku to buy some OEM parts for the Millenium Falcon, which were getting hard to find for the venerable YT-1300s)

[@austingarcia6060]

@@Sephiroth144 This idea is wonderful.

[@Primus1243]

I literally came up with a plot from this halfway through the vid. Of Rey working on her ship, finally getting it to work in some way, like the engine starts and it can move around. Just can't drive off into space yet, but can drive across the grounds of the planet like a real hovercraft. So, in her excitement, which is filled with cheers and jumping and yelling to the sky, she grabs some things and money she collected and placed somewhere to take it and the built ship to the port town to grab some fuel or an extra part. But, as she approaches her ship, one of her hands holding a bag, the other her staff holding a bag on each end, she hears the engine sputter from the ship. She watches in pure disbelief and surprise as the sputter and clattering get louder and louder until a section of the ship explodes out, throwing the parts everywhere on the ground, leaving the ship dead in the water. Rey, still in her pure shock, ends up staring for a while before she drops her bags of money and some parts she can sell on the ground, with the ones on her staff slipping off before she starts yelling in anger and frustration. Then running up to her ship and wailing on it everywhere she could with her staff. All of her hard work of that section which could have taken a couple of years, blown and destroyed in just a few seconds. After she wails on it and destroys the ship some more, she makes one final slam and slides down to the ground, leaning her back against the ship. She stares off into the distance over the sandy dunes, sniffing and crying at her loss of hard work and hell she went through for this one moment of a working ship and at least driving to the port. Before she looks over to a part near her and she reaches out slowly and picks it up out of the sand. She stares at it for a good while, takes a deep breath, shifts the sand out of the part, picks up the Star Wars equivalent of a wrench, stands, and goes back to work on the ship. At which point, we would have a montage of her building what she can with the Star Wars theme playing over it. Just pure music and the sounds of ratcheting and other mechanical noise. At which point, she would be left with a mostly completed ship with the destroyed parts put in a pile near the area that she only regards with a look before grabbing her things and walking away to find more. Either to sell or for her ship if she is lucky.

[@jadenkorr32]

Fixing Rey’s character couldn’t be simpler: Rename her Jaina Solo, and use the dozens of stories George Lucas gift wrapped for you.

[@JoRoq1]

To be fair, Lucas didn’t have much personal involvement with the novels and comics of the EU. All the strong new characters, male and female, came from others who were allowed to play in Lucas’s sandbox.

[@rickamsler3088]

@@JoRoq1 other than total oversight and required approval for story creation. yeah he didn't write the stuff but he was involved.

[@JoRoq1]

@@rickamsler3088 Someone else ran the day-to-day oversight of the EU. I can’t recall her name, but she was by herself what KK’s Story Group was supposed to be. Lucas was mainly involved with just the “big picture” oversight, since he was focused on developing the prequels. Yes, he did have significant personal inputs (pushing Zahn’s first trilogy to be post-ROTJ instead of the story of the Clone Wars, and designating Chewie to die in the New Jedi Order series), but he otherwise left it alone and did his own separate story-telling with the prequel movies.

[@davfree9732]

No can do… KK said they didn’t have source material… Now excuse me, these EU books just keep getting better and I’m at the point where Jaina has two potential love interests who are her wingmen she has to fight with against the Vong.

[@jadenkorr32]

@@davfree9732 The Expanded Universe does nothing but age like fine wine 🍷

[@KyleAlexJohn]

The thing I appreciate most about such a simple change to her character is it creates an interesting dynamic between her and Luke. In the second movie there's...nothing really there, but now we see a juxtaposition. Luke, once full of hope, is now disillusioned and bitter after his former padawan cost him everything he had hoped to rebuild, gone into self-exile because he no longer trusts people. Meanwhile we have Rey who, opposite to Luke, never trusted anyone to begin with. Now, after facing Kylo Ren and only narrowly resisting him with Finn's help, only saved by a literal wedge ending their fight short, she has crossed the entire galaxy in search of the one man she had been promised could make her stronger, the one person she could trust to help her fulfill her wish to stop Kylo...and he's a seeming nobody. She had just begun to place faith in people again and the one person she had begun to hope could help her is some dried up curmudgeon who doesn't even care about the greater galaxy. This could be the big turning point for Rey. As she stares at this old man, alone on some nowhere planet in some unknown part of the galaxy content to watch it die, she's forced to finally grapple with that core wound. She can choose to give up, to let this failure to reward her trust push her back to her old self or she can accept that even if this person isn't trustworthy the people she had come to know are. This was a solid video. I'm hoping that future Star Wars movies are much, much better written.

[@cathygrandstaff1957]

One thing that could both motivate Rey to stay and scavenge is being told that she was found as a little girl in a ship that crashed on Jakku. In this case Rey doesn’t leave not because she isn’t able to but because she is searching for a ship that she last saw when she was a small child in the hopes of finding clues to figure out who her parents are/were. In this case while trying to dodge pursuit Finn and Rey could happen upon the ship Rey’s been seeking where Rey could find insignias pointing towards the rebellion. Now Rey has incentive to join the Resistance, they’re people who might know who her parents were, while in the original she joins the resistance despite having no real incentive to beyond a baby duck impulse to follow anyone that looks like they could be her parent because the story desperately needs her to join them and later want to become a Jedi badly enough that she pursues it despite her only teacher doing everything in his power to ignore her.

[@Darkwintre]

Revealing she was raised by a survivor of the Prequel Jedi Order on Jakku so she was actually a fully trained Padawan under the effects of a mind trick to keep her safely hidden from Snoke? So when she learned from Han that FINN returned for her that released her from that mental block so she could fight Ben properly and he wasn't fully trained unlike her explaining why he lost?

[@____uncompetative]

Why is Rey called by a voice only she can hear to Anakin's lightsaber in the cellar of Maz's castle?

[@Darkwintre]

@@____uncompetative maybe that was her former master's lightsaber after all Maz never explained where she got it.

[@gregorde]

@@____uncompetative mystery box. Shh, no questions just consume

[@____uncompetative]

@@gregorde Make Rey be Luke's daughter with Mara Jade (who was the daughter of Sly Moore who was the bald woman seen hanging around with Sheev Palpatine in the Prequels before his face got melted).

[@emberfist8347]

She is far too young for that to work and Jedi can’t fall for mind tricks.

[@Regless0000]

'power alone isn't inspiring'... man that takes me back to some of my mary sues. I did a contest where I had to write some of my character without powers and damn... might as well have been writing sandpaper. It was aweful. Really showed me one of the ways I was using plot devices to cover for terrible characterization.

[@kasrkin100]

This why I found anime is kind like that also fanservice.

[@thassalantekreskel5742]

The fact is, a simple twist could have saved Ray's character arc without having to change practically anything about her, or the movies. Simply introduce the concept of the Diad earlier, instead of a third-movie cure-all. Linked as they are, Kylo *is* Ray's struggles, her losses, her wounds, or in other words, her darkness. She gets asked after the first movie's big fight with Kylo how they even managed to survive, and all she can say is "I don't know." But in the sequel, she finds out: every time she suddenly found new strength when she needed it the most was because Kylo had earned it the hard way, and she was just syphoning it from him. If you look at them as a single character, and if the writing had permitted that realization during the movies, the whole story comes across much better.

[@blatherama]

"Like someone bragging how they've invented the wheel...at an auto show." Great stuff.

[@TonberryQueen]

After doing the outline for my book's story and characters, I'm finally working on writing the actual book. It's about the Greek god of thieves Hermes in modern times, a novel I've wanted to write since my teenage years. I've also settled on an acceptable flaw: Pride. A bit cliched, I know. But it works well. It will also hinder his progress and cause him trouble. And, is backed by the lore, he will be nowhere near as powerful as many of the other Olympian gods and will need help sometimes. Even as cunning and intelligent as he is, he won't be a one-man army. Because making it to where he can always win by himself would be boring and stupid. Flaws and weaknesses leave room for growth in character and power. If your videos have taught me anything, it's that that's the REAL journey. Oh, the possibilities for Rey. If only Disney had swallowed their pride in her and allowed her to lose sometimes. She could have truly been awesome.

[@Birthday888]

I would argue against making Pride his primary flaw, if you plan to include any of the other greek deities in your setting though. Because all the Greek deities are prideful, they're immortal beings after all. It's also pretty generic and vague. Pride can mean a lot of things after all. Is it arrogance? Is it excessive competitiveness? Is it impatience? Specifying exactly what kind of pride he has, and what he specifically takes pride in himself can do a lot in making your characterization more memorable.

[@TonberryQueen]

@@Birthday888 Excellently put. After your comment, I'm taking a closer look at my character's main flaw. Trying to see what subset category of prideful he will fall into. So far, cockiness/extreme confidence is a good bet, but I'm still taking a closer look to see if that's even the only/biggest flaw I'll give him.

[@ShinDangaioh]

@@TonberryQueen Pan. The god pan is his son. Hermes laughed when he was born and took him to Mount Olympus so all the other gods could have a laugh. Then he took Pan back to the ground and left him alone after that. Hermes didn't object when Apollo skinned Pan alive. Pan did survive that and healed, but still...

[@TonberryQueen]

@@ShinDangaioh Hm, I read a different version of that. Where when Pan was born through his tryst with Aphrodite she abandoned him because he was ugly. Hermes took him in, cared for him, and even healed him up when he was skinned by another god for shits and giggles. Hermes was the reason Pan was merry, because he taught Pan to laugh no matter what life threw at him.

[@ShinDangaioh]

@@TonberryQueen There are different versions of that story and the last thing that was in the the container that Pandora opened.

[@BoneBullet]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted to see Finn's story but was left disappointed when they abandoned it.

[@HenshinFanatic]

Deeznutjobs: all the better to market to chainuh

[@Kitsu_Worm]

Yea man, I feel your pain when you see first trailer of the guy in stormtrooper suit in the middle of dessert. That scenes made me chill only to realize he's just a background character.

[@NameIsDoc]

Honestly I think "killing" poe off early was the mistake of force awakens. If Rey couldn't pilot and poe a hurt individual had to fly it would have been better

[@leonielson7138]

Rey isn't even her real name: she adopted it just like she adopted the name 'Skywalker' in 'Rise of the Skywalker'. Rey was the name on the side of the helmet that she's seen playing with in her fallen AT-AT camp on Jakku.

[@zombiehunter501]

She is the very definition of a usurper. Nothing she has is her own, never built for or by her. Only taken from others. Her Name, taken from dead people, her weapon Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, then Leia's, Her Ship, Han Solo's, Her droid is Poe's droid. None of them earned in an endearing way to those watching for something more than wish fulfilment.

[@mikedanielespeja6128]

@@zombiehunter501 An usurper? A false idol? My eyes have been opened... slayer...

[@lordhelmchen3154]

This just made me realize: If Rey was like 4 or 5 when her parents left, like we saw in the flashbacks, she should totally remember the name her parents gave her. And if she is so focused on just staying in place and wait until her parents return so things will get better and "normal" again, she would totally keep her true name because she remembers her past and wants it back! So there is no legitimate reason for her to adopt the helmet name. The changed Rey that was presented in this video, the Rey that wants to proactively find her parents and hates abandonment, would arguably have a reason to call herself Rey though.

[@zombiehunter501]

@@mikedanielespeja6128 I get it, but I guess she did earn something, she did indeed earn the title of slayer. After all, she killed the Franchise.

[@zombiehunter501]

@@lordhelmchen3154 if Ray, is the name she was born with, then she wrote it on a dead person's helmet, it's the start to her habit of claiming dead people's things as her own.

[@ignis2638]

I always thought that a good way to change her would be to allow for her to faulter to the dark side, a good change of pace and something that while has been done has not been explored on the big screen where she is a morally gray character and has trouble realizing what is light and dark is and sometimes goes too far. This gives her a good purpose in seeking out a Jedi while also giving us something new. It would be interesting commentary too on what makes a jedi a jedi and a sith a sith helping to expand the world and show why a master is important in the development of someone who is also normally talented or especially talented. etc etc

[@jonathanryan9946]

Is it the delete button and going with the Legends timeline instead?

[@Dr_Crow_Carnival]

Still amazing how one little change can fix so much. It almost as if they didn’t even try.

[@RahkshiBoi]

If it looks spectacular and sells toys, they don’t give a rats ass

[@Dr_Crow_Carnival]

@@RahkshiBoi but it didn’t do ether of those two things….

[@RahkshiBoi]

@@Dr_Crow_Carnival true.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

@@RahkshiBoi , Darth Talon, Slave Leia, and Mara Jade sold more toys than characters like Rey from the Sequel Trilogy, so yes if Disney wanted to make trillions of dollars in revenue then they should have hired writers like Literature Devil.

[@RahkshiBoi]

@@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr very true.

[@somerandomschmuck2547]

One alternative to her weird skills set that she shouldn’t have given her backstory. There’s a power in Jedi Fallen order called “force psychometry”, basically the main character can actually get information/use skills from other people as long as they have an object that used that skill on. The best example I can think of is when he picked up an instrument and immediately was able to play a song he’d never heard before perfectly, the way it’s shown it doesn’t even seem like he intended to, it looked muscle memory took over, it should be noted the instrument actually belonged to a Jedi master. So what if that’s the explanation for Rey being able to suddenly fly the Millenium Falcon and go toe to toe with Kylo Ren in a lightsaber fight (where she was using the Lightsaber which belonged to Anakin and then Luke), also that could tie into the fact she’s a scavenger, among other practical reasons, what if she’s subconsciously drawn to things with a lot of memories on them. This could even tie into her overall character with themes of being stuck in the past, not being able to let go. Maybe she could have something from her parents that she uses to sort of feel their presence whenever the loneliness gets hard to deal with, and she’s sort of dependent on it to function. Or maybe show her loosing the lightsaber and suddenly she has to fight on her own skills, and eventually make her own lightsaber, learning to use that her own way.

[@pathfindersavant3988]

"It is the internal struggles, when fought and won and their own, that yield the strongest rewards." - Kreia, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2

[@RogueFox2185]

Rey would have been better starting off on a backwater hellhole like Nar Shadarr to give her a good start on fighting but still leave her room to improve, maybe as a small time smuggler who always looks over her shoulder but also has a kind heart though she will only show it sparingly. She has contacts to help her and the Republic out if they come up short on leads when they’re desperate also despite having not much affinity with the force Rey is capable of finding solutions quick on her feet to get around her limitations and while we’re still on the subject, get rid of those mystery boxes about her origin right off the bat for good measure with her parents not being brought up at all. Finn should still be a Stormtrooper for his origin but he is a highly trained Elite Stormtrooper in this rewrite and is essentially Phasma’s equal in TFO, which would be much more impactful when his former brethren label him a traitor as many of them admired and respected him. He should be stoic, ruthless in combat and have a excellent mind for strategy while having little time for jokes until the sequel where he undergoes his character development, he’s the window into TFO itself and has the most potential with the force out of the trio but he doesn’t start training with it until the next film which takes place years later under Rey. Finally with Poe there’s not much you need to change but make him the heart of the group and remove that smuggling backstory he got in TROS, he should be the charismatic New Republic Commander (The Republic should still be around in all three films and the whole trilogy should be a reverse of the OT essentially in terms of conflict, The Resistance, Starkiller Base and The Final Order shouldn’t exist here and Palpatine remains dead) who keeps the group together along with the one who’s making sure those under his command are holding up mentally as a true leader while TFO bears down on them all.

[@Birthday888]

I think Finn is also one of the few characters that don't need much changing? At least, from his concept. Making him a Stormtrooper and one that was maybe brought up within the First Order/Empire's Remnants, and then becoming disillusioned with it as he witnesses the harsh reality of what the First Order does. Maybe keep the tactical expertise from your idea, but have him frequently scolded for his empathy towards the enemy and his own allies, which keeps him from ascending in the ranks. You can then make a good foil with Phasma, who would be the quintessential image that all the Stormtroopers aspire to, who has that stoic coldness that Finn was constantly scolded for not having. You could give Finn force powers, but honestly, "ex-stormtrooper" has plenty of story-telling potential all by itself, and in my opinion, is also much more interesting than just making him a Jedi.

[@jaffarebellion292]

I also think Poe should've been a test pilot, field testing a unique, experimental starfighter. It would've given him a gimmick, (and offered merchandise opportunities for the Mouse) and let him pull some insane, unheard-of maneuvers in combat. Think Battlestar Galactica type stuff.

[@marcoalcaraz7218]

I really prefered fin as the main character, a guy whose whole life was to part of the evil first order, being raised and trained to do that, and when the moment of truth arrived to shoot he felted something, a single glimpse of the force that he felt while all the killing and destruction was happening (like all the Jedis felt when the order 66 happened just in a smaller scale) and then choosing to left the first order, and then raku she mets ray, a lonely scavenger who shares the same force perception but knows nothing about it, then they get involved into the resistance and a bunch of stuff happening, but they end up discovering that Rey is the daughter of luke,,

[@lynngreen7978]

A powerful and inspiring female character? Like Jaina and Ania (who Rey steals superficial traits and backstory points from)? Or Mara? Or Winter (the basis for Admiral Gender Studies Holdo)? Or any of the dozens or hundreds of great heroic characters across Star Wars almost 40 years (before it was killed for the DU continuity) IRL and 35,000 years in-universe?

[@DragonxFlutter]

I think this really does fix most of Rey’s problems. The only thing not addressed is her Force Sensitivity. When Episode 7 first came out, I had the idea that Rey wasn’t the descendant of an OT character. My idea was that she was a new Chosen One; with the explanation being that The Force creates these once-in-a-generation demigods as a self-defense mechanism against those who would disrupt the natural balance. If we apply this to the ideas you create, we could say that Rey finds out that she was dropped on Jakku because her powers were a nuisance to deal with, and the immense trauma of being abandoned disrupts her connection to The Force (which is a thing that can happen, though we more often see it done as a form of self-punishment/self-exile). Thus, her Force journey becomes less about figuring out what fancy stuff she can do and more about reconnecting with The Force and gaining control over her powers; and in the process, confronting her trauma.

[@putput-ausarthevile7540]

"we treat her like absolute garbage instead of writing her like ablosolute grabage" that single line had me on the floor laughing

[@LyaksandraB]

First world countries, especially the US, have been raising kids through validation for so long, that people have no idea how to deal with adversity, they barely even know it exists. So, when it happens, they just cry and demand others fix their problems, which brings us to the modern world. It's simple, really. Monkey does what monkey sees. We need to see people struggle and rise to the challenge in order to learn it. We need to be taught how to handle adversity, just like everything else we learn.

[@mrbigglezworth42]

Rey started off with informed flaws and ended up showing how flawed the whole dog and pony show around her was. Damn, even as a mistake, Rey continues to be a sue.

[@Darkwintre]

Don't separate Finn & Poe so Poe recognises and flies the Falcon getting bb-8 to contact Han do he jumps in with his giant freighter they land aboard it jumps to Takodana. Oh right this is about Rey not correcting the movie.

[@SamaritanPrime]

I mean, while we’re on the task of rewriting a movie…. yours is not a bad idea.

[@garybicknell2135]

The funny thing is these self-inflicted failures don't need to happen but do because they can go no further than throwing out the expected/traditional and cannot come up with something to put in it's place. Every last one has been fixed by fans with traditional story arcs and themes while leaving the diversity characteristics the SJW writers demanded were the point. If only the whole thing was about good, diverse characters and not idealized diversity paragons for the woke to "see themselves' in as examples of perfection.

[@5h0rgunn45]

Deconstruction is what the Woke do. Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt.

[@FMK03]

@@5h0rgunn45 Facts, right there.

[@priscillabrown210]

I would have also kept Poe with Finn as well... Having him be Rey’s guide piloting the ship... With him being too out it to be actually be able pilot himself... Dude just crashed a ship after being tortured by the poor man’s Jacen Solo, after all... That was a major plot hole in TFA...

[@Netherwolf6100]

I remember watching an interview with John Boyega, describing in the original draft, Finn was supposed to be a badass fighter, one of the best in the Order which would allow him to tear through armies of his former fellow troops, but for some reason, scraped to make Fin a weak, scared young man who would need to grow. They took the character arc Rey should have had if she was meant to be the main character, and gave it to the side character... what a huge fumble.

[@joshcal7370]

I'm so happy I found your channel. I love your commentary. I enjoyed how you tore apart their narrative that anyone who doesn't like the movie "Doesn't like a strong female character." They say that because that IS the only part of the movie. There's no story, no plot, no journey, just a STRONG female character. I'm actually writing a story about my female lead, who prior to the start of the story, was given power she didn't earn, and made the leader of a village. A major thread in my story is that she doesn't feel like she really earned it, and people don't respect her because she didn't earn what she was given. She does go out and face enemies who are stronger/more skilled than she is and gets beaten down royally bad. She ends up making friends to help her when even her broken power isn't enough, and over time she earns people's respect, while still unsure if she's really earned it yet.

[@lduddy]

One thing, Rey beating Kylo in TFA is not that unbelievable. Throughout the entire movie, the film highlighted the power of Chewie's bowcaster as basically an anti-material rifle. A gun to take out tanks. Multiple times the film seems to pause to say "look at this anti-tank gun blast a stormtrooper." So when Chewie shoots Kylo, we should be presented an opportunity to highlight the resilience and sheer will of Kylo to withstand such a wound, but to also to continue to fight. From here you can keep the fight the same. Afterall, Kylo throughout the fight would pause, step away, and punch his wound to jolt some adrenaline through him to continue to be functional and dangerous. However, a good writer would use this opportunity to introduce a secondary flaw into Rey: arrogance. She could be telling herself that she is more powerful than she actually is. He belief that she had beaten a big bad lord of the Sith could introduce conflict in the second movie. A misplaced reason to be dismissive of Luke's teachings and warnings. She could have been so wrapped up in her belief of her untested strength. A twist and alteration of Luke's reasoning to go to Cloud City in ESB. And through here, Rey challenges Kylo again, but a Kylo that is not hampered by a crippling injury. As a result she gets stomped, much as Vader toyed with Luke. Yadda Yadda, some rescue and escape, but that moment could introduce humility to Rey, and into wisdom for the third movie. Peaks and valleys. Anyway that is my nitpick of many critiques of the Disney movies. Too many point to that fight as a Mary Sue moment, which ultimately as presented in the later films ended up being. However, it is the least offensive moments IMO only because the TFA highlighted the bowcaster so heavily. If the movie had not done that then the critiques would be valid.

[@emberfist8347]

Well the fact Kylo was still standing means the wound wasn’t that bad and him punching the wound was just silly.

[@user-qk3nq6cg7r]

The problem with that is during the fight, he is able to run and move perfectly fine, he managed to run up a ledge while chasing Rey so I've never understood this argument. Also it's important to remember that Kylo defeated Finn just before, a man who had military training so it doesn't make sense for Rey to win this fight Even if he got shot by the bowcaster. he was dominating the fight at first until Rey started to take some deep breaths which means JJ had no indication of showing that the injury seriously affected Kylo enough for him to lose.

[@n00bplayer72]

Yes! Sometimes the best way to give a character a flaw is to derive it from their strengths. In the story I'm working on, the main character is 'Strong and Independent', but because she's strong and independent, this makes her: a) have poor social skills because she lived alone up until that point. b) try to solve every problem herself and refuse to ask for help/share the load, even to her own peril, because she lived alone and had to rely on herself for everything. Flaws are what make a character interesting, if applied correctly, and are perfect for writing tons of conflicts and plot events as the character progresses and grows.

[@dananichols349]

Princes Leia is a strong, independent, and important character in the Star Wars Trilogy. And no one was intimidated by her. She was adored and loved. (Especially in that slave girl bikini!)

[@danielcrafter9349]

So she wasn't "adored and loved" She was objectified, waiting for Random Man to save her

[@lieutenantcoloneltanyavond8273]

"FIX YOUR MARY SUE WITH THIS ONE, SECRET TRICK!"

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

"The real treasure was the frens we made along the way" but unironically.

[@tbe9790]

Amazing video as always, LD! I guess there is no reinventing the wheel without the pitfall of making it dysfunctional and broken. Thanks for explaining the use of the four cardinal virtues and the core wound and how they are the basic building blocks of not only narrative, but even struggles faced in reality. The defining line between growth or stagnation, victory or defeat.

[@JohnBradford14]

Funny how all of the "toxic fans" who supposedly hated Rei for being Disney's strong female character were the ones standing behind Gina Carano when Disney fired her.

[@themykeshow9027]

I love this channel and I loved Star Wars for almost 40 years. My investment in Star Wars is just over now, though. I don't want it "fixed". I just want it to go away. For almost 20 years before the prequels, I desperately wanted more Star Wars. Then, for almost 20 years after the Prequels, I was *still* desperate for more. Now, I wish we could just have 20 more years with no Star Wars at all.

[@jaffarebellion292]

I want Star Wars to get run into the ground badly enough that Disney sells it. Then, it's up for grabs by someone who will take care of it.

[@armorbearer9702]

You amaze me yet again Literature Devil. I would like to add that this gives Poe a chance to shine as well. Rey and Finn have great fighting & technical skills but they have no people skills. This is where Poe comes in. He uses his connections and charisma to convince people to trust Rey and Finn.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Your comment is also completely truthful on what the Disney Trilogy should have done.

[@petergohan]

Perfect, i would even add that she never gets to be force sensitive, but rather Finn is, making it look like the Force acted by making him "wake up" from the conditioning because it needed him. In the words of Darth Marr: "The Force is alive, and it has a plan."

[@Nunnyahbizhen]

Thank you so much for this discussion. Even when it comes down to real life this is true. When I heard about those who achieved great accomplishments in history the ones who just happened to have all the means and supplies to accomplish their goal didn't empress me as much as the one who struggled. Some of the best achievement stories have people who experience some of the hardest hardships in life, yet keep pressing through to accomplish what they desire. Thus their victory feels so much better than the one who could just claim it just because they had the ability to.

[@lamcb.9476]

Yeah Rey beating Kylo Ren, a trained soldier, was the biggest Mary Sue moment. And her being so insanely good at using the force is just a god build on an rpg sheet

[@dakforest5344]

For whatever reason, listening to this video, I'm reminded of the participation trophies received by my generation, so that no one felt like a loser. Helicopter parents. No child left behind. And how many of my generation struggle with adulthood because of the general attitude that gave birth to these movements (in addition to the ever growing social-economic disparities between generations). Makes me wonder who is writing stories like these, in a broad sense. The generation who created participation trophies, or the generation who received them.

[@quorryraphael9980]

Participation trophies are a nothing burger. It's just proof you were there, and nobody really cares. The reason people are struggling as adults now is because it's harder, not because they got a fake trophy or something.

[@jasonbuster5503]

There's not a single story rewrite that I've seen of this movie from a KZbinr that was not better than the original. The amount of ways they could have handled this and they messed it up is astounding.

[@dissect123]

Rey’s "character" is a perfect representation of female expectations in modern society. It will remain unchanged until they realize that being a woman is not a qualification or an achievement.

[@DarkAshenfall]

This is very well done. Its quite eye-opening how one simple change actually branched out into meaningful character traits that made Rey instantly more believable. I also, especially, like how you touched upon Finn. Who really got shafted in the movies. Him being an ex-stormtrooper, really is a character background used so sparingly in any Star Wars media. Yet they squandered it in the worst way. He really should have been more as you described him. Finn could have been a great character.

[@themightykahn24]

Hats off to you, Sir. You are a lone voice of sanity in a reality of madness and sh!t. No,no. I am wrong. There ARE others like you, few as you are. But know this; it's men like you who lend me hope. I thank you.

[@fuzzie6299]

To summarize the method used in this video to make Rey's character better; Firstly, the hero has something which calls them to adventure. Something which motivates them to do a great dead. A wake-up call if you will. Like how Bat Man gets motivated to become Bat Man due to his parents dying, same with Spider-Man's Uncle dying. Then the hero encounters a wall in their journey that they cannot overcome. No matter what. And so they receive a special power-up which helps them. Like, you know. Deku receiving One for All. And of course, there's the threshold guardian, something that prevents the hero from accomplishing their goal once again. Like how Deku needs to constantly train to use One for All safely, in order to stop his limbs from blowing off. Then the hero reaches that threshold and accomplishes his goal. The hero is then assisted on his journey as a hero, my friends, and becomes stronger due to experience and training. The hero is tempted to give up due to the severity of the challenges but urges on... Until something heartbreaking happens, and the hero goes through death and rebirth... Transforms into something better... And atones for his or her's mistakes while learning a valuable lesson.

[@loltwest9423]

"You're just intimidated by strong powerful women!" Me: "Then why do I love Vi so much?"

[@Deibodese]

This is a very educated, insightful look into the plot of the new trilogy. Thank you very much for this! I started writing a science fiction novel many years ago, when I was only 14. I quickly abandoned it because I felt that my writing lacked maturity. It was little more than a mish-mash of fanfics, and that was absolutely not what I wanted to write. I made a decision all those years ago that I would go experience life for real, and come back around and write the version of the story that I could be proud of, because mature audiences could appreciate it. I’m going to study more about The Hero’s Journey, because the general framework of the story already includes it. I just didn’t have the theory of that storytelling method to properly give life to my characters. To give an example of my current progress, the original title of the story was the unbearably cringe and generic “The Swordsman’s Chronicles,” but after examining each character I realized they were all looking for some kind of big answer to life. So, despite being a sci-fi that takes place from right after a civil war ended up until a new civil war is started and resolved, I decided to call the story “The Search.” I want my readers to step away from the generic “War is cool” or “War is terrible” idea, and examine the concept that truth exists in everything. You just have to look hard to find it sometimes.

[@larrytod9790]

I've been saying this for a couple of years now. With great writing Rey could have been a great character

[@solemnwaltz]

I felt more emotions in 20 minutes of you just giving examples of character conflicts than I did in the entirety of the sequel trilogy

[@RetroAmateur1989]

Rey doesn't need fixing, she is perfect........... wait 🤨

[@darthbiscuit]

Such an incredibly elegant and powerful solution. Love your work, and you make it look so easy

[@chaosvorderpeasantryclub]

Your telling of Ray’s story sounded better. I didn’t hate Ray. Hate require some form of passion. More like going through the motion of watching paint dry on a wall. The movie was simply bad. I’ll give an example, for instance Sara Connor started the film as a timid waitress with the life and thoughts of such a character that developed into a strong personality that didn’t need to elevate her own journey by belittling her male characters around her. She survived in an extreme circumstance and that made her a hero. This being something I could invest in. Although the later terminator movies did suck.

[@Gorbz]

They did say of the writing behind the first film that they did not want a character who grows into being a hero, as that has "been done before", and instead wanted a character who was already at their zenith and was just looking for their place in the world. No growth, just acceptance.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Even a series like One Piece where all of the Strawhat Pirates are notorious criminals and wanting a place of belonging in the world it still uses the heroes journey trope, so yes there’s no reason on why the Disney Trilogy failed other than not having writers like Literature Devil working at Disney.

[@Broodingrage235]

Excellent take on this character. Would love to see EFAP chew on this video. You do a great service to this story...........

[@Nukesnipe]

I still hold that Rey beating Kylo was fine tbh. He was severely wounded by what was basically an antitank weapon, in the middle of the emotional turmoil from killing his dad AND was running himself to exhaustion. He'd just beaten the crap out of Finn, and was pretty clearly about to win against Rey before the ground split and they both ran off, leaving it as a draw.

[@Kal_g]

Can't believe I missed the video premiere. Ah, well. These writers nowadays don't like Rey, like LD said. They like the *idea* of Rey. Same thing with Miles Morales, America Chavez, Kate Bishop, Amadeaus Cho, Riri Williams, present day Carol Danvers, Batwoman, Mikey Spock, the first Female Doctor, and the list goes on.

[@RoronoaZoro-ur6hr]

Your comment is completely truthful, and I agree with you completely that Twitter activists don’t like characters like Rey Skywalker, but they like the idea of characters like Rey Skywalker.

[@michaelpothier]

I've always thought that Eleven from Stranger Things is Rey done right. She has incredible powers, but while they allow her to do impressive feats and make a few close friends, her powers have been mostly a negative in her life. It got her raised in a test lab, chased by government agents, alienated from most people and stunted her social skills. She has had to fight and claw her way to a normal life, and as of season 4 is still doing that.

[@Se05239]

I like these character videos. Interesting to see a could-be scenario.

[@fortcastellan1730]

Back when I dreamed of recording my own Force Awakens videos, I wanted to point out that Rey had enough contradictory traits that she could have been 'fixed' in three entirely different directions, while still maintaining the basic story beats of the movie. A few of my fixes tracked pretty well with yours. Rey 1: Rey is a mousy, tech-savvy scavenger. She's desperately lonely, and because of that constantly talks to herself--almost like a stream of consciousness. She rescues and keeps BB8 because she wants--needs--a friend. Her partnership with BB8 causes her to be literally dragged into a running battle between Finn and Poe vs the First order. Together (the trinity, all on screen at once!) they commandeer a piece-of-junk ship and escape, with Poe piloting, Finn gunning, and Rey trying to make the ship work. ("I bypassed the compressor" she shouted from within a cluttered mechanical duct) They meet up with Resistance-agent Han, who is amazed at Rey's ability to fix the terminally-broken falcon. Overwhelmed by someone giving her genuine praise, she considers joining Han, but is captured. After being interrogated, she accidentally uses Jedi Mind Trick while talking to herself. Afterwards, she is again overwhelmed by the realization that her new-found friends cared enough for her to attempt to rescue her. No one had ever cared for her like that before. In the final battle, she doesn't actually fight, but releases an anguish-fueled force-explosion to separate everyone after she witnesses Finn getting cut down. The movie ends with her seeking out Luke, to train her in the use of her latent abilities, and teach her how to confront her enemies. Rey 2: Rey's abandonment has lefter her bitter. She hates everyone, and will fight at the the slightest provocation. She saves BB8 because she had a grudge against the guy who caught him, and she doesn't sell him out of mistrust and spite. She fights Finn when she meets him, and fights the First Order troopers who follow him. Having made new, bigger enemies, she is forced to flee the planet, and defacto joins Finn on his mission. Upon meeting Han, she finds that she can respect him and Chewy, recognizing them as an 'honest' criminal and some hired muscle. She considers joining them, but is captured. She resists Kylo's interrogation via sheer anger. She is (again) overwhelmed when she realizes that her new-found friends have actually come to rescue her, and is promptly enraged by their subsequent death and dismemberment. In the final battle, when Kylo force-reaches for his grandfather's lightsaber, she uses force-reach to pull Kylo's saber out of his hands. Activating the Sith-blade, she attacks with a dark-side-fueled berserker rage. The movie ends with her seeking out Luke, with tears in her eyes, begging him to teach her how to control her rage and save her friends. Rey 3: More passive than the other two, this Rey is waiting for her parents to return, and well, basically just waiting for her destiny to find her. She wants to be a pilot and to see the galaxy and such, but it doesn't seem like that will be her fate. Until it happens. Events sweep her along, like the actual movie. But we lean into her being 'the chosen one.' When she touches the lightsaber, she actually learns something from the visions and voices: like what the force can let her do. And then when she grabs the lightsaber again in the final battle, she is again overwhelmed by random visions, but this time she hears a voice call out to her, which drives the visions away. With the voice coaching her, she fights off Kylo like a true Jedi master. The movie ends with her finding Luke, who smiles at her and says (in the same voice she heard earlier) "Hello Rey, I've been waiting for you."

[@jasongrundy1717]

Time machine and assassinating JJ.

[@007Thanos007]

Hey, if it can work for Deadpool, it can work here! Except maybe we won't have to kill them, just lock them and Kathleen Kennedy away on a desert island for a little while while we hire REAL writers to come up with something decent!

[@VdeBeltran]

@@007Thanos007 or k*ll kathleen bf she rise to power 👌

[@BarkingCur]

"Inspiration, not validation." An awesome quote! Thank you for an outstanding explanation of why The Hero's Journey is so important in developing a legitimate protagonist that the audience can identify with and root for, and using Rey as the perfect example of the hollow results produced by allowing your character to skip all the tough parts of their character arc.

[@crestofhonor2349]

If I were to write Rey's character I would also make many changes. First off she would love to meet her parents but is unable to leave Jakku. This is for multiple reasons, one of which concerns Plutt. Plutt keeps Rey as debt slave as he says her parents left left the planet with out paying a large sum of money. He then says Rey must pay off her parents debt in order for her to leave. Due to these circumstances Rey develops a talent for mechanics, repair and a familiarization of technology both old and new. Lots of the junk on the planet has Rey fascinated with technology of all kinds in which she tinkers with. She would not only be good at repairing old computers and ships but she would have experience in getting old droids up and running using all kinds of junk across the planet. Of course this means she has built her own custom speeders to help her traverse the planet at maximum speed . This tech she repairs she sells to Plutt in order to pay off her debt. This goes on for years with Rey assuming she must be close to paying off her family's debt so she can go off in search of them. Her intense focus on paying off this debt plus her intense desire to find her parents leaves her isolated from those around her because when she isn't selling her finds and repairs to Plutt she is working on building her own ship from parts she has found from the various wrecked ships all across the planet. She would also have an intense focus on self reliance and often has a habit of getting into her own work so much that she often ignores everything around her and forgets to eat. Everything she has build came from her own hands making her a tinkerer. I'd also make her self reliant to a fault where she tries to do everything herself and rarely if ever accepts advice from others. Making her socially awkward would also be another trait due to her isolation. She however would have practically no combat abilities due to the lack of enemies to fight on such an empty planet. She'd also be able to easily reprogram droids due to her extensive history repairing them for Plutt and wouldn't be unfamiliar with custom mods.

[@JmonsterNEO]

There’s this one rewrite of the sequel trilogy that depicts Rey as a sort of ‘force parasite’ who has unbelievable power and skill and subconsciously bends the minds of those around her to agree or listen to her, essentially an entity that’s an embodiment of the Mary Sue archetype dissected and explored in-setting, and part of the rewrite is Rey coming to terms with the fact that she essentially harms everyone she ever comes in contact with who isn’t a powerful force-sensitive.

[@ari3903]

Great video, can you fix SAO next? You technically did High Guardian Spice, so an anime isn't that far from your field.

[@flamestoyershadowkill]

Later seasons improve but It would be interesting to see a fix

[@ari3903]

@@flamestoyershadowkill Delete your account, now!

[@mortemtyrannus8813]

Sword Art Online Abridged already fixes it, and better than anything could ever hope to fix it.

[@ari3903]

@@mortemtyrannus8813 True. Abridged makes it bearable.

[@michaellilly965]

Actually how you described fixing Rey's character reminded me of another with the almost exact same flaw and core wound; Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. In Evangelion, Shinji is basically abandoned by his father, Gendou, until he has use for him and because of that Shinji is afraid of making new connections with others and only goes with it hoping that his father will accept him. He is not necessarily distrustful of others just afraid of being abandoned again or to put simply afraid of getting hurt or feeling pain. Now how Evangelion explains it is best, that was Shinji has is called the "Hedgehog's Dilemma" and is explained as two hedgehogs trying to get close or stay warm but their quills poke and hurt eachother, so they stay away afraid of pain. And I believe that this could apply to Rey. Well, it is just how you planned to change her which reminded of that.

[@lanerussell7958]

What ground my gears was that everyone in the sequel trilogy had great character potential. There were so many possibilities that could have been explored, and new stories that could have been told; and that's why the trilogy sucked so bad, and why the defenders of the woke crowd are so very contemptible.

[@daniell1483]

I always come away from one of this channels' videos feeling like I am better equipped to write a story. The deep analysis of what didn't work for Disney Star Wars gives so many ideas on how the writing process should work.

[@peterg76yt]

Your comment about the rites of passage to adulthood really resonated. A lot of the Woke nonsense seems to have as a common theme a refusal to face challenges or dangers. It's the fantasy of achieving success without risk, strength without effort, and above all else an attempt to reach adulthood without letting go of childhood. The outcomes are characterized by infantilization.

[@alexkay6676]

I would love a whole series of this on sequel characters. Any that you can fix. Finn, Poe, Kylo, Han, Luke, Leia, Rose, Snoke, etc. Smaller characters can be put together in one video. Holdo probably wouldn’t have her own video. She would be grouped with other smaller characters.

[@nautdead3197]

Yeah if the position of people like me was from sexism we would just be saying "told you a woman couldn't hack it as the main character for star wars" and leaving it there. Instead we point out the flaws to explain where the story went wrong and none of those flaws include she's a woman

[@emperorvader3344]

Interesting rewrite of Rey I like how you didn’t even have to change much of Rey just tweak a few things to make her an actually inetresting character. I myself am an aspiring writer and made a rewrite of Rey that is part of a larger rewrite of the sequels as a whole. Here it is On the planet Jakku a family is searching for a way off the planet in hopes of living a better life in the wider galaxy. One fateful day the family finally gets an opportunity to leave Jakku behind, but at a price, being that there is room for only two passengers and they have to leave their only daughter behind. The family complies and leaves their daughter in the hands of Unkar Plutt. The girl grows sad and depressed under the care of Plutt. She starts to lose hope that her family is coming back or that anyone will save her until a hooded figure comes to Jakku. He offers to free the girl and take her in. Unkar Plutt agrees and frees her. The man reveals himself to be Luke Skywalker and promises the child that he will take care of her and makes sure nothing bad happens to her. Luke takes the girl to his Jedi Academy and gives her a name. Rey. Sensing the inner darkness and loneliness within Rey Luke steps in and tells her of a power that she has access to called the force and how his father sister and himself share it offering to train her in the ways of the Jedi. Rey agrees and begins her training as Luke's padawan learner. Under Lukes guidance Rey starts to heal and push back her darkness. The two develop a close bond with one another akin to a father-daughter relationship. When she gets older Rey even takes the surname Skywalker to symbolise that relationship. If My Rey has any character flaws compared to Rey Palpatine it would be her fear of abandonment and isolation which itself stems from her own parental abandonment on Jakku as a child. That fear also leads to a struggle with the dark side. She's also nowhere near as powerful as she is in the Disney Trilogy in fact I would say in here she is average at best in terms of her connection to the force but that only means she has to work harder to become more powerful.

[@pinkbuninja6536]

Every time Disney tries to make “strong female characters” and shove them in our faces, it makes me disassociate. Also, love a plan that makes Finn stop being useless.

[@Carikenja]

When they remaster this movie... and they will... they need to pay you millions for this one fix because now I like this character.

[@y_s4021]

"Disney was salivating over the "reject family, embrace comrades" theme". Lmao so true. I can easily remember a few movies like that, like Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This is such a boring and overused storyline. By now we all know hollywood has daddy issues. And assumes everyone is gay with a family who hates you. Family bad, "friends" good.

[@emberfist8347]

Except it wasn’t that GotG vol 2. Quill does still love his mother and Yondu who was his real father as the himself mentions in the movie. Plus the movie did give us Kurt Russel playing against type so there is that. Also the writers confirm Groot Jr sees Rocket as his father.

[@y_s4021]

@@emberfist8347 @Ember Fist what do you mean by kurt playing against type? And I get your point, but I think my example still stands, because usually, hollywood seem to hate biological fathers first, then father figures second. And the usual message they push is "family doesn't have to be related by blood", which fits into your groot and yondu examples (and the rest of quill's friends). But I don't hate the movie, I'm just annoyed by the patterns. Anyway, that was an example just at the top of my head. What do you think?

[@emberfist8347]

@@y_s4021 I said he was playing against type because Kurt Russel doesn't normally play villains.

[@FarmingUnclear]

FIN defeating the ex-stormtroopers could have shown how superior the First Order child soldiers are compared to the old Stormtroopers. This would have highlighted how much more of a threat the First Order is compared to the old Empire.

[@benjaminleewilliams42782]

Once again I say they had powerful female characters already in "Legends" but they threw all of that away for their precious little "Rey Skywalker" total b.s.

[@HenshinFanatic]

Nah, not Skywalker, call her by her real surname, Palpatine.

[@benjaminleewilliams42782]

@@HenshinFanatic or Kennedy as she is a self insert for her

[@ArchetypeGotoh]

"No one has come here in so long... Who are you?" "Rey" "Rey who? "Rey-d SHADOW LEGENDS"

[@jrgilby]

I have a question: (Perhaps a subject of another video) You and others have offered the same thesis that present day story telling has devolved in several places (others have suggested "childish-adults writing for childish audiences." My question, has this been a slippery slope we have been on in the epochs of story telling, or have there been similar periods of history where something similar has happened. (Pulp fiction and dime novels come to mind) I am curious of your thoughts, is this a case of history repeating itself, a slow devolution of the art of storytelling, or something new entirely?

[@blkgardner]

I would argue that the traditional sit-com format of everything returning to the status quo in each episode is a subversion of the hero's story. The characters might learn a lesson, but do not meaningfully grow over the series. There is also the Strong Independent Housewife trope of the early 90's, such as Marge Simpson and Lois Griffin. Basically, they are the stay-out-home wife of Homer Simpson or his clone and generally have an extreme sense of entitlement, and act like cleaning their own house is the highest form of martyrdom, even in the era when most women worked. The Strong Independent Housewife could be earning more money than her husband, but doesn't, because reasons. She is oppressed because her husband doesn't do 49.99% of the household chores in addition to working full time. She also gets the romantic attention of other men, despite having three kids and being in her early 40's. Such characters are arguably validation, but part of it is the wife acting as the straight man to the Homer Simpson clone.