CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:54 pm
Again, Mara and Rey are two totally different characters. They don't have any sort of similar role.
It's useless to compare them.
And I say that in large part because I'd love Mara to show up later in the EU.
I agree that their different characters but not that they don't have similar roles as the two have quite a bit in common. Both are the main protagonist of their respective trilogies, both have a mysterious past, are pretty much the apprentice to Luke have a weird relationship with someone they otherwise hate but grow close to.
The key differences here is Mara zigs everywhere Rey zags. Mara is a more active protagonist as she is the one who movies the plot forward the most in TTT while Rey is just sorta reacting to events around her, Mara's past is revealed to us whereas Rey's is still largely unknown, Luke doesn't teach more in the ways of the Force or the Jedi but rather in the way of people skills while with Rey he doesn't really teach her anything and Mara hatred with Luke is something she really has to overcome throughout the Trilogy while Rey forgives Ren after a few conversations in less time then it takes to heat up a pizza.
I feel comparing Rey to Mara is a great way of going over why I find the latter to be so much weaker as a character then the former. Mara's character was given more focus and development while Rey was made to much of a mystery without a planned payoff in Awakens and was then used more as a means to flesh Luke and Ren out.
One of the best points to compare these two and why one falls short of the other, is when both go to save the person they see as their enemy during the middle chapter, (Luke with Mara and Ren with Rey). The key difference here is Mara is going to get Luke because he's, ironically, the only person she can trust and she's doing it to save her surrogate father from her own mistake. Rey is going to try and redeem Ren because, he was nice to her while she was training with Luke.
One is more character driven and adds layers to said character by showing that she is willing to work with someone she hates to save someone she loves to fix her own mistake. The other is more plot driven as Rey has to be on Snoke's ship for the final battle, makes less sense the more you think about it, actually detracts from Rey's character and is really there more as a means to flesh out Ren.
As for Mara showing up in later in the EU, that I have mixed feelings about as I Do want my favorite character to show up but I haven't exactly been impressed with how the Disney Era has handled the characters from the Lucas Era. The one who has come off the best is Grand Admiral Thrawn and even then I have some issues with how he was done, though admittedly less then the characters in the films but still.
I'm worried that if they brought her back they might try to make her less of a jerk or to much of a jerk or make her a pale shadow of who she was in the Legends continuity. Mara is the kind of character you Really need to put in effort for and I don't feel they've put in that much effort with their own original characters.
Mind you if they did bring her in I would want to see Mara mock Rey, Finn and Ren in someway as that would be so cathartic.
