Rumors about Gwendoline Christie's character

[Brandon Rhea]

http://badassdigest.com/2014/07/22/...ies-star-wars-episode-vii-character-was-gend/

Potential spoilers follow.

Long story short, she's supposedly a villain, an Imperial officer hunting John Boyega's character - who is said to be as stormtrooper who deserted and then became Ridley's character's friend and ally. The article also suggests that the character was gender-swapped, that it may have been written for Benedict Cumberbatch before being changed to a woman (since the character being a male was not required).

This is the same guy, btw, who reported on the lightsaber story from the other day.

And if Daisy Ridley's character is the new Luke Skywalker and John Boyega is meant to be the new Han Solo, then it makes sense that Boyega - like Han - would be on the run from the law.

 

[Blaxican]

That she's playing a character that was "male-neutral" is in itself awesome, and a great step for the representation of women in films.

I'm not crazy about her role, as described though. It seems like such an specific and limited pathos that it implies to me one of three things: either she won't play a very large role besides being a minor antagonist for just this film, a lot of the movie will be spent on this one planet, or that she won't have a minor role and the film won't spend a significant amount of time on this one planet, but she'll be chasing Boyega across various planets... which would be creepy and obsessive.

But that's initial impressions. We obviously don't have the whole story, and I can also see the potential for her role to be expanded- if there's rumors of her having a lightsaber, she might be a face-heel turn character who becomes a good guy.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I don't see why an Imperial officer being creepy and obsessive to hunt down a traitor would be a bad thing. That makes sense to me. Imperials are villains, after all.

 

[Kaeb]

She occasionally shows bouts of tenacity and absolute determination on GoT, so I can definitely see her as a villain, rumours and hearsay aside of course, that'd just be interesting.

 

[Blaxican]

I don't see why an Imperial officer being creepy and obsessive to hunt down a traitor would be a bad thing. That makes sense to me. Imperials are villains, after all.

Considering Boyaga's age, his rank as a Stormtrooper isn't likely to be very high, probably around the private/corporal level. That would make his CO Captain/Major rank.

Considering the size of the Empire, even as a remnant, it's probable that thousands of soldiers desert annually. Leading a system-wide manhunt to capture a deserting private/corporal is not only beyond the scope of an Officer at that rank, but would be a pretty gross misallocation of resources. For that to make sense, Boyega's character would have to have done something much more severe to warrant so much effort, and in that case it wouldn't be his CO chasing him, it would be an officer specialized to deal with such situations.

Which could very well end up being who she is, too, considering that she's been seen with a lightsaber. Here's hoping she plays an SS/James Bond type character.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Rank is not always an indicator of importance. You're over-thinking this.

 

[Blaxican]

I covered that, m8.

Though I also edited my post about ten thousand times, so. Dunno which version of it you saw.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I think you're making a simplistic assumption regarding how it wouldn't be the CO looking for him. Maybe Boyega's character is really important, and losing him would reflect really badly on Christie? Maybe he's not important, but a defection - ANY hint of rebellion in this era - is a harshly punishable offense? She doesn't have to be looking for him because of him, she could be looking for him to save her own ass.

There are plenty of ways this makes sense. It's pretty simple.

 

[Blaxican]

The problem with that is: in the Military, you need orders from someone higher than you to do anything beyond wiping your ass. If she initiated this multi-planet manhunt without getting the go-ahead from a higher up, she'd be going rogue herself (which could be the case!). If she was sanctioned to initiate such an operation, well... why? Such an operation would require an immense amount of logistical and intelligence support- well beyond the expertise of a mere Stormtrooper Captain. It'd be like Private Bob being tasked with locating and hunting down Osama Bin. The Empire has an intelligence/counter-intelligence division, does it not? One would hope...

Sans her going rogue on a vendetta (which transcends into the obsessive category), it would make a lot more sense for her to simply be an intelligence officer/special agent type character, rather than just a line-officer.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Again, we don't know what the Empire is like. We don't know how centralized it is. It's obviously some sort of remnant, it could be broken up more, serving individual warlords and commanders, but answering to some sort of loose - and terrifying - central authority.

There's really not a problem with the concept. It can work in any number of ways.

 

[Blaxican]

I'm deliberately being a shitbird btw in ignoring the possibility that the rumor-monger is using the term "commanding officer" as a general description for someone of higher rank rather than its technical definition because **** you all I'm not writing this essay. That's due tomorrow.

That it may be weakened and disorganized enough for anyone of "rank" to more or less be a cowboy with their forces would indeed be a fair explanation, but then at that point she's no longer the Commanding Officer of a Stormtrooper private, unless we're assuming that the guy who leads the grunts is competing with the janitor and chef for the Warlord's right-hand man.

That could be a thing, she could be a member of a relatively small-time Warlord's army whose military is so small that the normal chain-of-command seen in a healthy military has been dramatically shortened, or even done away with all together. But then I'd question this seemingly impotent Warlord's ability to find this one guy, much less be a threat to anyone.

Now, what would be cool, is if perhaps she merely starts off as an insignificant Captain, but turns out to be a closet-badass who usurps control of the Warband and then uses her newfound authority to hunt John. Like, maybe she knows that he's a threat to the Empire and no one believes her and the Warlord is like "calm your tits woman, he's just some random deserter it's no biggie" and she gets frustrated and kills him. "Surprise, bitch! I'm a force user!"

She could be like Admiral Daala, but without the sheer, mind-bending incompetence. And the creepy affair with a 70 year old dude.

 

[Shroud]

She'll beat everyone up just like she did The Hound.

 

[Lavi]

The big thing here is that we're not sure how the Imperial remnant operates or how big it is after 30 years. There is nothing to say that Boyega isn't worth hunting: what if he was rapidly promoted through the ranks because of a manpower shortage under the remnant and the officer corps were in desperate need of veterans (read: people with combat experience) to lead their soldiers? That can easily bump Boyega up to an NCO, despite his apparent age. Rank doesn't have to be a limiting factor in how the story goes.

 

[Blaxican]

If the Remnant is as ****ed as you say with this man-power shortage and disorganization, I'm dubious of how successful they'd be at hunting one man across several planets.

Though that might be the point. If the movie's dark enough, and with the rumors about Luke's severed hand wandering around space that might just be the case, there could be merit in having a few scenes where a lightsaber-wielding Gwendolyn Christie and her ramshackle army of twenty dudes chase John Boyega through a crowded urban street with Benny Hill music in the background.

If you were to say that that doesn't appeal to you on at least some level, I'd say you were a liar.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

There's also reports that the Empire is developing some kind of superweapon. If true, it's possible Boyega's character knows something about that, making him a security risk. There could be multiple people hunting him, one of whom could be his CO.

 

[Lavi]

So the Empire still hasn't learned the futility of making superweapons? Oh boy.