Ark of the Lost Angels

Star Wars is fun. Beloved by many, including me. My parents showed it to me Thanksgiving weekend of my first grade year, and I was hooked. Obviously, it means a lot to me, and I want to see the new movies done well.

Which begs the question that many people, including Matthew Kadish who wrote this article I’m about to respond to, (and to steal his title), Is Rey a Mary Sue? Kadish summarizes the idea of a Mary Sue, so at the risk of getting boring, I’ll leave that analysis to him.

Rey exists as a Mary Sue if the intention is to have her as the protagonist of the sequel trilogy, and thus I would agree with the author’s assessment. From a storytelling perspective, however, it can be argued that she is merely a lens through which to view Kylo Ren’s story, and exists as a weakly developed foil to the Skywalker of the trilogy. Kylo Ren undergoes character development: as a man who idolizes Darth Vader to becoming far more powerful than Vader ever could have hoped to be by taking the step Vader never could. Recalling that the main saga films have focused on a Skywalker, and as Princess Leia’s son, Kylo Ren is a Skywalker. Reading deeper into the Star Wars universe and the nature of the Force is that there is a balance that must be struck, and the Force works its will in the world the characters exist within. The line in The Last Jedi from Supreme Leader Snoke clues in the audience about the nature of the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey: “Darkness rises…and light to meet it.”

Kadish states that there needs to be a character arc in order for an audience to connect with a character: “Character arcs are essential to the creation of emotional intimacy between audiences and fictional characters.” That means a character must somehow grow and change. Kylo Ren undergoes the worst emotional turmoil, taking the steps his uncle and grandfather never could: killing his father (Luke never could kill Vader), and killing his master to take power (Vader was never strong enough to kill the Emperor). The emotional strain of Kylo Ren’s father issues and being Snoke’s whipping boy take their toll on him. Kylo Ren’s actions propel the plot, he has realistic motivations, and he fails. All characteristics of a non Mary Sue protagonist. Which begs the idea that Rey is merely a plot device that appears to be a protagonist, and the argument can be that the storytelling is not as solid as it could be in order to dispel that notion.

Mary Sue protagonists are a bore because there are no dramatic stakes in a story. Even in stories where it appears that a hero is doing everything right before failing dramatically (tying into the old adage that “the longer things go according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster”) and on a massive scale, the drama is brought on by subverting the expectation of a hyper-competent protagonist being a Mary Sue. That is not to say that a good protagonist cannot be somewhat of a Mary Sue, but it will severely undercut the ability for a good story to become a great one, if the world and other characters are developed enough it can help, but a story is only as strong as its villain, and its protagonist.

A Mary Sue might be advantageous when they are used as a side character. As a benchmark for the hero who attempts to live up to them who will fail because in most stories, humanity is the common denominator between audience and protagonist. People can relate to a character who suffers from an inferiority complex as they compare themselves to a Mary Sue-like character.

However, they are detrimental when used as a protagonist and the world around them, and the other characters and plot are not strong enough to let the audience overlook their lack of character developments. Some stories are about the world more than the characters, and thus if a character can do everything the plot needs them to do in order to further explore a fantastical world, then the story does not suffer as badly.

So, to answer the original question, I don’t think Rey is a Mary Sue. I think that she is a potentially interesting character and the intention is to have her either be a lens for Kylo Ren or as someone whose challenges are less about skill and more about the mental game than Luke’s journey in the original trilogy, but the execution of Rey being anything other than Kylo Ren’s focusing lens is botched.