Episode IX The Legacy of the Sith

Apologia Part 2: Rey, Luke, and Snoke

Topics for Part 2:

Is Rey sadistic?

Luke, we have to talk about Luke.

Snoke not being a Sith ninja-like Palpatine.

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Rey... Womp rat crazy

This was really really really hard. Rey had to be 100% into the dark side at the beginning of the novel. So how can you keep her likable? There were multiple rewrites of her scenes trying to soften some edges and sharpen others. If I have failed to find a good balance that was appealing to the reader, it wasn't because I didn't try. There were times when I was writing that I absolutely hated Rey, and then had to rewrite scenes to tone her down a notch... just a notch mind you, because at some points you are meant to hate her, like the "escape transport scene."

So here is how I tried to do it. In the beginning, her first scene had to be an "all-in" evil scene. Then every subsequent interaction with her needed to show some conflict toward the light, even if it was slight. And hopefully, as the story went on, the details of that conflict added together to show the reality behind the veil, her fight between her desire to be loved and her desire for control.

As far as her duplicitous nature in that regard, hopefully also, the reader could see the correlation to her father, as well as the ultimate loss of control in the dark side, in that she was losing more and more control as she was trying to gain control.

But there was always good in her... as Finn hoped for. Which brings me to how she treated Finn. This is where many would say she was sadistic. I can see that point. But as in life, the people that care about you the most, are the people most hurt when you do wrong. This is not new to Star Wars either, ex. Han and Kylo Ren. So it makes sense that Finn would be the most hurt in this novella, as he was directly in the path of Rey's internal storm. Even to the brief moment that he had of losing hope when Rey went to Snoke's side. That is why him saying that he knew she loved him at the very end was significant, but I will talk about that line specifically later.

And then there was Luke

After Rey, writing Luke Skywalker has been the next most difficult part of both of these novellas. His character has the highest expectation associated with him, and therefore the largest cliff to fall from.

The biggest objection that many will have I will deal with right out of the gate. Luke gets angry and has fear. And those emotions affect some of his behaviors. This hardly feels like a Jedi, let alone the greatest Jedi (on that please refer back to my discussion on
Rey's lineage).  (11/2019:  Though now looking at Luke, he seems much more believable in this story than what was presented in TLJ--so this gripe is less common as when it was originally posted.  In fact, I get comments about how he is very believable now... funny how that works.)

 If you remember from ROTDJ, Luke was a very damaged character. This had to be as Han Solo mentions in TFA that Luke blames himself for Ben's descent to the dark side. So, Luke must have done something that he himself knew was wrong. Of course, one could say, that he could have blamed himself for not being able to prevent Ben's fall, and that would not involve tainting the image of Luke. This would be analogous to the Superman internal conflict, that although he is nigh-invulnerable, he still cannot save everyone. However, that would leave no place for Ben's anger toward him. 

Luke needed to have done something wrong, or on the very edge of right and wrong. That explains his self-condemnation and fear, as well as giving Ben and the Knights motivation for fighting him. And if you didn't notice, fear, self-condemnation, and redemption from doing wrong are all repeated themes. But everyone's motivation is different. Luke desires to protect the innocent, Rey desires to regain what she had lost (what she thinks is control), and Ben seeks a reason to live. Each of these characters do evil in trying to fulfill their desires. But each of them also finds redemption in that same pursuit.

Not everyone was Kung Fu fighting... Snoke

We live in a generation raised on End-Stage Boss Battles. So it is expected to have a good guy/bad guy fight at the end. In fact, our movies based on books often change the endings in order to do this. The Count of Monte Cristo novel never had a final fight scene between Dantes and Fernand, but the movie does. And my favorite villain of all time was Milady de Winter from Dumas' other novel, The Three Muskateers, but she didn't fight at all, except of course in the movies. There are satisfying advantages to this but also some downsides. The best advantage is that it can be pretty awesome... Darth Maul/ Obi-Wan, any Rocky movie (except V), Fast and Furious 6. But if the final battle is inconsistent with the hero or villain's character it can be awkward... Furious 7, the Palpatine arrest scene, and Rocky V.

That was the problem a fighting-Snoke would create. Let's talk about Palpatine a moment. He was a great manipulator and deceiver and in the end, he is performing circus tricks. The final conflict involving him was much more interesting in Episode VI than he was in Episode III. Why? Maybe because when you thought of Palpatine, you didn't think of spider senses and web-slinging. (I know I'm being obnoxious), you thought of a great manipulator and strategist. It would have been satisfying to see the full extent of those qualities in the realm of the dark side. How would that look, you ask? It would look like Snoke.

Snoke is the Puppetmaster, making others do his bidding, and to think that they are in control when it is really Snoke. The logical extension of that into the dark side is control over the physical bodies and minds of his subjects, and even power over the dead themselves. Would a character like that, especially one with a decrepit body, rely on physical strength and lightsaber techniques? I hope the answer is obvious.

And as for his demise, would anyone have been satisfied to see him cut down with a lightsaber? It would have been a milk-toast ending to carve him up like a typical End-Stage Boss. I can only hope it was as satisfying for the reader as it was for me to see Ben and Rey, both having been so damaged and suffering so greatly by Snoke and the dark side, together pushing the dark side out of him. There was something restorative in his demise for those characters (dare I say cathartic-by the truest definition) that stabbing him would never have accomplished.