I’m scared for Reylo in the next instalment. I know Kylo has still got the potential for redemption. You can tell he knows he fucked up at the end, but I’m just worried that Rey doesn’t know that. And with JJ directing the last one, I’m not sure all the progress made in this movie with regards to Reylo development, would even continue. They may head down the “pining Kylo finally turns good and dies” route, Finn/Rey route, or the worst – an irredeemable Kylo, which would just be heartbreaking :(

I don’t really know where all the concern for JJ not following through with the Reyo vision is coming from? He’s the dude that created it. I know lots of new people are coming on board after TLJ made it canon, but that shit existed in TFA. It was everywhere if you knew where to look. Even in the DVD commentary by JJ.

We’re in MUCH better hands in general (but esp with Reylo) than we ever were with Trevorrow, too.

They’ve done –

bad guy falls to dark side trilogy (prequels)
bad guy gets redeemed then dies trilogy (originals)

So now all they need is ‘bad guy progressively makes up for all the bad shit he did and has to live with the pain he’s caused as he tries to make amends’ story =)

Not that they HAVE to hit all the right notes with that stuff, but like…that’s where this story is headed.

Is it just me or is anyone else seriously hoping for a major fight scene in IX equivalent to the Obi/Ani fight? Don’t get me wrong I loved the OT but something that made me love the PT despite all the negativity was the crazy fast-paced intense choreography of the lightsaber battles. Even in TLJ the Luke/Kylo fight was pretty short and mostly just dodging, not much actual battling? I want some crazy choreography. It’ll probably be between Rey and Kylo if it happens which make my heart hurt.

The prequels were definitely big on flashy lightsaber battles! And I think people liked them, but I felt personally they were a bit…too much. I REALLY like the grounded mix fighting style of this trilogy. It has a great mixture of OT and PT styles and Kylo is really a brawler and Rey is all reverse grip whacking and clever use of her weapon and I really really love it.

I wouldn’t call Luke/Kylo’s thing as a fight, it was definitely not choreographed that way. IT was meant to look really dumb in retrospect (once Kylo realizes Luke is a projection). Because Luke didn’t engage at all except with words.

do you think people who said TLJ sucks are trapped in mentality that bad guys are bad and good guys are good? Like there’s no in between for them. I saw lots of their critics are about how they change Luke’s image. But imo TLJ make Luke more likeable for me, more humane. I hate that in the “original” Luke is this sort of good guys all around, so annoying… but maybe it’s just me.

Yes I think in some ways people are (not just for SW but PARTICULARLY with it) very entrenched in definitive good/evil lines. Maybe they blur a LITTLE, like maybe the good guys do a bad thing, but overall the line remains firm.

Star Wars is a lot like that by design and so part of the risk in this movie was that they took all that and just made everyone fail. Like seriously, every single person in this movie failed at what they wanted to do. It’s not ESB or ROTJ where someone wins, everyone loses this time – because failure is the best teacher =)

The Luke stuff…I mean, the film said it right? It’s so very meta…he became THE Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master: A Legend. He became this untouchable figure over so many decades, that people forget he’s still a human character who does and can fail. And its hard to see a character like that take such a huge misstep – hard for us to understand because we haven’t seen all of that develop. I think the film did a decent job of presenting it in a digestible way that makes us understand it (fleeting moment, pure instinct) – but it doesn’t ease our soul about it. That’s why his sacrifice at the end is good and solid – in the end, he WAS Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master: A Legend. For one last time.

i’m in this phase after watching tlj (and maybe i should rewatch it again and i’ll be a bit reassured) when i just am simultaneously overjoyed because reylo is definitely canon and romantic but also afraid because now i have a lot of hope for them in IX and i’m afraid jj abrams might go the opposite direction and ruin this bond that reylo forged in this movie. it’s just a different feeling from after my viewing of tfa because i had no hope of reylo being canon then (1/2)

i really did not get my hopes up for the last jedi i didn’t expect them to have this many scenes together or for the relationship to go from antagonistic to romance the way it has so this film has been the most amazing surprise but it also sucks for me that i’m not gonna be able to keep my hopes down for two years again i’m gonna expect some pay off and a continuation of what was set up in tlj with reylo and if IX doesn’t deliver i know i’ll be sad. i’m very afraid of the direction of IX (2/2)

This is completely natural and I understand. I think most of the fandom were trying to maintain low expectations so they didn’t fall so hard – I threw caution to the wind and expected EVERYTHING and got WAY more than I dreamt…so it worked out for me this time at least lol

I think we’re supposed to feel a bit unsure – that’s the film’s ambiguity that’s running through the whole thing. It’s a film about ambiguity and failure. That doesn’t exactly ease your fear, but maybe it’ll help that you’re supposed to feel it that way.

I was very sure going out of TFA that this was a story that would lead to Kylo and Rey having some kind of bond or relationship – romantic or not. With TLJ, we got absolute confirmation of it. With Ep 9, we’ll see the resolution of all that we saw in TLJ.

I think we shouldn’t be too concerned, because JJ Abrams is the one who said that this was a fairy tale and ‘you have this prince..’ in kylo and princess in rey, etc.

He likes these two, and it’s SO obvious in TFA script that Rian leaned into it HARD. VERY hard.

JJ Abrams said himself that he wished he had written TLJ it’s so good, and I don’t think he would EVER completely subvert what Rian has built because he needs to wrap it all up in one movie.

I would trust in JJ at this point.

Do you think they’ll kill Ben? I came out of TLJ sooo happy about where Reylo is (them being together permanently would’ve been lackluster) but I’ve seen some meta about how “Kylo Ren” should sacrifice himself to become good or what not and I don’t agree. Full circle is allowing these two heartbroken people to finally be happy together and heal each other from all the hurt they’ve been subjected to. Thoughts? I need some reassurance.

I think this movie was very meta about SW as a whole, and it really upturned all expectations of what a Star Wars movie should be. And for that reason, and many others, Kylo Ren won’t be ‘Vader’d’ – aka he won’t have that redemptive act where he then dies.

This was Act 2, where people are tested and pushed to their limits – Rian said when he started writing he started with a character list and asked himself ‘what would push each of these to the absolute edge?’ and he did it.

Act 3 is the resolution – what we have yet to see. And Kylo’s last shot is one of penance almost, the knight kneeling in front of Rey as she looks down. The dice in his glove slipping away and his fist closing over it. He hasn’t let go of the past, he understands that now.

And now that he understands ALL that he has lost and fucked up with, now that he’s free of manipulative forces (Snoke), he can truly make his own decisions and work through his issues.

So yeah, Kylo Ren is going to be ‘redeemed’ and won’t die in Ep 9.

I just watched he TLJ and it’s clear to see Kylo has compassion for Rey. But, why? It’s hard to tell (for me) whether they feel the same for each other? Do you think that they might end up in a relationship or be enemies??? (I have so many questions haha. Hope this isn’t a stupid question)

Kylo recognizes something in her that echoes in himself – the power, the loss, the abandonment, the isolation. All of those things are present within Rey, despite the different backgrounds they come from. He immediately understands her – is gentle with her, honest, offers to be her teacher, etc.

And for Rey, it takes longer (because he’s an idiot heyyyy hey), but she realizes that too. She begins to have an understanding of what he went through – just by being connected and THIS powerful in the Force – and THEN she learns what really happened with Luke that night. Which tips her over the edge – to use Rian’s term, that’s her ‘kick’ for Kylo.

I think they’re already tied up in something that is…bigger, better than just a relationship. They have shared destinies (Rian calls it red string of fate, duality, the other side of each other, mysterious connection, etc.) – and their scenes are filled with that sexual tension and sexual awakening/attraction that we’ve talked about before in other metas.

I think they both – in their visions – saw the same thing, but from different points of view. Rey as wholly light and Kylo as wholly dark – both are wrong, they will meet in the middle. And aren’t ready yet.

But they certainly both have compassion and desire and – yes, I think love.

do you got any SFW fic to recommend? I want to read some fic but the reylo fic scene is pretty dominated by NSFW and I’m scared to read all those AO3 tags :P

I would just filter the AO3 rating to Teen, there are a LOT more of them than mature/explicit fics actually!

But to your direct question, I’ve read these fics that I’d consider ‘SFW’:

Like Young Gods by disasterisms

Sky Marked Souls by AnonymousMink

Colorblind by belowtheprecipice

Calm by jitterygummy

But @reylofic also compiled a ‘smut-free’ list that might be more robust!

Hope you find something you like =)

Thank you so much for reblogging my post! Loved your additions. PTSD for sure. I was hit by it so hard when I watched the movie, like, it even makes sense for TFA. He’s trying to overcome his weaknesses by killing Han. He was kind of egged into this by Snoke but we could see he wanted the map to Luke for himself, so he wanted to kill Luke himself–probably because he was still that little boy trying to overcome his fears, and he’s still so afraid of his uncle after all this time.

DDUUDE it’s so true those. They made a lot of talk about how Kylo is in so many ways stuck in adolescence and that’s such a huge reason why?? Like I know he was maybe 23 in that scene but that’s just…yeah.

It makes me a little angry at Luke tbh, even though I get it – but I’m with Rey on this. I would’ve been furious, like how do you just abandon someone like that who needs you?

And Kylo’s words to him ‘have you come to forgive me? to save my soul?’ said so mockingly – to Luke, but to Rey….to Rey he just accepted it, loved her for it.

And then when Luke finally apologizes to Kylo and he responds with ‘I’M SURE YOU ARE’ – like a petulant child, but that’s TRUE.

It’s why Luke said he couldn’t save him. He’s done too much damage to Kylo and Kylo is just not in the right headspace for it – Rey is the only one who can reach him now.

I haven’t seen it, yet, but I’m seeing a constant back and forth. Reylo happened. Reylo didn’t happen. I know you’re bias, but can I get a real, honest answer here cause I’m so confused.

People will have different interpretations (people were in full denial for years that Reylo was even a possibility), but Reylo did definitively happen and it still exists – it wasn’t killed, or anything.

If you’d like to not just trust me, though I try to stay objective when I look at canonical possibilities, look at aLL the reviews that talk about reylo, their scenes, the UST, and how they just want more from them.

the force does not want kylo and rey fight each otherthe lightsaber exploded in tlj and in the first movie in the fight in the forest the earth opened

OMGGGGGGGG what an idea

I love that so much. The symbolism is huge in both parts, the fact that they’re playing tug of war over a lightsaber that doesn’t mean anything ultimately – but it SYMBOLIZES SO MUCH.

Rey must remember that it was Ben’s, oh god…do you…do you think she’ll make a new one in some tribute to Ben Solo or something? Oh god.

Yes, I think the Force is basically say ‘hey could yall chill, I’m all about balance and youre really THROWING OFF MY GROOVE HERE.’