What is a Narrative Foil?

Simply put, a narrative foil is a character that is used to highlight traits in another character through comparison and contrast. Foils add depth to both characters, as they explore the things define both as characters and how they function in the story. This, of course, doesn’t mean that the characters are limited to how they compare or contrast to the other character in any way, it just means that there are similarities and differences the audience to pay attention to. As long as the characters are well crafted they can stand on their own, regardless of whether or not the foil anyone else.

One of my favorite scenes of The Force Awakens is the opening. Here, we’re introduced to three characters that will play big roles in our story, and two of them are masked. It’s a moment where we’re introduced to a whole hell of a lot; the characters, the main conflict of the movie, an important setting, and of course, our first big foil for the remaining films: Finn and Kylo. The two of them are such interesting reflections of each other and contrasting in nearly every way and it’s fascinating in terms of who they will grow to be and what it means for both of them when their paths cross. Though they contrast, I feel they may have more in common than it appears at first.

The Contrast

The first scene of The Force Awakens does a lot narratively. In addition to all the establishment of conflict and providing an interesting hook for the audience, it directly singles out Finn and Kylo as characters we should watch and it even makes them acknowledge each other. That little moment of recognizance between the two, when their eyes lock for just a moment, forces us to consider both of them at that moment and to consider what might happen between the two of them in the future.

At first glance, we might be tempted to see them as strictly opposite. After all, they are framed very differently. Kylo speaks while Finn is silent. Kylo strikes down Lor San Tekka and orders a village executed while Finn watches a friend die and can’t bring himself to shoot. Kylo is clothed in all black and Finn is in white. But then they lock eyes and Kylo ignores Finn’s insubordination. It’s Phasma who wants to correct Finn’s behavior, not Kylo, even though he’s got just as much authority to do so. And it’s, of course, this act of mercy that allows Finn to escape, using the authority Kylo’s name grants him no less.

The conflict these two characters carry is also in sharp contrast. Kylo is fighting the pull of the light while Finn is running from the dark (represented by the First Order). Finn runs, Kylo stays. Finn doesn’t have a name at the beginning of the story, just a number and a family he’ll never know (and doesn’t actually seem to worry him too much about as long as he can get away from the thing he fears). Kylo has two names and a family and ancestry that weighs on him. Finn was a faceless cog in a war machine who wants to remain faceless and get away from the war machine. Kylo the descendant of many important people trying to live up to that importance.

At first glance, they are about as different as two characters can be, but they actually share some very interesting similarities.

Lost Children

The theme of lost children specifically lost children who are left to face the world without the help of their parents is prominent in Star Wars. It’s no surprise that all our new characters have been alienated from their families through either death or the wicked actions of others. Finn and Kylo are two that fall into the latter category.

Finn’s backstory is spelled out for us when he finally reveals his “true” identity to Rey on Takodana. He is a child soldier, one of the countless children stolen from their families to fight and die for others. Finn has no real familial relationships, nor does he have a home or name or ideology. He’s about as blank of a blank slate can get at the beginning of The Force Awakens, and because of this, his arc is about finding an identity. Through the course of the saga, Finn is going to learn who he can be. The end of The Last Jedi and Finn’s attempted suicide run on the FO cannon is a good step for Finn because it is him finally actually taking a stand, but learning that this stand does not have to cost him his life. It was a great thing for his character that Rose saved him because rather than dying a martyr Finn can now grow into someone who isn’t just a means to an end like the FO would prefer. The entire Canto Bight sequence is about Finn opening his eyes to the world around him and gaining a deeper understanding of what it means not just for the galaxy but also what it means for the kind of man he wants to be. He could very easily become like DJ, whose advice is to look out for yourself and not join either side, but he chooses not to be. He chooses to make a stand, not out of fear, but conviction. His story is about finding himself and he’s well on the way there.

Kylo’s backstory is… scant. We don’t know everything but what we do know (only from the films) is important. He’s the child of Han and Leia, the only Skywalker of his generation, a child born to heroes and raised by legends and he’s got incredible power. So the question we should be asking ourselves is: what the hell happened? Why did Ben Solo become Kylo Ren? Short version, if you take Leia at her word in TFA is “it was Snoke”. Though not physically taken, Kylo was also stolen from his parents by an evil force. The age that this actually started to happen and how it happened (whether it was just a dark presence influencing him or Snoke actually telling him things like an evil little mind gremlin) don’t matter because symbolically he is a lost child. He has been alienated from his family, through both Snoke and Luke’s actions, and thus he’s left to fend for himself mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. He’s lost to his parents who just want him to come home and he’s lost internally, feeling pulled to the light but not believing he can or should be good (and I wonder who put that thought in his head hmmm). He will also undergo a process of finding himself and figuring out what kind of man he’ll be, and like Finn, his sight of who and what that could be is influenced by a woman; Rey. Rey’s effect on Kylo is less overt than Rose’s effect on Finn or even Kylo’s effect on Rey, it’s still there. Her actions shove him right out of his comfort zone and leave him in a position where he has to make up his mind. She sets off a chain of events that forces him to face his physical demons in both Snoke and Luke. Having beaten the physical manifestations of what scares him and keeps him trapped he’s now facing the same question Finn was: what kind of man are you going to be?

It’s very interesting that both of these characters are faced with the challenge of finding themselves. Finn’s arc is relatively straightforward. We can all pretty much guess that he’s going to be a leader and possibly a liberator depending on what happens in EP IX. Kylo, on the other hand, is a giant question mark. It could be that these two little lost boys will find themselves on absolute opposites for the rest of the saga, or it could be that they find themselves closer together after they both face their fears and make their stands.

What You Fear the Most

The fight on Starkiller is such a fascinating exchange. It’s an instance that echoes the first scene on Jakku between Finn and Kylo, expect this time their both unmasked and something has to be done about the other. Here though, there is no going easy on the other. In a way, they echo the worst fears of each other at that moment; Kylo representing the First Order, bellowing at Finn that he’s a traitor and coming after him and Finn – someone no one expected to actually *be* anything – challenging Kylo over the Legacy saber and all it symbolically represents. And they both lose in the end. Sure, Kylo gets the upper hand and strikes Finn down first, but they both wind up worse for ware. In a way, it’s a reaffirmation of both of their fears. Yes, Finn, the First Order will come after you, you are going to have to fight. No, Kylo, you aren’t going to be able to fulfill your “birthright” because your grandfather’s saber and by extension your grandfather, reject you. And it’s also a reinforcement of their respective calls to something different. This is the first step for both of them to realize that their fears are real and they must face these things in order to grow beyond them.

While they face each other as a manifestation of their deepest fears, it should be noted that they don’t actually conquer those fears on Starkiller. Finn is still ready to run from the First Order and Kylo is still holding on to the idea that he has to live in the dark. That’s because you can fight and/or kill the thing you fear, but it doesn’t address the root of the issue. Courage, they say, is doing something regardless of how much it scares you. Finn must face the First Order not because he’s backed into a corner, but because he wants to. This is why Finn’s fight with Phasma in The Last Jedi actually furthers his arc and the Starkiller fight doesn’t resolve the issue. Yes, Finn must fight Phasma because she’s trying to kill him, but he does so while asserting who he wants to be. Finn wins his fight with Phasma, asserting himself as “rebel scum” and standing up for himself, not Rey or anyone else. It’s a personal victory for Finn.

Kylo, on the other hand, hasn’t truly faced his fears yet, because his fears can’t be faced with anyone but himself. Kylo might win against Finn on Starkiller, but he’s immediately faced with another challenger, another *no one* steps up and almost literally takes the Legacy saber from his hand and leaves him bleeding in the snow. While he succeeds in killing Snoke and would have killed Luke had he actually been there, Kylo doesn’t actually win much of anything. Where Finn stands triumphant after his fight with Phasma, Kylo is left shocked and then kneeling in the dirt after his fight with Luke. Kylo’s true fight is internal and hasn’t happened yet. It will be a symbolic fight between who Kylo Ren is and who Ben Solo could be and the winner will determine how he ends the trilogy. It could either be a personal victory or a tremendous loss.

Why Are They Foils?

It’s easy to point out what makes characters foils but it’s more important to point out why. I’ve already alluded to it previously, but the explicit answer is that they’re both searching for an identity. Finn comes from a legacy of darkness, one he wants to outrun but not confront. Kylo comes from a legacy of light and dark, but he’d rather kill the light than embrace it. Finn removes his mask almost instantly and has to find his own identity while Kylo hides behind the mask and thus hides his true identity. In one regard, their contrast serves to show how different things hold different characters back from doing what’s expected, and how different kinds of fear are difficult to face.

They are different but their journeys are very similar. They are finding themselves, forging identities and struggling with their own inner conflicts and fears. They must learn who they are and then do something about it. There is the potential for both characters to understand and empathize with each other because they’re both conflicted and afraid. They’re both messy and need help to understand who they want to be and how to do that. I do anticipate seeing them interact again in EP IX, though I’m not sure under what circumstances, I feel the way the characters were set up in The Force Awakens hints at some unfinished business for both of them.

So how are these characters going to end up in relation to each other? They could remain on opposite ends of the spectrum with one choosing to be a hero and one choosing to be a villain. Or, they could end where they started and wind up on the same side.