Why I Don't Believe Rey is a 'Mary Sue'

Before I dive into this, I just want to say, I’m not the sort of person who painstakingly dissects book or screen characters. I don’t care if they’re male, female, whatever age, colour or gender… the only thing that matters to me is whether the character has been portrayed well, in a believable way that suits the story.

The reason I wrote this post is basically I got weary of coming across countless articles – written and on YouTube – rubbishing the character of Rey in ‘Star Wars’, calling her a ‘Mary Sue’.

According to The Grammarist, a ‘Mary Sue’ is ‘a fictional character who is so perfect as to be unrealistic… who has no weaknesses, who performs heroically and perfectly in every situation.’

Let’s break that definition down in relation to Rey:

“so perfect as to be unrealistic…”
Merriam-Webster defines ‘perfect’ as ‘being entirely without fault or defect’. So, a perfect character would have no flaws.

But Rey does have, at least, one flaw – a big one. It stems from being abandoned as a child.

She’s made no friends or built any relationships during her years on Jakku. Her reason could be that she’s convinced herself her parents will return, so what’s the point in getting close to people she’ll be leaving, or because she doesn’t want to get close to anyone who might leave her.

That leads to her willingness to do anything to find out who her parents are. In ‘The Last Jedi’, to Luke’s horror, Rey willingly goes to the dark side in an attempt to find out about her parents. Her desperation makes her reckless and it also points to a lack of self-control – the end justifies the means regardless of the price.

“no weaknesses…”
Her main weakness surrounds her need for a parent-figure. Her life revolves around waiting for her parents to come back for her. When she leaves Jakku in ‘The Force Awakens’, she’s planning on going back, so she’ll be there when her parents return.

She agrees to help Finn return BB8 to the Resistance not only because she has a heart of gold but also because she defines her value in the contributions she makes. She doesn’t see herself as valuable because valuable people aren’t left behind, they aren’t abandoned.

When she meets Han, she unconsciously fixates on him as a possible father-figure. She allows herself to get close to Leia for the same reason, and this is made apparent in their interaction in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’.

Leia (played by Carrie Fisher) and Rey in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’

When he realises what her weakness is, that is what Kylo Ren repeatedly uses against her, usually successfully.

“performs heroically and perfectly in every situation…”
In ‘The Force Awakens’, when Luke’s lightsabre calls to Rey in Maz Kanata’s tavern, Maz tells her to take it. Instead of coming over starry-eyed, a visibly shaken Rey rejects it and runs.

When she sees Kylo Ren for the first time, she’s scared and keeps shooting at him with her blaster even though he easily deflects each shot with his lightsabre. She’s in tears as she’s backing away from him.

In ‘The Last Jedi’, if it hadn’t been for Kylo’s actions, there is no way Rey would have escaped Snoke.

There wasn’t a hint of performing ‘heroically and perfectly’ in those situations.

When we first meet Rey on Jakku, the extent of her skills isn’t verbally explained to us; they’re shown in her knowledge of mechanical stuff and what to scavenge off wrecks; her climbing skills; her experience in hand-to-hand combat. It’s obvious she’s been looking out for herself on Jakku for years. Without teaching herself/being taught and polishing up these skills, she never would have survived.

What I like about Rey is her curiosity in wanting to know more. And she herself is delightfully surprised when she seems to suddenly work things out or when answers present themselves to her, which, I believe, hints at her Force sensitivity.

As for her ‘sudden’ knowledge/awareness of the Force and Jedi-like skills, one thing I’ve realised over the years of watching Star Wars – not that I’m an expert! – the way the Force is used in any situation usually seems ‘convenient’; there doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rules in how it actually works. Having said that, I more than happy to be corrected, so please do so if I’ve interpreted it incorrectly.

I personally believe Rey’s increased ability with the Force after Kylo Ren’s attempt to interrogate her is because, in using the Force against her, he inadvertently sparked something in her.

And now that the concept of a dyad has been shown and explained after ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, that seems to make sense.

As to how she knew to use a ‘mind trick’ against the stormtrooper… As the story progresses, it becomes clear that, even though the Jedi haven’t been around for years, stories about them and their powers have passed into legend. Legends which Rey, even Finn, are familiar with. Considering the not-so-delightful Watto knew about Jedi mind-tricks in ‘The Phantom Menace’, why is it such a stretch to accept Rey knowing about it and giving it a go?

There have been rants about how easily she beat Kylo in their last duel in ‘The Force Awakens’. But did she really?

When he faces her, Kylo is hampered by a bad injury, having been shot. Rey’s fighting skills with a lightsabre are practically non-existent – she’s clumsier with a sabre than she is with her staff. She spends more time running than actually engaging him in combat.

It’s only when Kylo mentions the Force does she stop, gather herself and tap into it. That surprises Kylo enough that he falters, giving her the chance to gain the upper hand. When she manages to land a couple of blows, that physically weakens him further.

I didn’t see that as an easy win for Rey.

I can’t help but wonder if the main – only – reason people go on about Rey being a ‘Mary Sue’ is because she’s a female character.

She’s not that different from the way Luke was in ‘A New Hope’, yet not one person called him out – then or now – when he totally embraced the Force without question having known nothing about it until Obi-Wan explained it to him, and when he piloted the fighter in the final battle.

Yes, he’d flown a T-16 while on Tatooine; apparently the controls are similar to those of an X-wing. But surely flying a speeder around your home territory is very different from flying a high-performance fighter in space while being shot at when you’ve had no combat training.

Also, no questions were asked when 9-year-old Anakin, in ‘The Phantom Menace’, piloted a starfighter and, somehow, accidentally destroyed the Federation’s Droid Control Ship.

At the end of the day, Luke was a moisture farmer; Rey is a scavenger who spent her formative years surviving… just saying.

Having laid out my argument, I’ll wrap this up by saying I believe there is an element of ‘Mary Sue’ in Rey’s character.

Why? Because, the more I think about it, I’m sure most, if not all, characters - male and female - especially in the sci-fi/fantasy/action genres, have a touch of ‘Mary Sue’ about them. Sometimes, it’s what’s required for the story to progress.

All they have to do is not be perfect, have flaws and weaknesses, and make sure they don’t perform heroically and perfectly in every situation.