you guys wanna hear a sad story called ‘finn rescuing poe was a much bigger deal to poe emotionally than the movie let on’?
listen. i know that poe being the resistance golden boy is a really popular headcanon, but in ‘before the awakening’ we learn two things about him:
- he hasn’t been with the resistance that long before the events in tfa. his mission to jakku is only the second mission he flies for leia
- poe is a spy. a good one. sure, he’s also an amazing fighter pilot, but 90% of what he does in the book consists of retrieving items/intel from the first order while mostly using his piloting skills to get away before being caught.
so here’s the thing now. the political landscape around the time poe joins the resistance looks like this: the republic and the first order are engaged in a ‘don’t bomb us and we won’t bomb you’ sort of deal, with a neutral zone between their respective territories. for some incomprehensible reason the republic doesn’t think the first order is a big deal. the resistance, which the republic sooort of supports on the down low, thinks the first order is an enormously big deal and wants to stop them. the problem? they can’t do it by engaging the first order directly because it would violate the agreement with the new republic and potentially start a war.
enter poe dameron, disillusioned republic officer, who wants to do something about this. so when leia recruits him for the rebellion he’s 100% on board. but before leia sends him on his first mission she tells poe, with exactly zero sugar coating, that he can back down, but if he accepts and later gets caught he’s on his own. the republic, and by extension the resistance, must deny all involvement in whatever he was doing or risk open war with the first order.
on jakku, like on his first mission for the resistance, poe goes undercover, out of uniform and with a stripped x-wing
and he gets caught and tortured and has his secrets, including his ties with the rebellion, found out
all his snarking and posturing happens to the background of poe being acutely aware that no one is coming for him
if hux decided to livestream his torture directly to leia, she’d have to stand there and say she has no idea who poe is
the resistance isn’t going to rescue him, ransom him, or admit to having any connections with him.
poe is probably very aware that he’s going to die soon, alone and without having done much for the cause he believes in.
and then finn comes and saves him, knight-in-shining-armor style
so yeah. think about that sometime.
#HONESTLY I WAS READING THAT BIT IN POE’S CHAPTER #AND IT PUTS HIS HOPEFUL LITTLE ‘ARE YOU WITH THE REBELLION?’ LINE IN TFA WHEN FINN SAYS HE’S THERE TO RESCUE HIM IN A WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE #A VERY SAD PERSPECTIVE #THE PERSPECTIVE OF POE HOPING AGAINST HOPE THAT THE RESISTANCE DID IN FACT COME FOR HIM #TO CLARIFY: POE UNDERSTANDS THE RISKS HE’S TAKING AND ACCEPTS THEM; LEIA DOESN’T FORCE HIM TO GO ON THESE MISSIONS #HE HAS A CHOICE NOT TO BUT DECIDES TO DO IT #I JUST FEEL A LOT ABOUT THIS #I FEEL A LOT ABOUT POE WANDERING THE JAKKU DESERT; ONCE AGAIN ALONE AND FEELING GUILTY AS FUCK #THAT HE ACCIDENTALLY KILLED THE ONE PERSON WHO HELPED HIM AND WHO ALSO TURNED OUT TO BE A WONDERFUL PERSON #I FEEL A LOT ABOUT POE TELLING LEIA WHAT FINN DID AND LEIA FEELING GUILTY ABOUT POE AND GRATEFUL TO THIS YOUNG MAN SHE HAS NEVER MET #I FEEL MOST OF ALL ABOUT THE LOOK ON POE’S FACE WHEN HE SEES FINN ALIVE AND WHOLE ON D’QAR #AND THEN RUNS ACROSS THE AIRFIELD INTO FINN’S ARMS & LOOKS AT FINN LIKE HE HANGS THE STARS EVERY NIGHT AND MAKES THE SUN RISE IN THE MORNING #STAR WARS (tags via: vrabia)
Why all the ladies in TFA are important.
My aunty was telling me how amazing everyone thought Princess Leia was when A New Hope was released because she was such a fighter and it was such a huge deal to have a woman like that in a big blockbuster movie back in those days and you see it in the way Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford portray Han and Luke’s shock at how damn fierce she is. Because she’s really the only woman in the OT.
And here I am in 2015 watching TFA, who’s storyline echoes A New Hope in so many ways, from a droid with a secret message to an old Jedi master waiting to be found, but there are women everywhere.
General Phasma, as intimidating as any Sith, leads her Stormtroopers with fierce unquestionable authority.
Rey is as much of a hero at the beginning of her journey as Luke was, but indisputably cooler, maturer, harder and more capable. A capability that is respected and never second guessed by herself or the characters around her, “I can handle myself,” she says to Han Solo without a trace of a lie. “I know,” he replies, equally as sure of her as she is.
Then there’s Maz Kanata, running a trusted safe haven for all the wanna be forgotten folk of the galaxy, but she’s certainly no fool. We never see her treat anyone as her inferior, yet we know she is completely in charge. We see Han wants her approval and her help, but it’s not something she’ll hand to him. She’s watched the universe with keen eyes for a great many years, this is a wise woman that expects and earns as much respect as anyone ever gave Master Yoda and everyone can see that.
Not to mention there are women in secondary roles all over the place. There are female pilots responding to Poe, in Leia’s control room and there are women giving intel to general Hux.
And finally, there’s Leia. No longer being treated like the pretty damsel mascot of the rebellion, Princess Leia is now the General
to the point that people referring to her as “princess” are instantly corrected. Because these are her soldiers, her pilots, her fight, her cause and her war.
There are women on both sides. On all sides. Because, of course there would be and I can’t tell you how damn happy that makes me as a female Star Wars fan.
Because there’s gonna be a new generation of little girl star wars fans who are gonna have so many heroes and villains to pretend to be when they play in the playground and that’s bloody awesome,
let’s be real kylo ren probably tried to make a black lightsaber and he probably cried when it didn’t work
