#atrosity

The conclusion of these last two weeks is :

No, no, that was 6 years ago after the aTROSity.

No, today comes with a strange, comforting sense of clarity. A mixture of sad, resigned bitterness and a sense of overwhelming joy.

While re-watching The Last Jedi, I began to notice how often imagery of pairs appeared throughout the film (and I don’t think this is just a coincidence). 

Here’s just a few:

Rose and Paige’s medallion:

Han’s dice: 

Rey’s scar:

The legacy lightsaber (split in half): 

the Twin suns, Leia’s Ring, The Supremacy (split in half), Snoke (split in half) etc...

I believe this was all very intentional symbolism that was suppose to lead our heroes to the resolution of the saga (and where I believe a Rian Johnson Episode 9 would have taken us) by finally bringing balance to the force. 

TFA begins with the galaxy still in disarray as the dark side of the force perceviers through the rise of the First Order. Lor San Tekka states that this can only be stopped through the return of the Jedi as he says that “without the Jedi there can be no balance in the force.”

However, this is exactly why Luke wants the Jedi Order to end because he felt that his efforts to stop the Empire were wasted and that the legacy of the Jedi only ended in failure. 

However, Luke soon see’s the error of his ways thanks to his pep-talk with master Yoda and sees that the solution to restoring order in the galaxy is not to end the Jedi but instead, to accept their (and his own) mistakes and learn from them. 

Rian states that  “If you think you are throwing away the past, you are fooling yourself. The only way to go forward is to embrace the past, figure out what is good and what is not good about it. But it's never going to not be a part of who we all are. And that includes Rey, who grew up hearing the legends about the Jedi. So the notion of, 'Nope, toss this all away and find something new,' is not really a valid choice, I think." (Rian Studied works by Jung and Bly in preparation for writing TLJ, including Modern Man In Search of a Soul and A Little Book About The Human Shadow)

This idea of incorporating that dark parts of yourself into your identity comes from the concept of “the shadow” in Jungian Psychology, which involves examining our darker sides in order to become more consciously aware of the origins of our behaviors, motivations, and desires. 

So to become whole or “balanced” we must incorporate our Ego and our Shadow together and that creates our concept of “Self.” (Every Thesis contains an Antithesis and by synthesizing both together you can see a larger “truth”)

Look familiar? 

And this is where Rey and Ben come in, as Rian states that “Rey and Kylo are almost two halves of our protagonist.” I think that TLJ was leading up to having Rey and Ben set aside their differences to come together and reform the Jedi Order. 

As TLJ shows that when they work together they are an unstoppable force that can achieve harmony. 

Where as when they are fighting against each other the world devolves into utter chaos. 

AHHH Laura this is gonna be so hard T-TLike... Star Wars is just so broad man... so, I almost want to make this way too long and just do this for each trilogy is that insane? Yeah, ok I’m doing it, why not. (We’re also pretending like Star Wars wasn’t utterly ruined so... yeah, let’s go then.)

Prequel Trilogy:

Favorite character: Obi Wan Kenobi 

Second favorite character: Padme Amidala 

Least favorite character: Jar Jar Abrams... I mean Binks sorry, force of habit at this point.

The character I’m most like: C3PO I guess, I’m lanky and awkward and I worry a lot so it works.

Favorite pairing: Anidala 

Rating out of 10: 7 overall an all right trilogy

Original Trilogy:

Favorite character: Han Solo, my idiot disastor man.

Second favorite character: Leia Organa, utter bamf of a woman.

Least favorite character: don’t really have one

The character I’m most like: Maybe Luke...idk maybe still 3PO lol

Favorite pairing: Han/Leia forever (they never split up and they raised Ben happily ever after the end)

Least favorite pairing: I mean, I guess Luke/Leia if it even needs to be said... yikes.

Favorite moment: I love you, I know (I’m a sap what can I say)

Rating out of 10: as a stand alone without knowing the ST exists a solid 9 man, not perfect but pretty damn close.

Sequel Trilogy (or... TFA, TLJ, and like three scenes of TROS)

Favorite character: BEN SOLO BEN SOLO BEN SOLO

Second favorite character: Rey, just Rey 

Least favorite character: Palpatine because him in this trilogy is utter bullshit lazy story writing imo. 

The character I’m most like: Rose Tico, I love my sister dearly, I’m a hopeless romantic and I believe in saving what we love over fighting what we hate. 

Favorite pairing: REYLO, you can fight me

Least favorite pairing: Ironically Han and Leia in the sequel trilogy make me want to throw myself into the sea, thanks jj for ruining my favorite thing about star wars you hack.

Favorite moment: The mother trucking kiss, Ben Solo running ass over teakettle to Rey in his little black sweater, and the throne room scene are seared into my brain as the main redeeming qualities of this trilogy.

We know that since Rey heard Ahsoka's voice, being a Jedi wasn't necessarily a qualification to be one of Rey's peptalkers. So my question is, why in the frick wasn't Ventress there? I'm rereading Dark Disciple and Ventress CHOSE the light side of the force, even after every awful thing she'd been through. She is an amazingly strong and complex person, and she totally deserved to be one of Rey's spirit guides.

They walked back on the big “I am your father” reveal from Empire Strikes Back

Both Luke and Leia died trying to bring Vader back to the light but never got to see him happy and redeemed

Vader still returns to the light, kills Palps, and promptly dies but then we never hear from him again. No quiet last goodbye scene, no funeral, no Force ghost, just gone and immediately forgotten 

Han inexplicably decides to carry on their family name