“Rey’s Aria”

Story and characters based on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” property of Lucasfilm Ltd, directed by Rian Johnson

Librettist: Caroline Cao

Composer: SiHyun Uhm

Voice Range: Soprano

Scenario: Force-sensitive scavenger Rey is caught in a dangerous game. She has lost hope that the Jedi Luke Skywalker will be the salvation for the Resistance cause against the evil First Order. She reaches out to First Order minion Kylo Ren, hoping that the light within him would win out. At first, he seems to live up to that faith when he assassinates the Supreme Leader and rescues her. However, Kylo Ren is more interested in sharing a villainous power grab with her than saving the galaxy. This aria arrives when Kylo Ren tempts Rey with promises of power after the assassination of the Supreme Leader.

Note: The repetition of lines does not follow a strict quantity and serve as suggestions for the composer and can be readjusted.

Suggested Tempo: Starting as slow as a death march before accelerating, since time is on the essence

Setting: The Throne Room of Supreme Leader.

(Out the window is the fire and fury of the battle between the First Order and the Resistance. The ground shivers. The Supreme Leader lays on the floor, bisected. Kylo Ren has his hand outstretched to Rey. Time has frozen and Rey is locked in her own mind. She collapses on her knees.)

There’s nothing in the flicker

It’s so easy to fall further

It’s so easy to fall further

It’s so easy to fall further

I should fall further

I saw the flicker in you

And then believed in you

I should fall further

After all I was the one who trusted you

I was the one who fell for your flicker

(The battle thunders outside)

I fell into my abyss

I thought I understood the dark

I thought I understood the cold

Within you

Within me

I should fall further

Skywalkers are fallen

I believed too much in myths

I believed too much in redemption tales

And look where that’s brought me

I should fall further

I grasped too hard at the shards

And I bled

(Another thunder)

It’s too easy to fall further

It’s too easy to fall further

It’s too easy to fall further

(She hears a distant chorus of the Resistance, voices mingling. Among the chorus is the humming of Finn, her dear friend. She rises. She turns away from Kylo Ren’s outstretched hand)

Leave the past behind

Leave the dark behind

Leave the debris behind

Leave the pity and the mercy behind

Leave Ben behind

Leave another Skywalker behind

I won’t have a part of your Hell

You can keep your flickers

You can keep your debris

You can stay in your abyss

I’m rising out of mine

(The ship crumbles apart. Rey turns to leave. Kylo Ren attempts to Force-snatch her back but she won’t have it. A saber clash ensues between them, leading to a Force-grapple for Rey’s saber, only for it to split in two, flinging them from opposite ends of the chamber. Rey springs to her feet and takes the split saber away. The dark swallows Kylo Ren completely as Rey flees toward the chorus of the Resistance.)