rey’s expression when she sees kylo taking off his mask is absolutely not “oh shit he’s hot”. the sсript describes it as “stunned” and the novelization writes it as “she just stared in silence.” she is not attracted to him; she’s confused.

what she expects is a monster – she says that he’s just a “creature in a mask”. she’s terrified, she’s offsetted by this being who has captured her and wants information from her and will do anything to get it. she doesn’t even expect him to take it off – “[…] he did not do what she expected. instead, he reached up and removed his mask.” this is not at all what she anticipated.

rey has spent her entire life not necessarily being surrounded by humans. jakku is a diverse planet and there are most likely dozens of different species inhabiting it. she doesn’t know what to expect under that helmet, and whatever it is, it’s definitely not kylo ren.

what she sees is a man, a human being, a person who has expressive eyes and soft facial features all thrown together in some peculiar countenance, he’s trying to look threatening but he simply isn’t. the novelization calls his face “sensitive” and “not remarkable”; she’s not attracted to the person before her, she’s surprised.

kylo ren, who has killed an entire town and tortured poe dameron and torn up the technology of the finalizer with his faulty lightsaber, is still a human. he has slaughtered people without a second thought, it seems, and rey’s expression there is so far from attraction. it’s awe, it’s confusion, it’s the face that people make when they realize that killers are still human.

it’s a natural reaction – to realize that the person who has killed and hurt and tortured is still a person, and then be stunned. that’s what’s going on for rey. she’s never, in her entire life, encountered someone like this: a coldblooded murderer, a leader of a brutal organization, a man who is willing to do what it takes to get what he wants. this is new and terrifying.

so, yeah: rey isn’t attracted to kylo, she’s reeling from the idea that he’s a human too.

(x)