In honor of the next main Star Wars film finally getting a title, this week’s Tune for Tuesday is the theme of the sequel trilogy’s heroine: Rey.
Let’s just all collectively admit it now: John Williams’ work as a film composer is pretty iconic. I mean, when you’re the man behind the Star Wars theme, the Indiana Jones theme, the Jaws theme, the Jurassic Park theme, and still more — seriously, we don’t even have time to list all of his major works, let alone the more minor ones. We’ll let his IMDb page do the talking instead.
Anyway, this week is a good week to be a Star Wars fan, since Episode VIII finally has a proper title. In December, we’ll see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As a result, we thought it seems like a good time to take a look at the protagonist — and let’s also just collectively admit that Rey is the protagonist — and her theme. It’s been noted pretty much everywhere that Williams loves to use leitmotifs for characters. Therefore, we can almost certainly expect variants of this piece to show up in The Last Jedi.
Here it is as it appears in The Force Awakens:
And, for some comparison, here it is as it appears in the credits, or, as the track calls it, the finale. Skip to about three minutes in.
We won’t go so far as to call the opening sections of “Rey’s Theme” childlike, but they do have a certain young feeling to them. Since we see Rey herself donning an old Rebellion helmet during her evenings, it’s not a surprising choice. However, as the theme continues, more instruments are added in, resulting in a more complex, rich sound and a slightly different arrangement of notes.
Now, where have we heard this sort of thing before? Oh, yes, “The Force Theme” — or, as you may casually refer to it, Luke Skywalker’s theme, since it has a tendency to show up when he’s around.
We’re not saying Rey’s a Skywalker, but we’re kind of saying Rey’s probably a Skywalker.
Next: What Does The Last Jedi Mean?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on Dec. 15.