10 Things That Annoy You About New Star Wars That Didn't Bother Original Trilogy Fans
8. The Hero Is Devastated By The Death Of Their Mentor, Despite Only Having Known Him For A Couple Of Days
Talking about the hero-mentor relationship, complaints about short timeframes actually go back one movie (and one mentor) further. After viewing The Force Awakens, some fans felt that the bond between Rey and Han developed far too quickly and that she seemed excessively upset by seeing him cut down by his estranged son right before her eyes.
Seriously, how could he mean that much to her after barely knowing him for a couple of days?
Of course, decades before Ben Solo was slicing and dicing his father, his grandfather did the same thing to Ben's namesake on board the Death Star, resulting in a reaction of similar devastation in Luke as Rey would later experience. Once again, though, Luke's relationship with the senior Jedi was really based on just a couple of days of whacking a floating ball while wearing a helmet with the blast shield down and occasional unreliable reminiscences about the good times with Luke's dad.
At least Rey obviously grew up idolising the heroes of the rebellion. Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon are a big deal to her long before she realises that she's on it with him. So, in a way, she's as distressed by the death of a childhood hero as she is by someone who was very briefly a father figure. Luke, however, spent his childhood assuming that "Old Ben" was just a crazy local hermit. He had only just had time to adjust his view to understanding Obi Wan as a hero of the last war before he lost him anyway.
Of course, you could reasonably argue that the fast bond formed between Luke and Obi Wan is a direct result of the trauma of Luke losing his family and then being thrown into this new adventure. But Rey is in just the same boat of fast new relationships forged in new high tension circumstances. It's a standard piece of movie plotting for a reason, after all.