Female lead characters that are missing crucial parts of the Hero Journey archetype. [Part 2]

[Octavius]

For those of you who have not read Part 1 https://www.girlsaskguys.com/sexual-behavior/a24366-female-lead-characters-that-are-missing-crucial-parts-of-the-hero WARNING! There are spoilers to Star Wars Episode VII and Mockingjay Part 2. If you wish not to have them spoiled do not read. This will be done in two parts so you don't have to read a massive brick of text. These are just my opinions and observations and am in no way trying to claim any of this as objective facts.

So now we come to the lovable Rey of Star Wars VII The Force Awakens. Rey is virtually everything that Katniss Eversdeen is not. I found her to be incredibly likable. She was smart, independent, skilled, mature, fierce but caring, but she also was a bit of a scavenger similar to Han Solo and not a goody two shoes. I found her to be mature and confident. At no point in the film did she rely on her looks to get anything. She didn't have solutions to her issues just drop in her lap. She actually thought for herself and didn't have to be carried through the movie. But then I felt a little disturbed.

Rey was TOO cool of a character. She didn't have major character flaws. She just grew up poor and longed for her family but those are more of outside elements and nothing actually negative about her herself. Rey had the same problem as Katniss. Not too much development in her character. She was missing parts of the heroes journey because from the beginning she was already at the end. Rey is what Katniss Eversdeen should have eventually become by the end of Mockingjay. Rey basically started her heroes journey as a fully mature woman leaving not a whole lot of room for growth. Yes her physical abilities in terms of the force started out lacking and she greatly improves as time goes on.

Although I felt these physical abilities kind of turned Mary Sue a couple points in the film because she miracously went from having trouble just getting the millennium falcon to take off to only a minute later in the same chase sequence perform almost impossible manuevers with the hulking machine in a tight space when she had never flown it before or was used to how it flew. She then does it again by defeating Kylo Ren who was also as equally sensitive to the force but also had years and years of jedi training with the force and with a lightsaber yet Rey, who had never even held a lightsaber or trained in the force and was using a lightsaber for the very first time, somehow easily overpowered him in the second half of their fight. But I understand that someone had to defeat the dude and it sure wasn't going to be the loud bumbling idiot Finn. Granted Kylo Ren was not fully trained himself and he was also hurt so both he and Rey will develop their jedi abilities in future films; it was still a bit of a stretch for her to beat the sith boy like that. Even Luke who had trained for weeks with Yoda in Episode 5 showed how ill-prepared he was to go up againt a sith when his father basically just tossed him all over the place in episode 5 demonstrating how poor Luke was at fighting with a light saber and using the force compared to a trained jedi/sith when vader disarmed him and then *ahem* dishanded him half a second later and then for Luke to scream about the impossibility of an incredibly obvious and probable truth about Vader being his dad. (Really reminding me of Katniss but at least he eventually gets past this freaking out phase he had in the first two films)

Even Rey's physical abilities I feel flourished a little too early which was basically her only side that needed to truly be developed. But this take is more on character development on their mentality and personality more than their physical feats. Will Rey develop more with the force and fighting abilities with a lightsaber? Absolutely. And I love it because she really is such an awesome character and enjoyable main lead because she's not obnoxious or annoying. She's smart, fierce and very charming. And I'm so glad she doesn't spend half just being boy crazy. She develops a friendship and maybe possible future love with Finn but for the most part that is set the the side for her to find herself which unfortunately was not the case in things like The Hunger Games. But I just hope that she doesn't follow down the same path as Katniss and really end as the same person as she was at the beginning. Because growing is the central theme of the Heroes Journey and I'd hate for such an amazing female lead to be passed up on this classic archetype like several female leads before her have unfortunately done. Let's hope Rey truly can be seen as the classic hero without being carried to the end by the other characters and she doesn't have to have too much Mary Sue wish fullfillment do it either. She should be able to become a hero of legend through her own sweat, blood(not too many tears please?) when facing her trials and tribulations.

[Anonymous]

I find a significant fault with both of your parts. Firstly, you assume all heroes, if they were to be classified as heroes, must follow a pre-determined "Hero's Journey" of age-old and blatantly worn out literature. How can we even consider Katniss, as the protagonist, a "hero?" What defines a "hero?" If it's the Hero's Journey, then maybe we need to reconsider the fact that we're just assuming she is one. If a hero is defined by certain traits and actions, then maybe we need to reconsider our blind chauvinism for the pre-determined Hero's Journey.
Consider: Was Oedipus a hero? Maybe Katniss's story is part tragedy, where she never truly is "reborn" into a greater version of herself, but has to constantly struggle with Snow's oppression and destruction, the PTSD of the games, and the forthcoming mental illnesses. Maybe those things, all combined, are not something one would be able to recover from and be reborn. How would any of us know for sure without living in that universe? What matters is the conflict she was with the antogonists of the Capital and how that conflict was resolved, which I find a resounding success on Suzanne Collins's part and is why Mockingjay was my favorite book of the series.
About your second part: You're 100% correct in deducing that Rey mostly sums up the end product of female heroes after development, yet if you've read up on forums online about her character, you'd know that this is very likely where Rey is supposed to be in terms of her Hero's Journey. Remember the flashes she had when she found Luke's lightsaber? Of her as a child abandoned by someone? Maybe she has already gone through a large part of her journey, already trained by someone, something very easily explained by her exceptional combat skills. If you're wondering why she was given a burst of lightsaber fortitude at the end of her fight with Kylo, just know that the Force does a lot of things if one knows how to call upon it. And about her piloting skills, one of the tropes of the Star Wars saga is the Skywalkers have an uncanny ability for piloting and just so happen to be exceptional pilots compared to their peers. This is to be acknowledged with the fact that many theorists believe Rey is Luke's daughter (no given surname for Rey?), and another trop being an uncanny connection with the force for Skywalkers explaining her ability to wield it against Kylo.

[Octavius]

A hero is someone in that overcomes adversity through some feat. There's a lot of ways to go about that. Oedipus is not a hero but a tragedy because he succumbs to a bad prophecy he fought to defy. Collins presents Katniss in a way that is not considered a tragedy by how it makes the story seem resolved through a happy ending by Peeta being the goodness in the world that she needed. To say that the only thing that mattered was defeating the corrupt government is merely your opinion just like I have mine. I find to see it only from that way as very one dimensional and plain and doesn't make for good story telling. Again that's just my opinion and neither of us are objectively right on what matters most. I've already said twice that what I was stating was not objective fact.

[Octavius]

In terms of Rey remember Luke was strong in the force and partially trained but showed his inexperience in Empire Strikes Back thus showing he was not complete with his training. You say this is where she supposed to be in the Heroes Journey but I disagree because this is only 1/3 into her story as this is a trilogy film series as her as the primary protagonist. Luke was still inexperienced by the end of his second film despite training. I'm not sure how you think Rey had training in force sensitivity or lightsaber before this considering she didn't even know what a lightsaber was until she saw it and had no understanding of the force until in this film so that's very unlikely she had any prior training for either lightsaber or force training (being sensitive in the force doesn't translate into saber skills) Also Kylo Ren is a descendent of Anakin Skywalker so to say she is stronger in the force because of possible heritage doesn't really work since we know that Ren has Skywalker blood.

[rjroy3]

Completely agree on Katniss, but Rey has only been in one movie. Hunger Games was carried on a single role. But star wars focused heavily on 3 people. There wasn't a lot of room for heavy character development, other than Fin's role which is inherently set on the path of change. He went from Pansy to decided hero. I think we'll see more of that in the next movie for Rey now that she's gone with Luke. But who knows

[EhMaybeLater]

was confused at the end of your myTake til I realized that there was a part 2

Anyways, nice myTake. Let's hope that Rey gets more character development later on down the road.

(also fuck Katniss Evercunt)

[Zorax]

Great, you are right, Ray is very cool, she is probably the main reason why I like the new Star Wars trilogy so much :)