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i'm not much of a star wars fan, how did the female lead from force awakens

That rather depends on one's definition of "magic". In fictional terms, the classic fantasy style magic makes literally *anything* possible with the right words. some twinkly lights and maybe an amulet dipped in unicorn blood or something. I think we can all agree the force most definitely is not this.
To my mind, it has more the feeling of certain eastern spiritual philosophies with the physical effects turned up to 11. It's fantastical and "magical" in a very broad sense, but it has it's limits. It's not a fix-all.

Why do I think this distinction is relevant to this discussion? In a nutshell: the former is usually about a person's training and skill. It's a learned thing, or product of an outside entity (magic sword, apprenticed to a wizard etc.) The latter is more about focusing and trusting in one's innate abilities. In other words: it comes from within, which I think more closely describes what's going on with Rey.



It's also worth recognising that Rey was hardly proficient in her fight with Kylo. Her swings were wild and imprecise, she kept trying to stab and thrust with a weapon that's generally meant for parrying and slashing.
A big part of her success in the first half of the fight (before she opened herself to the force and it basically took over for her) is the fact that her opponent was pretty badly wounded. Kylo had just been shot in the flank with a bowcaster - a weapon we repeatedly saw could shatter stormtrooper armour and sent people flying backwards. On top of which he revived a nasty shoulder wound from Finn before cutting him down. We even saw Kylo bleeding and hitting himself in his wound just to keep his pain and anger up enough to keep going.
Finally, remember that Kylo wasn't trying to kill her. He was trying to recruit her and so, he was holding back. (Incidentally, this is exactly how Luke managed to wound Vader on Bespin.)

With all that considered, I don't see how anyone can claim Rey's abilities were overstated. It was no walk in the park, but it was hardly an unreasonable feat.
Could I just repost this on every YT video complaning about Rey? That would be fantastic.
 
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