Reddit reviews The Heroine's Journey

> At the end of TFA I'm not sure what romantic notes you think you see between the two, but if there were any it would be indicative of a tragic, toxic, abusive relationship. I mean, he uses the force to essentially mind rape her and then commits patricide right in front of her face, which hurt even more because she had bonded very intensely with Han Solo.

There's a reason the Force stopped them from killing each other in TFA. As for the "mind rape" argument, it's hardly that considering Rey (canonically) gained something from the experience. Not raw Force power—though that counts for something—but she gained the intimate knowledge of Kylo's insecurities and fears. Which informs her understanding of him as a multifaceted being, much the same as he does with her. Say...what does that sound like?

> They also regressed her character back to being intimately wrapped up in her parents and who they were.

To paraphrase the great Carl Jung, our first gods are our parents. Some people struggle their whole life reconciling the fact that their parents are less-than-good, much like a great theological debate.

> Also by the end of TFA she wasn't lonely at all; she had connected with a maternal figure in Leia, a friend and possible love interest in Finn, a budding friendship with Poe, a friendship with BB-8, a larger family and cause to care for with The Resistance and what we had hoped to be a replacement paternal figure/teacher/mentor in Luke.

There's some nifty stuff in this book about heroine's and being "lonely". It talks about how our sexist culture pigeon-holes women into masculine roles and judges their worth by masculine achievement. Highly recommend reading it!

At the end of the day, it's important to remember that Star Wars is nothing more than a modern-day retelling of the central old myth. That is, love is the "third way" of life and to forgive is to be divine. Very easy to see how Reylo fits into this central point!

Maureen Murdock is to the mythic heroine as Joseph Campbell is to the mythic hero. Here's a brief overview if you just want the circle chart and a description, here's her book if you want to get really into it.