This post will contain extensive spoilers for The Last Jedi – consider yourself warned! The Last Jedi is full of parallels and, in particular, parallel characters. You have Rey and Kylo Ren at the forefront, but you also have the pair of Luke and Snoke looming behind them. And while Luke may merely be bitter … More The Sin of Hubris, and the Dangerous Myth of the Mighty Skywalker Bloodline
This post will contain extensive spoilers for The Last Jedi – consider yourself warned! Before the release of The Last Jedi, very interesting language was being used to describe the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren. Rian Johnson called them “two halves of our protagonist”, and the Star Wars Databank described their “intertwined destinies” and mutual fascination. … More The Tangled Thread of Fate – The Beauty and the Tragedy of the Bond Between Kylo Ren and Rey
In the ‘Intertwined Destinies’ meta series, I intend on taking a deep dive into the mysterious connection between Rey and Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi. In this first instalment, I cover their pasts – exploring what might have brought Rey and Kylo to where we find them in The Force Awakens, and how their histories … More Intertwined Destinies I: A Great and Terrible Power
* A single paragraph late in this essay contains potential spoilers for The Last Jedi. This paragraph is clearly indicated, and can be skipped if you prefer. * The Luke shown in the poster for The Last Jedi is, in many ways, a shocking subversion of the Luke of the popular imagination. His expression doesn’t … More The Wrath of Luke – The Last Jedi as a Riff on Old Testament Tropes
The making-of documentary on the blu-ray of The Force Awakens – titled Secrets of The Force Awakens – is mostly composed of fluff and effusive praise. It’s a PR fluff piece lacking in anything of substantial interest – except for a single exchange between Han and Leia glimpsed in a fleeting piece of behind-the-scenes footage. … More Easter egg: “I don’t know what I saw”
Star Wars is famous for its masked villains: Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Captain Phasma are all iconic as much for their costumes as their characters (with the costume arguably overshadowing the character in the cases of Fett and Phasma). A mask generates mystery and intrigue over what might lie beneath, and makes the moment … More Analysis: The meaning behind a mask (or the lack of one)
I have seen several parallels made between the climatic fights of Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens, but I haven’t seen this particular comparison made – instead of focusing on Rey as a parallel for Obi-Wan Kenobi, I’m going to focus on Rey as a parallel for Padmé Amidala. While the circumstances are … More Parallels: Comparing the climaxes of Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens
While it’s almost certainly a comparison that would induce an equipment-slashing tantrum from him, there are many reasons to view Kylo Ren and his uncle as parallels to each other. In particular, it’s constructive to view Kylo as the shadow version of Luke – a character who represents an inversion of the qualities that so … More Analysis: Kylo Ren – The shadow of Luke Skywalker
The vision in The Force Awakens is deeply confusing and jumbled, especially as it is represented in the tie-in books. One of the most interesting elements of the vision (as it is described in the afore-mentioned books) is a strange boy, who appears down the Bespin corridor from Rey. This subject has been discussed before, … More Analysis: Through a glass, darkly – Or, ruminations on a vision
