Star Wars: Let’s talk about Poe’s new backstory

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker added a new backstory to Poe Dameron. It felt forced and seemingly came out of nowhere.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

We’ll never know everything about a Star Wars character because there’s always going to be something that gets shoehorned in to make a story fit.

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That’s how I felt about Poe Dameron’s added back story in The Rise of Skywalker. In the movie, we learned Poe could hot wire a speeder and had what Finn considered some shady tactics. While Poe had been brash and bold through the first two movies (and comics), this new sketchy way of life seemingly came out of nowhere.

Even Finn thought so.

It turns out Poe spent a part of his younger years with the spice runners on Kijimi as a smuggler.

We don’t know the extent of this, but it seemed like an odd thing for Poe considering all we had learned about him up to that point, including the non-movie inclusions from the comics.

Poe’s parents were rebels, fighting against the Empire. That’s how they met. His mother, Shara Bey, was a pilot, and his father, Kes Dameron, was a Pathfinder. They fought at the Battle of Endor. Eventually, they left combat to stay at home and raise their son.

Shara taught Poe to become a pilot, flying in her A-wing. She died when Poe was just 8.

According to The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary Poe ran away from home when he was about 15 and that’s when he joined the Spice Runners. He returned home five years later and began Academy training three yeasr after that.

This isn’t a story that is all that unreasonable. Teenagers are impressionable and Poe lost his mother at a young age. It’s is conceivable that he left home looking for something to fill a need he wasn’t getting at home.

Yet Poe is a fighter and using his skills to run spice doesn’t seem like a good use of them.

So he fought for the New Republic and then joined the Resistance.

There as a 12-year gap between when Poe returned home and running into Zorri on Kijimi. I’m not saying she should have forgiven him for leaving all those years ago, but it felt like a look time to hold a grudge considering her reaction when she saw Poe. It seemed like something that happened not too long ago.

This whole part of the story feels forced for the sake of introducing new characters in The Rise of Skywalker. Poe’s the only one of the three main characters who could have possibly met the others considering Rey spent most of her life on Jakku and Finn was in the First Order.

Here’s what the Visual Dictionary specifically says about Poe’s time with the Spice Runners.

"“Poe rebelled during his adventure-seeking teenage years when his father, an Alliance veteran named Kes, attempted to instill some responsibility in him. Poe ran away from his home on Yavin 4 and feel in with the wrong crowd – specifically, the Spice Runners of Kijimi. These dangerous criminals would have killed Poe had he not proven to be an amazing pilot. After a career as a young pirate and smuggler, Poe returned to his familial home to find that all would be forgiven if he forged a straighter path. Poe then began his service in the New Republic, and later joined the Resistance.”"

To be honest, this was one storyline I did not love. Perhaps people have secrets and want to hide their youthful in discretions, but it felt a bit too forced to me.

Having said that, I loved Keri Russel as Zorri Bliss. If this was the only way to get her, I’ll allow it.

What did you think of this part of Poe’s story?