Melinoë

The exact same goes for Reylo. I had a friend who thought the Reylo kiss was unnecessary because she hadn’t seen the Reylo in the last two movies. (When I explained it to her she said “Oh! I thought they just had a weird connection!”) Because it was entirely from a female perspective. In TFA we don’t get Rey all prettied up so Ben can gaze at her, which is the normative signal to an audience that “this is a romance.” She’s dirty and sweaty and tied up. It’s Ben who’s prettied up for Rey to gaze at. And then TLJ especially is in every possible way from HER perspective. SHE pursues HIM. She pretties up but it’s subtle and because she’s pursuing him. He’s the one that gets the “makeover look at him” scene, not her. He LISTENS  to her. It’s about emotional intimacy, which at least in a film setting is a very female perspective thing. It’s all women-centered myths and tropes and power fantasies. There’s no big strong guy saves and gets the girl. Ben is great because he knows Rey has the ability to save herself —he sends the lightsaber straight through Snoke to HER. He doesn’t sweep her off her feet, but he is swept off his. Like there’s a reason in all the Disney crossovers Ben’s is always the “Princess” role, and its because Rey is the active mover of her story and her romance, not him. (I mean, Ben May be on the dark side but he clearly drinks his respect women juice).

What Could Have Been, What Should Have Been.

BEN AND REY SHOULD HAVE HAD THE POWER OF ALL THE JEDI BEHIND THEM NOT JUST REY

BEN AND REY SHOULD HAVE FOUND BALANCE TOGETHER TO DEFEAT PALPATINE BECAUSE THEY MAKE EACH OTHER STRONGER

BEN AND REY DESERVED A LIFETIME OF KISSES

BEN AND REY SHOULD HAVE STOOD TOGETHER UNDER THE BINARY SUNSET

Five posts into my Folktale Types in Star Wars series, and I’ve finally hit the one that just breaks my heart: The Swan Maiden. Popular podcast What The Force made a splash in the Reylo community a few weeks ago when they posed a theory that used this common folktale as a basis for the idea that Palpatine as the “evil magician” would seek to turn Swan Maiden Rey for her feminine power, possibly even as a sort of romantic rival for Prince Ben Solo. Having delved a bit into the Swan Maiden tale type as part of my Orpheus and Eurydice post, I was intrigued by this idea and wanted to dive deeper to see if there were any further insights to be found. Not only did I find more, but…. I now believe that the Swan Maiden, or rather the universal psychology behind its enduring appeal, was the basis for Star Wars from the very beginning.

Trigger Warnings and Disclaimers: There will be discussion of infertility, miscarriage, divorce, domestic violence, and loss. I’m also going to be indulging in some armchair amateur psychoanalysis here, so take it with a grain of Crait salt since this is not my area of expertise at all. On a related note, some of my arguments are not terribly complimentary to Mr. Lucas, so if you’re sensitive to that, be forewarned.

For this analysis, I relied almost exclusively on In Search of the Swan Maiden: A Narrative on Folklore and Gender, by Barbara Fass Leavy. While her chapter on Orpheus’ Quest was extremely helpful in my first meta of this type, I found the full text of her book even more illuminating, as she gives a great overview of other scholarship on the subject by folklorists and anthropologists alike. Further, she approaches the subject from a self-described feminist perspective, deliberately seeking to provide a perspective that she believes is lacking in prior analyses of Swan Maiden folktales. Her thesis is basically that Swan Maiden tales are not romances at all, but stories of Woman as Other, and therefore of how she must always be either separated from or subjugated by Man. I don’t always agree with her take (which I find somewhat dated), but it’s a great starting point for discussion.

The Swan Maiden Folktale

The basic structure of Swan Maiden stories is as follows: A mortal man is the central character, and at some point in his adventures, he happens upon a beautiful maiden (often surrounded by sisters or other female companionship) who comes from an otherworld or fairy realm. She might be enchanted to appear as a swan, seal, mermaid, or another [water] creature, or she might be a nymph or goddess. Traditionally, the hero “captures” the maiden by taking something from her that is the source of her power or her link to the fairy realm. This stolen item might be her animal skin, or the pattern may be inverted as her captor places a mortal, domestic robe on her. She is then compelled to become his bride, sometimes willingly but often with much weeping and protest.

They live together for some time, and the couple may be happy but there is frequently a suggestion of the fairy wife’s wistfulness and longing for her home, for freedom. Even after she bears his children, there is a sense of the husband’s fear that she will flee if she is able. Eventually, the husband breaks a taboo, such as showing his nakedness to his wife, becoming violent toward her, or otherwise disrespecting her with his behavior. This may also coincide with the fairy wife retrieving the magical item that was stolen from her at her capture. The bond of trust thus broken, she flees back to the otherworld, abandoning her husband and usually her children as well.

Sometimes the story ends here and the fairy wife is lost forever, and other times it continues as the husband “quests” for his lost bride. However, the most common pattern by far is the permanent loss of the fairy wife. In the rare instances that she is recovered, this happens only by two means: either the husband reenacts his wife’s original abduction by recapturing her, which suggests it is not her choice to return with him and that she will be forever under his power, OR as I mentioned in my original Orpheus post, the perspective shifts from husband to wife and the story becomes a Search for the Lost Husband tale, which traditionally ends in the successful reunion of the couple.

Within this basic framework, there are a number of variations and motifs that commonly appear. As I mentioned above, the wife is often classified as an animal bride, which speaks to the bestial nature of woman feared by man. Further, she sometimes has two suitors: one her mortal husband, and the other her demon lover or incubus from the otherworld, her union with whom may in fact predate her capture. Because the loss of the fairy wife is usually final, it can be difficult to tell which husband the narrative intends to be the right match for her, and she usually doesn’t have the agency to choose, anyhow. If she stays with the demon lover, it’s because her bestial nature is her true form, and if she returns to her mortal husband, her flight still stands as an example of how she needs to be dominated and controlled. This stands in stark contrast to the beastly hero of Animal Bridegroom tales, where the assumption is that his human form is his true self and that his transformation is civilizing, emancipatory, and permanent.

Given this universal pattern for the Swan Maiden folktale, we can already see some elements of it emerging in the narrative of the Skywalker Saga. Before we get into that, however, I want to spend some time on the original swan maiden of the Galaxy Far, Far Away: George Lucas’ first wife, Marcia.

Most recent update on my contributions to our glorious Reylo fandom… And thank you to all my fellow Tumblr bloggers who added to these posts and brought up great comments!

Recent additions in bold…

STAR WARS PARALLELS and THEMES

Holding Out the Hand: what the Hand scenes tell us about relationships in Star Wars

The Trilogies as a Metaphor for Growing Up

Visions of Paradise: deal with it!!!

I’ll come back for you… From Revenge of the Sith to The Force Awakens

Visions of Hell

Dysfunctional indeed: How boys become Men in Star Wars

Bird is the Word: Avian Metaphor and Mating in Star Wars

The Maiden and the Sword: the Evolution of the Legacy Saber

Kylo Ren and Masculinity: the King, the Warrior, the Magician, and the Lover.

It’s Kylo to My Ears:  that one is super special because it is a shared meta with   @enjoyallneednothing-blog. It’s a musical meta. I fully relied on her   music cred and expertise and superb skills as a meta writer to validate a  musical find I digged from ROTJ…

Another Interesting Parallel Comparing Anakin’s speech about kiss and scar with our currently scarred lover boy…

Blood and Sand on Crait: the Bull and the Matador… and a story of Blood in the SW movies

An ask: The Rule of Two (and Three) in Star Wars

Star Wars Adventures Comic: the Museum of the Thousand Faces

Laying it Super Thick with an Extra Layer of More Reylo Evidence… Parallels between Darth Maul’s comic and Reylo

Concept about a couple in bed in Art of TFA and THAT Anidala bed scene in ROTS

Who Let the Dogs out? A story of wolves and dogs in Star Wars

An ask about the “binary” theme in SW and the importance of Leia’s ring in TLJ

The Bridge Trope in Star Wars and what it may mean for episode IX

Addendum on my  SW Bridge Trope meta.

From the new Comic on Grievous, Age of the Republic

ST SPECIFIC: characters or scenes

Crait and Symbolism: blood, wounds, salt, foxes, the mother and the nest

Facing the Dragon: the Other Throne Room Scene

Walk like an Egyptian: Rey and the Gift of the Mother

The Pen and the Sword: why Kylo does not fit in the First Order

Kylo Ren and Masculinity: the King, the Warrior, the Magician, and the Lover.

Cracking the Mirror

Reverse Anidala: reincarnation and an inversion of gender theory

Digging Into Rey and Kylo’s Spotify Playlists: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

What’s in a Name? Naming Rey and Ren in Star Wars, part 1, part 2 and part 3

The Millenium Falcon: That’s my Ship!

More on Porgs…

An ask about the parallels between Finn and Kylo

An ask about Rey’s hairstyle in TLJ (and more Porgs)

A Reylo ask: when did it all begin?

An ask: did Kylo know he was going to kill Han all along?

Going through Stages of Grief Star Wars style: the moods of Kylo at the end of TLJ

Shut up and Dance With Me? When a song has a lot to say…

Three is Company: A Love Triangle Between Rey, Kylo, and Poe. Recently edited with a follow up including elements from the recent Poe Dameron Comics (issues 27 and 28)

Rey and Ren as Lobsters: maybe there was always a Force bond…That  one is also early work using Phoebe’s (yes that Phoebe from Friends)   lobster analogy about Ross and Rachel to our precious Reylo. It is a   wacky one but it works, guys!

More on Those Spotify Playlists: a  treasure found in Lando’s playlist, “Unbreak my Heart”, Kylo’s   unofficial anthem for the end of TLJ sounds way more official all at   once!

An ask about my speculations for episode ix

An ask about speculating on Rey and Kylo in a Relationship

An ask about Kylo kneeling at the end of TLJ, and parallels with Anakin in the PT

Blood and Sand on Crait: the Bull and the Matador… and a story of Blood in the SW movies

Star Wars galaxy of heroes as a concept  

The Throne Room Scene as a Sex Scene

An ask about porgs and their meaning

An ask about one of Vic Mahoney’s tweets on “Get lost and get found”: woods in the ST

CINEMATIC PARALLELS

The Dark Crystal connection

The Other Beauty and the Beast: part 1, and part 2

Comparing TFA with Ridley Scott’s Legend: part 1, and part 2.

Great discussion with @lightaroundthecorner (formerly an anon) about constellations, and comparing the ST themes with the catchphrases in Coco, Beauty and the Beast, and Strange Magic.

Another great ask from @lightaroundthecorner, involving a comparison between the ST and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast live version.

Red Re-Read: The Company of Wolves and the ST

Wouldn’t it be lovely? A Canto Bight Cinematic Parallel… (with My Fair Lady)

Abduction as Romance, prompted by the video by PopCultureDetective, and the parallels with the abduction scene in TLJ

Parallels between the ST and the Lion King  

Hey Disney SW Rebels, your Aladdin is showing!

REVIEWS

Thoughts after Reading Claudia Gray’s Leia, Princess of Aldreaan

What I am taking away from the TLJ novelization…Random notes…

So I watched Solo today…

Now we know that Ben has maintained his stellar “supportive boyfriend” skills from TLJ.

Rey: I’ve never felt so alone.

Ben: You’re not alone.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Rey: People keep telling me they know me. No one does.

And he is going to go save the love of his life right here!!!