Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Little Women Have Exactly Opposite Endings

I chose this image solely to draw y'all in

Spoiler warning for both Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker and Little Women.

 The climax of Rise of Skywalker features its protagonist Rey Skywalker, nee Palpatine, kissing deuteragonist Ben Solo, nee Kylo Ren, for what can only be presumed to be both’s first kiss. This comes at the end of a trilogy where the two alternated between wanting to murder each other and wanting to turn the other the side of light or dark, respectively. Not because the two had shown any romantic leanings towards each other but because they both believed they were on the correct path but were alone and in pain.

This recontextualizes all of episodes seven (The Force Awakens), eight (The Last Jedi), and nine not as Rey’s story about her journey to discover her place in the world (Saving the galaxy in the process), but as the redemption of Kylo Ren via the women in his life, especially his romance with Rey. While The Force Awakens ends with Rey harboring a deep hatred of Kylo, The Last Jedi sees her overcome that hate in an attempt to redeem him. Not out of any romantic feelings though. Rey recognizes that he is unsure not only of his choices but the general path he is on. Kylo recognizes similar conflicts in Rey and tries to sway her to his side. That film ends with their relationship irreparably damaged. Both believe the other is beyond reaching.

Except The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t believe that. At the beginning of this film, Rey and Kylo are inexplicably pining for each other again. This is especially true of Rey who lacks any character arc for herself other than fixing Kylo. This culminates in a lightsaber duel on Kef Bir. The two are locked in a stalemate when Leia distracts her son from across the galaxy. Rey takes this opportunity to fatally wound Kylo before healing him and leaving.

Let’s talk Leia. Her sole purpose in this film is to be a mother figure Rey and Kylo (Don’t think about it too much). The first thing we see her do is play that role while training Rey to be a Jedi. The only other thing she does is contact her son from across the galaxy. She does so by creating a projection of her late husband to absolve Kylo of patricide. Then she passes away.

These two kindnesses convince Kylo he can change and returns to his given name, Ben Solo. Next we see him, Ben is running to help Rey on Exegol. Rey dies destroying a resurrected Emperor Palpatine (It’s a whole thing). But Ben is able to bring her back by transferring his life force (Life Force?) into her. They have a quick kiss and then he fades away. Also, I guess Rey isn’t struggling with the lure of the Dark Side of the Force anymore. In the final scene, Rey announces herself as Rey Skywalker, taking Ben’s ancestral name (Remember, Han is the only Solo other than Ben.).

So, how did we get here, you may ask? The honest answer is that Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver (And thus their characters) have crackling chemistry that overtakes any scene they have together. Also, we have a female lead and a male lead and that means they must be a couple by the end, even if it makes no sense for the characters. Or at least that’s what media and stories have trained us to think for ages.

In fact, that is exactly why Jo March marries Friedrich Bhear in the novel Little Women. The book’s author, Louisa May Alcott, actually never intended Jo to marry though. It was only after negotiating with her publisher that Alcott changed the ending of her story to have Jo marry. Of course, she was not happy about and instead of having Jo marry Laurie, the seemingly perfect match boy next door, Jo married the significantly older Bhear.

As Little Women is a semi-autobiographical novel, Jo March is very similar to Alcott.  Alcott was a strong-willed writer that never married because she saw it as an institution with little merit. The newest film adaption of Alcott’s most famous story takes that similarity one step further by changing the ending from the book. Not only does Jo not marry Mr. Bhear, there is a scene with her publisher in which she negotiates the contract for her new novel, “Little Women”. In this scene, Jo and Alcott become one and the same. As the negotiations progress, Jo is told that she must marry off her protagonist because the book won’t sell if she doesn’t. Eventually, Jo relents but only after a comment about the mercenary nature of marriage.

This is a running theme throughout the film. Not that women shouldn’t marry, but that women aren’t only for marriage and carrying children. Meg marries for love and Amy marries for wealth. While Jo rejects these as valid ways of life for herself, neither marriage is framed as harmful or negative by the film. Meg truly loves her husband despite how poor he is. Amy tells her husband, the aforementioned Laurie, that she loves him, but marriage is strictly an economical arrangement for her prior to their marriage.

Of course, arguably the most famous scene in Little Women is the scene where Laurie proposes to Jo. In the film, as in the novel, Jo rejects Laurie out of hand. Not because he is a bad man or because she doesn’t love him. Rather, it is because she doesn’t want to be someone’s wife. Jo believes there is more to what is and what she can be. This is reinforced in the final scenes, including the negotiation, when Jo chases after a departing Bhear but does not eventually marry him.

Jo March is a woman with dreams. An aspiring writer who will let nothing get in her way. She won’t marry. Not because she can’t find someone to love, but because she knows there are other options for women. Rey was a woman with questions about who she was and where she belonged. Unfortunately, the answers to those questions are that she is intrinsically and romantically linked with a man she had no romantic feelings toward. Until she did, that is. After all, if the main character is a girl, she must be married by the end.