I think Ben would do very traditional cursive calligraphy (copperplate) because 1) he would have the resources to buy the expensive pen necessary for it, 2) copperplate cursive gives you a lot of power in doing extra, super dramatic flourishes (hey! doesn’t that sound like the Skywalkers), 3) and it ends up looking SUPER pretty!
I’ve never been able to do proper copperplate because I don’t have the right pen for it, but this is something close to it (taken from the calligraphy I did for a poem from @avidvampirehunter‘s Glory’s Fray):
Thank you for your wonderful ask @wicked-lover!
All right, I have put way too much thought into this, because of course I have. For starters, I completely agree with @reylocalligraphy on the copperplate cursive – for High Galactic! Star Wars has several alphabets, High Galactic being English, for all intents and purposes.
However, after seeing the calligraphy kit as indicated by the visual dictionary, I’m more inclined to believe he does a lot of more Eastern-style calligraphy with those brushes – long a tradition of both a master swordsman and typographer.
Big brushes like that aren’t as great for English calligraphy, so what else is there? Famously, there’s Aurebesh in Star Wars, what most people think of as the “Star Wars font:”
This angular style of type is about as calligraphy-unfriendly as one can imagine. And trust me – I’ve tried.
My suspicion is that Ben would do calligraphy in Corellian – specifically because of this comment from one of the TLJ books:
I mean, COME ON. Why else would he make this SPECIFIC REQUEST if not to connect it the WEIRDLY SPECIFIC CALLIGRAPHY SET?
So I’ve played with that alphabet a bit, and indeed it does lend itself well to calligraphy. I might go and make a proper font out of this, since I’m doing this all with vectors and I am nothing if not a typography nerd.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
This is the official answer, let’s wrap it up and go home. Love your analysis @ms-camucia !!!
Aaaaaand I just had the heartbreaking realization that maybe Han got Ben to paint “Property of Han Solo” on the escape pod in the first place, you know, just to give his weirdo young son something to do. Probably gave him some Aurebesh stencils or whatever, thinking he’d just spray it on there. He comes back to see this ludicrous Corellian calligraphy across it instead, and probably slowly shakes his head.
Because Reylo was already depicted as romantic in TLJ, and backtracking from that makes no sense—it would only mean they’re insecure about what kind of story they’re telling and that there’s no communication between directors and no overall plan on Lucasfilm’s part and I. don’t. believe. any. of. those. things.
yall we done been knew but i can’t wait for their unfightable collision to happen on The Big Screen in 2019.
These two are literally magnets that cannot stop the pull towards one another. and when they finally, finally give in and more flesh than just fingers are touched together….
yall……if *just* touching fingers triggered a massive vision in the force for both of them, what will full body contact look like?????
I love and live for how The Last Jedi frames Ben’s moral choices in light of his love and potential happiness. He loves Rey and he wants to be happy with her and the only way to do that, the movie says, is through the straight and narrow path, through redemption, a true and deep change of heart that extends beyond just her. It tells us very clearly that love can’t survive if everything else in your life is opposed to it. You cannot have it and align yourself with death and destruction. The Last Jedi is quietly matter-of-fact in its affirming of what love needs to survive and it comes down hard against the darkness, exposing its barrenness and cruelty without moralizing.
That’s not a problematic story; it is the most breathtakingly moral and powerful thing I can imagine and I’m so grateful it exists.
My interpretation of the line is fairly simple. In telling Ben that “his father will always be with” him, Luke is saying that Ben is haunted by Han; that Ben can’t find peace because of his murder of his father.
Why can’t Ben find peace?
Because Ben “struck Han down in anger”— that is, because he killed Han unjustly.
Why would this haunt Ben?
Because Ben regrets it.
Why would Ben regret it?
Because Ben still loves his father.
Just like Ben still loves Luke, despite the horror and bad blood between them; the way that Luke still loves Ben, in their fascinatingly complicated way. Just like he still loves his mother, despite his feelings that Leia sent him away. Just as he still loves his family.
And Luke knows this. Knows that Ben still has a soul to save. When he tells Ben that should he strike him down, he will be haunted just like he is haunted by Han, he’s telling Ben that he knows Ben better than Ben in that moment is willing to know himself— that he cannot murder his family and feel nothing. That it would torment him just as Han’s murder torments him. Again, because there is still something in Ben to save. That is, in fact, part of why he projects onto Crait as something Ben cannot kill. So that Ben will not have more familial blood on his hands, blood that would eventually destroy him.
And in a way, his line to Ben is also a promise. In the moment, from Ben’s perspective, it sounds like a threat— that Luke will haunt Ben just as Han does. But what it really is is a comfort— that Ben will never be alone. That his family, like the Force, in the Force, will always be with him.
That was a single beautiful, wise and kind thing of Luke to say to this anguished boy – Luke CHALLENGED Ben to admitting he has a soul that aches and a tortured conscience, and Ben bites the bait right away, without pause. That is why Luke says good-bye the way he did, that is why Luke passed into the Force with peace and purpose. He saw what he needed to see in Ben – pain and conflict, more potent than anger, pain over Han too, hence – a soul that will be healed, eventually.
So far, for all the noise about TLJ supposedly taking big risks and cutting against expectations, they are actually on the safest, most well-trodden possible ground in terms of theme. If you look at the ST as a narrative model and ask what it is saying vs what the OT was saying, absolutely nothing about the current direction of the story should be surprising. It’s only surprising if you don’t look at it that way. It only seems risky because people think in terms of individual characters and stand-alone films rather than archetypes and three-act structure. Killing Han and Luke seems crazy if you think of it in terms of ‘sequel kills off Han Solo and Luke Skywalker!!’ but if you think of it as a new trilogy with a new hero’s journey and them as ‘the Father’ and ‘the Mentor’ it’s basically a forgone conclusion.
And, to me, I just don’t believe smart business executives and creatives who understand SW alike are going to look at the flagship film which is supposed to stand as the grand culmination of the entire saga and leave us with the final word on what SW is about and think ‘this is the time and place to fuck with the audience’. That’s a terrible idea. The place for a twist is the second act, not the climax (which we did get in TLJ). And, as I’ve said before, twists in SW are character twists which serve the overall theme, not bullshit to shock the audience (the Luke/Leia sibling reveal ass-pull was bad writing, but it’s a side-plot which exists to tie up loose ends and doesn’t undermine the narrative, so it doesn’t really matter).
As much as the esoteric theory enthusiasts lose sight of this, SW is a simple adventure franchise about the triumph of love. The overwhelming majority of the audience wants and (absolutely justifiably) expects a feel good happy ending. Disney and Lucasfilm know this. Failure to deliver on a positive, uplifted feeling about the whole Skywalker saga as people leave the cinema is guaranteed to hurt their bottom line.
Anyway, in the current media climate, it seems to me like staying true to the SW message of hope and radical forgiveness is more ‘edgy’ and counter cultural than some retribution=justice revenge fantasy or half-assed ‘realism’. Hope was considered cheesy and unfashionable in late seventies cinema, too, and I think serving up some of that old-1930s-serial optimism is actually part of why people loved Star Wars so much in the first place.
« Luke remembered what he accomplished and agreed to train Rey, because of her great capacities. During her training to master the Force, she came into contact with Kylo through telepathy. They both developed an intense relationship with each other. »
« "-Execute Rey to prove your loyalty ! " ordered Snoke. Kylo, unable to hurt her, turned against his Master and killed him.
Then, he formed a team with Rey against the Supreme Leader’s guards.
-“Join me and together, we will reign over the galaxy ! ” he begged her.
Despite the contradictory feelings she has for Kylo, Rey refused and reunited with Chewbacca on the Millenium Falcon. »
Underline that over and over. The line is actually:
Since Kylo is UNABLE to hurt the girl….
Which should shut every anti’s face about how manipulative and false he is when dealing with her… that’s how clear they are with kids. Kids who, by the way, usually get Kylo better than grown ups…
He BEGGED her to be his ‘Reigna’ (queen, essentially), she had CONTRADICTORY feelings (the space maiden that she is – his thicc torso and pleading eyes are alluring, but the virtue of the cause is in the way). How much more gothic romance does it have to get?
I make a point of trawling around my local bookshops every so often to find the latest Star Wars books to be released. This one is particularly notable as an A-Z encyclopedia with entries on most of the significant characters, planets and tech. It’s pretty neat, so I can definitely recommend it.
Of course, I went straight to the entry on Kylo Ren. It has a few highlights, but my favourite is this part:
Ren was unable to shake off his encounter with Rey and manipulated their Force connection to bring her aboard The Supremacy. There, Ren killed Snoke as an invitation for Rey to join him and dominate the galaxy together. Rey’s refusal left Ren more confused than ever.
I like to convert this into the following inner monologue:
This is going to go great. Nothing proves your love and esteem more than the bisected body of your former master! It’s going well – now I just need to seal the deal by offering her the opportunity to rule the galaxy together. That will totally seal it, right? Chicks love dominating galaxies. Wait … she’s saying no? WHAAAAT?!?!? I don’t understand women! What am I not getting!?!?!?
This is one of my all-time favorite scene transitions.
Ben reaches out and demands: What girl?
Just as Ben says girl, the light flares to life behind him.
Then we cut to Rey, bathed in that same light, reaching back and answering Ben’s question:It’s the motivator!
So. Completely. Beautiful. This is the very first hint we receive that indicates that these two are going to mean something to one another. Rey is Ben’s motivator–– she helps awaken and rekindle the light that he has buried so deep within himself.
Reylo Source 