What Solo: A Star Wars story tells us about Reylo
I just got back from Solo. I LOVED it, and I’m pretty shook about that pairing. Guys, this movie has significant implications for us Reylo shippers. I am dying to share this meta with you because this movie provided a treasure trove of parallels and insights.
**************Spoilers below!!***************
The romantic pairing of Qi’ra and Han Solo has huge implications for Reylo. Why? This relationship- which I’m going to call Qi’rolo - is both an echo and foil to Reylo.
It’s not a perfect inverse, just like Anidala is not a perfect inverse of Reylo. But it has many, many elements that echo Reylo, and other elements that inverse it.
Let’s just go over a few of the similarities.
Similarities between Qi’ra and Ben
1. The girl (boy) who initially fell to darkness due to forces beyond her (his) own control.
Qi’ra was captured by Lady Proxima’s henchmen while she and Han were attempting to escape Corellia. When she reunites with Han years later, she states that she “never got out” of the cycle of trafficking / exploitation by criminal overlords in fact, she now works for an even more brutal crime syndicate. She feels very much resigned to her fate.
Compare this with Ben, who has been manipulated from birth by Snoke, neglected by his parents (who didn’t mean to hurt him, but neglected him nonetheless), and then pushed over the edge by Luke trying to murder him. Two characters with little choice but to turn to the darkness, at least for their initial fall.
2. The girl (boy) under the influence of an evil (disfigured) overlord.
Qi’ra’s relationship with Dryden Vos is strikingly similar to Ben’s relationship with Snoke - the manipulation, demand of unquestioning devotion, etc. Dryden even inappropriately touches Qi’ra, just like Snoke does with Ben. Both of these dynamics are meant to evoke extremely unsettling, predatory undertones.
3. The girl (boy) who felt it was too late.
Think about Qi’ra telling Han that she has done terrible things to survive, and that she doesn’t want him knowing what she’s gone through. She tells Han that they can’t simply run away together after the job is done- that it could “never happen.” The subtext: “it’s too late.”
Similarly, “It’s too late” is exactly what Ben tells Han in TFA. He repeats it again the TLJ novelization when he senses Leia (“It’s too late to be sorry, mother.”). Interestingly, however, Ben never tells Rey it’s too late. He seems to cock his head at her as if to say, “I wish you were right [that it isn’t too late], but it is,” but he never says the words aloud. I think that’s hugely significant, because of course, it isn’t too late for Ben when it comes to Rey. She is the only one that can inspire him to choose a different path.
4. The girl (boy) who killed the evil overlord to save her (his) beloved.
Qi’ra repeatedly expressed concern that Dryden was going to kill Han if they didn’t succeed at the mission. Her concern about the threat to Han’s life was emphasized throughout the film nonverbally as well, thanks to Emilia Clarke’s fantastic expressions.
Qi’ra is no Hux. She wasn’t lurking in the corners with a knife up her sleeve so she could stage a coup and ascend to power. She killed Dryden to save Han.
Similarly, we all know that Snoke got turned into sashimi (to quote the lovely @cosmo-gonika) after he tortured Rey and intended to kill her.
5. The girl (boy) who assumed the place of the evil overlord after killing him, falling further into darkness.
Qi’ra and Ben both kill their respective masters when Han and Rey’s lives are threatened. They then proceed to “double down” on their dark path – Qi’ra by contacting Darth Maul and stating that she has resumed Dryden Vos’ place, and Ben by assuming Snoke’s mantle in the Throne Room (though he desires to co-rule with Rey).
There is a key difference in this parallel, however: Qi’ra continues on her dark path reluctantly. Again, thanks to Emila Clarke’s beautiful acting, we can see that she agonizes about her decision from the instant Han leaves in the elevator. It’s not a choice she makes without regret or sadness.
Ben, on the other hand, chooses to become Supreme Leader willingly. He has a brief moment where he is overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, but then he steels himself and asks Rey to join him. And recall RJ’s quote from the commentary: “I wanted to bring him closer to being the villain that he wanted to be in The Force Awakens, to some point.” This was a choice Ben made with full and free agency.
This distinction is important because Qi’ra is resigned to her fate- a fate that she knows is not a good path. Ben, on the other hand, thinks that he is choosing the right path by ascending to the role of Supreme Leader. He’s in for a rude awakening in Ep. 9, and his revelation that this is not the path he should have chosen, or one he wants to continue on, will be key to his redemption.
Similarities between Han and Rey
1. The boy (girl) who clung to his place of birth.
Han literally says in the film that he’s been away from Corellia too long (when he’s still looking for Qi’ra). Compare to Rey: “I’ve already been away too long.” Both Han and Rey have yet to accept that a simple truth: what they left on their home planet is never coming back. (Qi’ra for Han, and parents for Rey).
2. The boy (girl) who wouldn’t give up on his (her) fallen beloved.
“There’s nothing you could have done that would make me change the way I see you.” (not an exact quote, but it’s the gist of what Han says to Qi’ra when she tells him that she’s done horrible things, and is afraid he’ll look at her differently if he knows). Alden gives such a beautifully impassioned delivery of this line, too. He really wants Qi’ra to accept this truth, but she fails to internalize it in the end.
This line is quite similar to what Rey says to Ben in TLJ: “It isn’t too late.” Also, recall Daisy Ridley’s quote about what she finds so admirable in Rey: “She really sees the glimmer in Kylo, that there’s some good there. And she goes with it, and I think that’s pretty wonderful.” Rey remains hopeful for Ben, and willing to see the good in him, despite all the terrible things he’s done. (He isn’t there yet, but he will internalize this truth in Ep. 9- i.e., that it isn’t too late for him.).
3. The boy (girl) whose plea for his (her) beloved to leave their dark path was rejected.
Han is anxious for Qi’ra to leave Dryden Vos and resume their plan to run away together as soon as they first reunite. Qi’ra resists, Han persists.
In their heartbreaking parting scene, Qi’ra lies to Han- assuring that she will be right behind him, and join him and Chewie to leave it all behind. Instead she communicates with Darth Maul (revealed to be another “higher up” in her crime syndicate) and plans a rendezvous with him, thus leaving the planet- and the potential of a new life with Han- behind.
In TLJ, Rey may be the one who “leaves,” but only after Ben rejects her plea to turn back to the light. Rey comes to Ben on the Finalizer to take him home with her and fulfill the vision she saw– so that they can “start a new Jedi order and never be alone again” [TLJ storybook.] But Ben rejects Rey’s entreaty to abandon his path of darkness and destruction.
Next, the differences- and these are important.
How Qi’rolo differs from Reylo
1. Qi’ra and Han are lovers at the start, and part as sad, reluctant strangers. Reylo are enemies at the start, and will end together as lovers and partners who know each other more intimately than anyone.
Many brilliant Reylos have said this all along: if a couple starts out in love, or falls in love relatively quickly in a Star Wars film / trilogy, we should be worried. Qi’rolo now joins Anidala in that tradition.
It’s honestly a very good thing for us Reylo shippers that Reylo had a rocky start in TFA, and ended apart in TLJ. Transformation and separation are always part of Star Wars romances. It’s clear that Reylo is headed towards union, not divide.
Also: a key theme in both of these canon romances involves the extent to which you really know the other person. Remember when Beckett questions whether Han really knows Qi’ra as well as he thinks he does? The uncomfortable truth about Beckett’s character in Solo is that he’s often right, even at his lowest, dirtiest (morally speaking) moments.
Han no longer knows Qi’ra- she is no longer the same person he grew up with. He seems to accept this at the end: Qi’ra has fundamentally changed from her experiences, whereas he has remained “one of the good guys” at heart.
Compare this with Ben and Rey. In TLJ, their dynamic was propelled forward by Ben challenging Rey’s assertion that she knew everything she needed to know about him, because she, in fact, did not really know him.
But as their Force bond grew stronger throughout TLJ, it became harder from them to “hide” their true selves from one another- they saw each other’s thoughts, emotions, pasts, and futures. When they finally unite in Ep. 9, their partnership will consist of two people who know each other more intimately than any normal lovers ever could.
2. Han grew up with Qi’ra. Rey and Ben first meet as adults.
When I caught this plot point in Solo, I thought of the original script that George Lucas was rumored to have written for the ST - in which Ben and Kira (Rey) trained together at the Jedi temple, and Ben spared her life when he destroyed it. So Kira (Rey) would have seen “through the monster” after Ben fell to the dark side, and always believed that he could return to the man he once was.
I’m so glad that they changed Rey’s backstory, because it’s much harder for someone from your past to “bring you back” when you have gone through enormous hardship and transformation. You can never fully go back to being the person you once were.
Qi’ra is the perfect example. After she and Han finally reunited, Qi’ra wasn’t– and couldn’t be– the same bright-eyed girl who wanted to escape from Corellia in a shiny new ship and run away with him. That was simply a future that she no longer envisioned to be possible for her, even though Han desperately wanted it to be.
Rey has the best chance of accepting Ben for who he can be - for who he chooses to be - precisely because she looks at him with a fresh pair of eyes, completely unbiased by the heavy shackles of his past (i.e., his legacy as a Skywalker - Solo, his former life as Ben Solo, etc.). So Rey will ultimately succeed where Han could not in saving her beloved.
3. Qi’ra is still beholden to another master (Darth Maul). Ben has no more evil overlords to manipulate or terrorize him.
The fact that Qi’ra kills one master (Dryden Vos) to serve another (Darth Maul) reminds us that, like Darth Vader, she is still very much a slave on her dark path. She makes choices, to be sure- but she is still operating with less than full autonomy. She still is doing what she thinks she must do. It’s not about what she wants or freely chooses to do.
In contrast, Disney /LF did something incredibly brilliant by killing off all of Ben’s “masters” (past and present) at the end of TLJ. To quote RJ in his director’s commentary:
“I wanted to bring him closer to being the villain that he wanted to be in The Force Awakens, to some point. With Kylo, I knew I wanted to kind of, by the end of this film—he’s not Vader, but he has come into his own as a sort of villain, but hopefully one that you now have, and that maybe more- as importantly, that Rey now has- a level of understanding of.”
In order to complete the arc into (literary) adulthood- in order to earn redemption- Ben must realize that the path he freely chose was a mistake, and that he no longer wants to pursue it. He can’t be a victim anymore to his parental figures’ abuse (Snoke), neglect (Han and Leia), or critical mistakes (Luke). As he transitions from (metaphorical) adolescence to adulthood, “it’s just him now.” He must determine the kind of man he wants to be without the influence of any masters, past or present.
Guys, Solo is a gift to Reylo shippers. The parallels are incredibly strong, and when it comes to the issues and character arcs that killed Qi’rolo, it’s clear the Reylo dynamic is headed in the precise opposite direction.
Not only is Reylo going to heal two broken hearts, end the destructive conflict that has plagued the galaxy for thousands of years, bring balance to the Force, and make Anidala right– it’s also going to fix the problems of Qi’rolo, too.
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