One of the unexpected dynamics I didn’t see coming from The Last Jedi was how much of the heroes mythos was covered in the film. The Hero’s Journey, often accredited to Joseph Campbell for his stellar work in such publications as ‘Hero of a Thousand Faces’ reveals the principles of storytelling that became the basis for George Lucas when writing the original script for Star Wars. The hero’s journey is not restricted to simply Star Wars however and be found in most, if not all professional storytelling media across the globe for thousands of years. For this reason, it’s practical to analyze the substance of the principles and ask ourselves where The Last Jedi left off.
What’s surprising, is how much is covered in this film. While the hero’s journey is most commonly visually represented as a circle, in which the hero leaves his/her home to venture into the unknown, battle the witches, monsters and great terrors of their universe to win the prize, object or desire of their needs before returning to their home, metaphorically or perhaps literally at times. We can envision this circle, within a much larger circle to understand the relationship between an individual story that has a beginning, middle and end, taking place within a trilogy of stories that also have an apparent beginning, middle and end. This is at least in part, why we have trilogies of films and books for instance.
When we direct this relationship of storytelling to what we see in The Force Awakens and now The Last Jedi we receive a much clearer picture to the intention of these films. Rey, a young beautiful nobody, from a nowhere part of the galaxy makes the fateful decision to help BB8. This, leads to her journey expanding to help Finn, which in turn leads her on a path straight into the heart of darkness. Confronting Kylo Ren and embracing her ‘destiny’ to meet the legendary grand wizard- none other than Luke Skywalker. The steps of this journey clearly depict the opening stages of the hero’s journey, in which Rey receives her magical gifts and tools necessary to complete her journey (or in this case, the force is awakened within her and she receives Luke’s lightsaber). The Force Awakens ends right where one might expect, her confrontation with Kylo Ren in the forest upon Starkiller base represents her first true challenge in her journey, the metaphorical guardian who attempts to stop the heroine from completing their journey into the unknown. In this case, the unknown being Rey’s understanding of who is she, where she came from and what the awakening of the force within her means.
By the time The Last Jedi begins we shouldn’t be surprised our heroine along with the cast of side characters we’ve picked up along the way are in for some hard times. Just as soon as our heroine meets Luke Skywalker and he resists aiding her, our heroine and her cohorts are forced through a period Joseph Campbell referred to as ‘the road of trials’. Failure is the greatest teacher, as Yoda reminds us mid-film, and this is true for The Last Jedi as well. Like a checklist, we’re carried from the trials to the ‘meeting of the goddess’ (in this case reversed as Rey is a heroine rather than hero) in which Rey, who feels compelled to save Kylo Ren from himself turns herself in to Snoke’s forces in an attempt to persuade Kylo to recuse himself from the dark side. This gambit ultimately fails, in that Kylo uses the gambit to take further control and solidify his destiny. But it should not be misunderstood the gift in which Kylo Ren provides to Rey in that moment. Through perhaps sheer will, or some other mystic explanation Kylo is able to break through to Rey- and provide the internal confession to whom Rey’s parentage is. The revelation is mundane, but not without merit. What matters is not who her parents are, but that Kylo Ren was the one who broke through the internal noise and could provide this gift to her. The weight of the moment is not held by quality of the gift, but the symbolic weight of receiving it at all. This moment also hints at another element on the hero’s journey, ‘the woman as the temptress’ (again in reverse for Rey) in which Rey has felt the cosmic pull of destiny towards Kylo Ren in a compassionate, if not loving sense of the emotion. In that moment, Kylo offers her the opportunity to give in to this desire, the allure of happiness and someone who would care for her as no one ever has- such as her parents. This emotional pull is central to Rey’s largest challenge- knowing her place in the universe. But Rey successfully turns away from Kylo’s advances, who she sees going down a dark path she cannot stomach to follow.
As we progress through the final chapter of The Last Jedi, Rey comes to terms with Luke as well. As the central father figure at this point in her life, all of her movement in her story has been in achieving the status as the metaphorical daughter in Luke’s eyes. But from Luke’s own resistance and challenges he’s pushed her to grow, expand and become more than if Luke has agreed to train her from the very start. Whereas all of Rey’s story has lead her to Luke, in this moment she has finally surpassed her spiritual need for Luke’s guidance and now has the gifts and abilities to save the resistance and effectively provide for them and her journey, in a way that Luke no longer could.
Prepared with the tools and knowledge needed to confront the largest challenge, we end The Last Jedi with Rey, the resistance and her friends flying off to fight another day, with only the ultimate boon to be snatched up and recovered by the heroine. It’s worth noting that Joseph Campbell choose to place ‘the ultimate boon’ within the second act of storytelling, but its not uncommon for stories to delay the ultimate boon until the third act. While we have no proof that Rey has succeeded in achieving her ultimate goal, it’s perhaps a tantalizing hint that Rey stole the old Jedi texts- which is only revealed in a fleeting, almost casual moment in the films closing moments.
Which leads us directly to Episode 9. While the details of what happens and how Rey will achieve them may remain hazy, I can speculate with a fairly high degree of certainty that these elements will transpire.
Rey will achieve her goal. In a spiritual sense, Rey’s journey started with the central question of who she was, and what her place in the universe would be. It seems as an audience we are being lead to believe that Rey will become the center of a new Jedi order, who’s philosophy will be marked by the lessons learned by Rey, a nobody, from the middle of nowhere to inspire a generation of students who may be themselves- nobodies.
From this sense, understanding what this actually means is extremely difficult. It could manifest itself into a story in which Rey discovers a powerful young student whom Kylo seeks himself. It could be a discovery Rey makes from within the old Jedi texts she stole- pushing her on a journey to recover a sacred item or location that may provide the tools or wisdom to defeat the ultimate evil. It could be the understanding that in order to balance the force, she must marry the light to the dark with Kylo by her side.
Perhaps more exciting and I would argue likely, is the ‘refusal of the return’ in which the heroine refuses to return to the known world they came from, or to put it more accurately- failure to share their gifts of knowledge and wisdom with those beyond the heroine’s adventure. Often, even if the heroine does refuse to return with their gifts, they’re eventually tempted, or forced to do so. The momentary ‘spell’ put over them shook from their mind as the realize their spiritual journey is not over.
The most obvious direction this could take, would be Rey’s refusal to share her knowledge of ‘finding her place’ by refusing to share her skills and knowledge of the force with others- potentially putting her in line with Kylo Ren, fueled by the temptation of the flesh and comfort of falling into his metaphorical arms.
Undoubtably, Rey’s story cannot be completed until she achieves her goal of sharing the knowledge she has gained with those beyond her spiritual orbit, but being so deep in the unknown requires a quick and often frantic escape from the collapsing darkness around her. This has been performed countless times in storytelling, from Frodo’s escape via the eagles in Lord of the Rings (while all of the evil lands are destroyed in volcanic fire) to Luke Skywalker dragging his redeemed father onto a transport while the Death Star begins to explode.
This moment marks the ultimately downfall of the dark side power, that until now has consumed the world the hero inhabits. Obviously, at this point every finger is pointed at the downfall of the First Order. While prior to seeing The Last Jedi, many would have suspected the death of Snoke, now we see that Snoke was not the ultimate evil we assumed he was- from a metaphorical standpoint. Which leads me to believe either Kylo Ren will rise to a new, and terrifying evil, or a larger, looming cruelty exists beyond our edges of persecution at this moment, only to be revealed during Episode 9.
The key to success for Rey, is to share the wisdom she’s gained in her journey. We see this in Return of the Jedi in the final moments of that film as Luke burns his father’s body. Or more acutely, the crude machine that supported his physical life. In this moment of death and birth, we are rewarded with the ‘free’ soul or Jedi ghost figure of his father, appearing with the other spiritual guardians in the final shot of that film. Luke has achieved in saving his father and bringing balance to the force.
But what will Rey’s return provide the galaxy? What gift does she supply the universe with? Arguably, as mentioned it would be the gift of compassion and opening her arms to all whom need a place, a home, and a metaphorical mother in the galaxy and potentially- the birth of the new Jedi Order.
Perhaps the biggest twist, (or perhaps not) would be the component often reserved for such legendary characters as the great Buddha or Jesus, in which is a master of both the physical and spiritual world. But this could also be interpreted as a balance in the force. Since Star Wars already has such a powerful relationship between regular people and their connectivity to the force, by this definition Rey’s successful relationship with the force would appear to fit this description as Joseph Campbell describes it. Which is why I believe in order for this element of the story to have a true impact- if utilized, it would require her character to take on an additional depth to the challenge, by means of which her character would have to become a master of the whole metaphorical universe, both the light and dark side, or of such a deep wisdom of the force itself- she elevates herself to a mastery that has never been witnessed before on film within the Star Wars universe. I clarify to say on film, as such a character has existed numerous times within the expanded universe of Star Wars.
Ultimately, its difficult to determine exactly what twists and turns will transpire in Episode 9, but unlike the previous two films, we see there are less challenges and phases in which the heroine must pass along her journey. By contrast, the final act is much simpler, though the stakes much hinger. This often results in a much more explosive, or emotionally charged finale, a result most fans will love I’m sure.
With these elements laid out, we can see the skeletal structure of which Episode 9 will take shape from. The story, likely will remain simple in form, few complex ideas will be introduced as the darkness of this world has revealed the majority of its tricks, monsters, and gimmicks. What challenges our heroine now is the amassing of these elements in grand and spectacular style as a final battle for the soul of the universe.
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