For Want and Need I like to refer to a youtube video by Just Write: The Last Jedi and the 7 Basic Questions of Narrative Drama.

“[Wants] are primal,” he says, “like power, money, status. […] [These are] not the thing they actually need to solve their problems.” While a need is “what the hero must fulfill within himself in order to have a better life”.

In the Last Jedi –

  • Poe’s want is to win the war. His need is to become a responsible leader.
  • Rey’s want is external validation. “She wants to hear her parents are important, therefore so is she.” Her need is to become emotionally independent.
  • Finn’s want is to save Rey. His need is to become a rebel, “to become concerned not just with the safety of his friends but the galaxy as a whole”.

Last fall, I had this in my personal life. I wanted to be in Mexico with my ex-girlfriend. I needed to return home. To learn that, I had to go on a journey of a lot of talk therapy which uncovered a mixture of conflicting desires, and then I went on another journey of constant prayer and asking God for trust in my own need and decision. And to this day I don’t understand why I needed to be home. I’m at peace.