{ compassion }

inactive || star wars sequel trilogy, reylo, finnrose, and other sw-related things if they float my boat || icon credit: @bb-8

[rhaenyratheecruel]

That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.

[onewomancitadel]

I was just musing on how Reylo was argued against for years: 'it's gross,' or 'it's problematic,' or 'he killed Han', or 'it's incest' (that was the funniest one). Reylo is a good comparison of a ship because alike to Knightfall it's a mythic romance, it has a lot of similar motivating themes along with monomythic storytelling. It was also canon.

The issue with Reylo is that not once have I ever seen Reylo argued against on the grounds of monomythic interpretation or anything decently textually and thematically relevant. Because it was essentially impenetrable.

You couldn't argue with it on the terms of the text or the Original Trilogy because the Original Trilogy had a central redemption predicated on love, and in the context of a young man who is the evidence of Vader once being flesh-and-blood, a familial relationship was natural; between Rey and Kylo, who were both young and shared similar wounds, romance was the natural answer (particularly for picking up where Padme/Anakin left off).

The narrative reasoning that motivated Reylo is Star Wars. It's inseparable. It's mythic. It was the only planned canon detail of the Sequel Trilogy. It's evident in the concept art. They sought out Adam Driver to play Kylo and had a particular Romantic vision of Kylo. Eddie Redmayne auditioned for Kylo with the Pride & Prejudice script:

With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.

Pride & Prejudice is one of the most notable romance novels ever written and presumably this is referencing the 2005 film adaptation.

The Reylo dynamic was planned to be romantic.

The point I'm trying to make here is that you can't argue on these textual grounds and that's why you weaponise personal taste or anti bullshit. It's part of why it became so militant (and it was wrong place wrong time as a part of a broader shift of fandom) and to this day I still encounter people who try to explain to me that it's regressive for a female character to 'fix' a male character completely misunderstanding the thematic point of it or relationship of the characters that was reciprocal and grounded in the ethos of SW. They just keep repeating it because it's all they know and it makes them feel special and contrarian.

Sort of the point I'm trying to get at (as I have made a few posts about this already) is that the grounds on which someone is arguing something matters just as much as what the substantial content is. Reylo's refutation was personal taste. That was it. Because there was no other refutation.

Food for thought.

[afterblossom]

Reylo Prompt: Pride and Prejudice but in space, and they did actually kiss in the gazebo scene.

[bencsolos]

BEN SOLO + manipulation & abuse (psychological, verbal, physical)

“We’ve lost our son, forever.” Leia bit her lower lip, refusing to concede. “No. It was Snoke.” Han drew back slightly. “Snoke?” She nodded. “He knew our child would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil.” “You knew this from the beginning? Why didn’t you tell me?” She sighed. “Many reasons. I was hoping that I was wrong, that it wasn’t true. I hoped I could sway him, turn him away from the dark side, without having to involve you.” A small smile appeared. “You had—you have—wonderful qualities, Han, but patience and understanding were never among them. I was afraid that your reactions would only drive him farther to the dark side. I thought I could shield him from Snoke’s influence and you from what was happening.” Her voice dropped. “It’s clear now that I was wrong. Whether your involvement would have made a difference, we’ll never know.” He had trouble believing what he was hearing. “So Snoke was watching our son.” “Always,” she told him. “From the shadows, in the beginning, even before I realized what was happening, he was manipulating everything, pulling our son toward the dark side.” - TFA novelization

[magpie-trove]

Two of my absolute favorite Ben moments in Last Jedi are the slide and “yeah, me too.” Because it was those moments where I suddenly realized he was Ben. He’s been the “dark prince” all through the last movie, and then he goes sliding across the floor chasing after what for all he knows might be his imagination because his curiousity’s peaked, and in that one little action, he suddenly becomes just a person. The words “yeah me too” are in his vocabulary. Those are not “dark prince” words. Those are words Han and Leia’s son would say. They are words a normal person would say. He’s got the whole dark prince aura, but in these moments his plain, ordinary humanity leaps out at you. And it’s not even really startling. It’s in endearing ways—sliding like a kid into frame because he was running too fast, or huffing and sounding tired and maybe a cross between a little amused and a little annoyed. It makes him a likeable, relatable person. And it’s all in just two tiny moments. Those are fore-runners, little glimpses of the Ben Solo we won’t see fully until the end of TROS, and they are so! Great!! I love them

[rhaenyratheecruel]

When would he finally give up on her?

[fmchibi]

Cursed prince  ✨

I cant stop thinking about Ben as an actual Disney Prince 

[lenoreamidala]

Character Name Meanings and Orgins: Ben Solo

[spetura]

i’d like to thank @darth-tantrum for this post, and myself for this one

here we are coruscant can you handle it

[fangirlart5-deactivated20251016]

I commission the wonderful and lovely, talented @pandacapuccino for this amazing Reylo child (fancast: Timothee Chalamet) art!!! Thank you so much I love it!

Don’t repost please!!

[thefaultinourforcebond]

God bless our content creators

[thefaultinourforcebond]

Happy Anniversary to that shit pie of a movie

[machodoodle]

something i scribbled really quick after watching tros

[schweety]

tired of fighting, seeking solace in each other

[missbliss12]

After the Throne Room, Rey and Ben pretend nothing happened. If only their dreams would leave them be.

All the things that never happened in the year between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. An interlude to my upcoming post-TRoS comic.

Part 2 

Part 1 here

[galacticidiots]

Hey. It’s you and me, kid. Whole damn galaxy against us but we’ll make it through okay. I’m not always gonna be the best dad - c'mon, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. I can barely take care of myself.

But I’ll always keep us pointed in the right direction…even if we zig and zag a little to get there. There’s your first lesson. Sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t mean following a straight line. Sometimes you gotta-“ He takes his hand and gestures with it like it’s a fish swimming this way and that, left and right and up and down.

“Don’t tell you mother I said that.”

                                                                                    Aftermath: Empire’s End

[yodah]

Right back where we started….

[quiche-draws]

One day, Rey finds some of Ben Solo’s old writings. 

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST! REBLOG ONLY!