These 10 quotes from Star Wars’ first sequel trilogy movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, are some of the most memorable not only from the movie but also from the entire trilogy. While the Star Wars prequel trilogy had a tough act to follow as the first movies after the iconic original trilogy, the sequel trilogy had a doubly difficult job. Not only did it need to follow the legacies of both the prequels and the original Star Wars movies, but it also had to reveal what happened after Return of the Jedi in the new canon.
In that sense, the sequel trilogy was critical to Star Wars movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, the movies weren’t necessarily well-received; many still consider the sequels to be among Star Wars’ worst movies. However, The Force Awakens, largely viewed as the best of the three, is quite a good movie, with plenty of nostalgia, brilliant new characters, and much-needed moments of comic relief. Each of those aspects of the movie is represented in the top 10 most memorable lines from The Force Awakens.
C-3PO has been an iconic part of Star Wars history since the very beginning, and his return to the big screen in The Force Awakens was perfect for the character. Not only did The Force Awakens reveal that C-3PO was still by Princess Leia’s side in the new era, as he didn’t appear until she did, he also had an incredibly odd and humorous reunion with Han Solo. Both are reflective of the relationship C-3PO had with each character in the original trilogy.
After addressing Han Solo, C-3PO insisted that Han probably didn’t recognize him “because of the red arm.” Hilariously, C-3PO was referencing the one part of his body that looked different than it had in Return of the Jedi (meaning that Han, of course, immediately recognized him). What made this even funnier was the fact that it was never really explained. Instead, Han simply looked annoyed, and C-3PO moved out of the way so Han and Leia could have a proper reunion.
The Force Awakens had many nostalgic moments, most notably with the appearances of the original three heroes: Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker (although this was a brief appearance at the very end). However, when Han Solo’s classic ship the Millennium Falcon appeared on screen, there was nearly equal fanfare from audiences. Although The Force Awakens did receive criticism for its similarities to A New Hope, this connection mostly seemed to be a welcome one.
The moment in which the Falcon first appeared in The Force Awakens was also a particularly memorable one. At the time, Rey and Finn were dashing through the Jakku desert, desperate to escape from the TIE fighters hunting them down. Rey initially disparaged the Falcon when Finn pointed it out, referring to it as “garbage.” However, when the ship she was running toward was blasted to pieces, she quickly changed directions, telling Finn “The garbage will do!”
Although the nature of the dynamic between Kylo Ren and Rey remains highly contested in the franchise to this day, their first few scenes together were nevertheless fascinating. After first trapping Rey in an effort to get the information about the map to Luke Skywalker out of her, Kylo Ren took Rey to his ship and held her for an interrogation. In addition to the interrogation scene sparking the speculation that the two had romantic undertones to their exchanges, the scene nodded toward the Force Dyad that wouldn’t be named for another two movies.
While interrogating Rey, Kylo Ren looked suddenly confused and then, even more strangely, told Rey, “Don’t be afraid; I feel it too.” At the time, it wasn’t clear what ‘it’ referred to, other than that Kylo Ren was sensing something odd between them. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the two then began having Force bonds, able to access one another in space and time, and in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the power was finally given a name.
Although Maz Kanata wasn’t necessarily a main character in The Force Awakens, she was a fascinating one. She was introduced as a bit of an odd but also incredibly wise alien being, whom Han Solo believed could help them. However, he had no idea how right he was. Shockingly (and though it has yet to be explained), Maz Kanata had somehow gotten her hands on Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. Ultimately, this led to Rey wielding the lightsaber, furthering her path to becoming a Jedi.
Maz Kanata also had a subtler moment, though, that stands out as one of the most profound quotes in The Force Awakens. As Finn was expressing the dangers they faced if they tried to fight the First Order, Maz peered at him, telling him, “If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people.” She elaborated that she saw in him the eyes of a man who wanted to run. While beautiful and profound in and of itself, this comment also speaks to the patterns and rhymes in Star Wars and how so many characters are connected.
Perhaps one of the most quoted lines from The Force Awakens came just before Kylo Ren stabbed his father to death, although, perhaps sadly, it’s often used for jokes and memes. Kylo killing Han Solo was arguably the single most shocking event in The Force Awakens, and it remains controversial in the franchise. However, it was an undeniably significant moment, both for the franchise as a whole with the loss of an icon and in terms of Kylo Ren’s character development.
Kylo had been toeing the line between light and dark throughout The Force Awakens, clearly torn between his Jedi past and his current allegiance to the dark side and Supreme Leader Snoke. He seemed to be debating this very thing as Han tried to bring him back to the light. However, it was a farce; while “I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it” seemed to be about walking away from his dark path, Kylo meant to kill Han all along.
At the beginning of the movie, Kylo Ren’s parentage was already heavily hinted at, with Lor San Tekka telling him, “You cannot deny the truth that is your family.” While, at that point, it hadn’t been revealed who that family was, it was clear that Kylo Ren came from one of the significant Star Wars lineages (the most significant and therefore most likely being the Skywalker line). Of course, this was ultimately revealed to be precisely his lineage, with Leia and Han as his parents.
Interestingly, when Kyo then responded, “You’re so right,” it’s likely he was thinking about his familial connection to Darth Vader. However, the line became inadvertently controversial later on in the trilogy, as Rey adopted the last name Skywalker although by blood she is a Palpatine. Even so, this moment remains a memorable one, as it was both disquieting and a massive reveal about Kylo Ren’s background.
While, again, the Force Dyad hadn’t explicitly been identified yet, the bond between Kylo Ren and Rey was evident. It was also clear Kylo Ren had an odd sense about her from the beginning. Indeed, even before meeting her, when a First Order officer reported to Kylo that there was ‘a girl’ with BB-8, Kylo Ren became enraged, grasping the man by the throat and demanding, “What girl?”
In addition to this being a moment displaying Kylo Ren’s power and how sinister he truly was, this scene shed light upon the odd connection the two already shared. While he had been furious that BB-8 and Finn, the rogue ex-stormtrooper, were on the loose and out of reach, hearing about this mysterious girl piqued his interest. This would ultimately lay the groundwork for the cat-and-mouse game the two would play throughout the sequel trilogy, almost always with Kylo Ren doing the hunting.
Despite criticism of the similarities between The Force Awakens and A New Hope, ranging from Kylo Ren seeming like a Vader copycat to the hero being an unassuming Force-user from a desert planet, Han Solo’s familiar cynicism and commentary were generally welcomed by audiences. In fact, in many cases, Han seemed to nearly be the voice of the audience, injecting his sarcasm into even the most tense moments. One key example took place after Starkiller Base was revealed to the Resistance fighters.
After Poe Dameron demonstrated how massive Starkiller Base was compared to the Death Star, Han sarcastically replied, “Okay, so it’s big.” Maintaining a cheeky attitude, Han asked, “How do we blow it up? There’s always a way to do that.” This comment was the perfect blend of nostalgia and (gently) poking fun at the sequel trilogy for some of its similarities with the original trilogy. It was also a way to tease A New Hope a bit because, although the movie is hailed as a classic now, there has been discourse around the Death Star being blown up awfully quickly.
One of the best moments of nostalgia and one of the most memorable quotes in The Force Awakens was also a Han Solo line. Again drawing upon the love audiences have for the Millennium Falcon, The Force Awakens revealed that the individuals boarding the Falcon were not First Order officers as Rey and Finn thought but rather were Han Solo and his sidekick Chewbacca. Even better, when the two appeared on screen, Han turned to Chewbacca and said, “Chewie, we’re home.”
Since then, this quote has become heavily referenced and stands out as one of the most popular throughout the entire sequel trilogy. On the one hand, this was a classically Han line, delivered perfectly by Harrison Ford, who was still very much embodying his character from the original trilogy. On the other, it assured audiences that the sequel movies would incorporate the original heroes—although that proved to still be done in a way disappointing for some viewers.