[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

I find the "mary sue" moniker inappropriate and mildly offensive.

Rey is who she is. The character needs to be powerful in the force for the story to work.

Powerful and competent are two different things. It's one thing to see their "raw power" and another for them to harness that power without any adversity whatsoever.

She can be exceptionally powerful but still have a learning curve (an arc, if you will).

She 'starts powerful, stays powerful, continues to be powerful' is not a compelling storyline.

She is not going to be "trained" by another Jedi.

Except for the times she was. And will learn from the Jedi books as well.

They're purposefully moving away from that circular story. She's out there figuring it out on her own, that's what makes the character interesting. The biggest "moment" in the movies to-date was when the lightsaber flew out of the snow into her hand. That's only accomplished if she takes this arc.

It's a problem for a character when the biggest moment in their story happens near the start of the arc. Rey's character became significantly less interesting in this movie than she was in TFA, and that's because there was nowhere left to go once they took the stance that nothing in her past helped her get here either.

She didn't need help, didn't have help, doesn't have any mysteries in her past...so why should we really care anymore? Why should we get excited she can do something else, rather than see the character overcome something?

Think of Rey as Neo. Did you have a problem with Neo in the Matrix? Just accept that she's the new Anakin or uber-force user just incredibly raw and needing direction.

What Matrix did you watch?

Neo had "Kung Fu" downloaded into his brain along with all the other fighting styles he needed. Fought against Morpheus in training. Had progression in his fights against the agents, etc.

Also, what's this about needing direction?

She is not going to be "trained" by another Jedi...She's out there figuring it out on her own, that's what makes the character interesting.

So which is it. Does she need direction or is she out there figuring it out on her own because that's interesting?

Now, ideally, I'd love to see a Rey heel turn. It will never happen. But I'd love to see her take her walk in the woods of the dark side and really explore that in the next movie.

Nah, she's good. She took a dive to the dark side, didn't like it then went back. Barely even any curiosity about it. Biggest waste of an opportunity yet.