‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’: Rey Is Not A Mary Sue, And Here’s Why She Was Instantly Force-Powerful In The Film

Even months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit the big screen, new details are coming to light every day about the movie.

This allows fans to learn more about the characters and the story that director and writer Rian Johnson was unable to cram into the sequel, which is already the longest Star Wars movie so far.

The new information to be delved into today has to do with Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has been considered by some as a Mary Sue character because she appeared unbelievably skilled with the Force even only after little training and experience between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

In between those movies, she went from being a scavenger from Jakku who had no idea about the bigger destiny ahead of her and what she can do to besting to an extent the greatest Jedi knight the galaxy far, far away has ever seen, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

To some, it’s as if she took a shortcut, which is sort of what really happened, at least based on the official Star Wars: The Last Jedi novelization by Jason Fry.

The details from the book, laid out by the well-known Star Wars watcher and YouTuber Star Wars Theory, reveal that Rey practically got access to Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) Force powers and abilities when they were bridged by Snoke, as written in the novel.

“Somehow, almost instinctually, she knew how he accessed some of the Force powers at his command even though she didn’t understand them. It was as if his training had become hers, unlocking, flinging open door after door in her mind.”

This practically means that the Star Wars hero absorbed everything that Kylo Ren has learned and knew about the Force, making all that knowledge and skill hers.

This apparently even includes his combat skills, which is why during their team-up in the epic throne room scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi against the Praetorian guards, it was her who ended up faring better in the battle, even having to save Kylo Ren from one of the guards.

That’s not to say she had nothing going on for her from the get-go. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey managed to overpower Kylo Ren during their first and last confrontations so right then and there, she already had something, it just was not honed yet.

There was also that moment in the first film when she was captured by the First Order, she, Obi-Wan style, manipulated a Stormtrooper into releasing her.

Finally, she struck fear into the heart of Luke after he learns of her strength while she meditated as part of her training with him on Ahch-To in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The Force bond appears to have amplified all that, instantaneously giving her a better understanding and handle of it all.

While this technique has been done in other movies, books, and comics (The Matrix and X-Men come to mind), as Star Wars Theory points out, the way it was used in Star Wars: The Last Jedi suggests that the effects of it are permanent and are not dependent on the duration of Rey and Kylo Ren’s connection.

At the moment, there are not enough details to illustrate what this new Force technique can do, but it is clear it takes someone powerful to trigger it. The YouTuber talks about the possibility that Rey was only able to do that because it was something Snoke wanted to happen.

If this is the case, this will be a testament as to how strong he was with the Force, that is, of course, until his shocker of a death in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This had many thinking that with advanced abilities like this—being able to instigate transfer of one’s abilities to another—he is too strong with the Force to just go out the way he did in the Star Wars sequel.

This also has Star Wars Theory under the impression that Snoke wanted that to happen possibly to prepare Rey as her successor as the leader of the First Order should Kylo Ren fail to overcome the conflict inside him. This would suggest his apparent death may have been part of the plan.

If it isn’t an elaborate scheme by Snoke and this just happens in every Force bridge, then it will be mind-blowing to think about the amount of power being transferred from one Force sensitive to another across the galaxy every time it is being executed. Add to that the fact that the other participant does not even need to be adept with the Force to pull it off.

That being said, it looks like Rey might not need a lot of training in Star Wars: Episode 9. She should be more than ready for a rematch and an “all-out war,” as John Boyega, who plays Finn, recently described the Star Wars: The Last Jedi follow-up via Star Wars News Net at a conference call on Awesome Con.