View Poll Results: What’s your final prognosis of Rey’s parentage and the Skywalkers?

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  • Rey should have been introduced as a Skywalker in TFA, but afterwards would have been too late.

    3 8.57%
  • Rey should have been revealed as a Skywalker in TLJ, but not afterward.

    6 17.14%
  • Rey could have been retconned into a Skywalker even in TROS, even at the cost of discounting TLJ.

    7 20.00%
  • Rey Random was always the best idea for the character in the end.

    16 45.71%
  • Rey’s story in TROS regarding her parentage and the Skywalkers was good enough.

    3 8.57%
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  1. #1
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    Default Poll: Should Rey have *just* been a “real” Skywalker?

    Pretty simple debate point: considering the entire ST in totality, as well as the BTS drama that it had to deal with regarding the writing of Rey... would it have just been better to have Rey revealed as a Skywalker in TLJ? Or to be introduced as such in TFA, but once that was over it was a bad idea? Or was it still an idea that would have worked, eve if revealed/retconned into TROS after TLJ poo-pooed the idea?

    Or was Rey as a Skywalker or Solo always going to be an inferior idea? Do you think Rey Random really did carry some powerful connotations to it?

    Or are you just cold on any of the ideas used for her?

    (Please Note: I do kind of want to debate answers here, so feel free to offer a defense of your opinion... and please don’t be surprised it it gets argued about.)

    I’m going for the “still a good idea even in TROS” idea myself - I just genuinely don’t think Rey gained anything from TLJ, and it still would have cleaned up a lot of the issues with her character the ST in one move to just retcon in some “certain point of view” line to explain the discrepancy with TLJ.

    I also don’t find many of the objections to Rey being a Skywalker or Solo convincing in the slightest, particularly once honoring TLJ as a work of art is removed. All the supposedly egalitarian ideas of Rey being a Random are already expressed by Anakin and Luke’s stories, the hundreds of other Jedi we’ve seen, Han Solo, and even Finn in the ST itself. And if it seems predictable to limiting, then I feel like that has to be accompanied by a prognosis that Kylo is also a predictable and limiting character - if an argument against Rey being a Skywalker or Solo could also apply to Kylo, then a double standard can’t be allowed.
    Last edited by godisawesome; 05-17-2020 at 08:26 AM.
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  2. #2
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    I like that she was a Palpatine.
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  3. #3
    Ultimate Member Sacred Knight's Avatar
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    From the TFA hints, she should have been revealed as Luke's daughter in VIII. I like a slower burn to a big reveal so doing it in TFA itself wouldn't have been as satisfying. I had grown to be okay with the "nobody" angle, but Skywalker was always preferable since this entire saga was indeed revolved around that family. There were always other projects to expand beyond them. But if she was just going to take the name Skywalker anyway, she should have just legit been one of blood.

    The Palpatine angle could have been interesting with some build up, but it had none and was a complete last second decision that showed in its contrivance, so it kind of hurts the idea overall for me.
    Last edited by Sacred Knight; 05-17-2020 at 01:24 PM.
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeastieRunner View Post
    I like that she was a Palpatine.
    Funny thing for me about the Palpatine angle is that I don’t really hate it in isolation, as much as I regard it as an inherently inferior version fo the same story that Rey as a Skywalker or Solo is... though that comes with certain subjective caveats that need to be admitted: it requires thinking that a Skywalker simply works better as *the* main character in a story still featuring them, and that Kylo/Ben is absolutely inadequate and unacceptable in that role, even as a junior partner to Rey.

    If you don’t have those problems, than Rey being a Palpatine works pretty well... and I still think it’s clearly better than Rey “Random,” at least as presented by TLJ*, since it puts the focus back on Rey and gives her at least a tie to some of the 9-film story. I still don’t think it works nearly as well as a Skywalker tie would, and that it still leaves their story ending on a wasteful true like Ben Solo, but at least it makes sure the story is hers.

    *I still think that Rey Random *could* work, but would require extreme work, focus, and a willingness to use Kylo as a hate sink to pull all Skywalker-family preferences the story into one black hole deconstruction of the idea... and I don’t think LFL ever really bought in entirely on moving away from the Skywalker, or on the idea of Kylo being a vile villain (even if TFA arguably made that his core, over-riding characteristic.
    Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?

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  5. #5
    Ultimate Member Jackalope89's Avatar
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    If they had actually gone with her being Luke's daughter or something by the second movie, okay. Would have liked to know (at least an idea) as to whom the mother was, but it would have been okay.

    Also; if they had stuck with her being a Palpatine, and not pulled it out of their ass and then Rey kept the name to bring a better light to it, I also would have been okay with.

    But the convoluted way they skipped around, retconned and re-retconned her past, just done with it.

  6. #6
    Astonishing Member Anthony W's Avatar
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    What i find strange is the Skywalker lightsaber calling out to Rey...who is a Palpatine. I kind of get the feeling that they were leaving their options open on her being a Skywalker because no one actually had a plan mapped out for the trilogy.
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  7. #7
    Astonishing Member LordMikel's Avatar
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    My big complaint, the Skywalker line is dead. That for me is what killed the ending for me.
    I think restorative nostalgia is the number one issue with comic book fans.
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    Reflective Nostalgia allows us to savor our memories but accepts that they are in the past
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