Not a chapter but just some deep thoughts. During the night I get thinking really deep things and this time I was thinking about Rogue One and it's characters. I realize just how deep it goes into the littlest of details many people don't pay attention to.

I'm also probably overthinking this but I wanted get it out of my system. Also, the majority of this chapter was written at 2AM, usually when I do my most emotional thinking.

Anyway, quick overview of what I was thinking.

1. Mentality

We'll start with Jyn. I read something about her being strong because she had nothing and I agree with that. While characters like Anakin who had a family and close friends to help support them, and characters like Rey have a place like Jakku to call home, Jyn had absolutely nothing except for her Kyber Crystal and hope (remember, she liked to think of her father as dead).

This may make her seem like she's almost too perfect, being able to hold herself together through all this. But she's close to snapping and this is desolated through the sudden urgency in her voice throughout the film. ("What is this?" "I know how to use it!" "You can't talk your way around this.") Her real snapping point comes when she cries during Galen's message and Galen's death.

After an argument with Cassian on the flight back to Yavin IV, Jyn is able to let go of her grudge and formulate a team to capture the Death Star Plans, even though the Rebellion captain was about to kill her father less than 24 hours before. To me, Jyn has one of the strongest mentalities in the Star Wars universe and Felicity Jones did an amazing job portraying such details.

2. Loyalty

In my previou chapters, there is a fact about K2 and how his last thoughts before his death was calculating a way for Cassian to escape the battle alive. Unfortunately his programming failed to do this and K2 realized that Cassian was going to die no matter what. This goes to show that K2 (programmed to save Cassian's life) left the ship on Jedha to go check on Cassian and make sure he was alive. He's able to calculate when he is needed and when is he not (though he can be a little snarky about it sometimes). While he may be the sassiest character of the Rogue 6, he's also the most loyal in the entire film.  With only one rival...

Baze Malbus.

Baze Malbus has been Chirrut's friend for years. According to hints from Guardians of the Whills book, they were friends very early in their lives, even before they became Guardians. It's very clear that Baze is loyal to Chirrut in the film. Like K2, Baze also knows when Chirrut can handle a situation and when he cannot (ex. Chirrut beating up the stormtrooper's on Jedha followed by Baze shooting down the next round). Unfortunately, this trust lead to their ultimate deaths, with Baze repeating the last words of his best friend.

Loyalty in movies is something that is usually depicted as two people being loyal through love. These four characters show that you don't need love to make you loyal. They also display the strength that friendships can have and how that got them as far as they needed to.

3. Weak But Strong

Let's talk Bodhi Rook for a moment. Bodhi Rook is a cargo pilot. He originally enlisted to be a fighter pilot but failed the test and got a job as a cargo pilot instead. Bodhi's job didn't give him the major skills to be a fighter, and so when tasked with the crucial mission to bring Galen's message to Saw, Bodhi's mental strength was unable to withstand the trauma of a space octopus searching his mind.

For the rest of the film, he is unable to do much, and as far as I can remember, he never pulls a blaster trigger. But he wants to help in anyway he can, always trying to do something that could make a difference. His strengths come into play during the Battle of Scarif when he is able to assist in getting past the gates, setting diversions over the coms, and contacting the Rebellion fleet to let them know the files are going to be sent up.

To me, Bodhi is the easiest person I can relate to. He's scared when faced with a large task but he tries to help complete it in any way he can; exactly how I would act in that situation.

4. If You Just Believe...

Switch characters, it's Chirrut Îmwe's turn. Not much information is given about Chirrut, but from what I've scavenged around the internet, Chirrut has been blind his whole life (it's not clear if he was born blind or went blind at an early age) and this proved to be a major setback in many things for him. A strong believer in the Force, Chirrut learned how to overcome his disability by turning it into a strength. He would deceive his enemy with his blindness and then knock them out (ex. Jedha scene). All the while, he continued to have faith in the Force.

This was an excellent representation of belief to drive the body. Whether it's belief in a god, a dream, an object, yourself, or anything else, if someone believes in that person or thing enough, it might carry them through their hardships.

5. The Tolls of Star Wars

This is a long section.

Sometimes we get characters like Leia, who is strong enough to continue moving on even though she lost her adoptive and real parents, plus her entire planet. She also lost Han. Sometimes, we get characters like Yoda, who go a little crazy after years and years of war and become bamboozled by a flashlight after 20 years of not seeing one. And then we get characters like Cassian and Saw.

Cassian is like Jyn. He's got a strong mentality but he's close to breaking ("I've been in this fight since I was six!"). To cope with that, he follows his missions and doesn't question them. He's become mentally destroyed enough that alone, he starts to loose his perspective of right or wrong. He will even shoot messengers to save his own neck (Imagine if what happened in Cassian's first scene happened to Bodhi). Cassian might as well have been brainwashed. But when he teams up with a group of misfits who are able to relate to him through their backstories, Cassain receivers the emotional support he needs to break out of his trance and start to separate right and wrong, even if it does take the whole Eadu scene.

Saw is just the opposite. He had his emotional support back in the Clone Wars. Following his sister's death, he continued to fight the Empire but isolated himself from the regular Rebellion ways and went on to be known as an extremist. He becomes weary of everyone, as seen in Star Wars Rebels. As the years pass, Saw is emotionally broken down and eventually he realizes that he's too far gone to continue to fight, which helps him make the decision to die with the Jedha explosion.

Galen Erso first right in here this category. He lost everything throughout his life, only gaining things that lead to his own death. Galen's will to stay out of the fight caused him to run into his skills being used to building an ultimate creation (*cough* Death Star *cough*). He lacked some social skills, which was easy for people like Orson Krennic to manipulate him around.

As soon as he realize that Krennic was using him (actually Lyra realized it and then told him) Galen tried to run. But he was unable to do so and found himself back in the Empire's clutches. So Galen did what he could. He made a flaw in the Death Star.

In a way, he's like Bodhi. He's not mentally strong like the rest of the characters yet he tries to do the right thing in any way he can. He's also like Saw, broken in a way he knows he can't return. In a desperate attempt to do the right thing for the Galaxy, he sends a message to Saw in hopes that someone will destroy the weapon he created. Galen may have had less than 20 minutes on screen, but he's one of the most broken characters seen in Star Wars along with Saw.

6. Protector

According to Wookiepedia, Lyra grew up on a planet where she had to fight to survive. This carried into her later life, making her the protector of her family. Like Saw, she was weary of everything, and it didn't take her long to realize that Krennic was manipulating Galen to draw his research out for the ultimate weapon project (I think it was called DS-1? Correct me if I'm wrong).

Time skip to the beginning of Rogue One. The Ersos knew the drill well and the plan was to let Galen deal with Krennic. But Lyra knew all too well that Galen was incapable of protecting himself against someone like Krennic. So she made sure Jyn was safe before returning to Galen to protect him. Lyra's attempt to save her family fell short when she was shot down.

A similar story could also work for Baze Malbus.

7. Mentality Part 2

And now for Krennic. I'm going to say this plain and straight. Krennic is a bit of a psychopath. Krennic lacks (Imperial) dscipline and emotions such as mercy, regard for the innocent, and compassion. And that's what makes him such an amazing villain in my opinion.

Now, I don't want to offend anyone, but personally I think Krennic has a bit of a mental disability, mainly a God Complex. Throughout the film, it's shown multiple times that he's trying to control everything or all his actions are just to promote himself/become recognized by the Emperor (such a betraying Lyra and Galen, shooting the engineers on Eadu for standing, destroying Jedha's Holy City). Other examples can be found in the Catalyst novel, such as how he was able to easily manipulate just about anyone. Krennic will do the job himself, putting his life on the line if it means being recognized.

Returning to Rogue One, if Krennic does have this sort of mentality, this not only makes him one of the most dangerous imperials, but also one of the most dangerous villains in the Star Wars universe. Imagine if the Death Star was completed years before the Battle of Yavin. How would Krennic have used its power? It's too bad we don't get more about this character from the movie. Krennic has a lot of opportunity here, it's almost like Disney needs to write a book or a 30 minute movie just to give this character some limelight of his skills.

Okay! There's your 1800+ word chapter of the day! I'll release something a little more light hearted after this to make up for it. What do you think about Rogue One's characters? Did they strike the same feelings that I had or something else? Let me know what you think!

~derp_eyes