The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy has quite a reputation. There's no doubt that Lucasfilm learned a lot of lessons from it, but it also has quite a vocal fanbase. The movies definitely have a lot of good things going on in them and that translated on-screen. While the story was what it was, the characters of the movies shined through all of it and connected with the audience in many ways.
Fans of the Sequel Trilogy related to these characters for a number of reasons and it helped buoy what could often be seen as a lackluster story. They reached the audience and made fans of them.
8 Rey's Earnest Goodness Allowed Fans To See Past Her Perfection
Rey is the epitome of a Mary Sue. She's good at everything right away, better than the other heroes in their chosen fields, and everyone likes her immediately. She's the most powerful Force user, an amazing Jedi, and in a lot of ways seems completely unrelatable. Under all that perfection is an earnest young woman that is actually pretty relatable.
She indulges in hero worship of people like Han Solo and is starstruck when she meets him. One of the reasons people like her so much is because of how good she is and that earnest goodness, mixed with her geeking out over meeting her idols, makes her someone audiences can understand.
7 Kylo Ren's Rebellious Nature Appealed To The Angry Teenager In Everyone
Kylo Ren's evil ruined his life and in some ways make him a hard sell for the audience to understand. It's hard for most people to relate to someone like him, but there are parts of him that speak to many people, like his rebellious nature. Kylo Ren is the ultimate teenage rebel, choosing evil because of how angry he is at the universe and at his family.
He takes it way farther than most people and his rebellious phase lasts into his thirties, but it's that nature that allowed fans to understand him as a character better.
6 Hux Loses His Faith Because Of How Badly He's Treated At His Job
At first, Hux seems cartoonishly evil, leading a fascist rally and yelling about everything. As the trilogy continues, he becomes more put upon and abused by everyone around him, eventually reaching a breaking point. Eventually, he starts to funnel information to the Resistance in order to get rid of the bosses that abuse him.
Nearly every wage slave in the U.S. has felt the same way Hux has. Gung ho at first but ground down by the constant abuse and underestimation of his skills. Hux snaps and tries to do something about it, which ends badly for him, something that many people can understand because it's happened to them at work as well.
5 Leia's Faith In Her Ideals Keeps Her Going Through Thick & Thin
By the time the Sequel Trilogy rolls around, Leia has lost just about everything. Her son has fallen to evil which ended her relationship with Han, her brother ran off, and her place in the Republic was taken from her when the galaxy learned she was Vader's daughter. None of that stopped her from fighting the good fight with the Resistance, and the reason she does so is because of her faith in her beliefs.
It's this faith that keeps Leia relatable to audiences, as faith in all kinds of things gets most people through the day. Leia's belief in her ideals keeps her going through all of the terrors the galaxy has put her through.
4 Han Solo Is Still The Same Charming Rogue He Always Was
In the Original Trilogy, Han Solo was one of the most human characters in the movies. When the Sequel Trilogy opens, he's pretty much the same character he always was, which is an example of why many people don't like the Sequel Trilogy, but keeps him relatable for audiences. Han Solo is the same charming rogue that fans fell in love with.
While Han does have a few new wrinkles, like his regret for the way his son and relationship with Leia turned out, these only make him more relatable in the long run. His reactions to things, running away from his pain and regressing, are what many people have done in similar situations.
3 Luke Skywalker's Sardonic Attitude About A World That Wasn't What He Thought It Was Makes Him Easy To Understand
Luke Skywalker was the hero of the Original Trilogy, an icon to a generation of fans. The Luke Skywalker the Sequel Trilogy introduced to fans was very different. His failures had caught up to him and instead of facing them head-on, he ran away. He stopped being a hero and became a sardonic old man, waiting for death.
While many fans didn't really like this portrayal of Luke, it did make him a more relatable character as his reactions were very real. The world didn't turn out the way he thought it would and his own failures weighed him down so much that he had to run away. This is a much more realistic depiction, one that many could understand better.
2 Poe Dameron Is Everybody's Cool But Arrogant Best Friend
Poe Dameron is the first character that fans are introduced to and one of his first acts—besides shooting it out with stormtroopers—is sassing Kylo Ren. He uses his humor to deal with the situation, something that many fans can relate to. From there, Poe continues to be cool and likable, if he is a little full of himself.
Poe does suffer from being underused, especially in the last two parts of the trilogy, but he's also an extremely relatable character. Everybody knows someone like him and he's one of the Sequel Trilogy's most fun characters.
1 Finn Learns To Be A Better Person As Time Goes On
Finn is one of the Sequel Trilogy's biggest mistakes because of the way he was criminally underused by the movies. Finn has a lot of characteristics that endeared him to fans. He broke away from the First Order and immediately gravitated towards Poe. He and Rey would bond as well, as he was desperate for actual human contact.
His entire arc throughout the movies is learning to care about others and fight for a cause. This search for something worth fighting for is normal for a lot of people, as many need to find something outside of themselves to care about. Finn's arc was easily the most relatable, as it's one that many people struggle with.