Star Wars: The Force Awakens

First comes the day Then comes the night. After the darkness Shines through the light. The difference, they say, Is only made right By the resolving of gray Through refined Jedi sight. —Journal of the Whills, 7:477

It is you,” Ren murmured. His words unsettled her: Not for the first time, he seemed to know more about her than she did about herself.

She finally managed to free her fingers from his. “I know how to run without you holding my hand!

That was her life, Rey reflected: a succession of anxious moments, interrupted only by the novelty of occasional panic.

When people don’t have access to facts, they invent what they’d like to believe, or what they think others would like to hear.

If there was one thing a competent fighting force did not need, Hux knew, it was unforeseen outbursts of individuality.

Those who had led the rebellion had under-estimated the deeply buried desire of far too large a proportion of the population who simply preferred to be told what to do. Much easier it was to follow orders than to think for oneself. So everyone had argued and debated and discussed. Until it was too late.

She had seen this man before, in a daydream. In a nightmare.

Hearing his howls of outrage, a pair of stormtroopers crossing at the far end of the access hallway changed course to investigate. What they saw within the cell as bits and pieces of red-hot debris came flying out caused them to retreat the way they had come—fast.

you just performed the improbable by doing the impossible.

Back to Jak— Why does everyone always want to go back to Jakku? There’s nothing there! Sand and junk and rocks and sand and quicksand and sand—I don’t get it!

She was nearly twenty, with dark hair, darker eyes, and a hint of something deeper within. There was a freshness about her that the surrounding harsh landscape had failed to eliminate. Anyone glancing at her would have thought her soft: a serious error of judgment.

The trooper spoke while staring nervously down the corridor. “Because it’s the right thing to do.” Poe shook his head, not buying it for a second. “Buddy, if we’re gonna do this, we have to be honest with each other.” The trooper stared at him for a long moment. “I need a pilot.

Revenge is little more than an adolescent concession to personal vanity.

With a shock, the trooper who had arrived to render aid to his fallen comrade recognized the one whose life was now bleeding out inside his armor. They had trained together. Shared meals, stories, experiences together. Now they were sharing death together.

Hux refused to pace, regarding it as a waste of energy.

The Supreme Leader’s voice was flat. “You have compassion for her.” “No—never. Compassion? For an enemy of the Order?” “I perceive the problem,” Snoke intoned. “It isn’t her strength that is making you fail. It’s your weakness.” The rebuke hurt, but Ren didn’t show it.

There are even a handful who like to collect biological specimens. Those with money collect live ones. Those without money become scientists.

Death displays nothing if not variety in its methods, which are often surprising and sometimes amusing.

Yes, there's a lot of sand here. Beebee-Ate? Okay. Hello, Beebee-Ate. My name is Rey. No, just Rey.

If she could push him out of her mind and enter his, what else could she do? What might she be able to do with regard to someone else? Someone less skilled, untrained in the ways of the Force? The single guard posted just inside the front of her cell, for example? “You!” He turned toward her, patently unconcerned and not a little bored. She studied him closely. As he was about to speak, she addressed him clearly and firmly—and not only with her voice. “You will remove these restraints. And you will leave this cell, with the door open, and retire to your living quarters.” The guard eyed her silently. He did not look in the least intimidated. Her confidence wavering as she shifted slightly in her bonds, she repeated what she had said with as much authority as she could muster. “You will remove these restraints. And you will leave this cell, with the door open, and retire to your living quarters. You will speak of this encounter to no one.” Raising the heavy, black-and-white rifle he held, he came toward her. Heart pounding, she watched him approach. Was she going to be killed, freed, or maybe laughed at? Halting before her, he looked down into her eyes. When he spoke again, there was a notable alteration in his voice. It was significantly less confrontational and—distant. “I will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open, and retire to my living quarters. I will speak of this encounter to no one.” Working methodically, he unlatched her shackles. He stood and stared at her for a moment, then turned and wordlessly started for the doorway. Lying in shock on the reclined platform, Rey hardly knew what to do next. She was free. No, she corrected herself: She was free of this cell. That hardly constituted freedom. But it was a beginning. As the guard reached the doorway, she spoke hastily. “And you will drop your weapon.” “I will drop my weapon,” he responded in the same uninflected voice. This he proceeded to do, setting the rifle down on the floor, then turning left into the outside corridor to depart in silence. For a long moment she stared at the open portal. Deciding that it was not a joke and that the guard was not waiting for her just outside the cell, she moved to pick up the weapon and leave. —

Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force, and all will be given over to the dark side.

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead.

Forgive me. I feel it again. The pull to the light. The Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again the power of the darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way.

Captain Phasma. Remember me?” He moved his weapon slightly. “Here’s my blaster, ya still wanna inspect it?” Phasma held on to her dignity. “Yes, I remember you. FN-2187.” Finn shook his head curtly. “Not anymore. My name is Finn. A real name for a real person. And I’m in charge now.

I will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open, and retire to my living quarters. I will speak of this encounter to no one.