Star Wars Theories And Rants

Why Everyone Loves Reylo

Movies mentioned- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
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Reylo. Wether you can live without it or would die to save it, there's no denying it has taken the Star Wars fandom and the internet by storm since The Last Jedi came out in December of 2017.

And while it has provided the fandom with too many fanfictions to count, it's also provided many questions and thoughts to occur to me. Some of them being: Why does everyone love Reylo so much? What is it about this duo that's so compelling?

Well here, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to explain and unpack why I think everyone is obsessed with this unexpected pairing.

The answer is simple: Conflict of Interest and obvious chemistry.

The compelling thing about Reylo is how dynamic the two are. Despite them being eachother's equals (stated in The Last Jedi), they both have very different beliefs because of the different sides they originate from.

The two really begin to clash in The Last Jedi during their force-talks given to them by Kylo Ren's mentor, Supreme Leader Snoke, and that's when they really begin to understand eachother. And it's during these force-talks that their prejudice begins to slip away, and they begin to learn things about eachother that they wouldn't have otherwise.

And yet, even with their different opinions, Kylo Ren and Rey still end up saving eachother.

It's interesting that their likeness toward eachother seems to overrule their different opinions.

It's stated in The Last Jedi that they are the same, with Rey being Kylo Ren's equal in the light, and Kylo Ren being Rey's equal in the dark.

And the balance of the force is a reaccuring theme in Star Wars. So my question is, if Kylo Ren were to go to the light side, would the balance be uneven and upset the force?

So, really, this can go so many ways, and there's a good chance it won't work, considering that Jedi aren't allowed to have long emotional attachments.

But this pair is still worth rooting for.

Even though none of them care to admit it, I believe they both really do care for eachother.

And we, as an audience wonder how something like this could work. Because we do want it to work out. And it seems impossible. That's why it's so compelling. We want to know how this ends up.

This pairing had been irrelevant in the time of The Force Awakens, when the only scenes they shared together were fighting and spitting insults at eachother.

But it's when they are in an environment like the force-talks, when they're kind of just stuck with eachother.

And it's in these moments that they share something truely meaningful.

I will admit that I am in full support of Reylo(that is, if they're not siblings, which is a theory for another day). And I think this is an interesting concept for Star Wars.

Before you say "We've seen it before with Padmè and Anakin!" Let me remind you, we knew how it was going to end. We knew Anakin was going to turn evil. But now, we have literally no idea how this could end up. There's a good chance for Kylo Ren to turn, but there's also a good chance he won't. We have no clue.

And that's what I love about Reylo.

"Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. That's the only way to become what you were ment to be."
-Kylo Ren, The Last Jedi