Romance has always been a big part of the Star Wars franchise, but the love story is often the worst part of these movies. The prequel trilogy’s worst scenes see a teenage Padmé falling for a nine-year-old Anakin, Anakin complaining about sand, and Anakin using the Force to feed Padmé the worst part of a pear.
But Anidala isn’t the worst romance in the Star Wars universe. That distinction goes to Reylo, the shipped name of Rey and war criminal Kylo Ren, who inexplicably got together in the sequel trilogy. The saga’s greatest romance is still Han Solo and Leia Organa from the original movies.
Han & Leia Are The Best: Their Romantic Dialogue Isn’t Cringeworthy
A lot of the romantic dialogue in the Star Wars saga, especially the lines written by George Lucas himself, is cringeworthy. Corny dialogue, like “I don’t like sand,” is what let down Anakin and Padmé’s star-crossed romance in the prequels.
Han and Leia’s romantic dialogue in the original trilogy isn’t cringeworthy at all. The lines written by “Queen of Space Opera” Leigh Brackett for Han and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back recall the dynamics she wrote for Marlowe and Vivian in The Big Sleep and Chance and Feathers in Rio Bravo.
Reylo Is The Worst: It’s Toxic
Throughout the sequel trilogy, Kylo Ren kills a bunch of people — including people Rey really cares about — and she finds it irresistible. His genocides are treated as acting out. The whole Reylo dynamic is completely toxic.
If Ben actually turned back to the light before Rey decided she was in love with him, that would be one thing, but she starts pining after Ben long before he realizes mass murder is wrong.
Han & Leia Are The Best: They Have A Real Arc
Unlike Reylo, which the filmmakers figured out along the way without the slightest semblance of a roadmap for where it would go, Han and Leia have a real arc throughout the original trilogy.
They initially hate each other, bickering on the Death Star, but Leia comes to appreciate Han when he proves his capacity for heroism. In Empire, when they’re stuck on the Falcon fleeing from the Imperial fleet, they’re forced to confront their romantic tension. Then, in Return of the Jedi, they fully fall in love after being reunited at Jabba’s palace.
Reylo Is The Worst: It Survived On Daisy Ridley And Adam Driver’s Chemistry Alone
By the good grace of the movie gods, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver share incredible on-screen chemistry. If they didn’t, Reylo’s scenes in the sequel trilogy would be completely unwatchable.
Ridley and Driver’s chemistry — not as strong as Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher’s, but stronger than that of Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman — helped to distract audiences from the toxicity of the romance.
Han & Leia Are The Best: They Suit The Pulpy Tone Of The Saga
George Lucas was heavily influenced by old pulp fiction in constructing the Star Wars universe. The love story of a space pirate and a princess is right at home in this pulpy world.
The love story of Rey and Ben feels like it came out of a completely different space fantasy franchise, one that deals in unhealthy portrayals of romance and sexually charged resurrections.
Reylo Is The Worst: It Only Ever Existed To Pander To Shippers
There were a lot of different opinions floating around on the internet while Disney was rolling out the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and it seemed the studio listened to all the wrong ones. They appeased Kelly Marie Tran’s trolls by sidelining her in The Rise of Skywalker and pandered to the shippers who, for some reason, believed Rey and Ben were destined to be together.
When Ben resurrects Rey and makes out with her before dying, it feels completely forced, because it’s just there to please Reylo shippers. Rey goes and takes Ben’s family name in the very next scene.
Han & Leia Are The Best: Han’s Love For Leia Is A Big Reason For His Change
Over the course of the original trilogy, Han Solo changes a lot. In the first movie, he’s introduced as a scoundrel who only cares about money and his own self-interests, then triumphantly returns to help Luke blow up the Death Star in the 11th hour.
By the end of the trilogy, Han is one of the heroes of the Rebellion. If he wasn’t in love with Leia, he might not have been so eager to change.
Reylo Is The Worst: Ben’s Redemption Was Completely Unearned
Darth Vader wasn’t redeemed for all his war crimes at the end of Return of the Jedi, but it was believable that he was redeemed in his son’s eyes after he saved Luke from Emperor Palpatine and threw his master into the Death Star’s reactor core.
Ben Solo’s redemption — telegraphed from the beginning — didn’t feel earned in the slightest. What brings him back to the light is a vision of Han forgiving him, but Han wasn’t Force-sensitive and therefore couldn’t come back as a ghost, so Ben just imagined that. Vader saved Luke from Palpatine’s wrath. Rey saved herself from Palpatine’s wrath, then died. All Ben saved Rey from was her own death in a lore-stretching lifeforce transfer.
Han & Leia Are The Best: The “I Know” Moment Is Iconic
At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, when Han is captured by Imperial forces and frozen in carbonite, Leia finally tells him, “I love you.” Han coolly replies, “I know.” It’s one of the most iconic moments in movie history (though not quite the most iconic moment in this particular movie, thanks to the “I am your father” twist).
Harrison Ford changed the original line from “I love you, too,” to the more character-specific and memorable “I know.” This dialogue exchange is later reversed in Return of the Jedi when Leia saves Han’s life on Endor and he says, “I love you,” and she replies, “I know.”
Reylo Is The Worst: It Clearly Wasn’t Planned
While Rian Johnson recently clarified that it was always his plan for a romance to develop between Rey and Ben Solo, that clearly wasn’t where J.J. Abrams was headed with The Force Awakens. The Force Awakens seemed to suggest Finn would be Rey’s love interest.
After Ben murdered Han in cold blood, Rey despised him. Turning that hatred into romantic affection was incredibly forced because there’s no believable reason to fall for the evil dictator who killed your beloved mentor.