Spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ahead…
Say what you want about the new trilogy, but there’s no denying the incredibly electric chemistry between Daisy Ridley [Rey] and Adam Driver [Kylo Ren]. The climactic battle of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, sees Rey take on Emperor Palpatine. As Palpatine uses the Force lightning against her, Rey counters his move by blocking his lightning with two lightsabers, Luke and Leia’s. This causes Palpatine to disintegrate akin to Voldemort in Deathly Hallows Pt 2. However, the entire event takes a toll on Rey too and she collapses on the ground, seemingly dead. Kylo Ren, sorry, Ben Solo runs towards her, embraces her body close to his chest and then transfers some Force energy to her. Rey is resuscitated.
Rey and Ben look at each other. Half of the audience members are cheering, the other half have their faces hid behind the palm of their hands. Kylo, sorry, Ben and Rey kiss. #REYLO is fully realised. Ben dies. Rey takes the Skywalker last name. The end.
There’s been a ton of debate in recent days on #Reylo. Did it need to happen? Should Kylo have just died without the kiss? Some love it, others hate it. Weirdly, it looks like there’s more to the kiss than meets the eye. According to the director of The Rise of Skywalker, JJ Abrams, the former Master of the Knights of Ren and Rey’s relationship isn’t a romantic one, but that of a brother and sister.
What. On. Earth.
When asked by a fan to comment on the Rey-Ren relationship, JJ Abrams had this to say:
There’s as much of a brother and sister thing with Rey and Kylo Ren as there is romantic. So it’s not literally a sexually/romantic kind of thing. It’s more like they’re just bound together in this crazy, spiritual way. Again, felt romantic to me.
Okay, so right about now, you’re thinking, perhaps JJ just didn’t word his thoughts correctly. Which is of course, understandable. But Abrams did not stop there.
It’s like John Williams, if you listen to the –when he first wrote the Luke theme,” he continued. “It was a romantic theme for Luke and Leia. That was kind of what he was thinking because he didn’t know where it was going.
The comparison does not make any sense because at the time of writing Star Wars: A New Hope, George Lucas did not have plans for Luke and Leia to be siblings. Heck, Darth Vader wasn’t even Luke’s father in the early drafts of Empire Strikes Back. The kiss between Luke and Leia wasn’t a weird special sibling bond kiss. They didn’t know they were siblings. Leia kissed Luke because Han was being an egotistical idiot (in a charming, Han sort of way of course). And Luke shoots Han a look that says, “Who’s the badass now? The hot princess likes me!”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently playing in cinemas.
