Demonseal artwork

Much longer than anywhere else on his body,

Don't seem to really have a useful palm, and

He really doesn't use much; he seems to prefer that leg for walking.

I've been told that the pebbles aren't seen with a leg like Rocky's and we don't see other Eridians so I am taking this as canon also because it explains one book discrepancy.

See, in the book, it's said that Eridians don't really have a concept of 'facing' certain directions because of their five arms, no eyes, and general symmetry. Rocky does *not* do this, I assumed until now it was purely to make him more emotive, more recognisable to us as a living thing instead of a pile of rocks.

However! Rocky would always want to be working with his hands that are more typical of other Eridians as that's the society he's used to living in and they're probably better for precision engineering work like he does! So he probably prefers to stand with those two hands at the front to work with and the other three, including that leg, to stand on for self-support.

OH ALSO: the fact he uses it for miming in that scene is probably cause to him they resemble Grace's fingers more. So imagine living with really long digits on one hand and then discovering a species where this is their norm. Probably in Rocky's eyes explains how Grace is so clumsy.

That plus the respect he's shown as a speaking device user (Grace letting him pick his voice, iirc never having the fact he speaks through a computer Grace can override used against him even when he's annoying) is just. I love it.

—where ryan goslings ‘no-yes’ acting choice baffled even the directors, happens BECAUSE ‘righty-loosey, lefty-tighty’ and ‘thumbs down for thumbs up’ establishes an opposite theme of answers between the two of them

Hmmmmm

I feel like they'd be wary of him at first - because unknown/weird/unplaceable smell - but they also would definitely not be able to resist his heightened body temperature so once they realize "oh this one generates HEAT" they'd be all over him lmaoo

"You just need someone to be brave for."

And the person he needed to be brave for was his best friend. It wasn't a lover, a partner, a romantic interest. It was his best friend.

And honestly this isn't even specifically about aroace grace- Rockys story could so easily be a romantic one. He's been completely alone trying to finish an impossible mission without his crew for years. And then an alien comes and they learn how to communicate. And with that alien they both save their planets. Rocky gives Grace fuel with no hesitation, even if in the movie it means he will get back home 6 years slower. 6 years longer to see his mate. And he still does it without hesitating for even a second.

That kind of devotion and story could have so easily been romantic. Two aliens who help save each other, who are both the most important people to each other, but they're not lovers.

And then you have scenes like, Rocky is telling Grace the Eridian scientists are ready to work on the Hail Mary to take him back to Earth, and you can tell he's nervous to tell him this by the way he shuffles his claws in the sand, almost like he doesn't want tell Grace, because he doesn't want his friend to leave but knows its his choice, so when Grace says he wants to think about it, he perks up and says 'take as long as you need', not just because its a big decision, but he wants his friend to stay even if its a little longer and the fact that he's not choosing to immediately leave makes him happy

I believe (based on clips I've heard) Rocky does express this in the book to Grace, ("Speaking selfishly, I hope you dont go" - something like that) but they didn't need to have him say that in the movie, cause you could tell by his body language