starkiller base

Like Rey, Finn is on his own hero’s journey. It starts with the death of fellow trooper FN-2003, aka “Slip.” This trooper’s identity was established in the anthology novel Before the Awakening and confirmed in the Visual Dictionary. Slip was the weakest link in Finn’s unit and Finn was reprimanded by Captain Phasma for helping […]

Kylo is tied with Rey as my favorite new character. Having searched out spoilers, his characterization was actually one of the few surprises of the film for me. I suspected long before seeing the film that he was Han and Leia’s son and knew that he was a Vader fanatic, but his volatile and emotional […]

BB-8: BB-8 is a great achievement in conveying emotion in a non-humanoid droid. It is hard to match R2, but I believe BB-8 lived up to the challenge. BB is immediately likable with an almost childlike personality. The emotion he shows at Poe’s apparent death; the hesitation to lie for Finn; the thumbs up; the […]

Though he doesn’t get as much screentime as the other young newcomers, Poe has great impact on the plot of The Force Awakens. He is quickly established as a very skilled and heroic character, someone who is willing to risk his life for the Resistance, yet he is not without humor, even in the menacing […]

Played by legendary actor Max von Sydow, Lor is an intriguing new character who has little screentime, yet the casting of such an iconic and brilliant actor works to immediately convey the importance and gravity of this character. He brings with him a dignity that also gives greater emotional weight to Lor’s death. It feels […]