Rey vs Ahsoka: A Character Cross-examination Battle

now I want to make it clear right at the start that this isn't going to be a video where I create some type of imaginary scenario where rey and ahsoka do battle to see who would win in a fight so if you've clicked on this video thinking that's what it's going to be you have my apologies and you can either stick around to see what it's actually about or click away and continue on with your day that being said what I do want to talk about here is how these two characters were introduced into the Star Wars universe initially received by the fans and how they have progressed both in terms of their stories and fan reactions since mainly I'm going to talk about how one of them ahsoka went from one of the most controversial and hated characters amongst the fan base to not one of the most beloved while race started out as perhaps one of the most anticipated characters ever to now being one of if not almost certainly the most debated and perhaps disliked character amongst fans and let me just reiterate here that the keywords are by the fans I'm not referring to how the general audience necessarily feels about these characters since most average moviegoers probably don't even know who ahsoka is or cares so much about the constant debate waged over Rey okay now one of the things you may already be wondering is why compare these two particular characters is it just because their female characters well not exactly because their genders really shun matter the only thing that should matter is if they're good well-developed characters unfortunately especially in the case of Rey and I'll get more into this later her gender has been made an issue by Disney and Lucasfilm and of course by some fans there's also the fact that Star Wars after its first two trilogies was greatly lacking in the number of prominent or important female characters with Leia and Padme being the only two wheel ones of note and again the gender of the characters really shouldn't matter nevertheless it does feel a bit off to see so few female characters be significant to the overall story when you consider how fast the Star Wars galaxy is that being said you have to be careful about making characters just to fill a gap if you will and in this case a gap in the number of female characters or you're likely going to do more harm than good with the problem you're actually trying to solve characters should always have a true purpose for existing they should feel like a natural and organic part of the story and above all else a character should serve the greater story in some respect not the other way around or like they've been placed there for a purpose that goes beyond just the story being told and at first ahsoka felt like one of these completely unnecessary characters who was injected into a story just to try to lure in younger viewers and in particular younger girls however that wasn't entirely the case instead George Lucas felt there was a need in the greater story to show how Anakin Skywalker went from the brash Padawan we saw throughout Episode two to the daring and more polished Jedi Knight we saw in episode three and though we may have assumed Padme had a lot to do with this transformation and probably did we actually got to see it was more than that it was also because he was at first burdened with the responsibility of a Padawan in a time of war but eventually learned to trust and rely on that Padawan while maybe not even realizing it training her to be a great Jedi another thing ahsoka did for us the audience was showcased Anakin's inability to let go which would ultimately be his downfall in other words she served the greater story had a real place in purpose and one that felt natural and for it all became a great character on her own and although I absolutely hated ahsoka after seeing her for the first time in the Clone Wars animated movie and not just because she was utterly annoying but because I also didn't see the need for Anakin to have a Padawan in fact it was much like Anakin in the movie who also didn't seem to see the need for him to have a Padawan and thought there must be some kind of mistake but something happened over the course of the next five seasons of the Clone Wars animated series I found myself needing her in this story just like Anakin found himself needing her in his own ways and when ahsoka walked away from Anakin and the Jedi Order in season five it was heartbreaking to watch and is one of the most emotional moments in all of Star Wars and now she has for me become such an integral part of his story that it's hard to imagine the character before this series anymore it's hard to imagine Anakin Skywalker without ahsoka tano but the truly impressive part is ahsoka is more than just a side note in the story of Anakin Skywalker somehow she found a way to be more than just an Ekans apprentice and also became very much her own character and what was so great about her is we could clearly and easily understand her motives and hence relate to her and they made sense for the character and the overall story she mostly wanted to prove herself and sometimes so much so that it cost her dearly like in the episode storms over Ryloth where she disobeys anakin and gets almost an entire squadron of clone pilots killed and it almost seems odd to say but what made her a great character is the fact that she failed almost as often as she succeeded which made us the audience maybe without even realizing it begin to root for her and over time she learned and grew from these mistakes and the character we saw in season 1 of the Clone Wars was not the same one we saw in season 5 especially in the story arc where she was framed and had to go on the run to prove her innocence and at the end of that arc when she turned away from Anakin and the Jedi Order we felt Anakin's pain and experienced a great deal of it ourselves then when the character returned in the show rebels we understood and believed who she was at this point in her life and that she would be fighting for the early rebellion in fact I think it was this reintroduction that cemented her as one of the best most well developed characters in all Star Wars and took her popularity to new heights and if you told me back in 2008 after I just seen the Clone Wars movie for the first time that one day she'd fight Vader and more or less hold her own and that had me hoping she survives to live another day I would have never believed you that is a testament to just how impressive of a job they did in building this character and then we move on to Rey a character that we were told long before we ever seen her on screen would be a strong female character and that she was essentially going to be the next great hero of Star Wars while in contrast and I could be wrong here I'm not sure a big deal was ever made about the gender of ahsoka leading up to the release of the Clone Wars movie the big deal simply was Anakin was going to have a Padawan and that seemed like a jarring concept and what a lot of people were unsure of it had nothing to do with the Sokka being a girl and everything to do with the question where was she in Episode three and why didn't Anakin ever mention her in that movie and in my opinion telling us what they wanted ready to become ahead of time was one of the dumbest and most off-putting things they could have done because ray or any character becoming beloved is something that has to be 100% earned just like ahsoka earned it you can't tell me you're going to make a great strong character you have to show me and now that you've told me what you want ray to be I'm going to find myself questioning every decision you make with this character because I know you have a clear goal in mind for her in fact I'd rather not be told you have any sort of agenda for her in or out of the movies because it completely undermines the potential growth and direction of the character and tells me ahead of time what her ultimate fate is likely going to be and no none of this has anything to do with her being a female character if you told me ahead of time they wanted kylo Ren to be the next great villain even better than Darth Vader I would have said show me don't tell me and at the risk of sounding like a sexist pig here which is not my intent mind you the least interesting aspect of her character thus far is the fact that she's a female character because she feels almost asexual which is probably their intent even I mean if Rey were a male character and everything he did and said in these movies was kept the same as what the female Rey has said it done would it feel any different or off to you sure maybe some of his scenes with kylo Ren might feel a bit different especially the one from the last Jedi when Rey basically blushes when she sees him shirtless but overall I dare say that know if you made R a male character and kept everything else the same it wouldn't feel off because it seems as if they've tried so very hard not to define Rey as just a woman so much so that they've completely ignored that aspect of her character and again I probably sound like I'm being sexist here but Ray is a woman she doesn't have to be and shouldn't be just defined that way but it should be a part of her character in some respect or it just feels very unnatural and then of course that leads us to the question if Rey were indeed a male character would people still be complaining about him simply put yes they would a lot of fans would be just as angry about things such as using a Jedi mind-trick with no training pulling a lightsaber out of the snow to him over kylo Ren and then defeating kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel because he could simply close his eyes and let the force in they would also be upset and disappointed to learn that the explanation for all these powers was he simply is a counterbalance to kylo Ren and unfortunately Disney and Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy in particular who can't get through an interview without saying strong female character at least once has given the people who just call Rey a Mary Sue a leg to stand on because you've already said you're going to make rate a strong character essentially because she's a woman and because you failed to give her a good explanation for all these powers and the funny thing is or maybe the sad thing is some of this anger people had over her unexplained abilities in the force awakens could have been mitigated had there been a better backstory and explanation for these powers given in the last Jedi instead Rian Johnson and company doubled down and just said she's powerful because the light side needed someone powerful to challenge kylo Ren and although considering the force seeks to be in balance that does make sense it at the same time just gives more ammunition to those who want to criticize this character now you're probably getting the impression here that I'm a huge fan of ahsoka and that I hate right whereas yes I am a huge fan of ahsoka I don't hate Rey it's more disappointment that the new main protagonist in this sequel trilogy is so one-dimensional and has been given no clear motive after two movies especially when you consider how brilliant and perfect I think her introduction was because with just a couple scenes at the start of the force awakens I already felt how lonely she was and how self-reliant she wasn't had to be to survive on jakku alone those scenes if we're crawling around the massive empty Star Destroyer were visual representations of the level of isolation she no doubt felt on the inside and it told us more about who and what this character was or should have been then any dialog could have she was someone completely alone in a giant galaxy and had no one she could depend on her trust in a very precarious and dangerous situation which living on jakku no doubt is this truly was a perfect start to a potentially great character but it all went downhill from there because I wish they would have played more on this theme of a feeling or need for total self-reliance because it was the only way she knew without just making her completely self-reliant in every situation that arose for the rest of the movie and they should have had her not trust Finn at all when they first met which would have worked well with him being a stormtrooper and having something to hide from her and had her be very reluctant to leave the planet not because she was waiting for her family but because it was taking her 100% out of her comfort zone to not only leave but to maybe have to rely on someone else because she would be in a completely foreign situation and oddly enough learning to trust and rely on others was one of the lessons ahsoka taught anakin but apparently one Rey didn't need to learn because somehow after being self-reliant for so long on a desolate world where any and all resources were scarce she was willing to immediately trust and befriend everyone she bumped into now even though I disagree with the direction they initially took her character and I didn't dislike Rey or have too much of an issue with her after the force awakens despite what it probably sounds I was willing to give her and the writers the benefit of the doubt that they were going to have her powers explained but again the only explanation we really got for her powers was darkness Rises and light rises to meet it that's it and that might be fine if she was only shown to have tons of raw potential but she was using actual learned skills like mind tricks and levitation without any type of formal training like everyone else who has come before her has needed before performing such skills and that just doesn't jive at all with the story that has come before it and one can't help but hear Kathleen Kennedy sang strong female character in their heads when she moves an entire stack of giant boulders to liberate the trapped resistance at the end of the last Jedi and look I'm not going to call ray MarySue I'm just going to call her a poorly crafted character thus far especially when you put her alongside a character like ahsoka who faced her own set of challenges when she was introduced into the Star Wars universe but grew into a beloved character and yes you can certainly make the argument that ahsoka had a lot more time to grow and develop when compared to Rey considering ahsoka had five seasons in a cartoon series to do it but I've watched plenty of movies in my life were in the span of just one movie we've been introduced to a character and seen them grow and change into a different one by the end of that one movie in fact that's pretty much what every good movie accomplishes Rey has now had two full movies and I ask you this what has she learned thus far how has she grown as a character what is her personal goal why does she suddenly want to be a Jedi or does she even I'm not sure I've actually heard her declare this as a desire why was she so hell bent on saving kylo Ren to the point that she literally surrendered herself to try and do it I mean how did she really think that was going to play out that she'd land on the first order ship and kylo Ren would say okay now let's get out of here I mean she had talked to him like three times over the course of one day and had that much faith in him to turn from the dark path and remind me again how in the span of like three days which is about the time period these two movies cover how she went from someone who had lived her entire life alone fending for herself on one of the harshest planets in the galaxy to someone who had turned herself in and have faith in a guy that had a couple days ago murdered his father right in front of her a guy that she had forced Skyped with for three times in the course of a day I mean was the force bond created by Snoke so strong that it made her do something otherwise completely irrational to try and save him if so I hope this gets touched on and maybe further played upon in episode 9 and no I'm not trying to be an ass here I'm being very serious I'm trying to figure out who this character is and why does she do the things that she does Rey had never left jakku before had never been in any type of different setting yet she not only takes everything in stride but easily adapts and overcomes each and every challenge she faces this does not make for an interesting character hell Finn seemed far more disoriented than her and he's known up in too many different places in the galaxy and has received some type of education from the first order I'd imagine and why does Rey trust everyone she runs into because when you really think about it she should have some serious trust issues considering her parents abandoned her and most of the others we see living on jakku with her are clearly not good people but the real problem right now is when Rey stands victorious at the end of episode nine will we cheer for her or just roll our eyes how will her overall journey compared to the one ahsoka took where she started off as this annoying brat who constantly thought she could do better and knew better than Anakin oftentimes drastic consequences before she came into her own and had the courage to walk away from everything she had once known when she abandoned Anakin and the Jedi Order will we be on the edge of our seats with worry when Wei has her final battle with kylo Ren like we were with ahsoka battling Vader or will we just not care because we know Ray's going to win and therein lies the greatest problem with Rey I don't believe the powers that be at Disney and Lucasfilm will let her fail because they've basically said from the start that she's not going to and that's a problem because what should dictate the final outcome of this character is not what they want her to be or represent but what makes for the best possible story and even though I am all for more female characters in Star Wars until we get more like ahsoka and less like Rey Star Wars is not going to be a place for truly inspiring stories and characters it's going to be a place where we're told ahead of time how we should think and feel about a character and if we dare disagree it's because we're against strong female characters not because in reality were just against poorly crafted ones with agendas outside of the movies well that's all I've got for this time now it's your turn to tell me what you think how do you feel about ahsoka when she was first introduced and how do you feel about her now and what do you think about Rey have you been okay with her story thus far or do you think they've missed the mark with her let me know in the comments below and let's talk some Star Wars and until next time thanks for watching

Channel: Thor Skywalker

Views: 551,978

Rating: 4.9101186 out of 5

Keywords: Star, wars, the force awakens, clone wars, the last jedi, anakin skywalker, ahsoka tano, rey, kylo ren, darth vader, rebels, star wars, theory

Id: 8wlBpRnFEcg

Length: 17min 5sec (1025 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 02 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Guardias]

Hell, Asaaj has more character development than Rey.