We’ve got enough details about Finn, Rose, and DJ, that things are starting to solidify. Let’s take a look of what exchanges the three of them might have.
We’ve discussed before about the reason why Finn and Rose seek out DJ is because he’s a slicer, or a “hacker” in the Star Wars galaxy. We’ve gone as far as to speculate that the reason why Finn and Rose need to meet a slicer is to get into a First Order ship, possibly Supreme Leader Snoke’s ship, The Supremacy.
In fact, it there is evidence that Maz is the one that connects them to DJ. Maz is pretty well connected, so presumably DJ is one of the best people in the galaxy for such a task. But why DJ? It might be because DJ has a past with the First Order. Such as background would give him the inside knowledge needed to break into such a well protected location.
I was inspired to write this by a theory on Reddit that DJ was Captain Cardinal, from the Phasma novel. While I’m not sure if I’ll go this far, I like the idea of DJ being a former First Order officer of some type, maybe someone that worked with security. That said, the Captain Cardinal theory would be good as his history and would connect to the books in a cool way. The only flaw of this theory is too few degrees of freedom between Finn, Phasma, and DJ.
The reason why I like the idea that DJ is a former First Order officer is because it gives a great opportunity for some meaningful dialogue between Finn and DJ. This is in part motivated by quotes from John Boyega, namely in The Last Jedi panel back in April SWCO, he stated
“In The Last Jedi, it’s a test for all the characters, but specially for Finn.”
He went on to say that Finn wants to find his place in this fim.
“Finn definitely stood up for himself at the end of The Force Awakens,” Boyega said. “[And] in The Last Jedi, it’s a test for all the characters, but specifically for Finn. He wants to find his place now.”
So he is tested, and then finds his place. Entertainment weekly made this even more clear. Boyega tells EW:
“It got really real for him, [a]nd he just wants to get away and not be involved. His intention in the first place was to go to the Outer Rim. He was always brought back [in The Force Awakens,], but this is his chance to get away and perhaps find Rey and go off together. He’s trying to do that at first.”
It sounds like Finn isn’t sure what path he’s on exactly, and may still have some of the inclinations to run like he did in TFA. After all, he now has Kylo Ren wanting revenge for that lightsaber wound.
The encounter with DJ, then presents an opportunity for DJ to provide his views. We know from his hat’s label, his philosophy might mean “don’t join”. If DJ is a former First Order officer, he could share this past with Finn, leading to an immediate connection. I’m inclined to think that DJ’s message would extend further, and he would tell Finn not to join the Resistance as well. Here’s what Boyega has to say about DJ:
“He has distinct opinions, The Resistance bombs the First Order one day, the First Order bombs the Resistance on another. It’s an ongoing war that will never end. For him, he’s trying to benefit off of that — which doesn’t make him the person you want to trust.”
So if DJ is suggesting to Finn not to join anything, he might be an opposing voice to that of Rose, who is loyal to the Resistance. Rose is in awe of Finn, and think he’s a big deal. EW quotes Boyega by saying:
“He appreciates the adoration for a second, but when he meets her, Finn is trying to escape the whole war. He’s trying to leave,” Boyega says. “And she comes in and basically gives him a depiction of himself that wasn’t necessarily true.”
So the way I see it, Rose is part of what is pushing Finn further into the resistance, despite the fact that he wants to leave at first, and DJ is pushing him out by encouraging him not to join. A lot of the images I see of Finn and Rose suggest a sort of disagreement between them. Check out the cover of this book
Similarly for the featured image above. I haven’t seen this much squabbling since Han and Leia in ESB. The kind of opposing view points of DJ and Rose, with Finn in the middle make for some great dialogue, and great opportunities for character development. Somehow, I think they’ll take advantage of this.
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