Even though it’s been out for a month, this post will contain The Rise of Skywalker spoilers. Rey’s source of power has become a point of debate in some regions of fandom, especially on twitter.
The Reveal
So the “big” reveal in The Rise of Skywalker is the revealing of Rey’s last name. It’s not a jaw-dropping reveal. You should have seen it coming the moment you heard a certain laugh in the first trailer.
This idea that Rey inherits her power from a man has caused a lot of people to say the movie conforms to the patriarchy. By this, they mean that her strength is his power, which makes her less powerful.
The arguments for this are particularly valid. Palpatine never stopped being the phantom menace. He played everyone. He was the most powerful both in raw power and in playing the long game.
The fact that Kylo forces Rey to use force lightning also reinforces this point. Kylo even says he had to see if Rey had his power.
Yes, she has all the physical and Jedi/Sith powers that Palpatine has. Even in The Force Awakens, she fights like him, as this Huffington Post article pointed out in 2016.
However, basing Rey’s identity on the name Palpatine undermines her real superpower: her faith.
Rey’s Faith
Luke definitely had moments of doubt in the force, something I have talked about before. In fact, Luke succumbs to them; that is what The Last Jedi is about to me.
Rey has not been perfect, but even when she is angry, she never seems to be in danger of falling to the dark side. The reason for this is her faith.
She never loses faith that her family will rescue her off Jakku. And, from a certain point of view, they did.
Rey has two families in the trilogy. The ones that gave her her blood. And her found family.
Rey could have quickly fallen under Kylo’s darkness in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. She chooses not to and, in fact, against all evidence to the contrary, always believes that Kylo has some light in him.
What makes Rey so powerful is that she decides who Rey is. Not Palpatine.
But also not Ben. Not Luke. She chooses to take their last name, but she didn’t always walk their path. She knew Luke had lost his faith while on Ahch-To. Ben was abused to the point that he completely fell to the darkside.
Yet she never did.
Rey Defines Rey
She chooses to take the last name of Skywalker. She is honoring Luke, Leia, and, most importantly, Ben.
There is something powerful about breaking the chains of your last name. Too often, we are defined by our family and our blood.
Now, does the movie do a great job with this? No, in fact, it’s a mess.
While I really like the movie, its breakneck speed doesn’t really allow for you to ponder this during the movie.
Daisy Ridley indeed rises above this and does a magnificent job of conveying as much as she can in such a fast-paced movie.
She doesn’t portray Rey as a perfect saint that never does anything wrong. She shows anger and stubbornness. The scene with her expressing her doubt to Leia is a masterclass in acting.
Leia, in fact, is the only one that truly believed in her (and Ben) all along. Still, she doesn’t define who Rey is.
Rey defines herself. No man or woman will do that for her.
Rey’s source of power is her faith in her own goodness.
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