ladylavenderlight:

okay, but yes. This is such an important exchange, and it comes in the form of a dream in Alexander Freed’s Rogue One novelization.

This is something that is lost in the movie – forgotten in the midst of Galen’s legacy, the inheritance of his Death Star mission, and Cassian’s poignant, “Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn.”

Jyn is not just her father’s daughter.

Jyn is Lyra’s daughter too.

• Lyra, “troublesome as ever.”
• Lyra, adventurer, surveyor, scientist herself.
• Lyra, a believer in the Force.
• Lyra, who recognized the Empire for what it was and saw straight through Orson Krennic’s deception long before the galaxy could imagine what was to come.
• Lyra, who gave her life for the principles of freedom and justice and truth.
• Lyra, an intelligent, courageous, independent Star Wars heroine in her own right.

This dream foreshadows Jyn’s own death. Like her mother, she too will sacrifice her life to stop the will of the Empire from being imposed upon the galaxy; and this is what Lyra appears to be alluding to in this dream. Jyn doesn’t have to follow in her father’s footsteps, becoming a pawn whose only hope is revenge. No – she is to burn brightly until her light is no more.

But interestingly, Lyra is mostly left out of the narrative of Rogue One and the story focuses mostly on Galen. Even Freed’s novel centers on Galen’s absence and apparent betrayal as a driving force behind many of Jyn’s behaviors and actions in the years preceding the story.

Yet Jyn is never once presented as resenting her mother for abandoning her, for making the choice to stand, fight, and die rather than stay with her daughter. Rather, she holds only admiration and fond memories of Lyra and desires to follow in her footsteps. We must not forget it was Lyra’s fury for Krennic, for his life-ruining, that fueled Jyn in her final moments on Scarif. Make no mistake – it was never Galen’s passion, nor Saw’s fire, nor Liana Hallik’s anger that led Jyn to her destiny. It was Lyra’s calm acceptance of death as honorable and the guiding light of her steadfast strength that gave Jyn her fighter’s heart.

“The strongest Stars have hearts of kyber.”

Indeed.

Suggested Reading:

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel