It’s been three days, but it’s Star Wars so either you’ve already seen it or you shouldn’t be in here...
But I have too many thoughts and feelings these days and wanted to start sharing them... (And to those of you in my shipping community that are feeling a bit sad at the moment I’d like to offer my perspective.)
While I was depressed as any after my first viewing of Star Wars: Rogue One (and I saw it on Wednesday, two days before the U.S. release, so I had to be alone in my sadness for a bit), since my second viewing of it on Friday I’ve had some time to process it a bit and I think I can start to live with it. I think the ultimate thing I need to keep in mind is all the weeks and months I spent fervently hoping for Cassian Andor to survive the film, and taking for granted that Jyn Erso would do the same as I expected sacrificing himself to save her would be the redemption of Galen Erso. If I were one for prayer, no matter how much I could be scoffed at for wasting it on a fictional character, I’d have been praying against it, but in any case that was my biggest worry -- even seeing my Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away” post scenario as a real possibility. I never planned that we’d be losing the both of them.
But I’m glad that at the end of the day that if they had to go they went together, instead of one or another left behind and having to carry on with their life. And in a way that they were both emotionally and physically connected. For a couple that never kissed, and for a film that never drew much attention to it, I felt the force of love in my bones between two people that, whether you ship them or not, I think everyone can agree were meant to be linked.
Guys, our ship took it to another level, and we now have a love for the ages and not just for Star Wars. And remember the parting words of Obi-Wan Kenobi to Darth Vader: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Not that I fault anybody responsible for this film, as everyone’s deaths fit the story, but in martyring our ship I think they raised it to a special place and I just hope we can keep it going in our hearts and in our content...
(Also, I was pretty much right about Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, and their friendship model. And I never thought it would hurt so much to be right.)