I was eleven when the original Star Wars (Episode IV, if you must) was released, and it blew me away. I was a tremendous fanboy decades before the word was coined. Central to my fascination was Luke Skywalker and his destiny to become a great Jedi. For decades, it remained my favorite of all of the Star Wars movies.
Until 2016.
Destiny is a dominant theme in the Star Wars universe. Luke’s destiny to become a Jedi. Anakin’s destiny to embrace the Dark Side and become Darth Vader. C-3PO’s destiny to be a pain in everyone’s ass across several generations.
Then along came Jyn Erso.
If you’ve not seen the film, Jyn is the hero of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, released in 2016. She was just an ordinary young woman. No special powers, no lofty heritage or birthright, and certainly no destiny. Her only claim to fame is that her father was one of the designers of the Death Star, and it’s nothing she’s proud of. At the beginning of the movie, Jyn is on her own and looking out for herself. By the third act, she’s mounted a mission to steal the Death Star plans and deliver them to the Rebellion. Not because she’s destined to. She could just walk away. But she does it because it’s the right thing to do.
There’s nothing wrong with characters following destinies, if that’s your thing. It’s just not mine. I just feel it takes some agency away from the character. They’re basically just doing what they’re supposed to do, what’s expected of them. “Destiny” implies that it’s going to happen. The fact that Jyn wasn’t acting from a sense of duty or obligation to a destiny made her, to me, that much more heroic.
Jess Porter, the main character of my novel Talented, doesn’t have a destiny, either. She’s told she has a purpose, but she has no idea what it is. As a result, her heroism is her own, beholden to no one. There are no guarantees of success. Anything can happen, and it’s my job to make sure it does. In fact, Jess has had and will have her share of failures. Her telekinesis aside, Jess is, at heart, just an ordinary woman trying to do the right thing, even when it’s not easy.
And I think we can all relate to that.
Howard L. Campbell 