Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Rey and Finn

Rey

The pre-release hype for the film played up the question of whether Rey or Finn would be the true protagonist here. In fact, it's both of them…but if you're looking for someone to occupy the pole position, it's definitely Rey, the forgotten scavenger apparently tagged by the Force for much bigger and better things.

Finn

If Rey is Luke Skywalker, all full of destiny and yearning and whatnot, then Finn is Han Solo: someone who's seen a fair bit of the galaxy and actually follows the wrong path for a while until the Force straightens him out.

Rey needs to discover who she is, but Finn needs to stop being afraid of what he was. They're on different paths, but they're both pretty much following the same heroic route. Good thing they ran into each other, huh?