ST The Rey Parentage Thread (with new poll; see notes on page 2447)

Anyone would think Steven Moffat is writing this trilogy

 

Who is saying "proof of a daughter"? It's the people that mock the idea and state as fact that it is essentially disproven that have some kind of a burden. Recognizing possibility in something that has not been ruled out or disproven and that, for much of the audience, would be a very satisfying conclusion to the mystery box is not the same thing as declaring, "Rey Solo: proven."

 

It seems to me that in order to advocate Rey Solo, you have to reach and dig more.

 

Right--it was just lucky that the retcon was organic. Watching ANH with "Vader is Luke's father" in mind still makes sense of the dialogue and events. The same can't be said while watching TFA with Rey Solo in mind, IMHO.

The reason, IMHO, is because Lucas' films have programmed fans to expect hidden family connections, and fans of Han and Leia (and particularly their romance) have a desire to connect Rey to that relationship. Yes, her background is a mystery, but her being Luke's daughter is a much more parsimonious solution based on the text, if we're looking for Skywalker blood; if, OTOH, we're looking for a "twist" (because, hey, why set up a mystery unless you think the reveal will be unexpected?), her not being of Skywalker blood would be the least expected exactly because it breaks with convention. Rey Random also seems to fit the most comfortably with ancillary material coming out.

 

Are we declaring that yet another ambiguous, non-confirmation comment by Pablo is confirmation of something again. Fun.
Honestly if it's that gd obvious I'd love to know why PH can't ever give a straight answer about it when we know he's perfectly capable of solidly debunking something without dancing around it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

"there is another" is given to us in ESB... they give us stuff to tell us there's another force user sensitive out there: luke is not the last hope. if they didn't do that and suddenly in RotJ obi-wan appears to be all, "did i ever tell you about your twin sister?" it would have been super lame. "also, luke, your mother is still alive and her sister's family--your cousins, oh and your half-brother... i bet i never told you about him!"

 

JJ did a parentage reveal in Lost where we discover through flashbacks that 2 characters are half-siblings. But they never met and their father died before the accident.

 

You seem open to any answer to the mystery box besides Rey Solo. I can see the argument for Rey Skywalker and Rey Random that you have made here, and I simply also see the argument for Rey Solo. If they wanted a "twist" and a descendant of Anakin, Rey Solo provides both.

It wasn't given to us in ANH. By your argument, they could allude to Leia's long lost daughter in The Last Jedi and then, as though there would be a mystery any more, hold on to Rey being that long lost daughter until Ep. IX.

 

Ok, proof was the wrong word. But I don't think the theory has much weight when there is such little support for such a theory in the film or coming from TPTB. Maybe she will turn out to be Rey Solo, but I think that will end up being a victory for hope over evidence at this point - not that it matters I guess.

 

They don't need to give a line in the film that literally teases the question out loud like "there is another", not when the very existence of Rey herself, and the mystery around her and why Han, Leia and Kylo behaved towards her as they did, creates the question.

 

They kind of do imo. They do have to set up and allude to certain things or you risk such a reveal dropping clunkily out of nowhere in a way that makes characters in TFA look silly. That's exactly why they foreshadow both the Vader and Leia reveals in ESB.

 

yes and people make soap opera plots like this all the time... lost has all sorts of crazy stuff throughout: time travel and magic and whatever they want to make the story what they want (the last season fell through all the plot holes they had opened up imo even though they really tried to stitch them together with flat explanations). star wars has not thus far been so "out there" and if it becomes that loose in its story telling, then it sets the norm that there are no boundaries in the story... the whole thing will be based on shock and awe. i know some people are okay with shock and awe stories where plot points and characters often appear out of nowhere, but i tend to just stop watching because i no longer care if they're just going to pull random stuff out of their butts constantly. an example is dr. who s8 and 9: we don't have to explain anything because i'm the doctor!

 

What is "clunky" is totally a matter of perception. If Rey is Random, I (and presumably many others based on posts from message boards) will in hindsight feel that character actions at the end of TFA appear clunky and silly. That's not really an argument in favor or against any of the theories, with the exception of Rey Skywalker. That one fits all of the character behaviors the best imo. But then again, that is why I think she's probably Rey Skywalker, hence it's just a matter of perception.

 

I do agree with that - ie POV. And yes, me and others worrying about how a Rey Solo reveal will make TFA look, might ultimately have nothing to worry about, or, a bit like the Leia reveal in ROTJ, it could just be a bit clunky. I would say that combined with the various comments and the way TFA itself seems to close the door on Rey Solo is why I personally find it the least likely option right now, but I could totally be wrong. And yes, I could see Rey Skywalker working better, though I have no issue with Rey random either if executed well. Nothing would surprise me.

 

No, that's not clear. Point is simply that if Luke killed these people either in self-defense, or in defense of friends or innocent people, it's a perfectly Luke thing to do.

ETA: Nevermind!

OT: Personally, I think that what happened to Rey's parents is going to be more important than who they are. That's as much as I feel comfortable guessing right now.

 

Even though it will be mildly anticlimactic if she's Luke's daughter, it will still be fine. Just make her mother's story really cool. It really makes no difference to me overall. I'm all in regardless.

 

Honestly, I'm open to any answer at all, but to me, Rey Solo is such an outside possibility that I can't seriously consider it. And the only argument in its favour seems to be, "It's because it's the least likely that it's the most likely!" (which is what you seem to be saying here). I can't get on board with that style of argument.

 

Whoever left her promised to come back but never returned. We have Luke who may be stranded on Achto but I can't see him leaving her with Unkar. Or you have Ben who dumped her before he turned but the timelines don't seem to fit, or as Gigoran is hinting I think, you have parents that may have ventured off into the Beyond - which is both home to Snoke, the source of the Dark Side and specifically a place from which not many return, and I could see Mama Skywalker getting lost in there, or non SkySolo parents suffering a similar fate.

 

i said they could provide a set-up in ep. 8 and that would be a different story, yes. to reveal her as rey solo in ep. 8 though would be awful storytelling as ep. 7 provides no set-up. and it seems we're going to pretty much get enough of the reveal in ep. 8 (though i realize they could do a double-whammy on where our main character comes from, which frankly is just also lame). it's like ep. 7 who is rey anyway? no one knows. ep. 8 ahhh. so it is rey skywalker, but there's some other clue... ep. 9 nope it's rey solo! you might as well just change this trilogy to being about "who is our inexplicable unidentified main character???!"

 

Well that's okay. We can agree to disagree on whether it is possible that the writers may have intentionally deceived the audience. I think it is possible, and not even outlandish as a possibility, considering that the audience was similarly deceived in the exact movies that inspire these movies.

The set up in TFA is:

1. Rey's lineage is a big glowing mystery box in TFA
2. Rey and Kylo have a "connection" in TFA
3. Rey and Han Solo clicked in TFA
4. Rey, a girl that is very guarded around strangers, intimately hugs complete stranger Leia, and then abandons her life obsession with remaining on Jakku to help Leia.
5. Rey is seriously implied to have a connection to the Skywalker family via the lightsaber

 

I wonder if the beyond is a form of black hole that feeds of the force and it keeps getting bigger? Dunno why am asking that here but I only found it a natural idea to ask?

 

This is true, but then all those points would apply to Rey Skywalker, and I think the second half of the film - from the moment Rey picks up the saber works against Rey Solo, especially points 3 & 4. Han's connection shifts to Finn, and it's Finn primarily driving the search for Rey. Han and Leia show no hint of suspecting Rey is their girl, and neither does the film imo. Leia hugs Rey, but for that connection to the reason why, it would need to be made explicit in the film, and it's not. Plus you then have the most recent comments from JJ, Daisy and Pablo.

 

um. are there other characters rey clicked with? um. people give the dramatic looks between luke and rey as meaning something; what if luke is the father and leia the aunt? um. rey was pretty motivated to help imo before she and leia hugged. um. the giant solo tragedy is about their son and how they lost him. um. no one seems to recognize rey. um... is it easier to give luke a secret child he perhaps adopted out, or leia who would need to conceal a pregnancy or lie about a miscarriage?

though in all fairness my last question is why i come back to rey solo sometimes. after i'm done with the rey skywalker gymnasium, i go to rey solo because at least there are already two characters to be parents rather than luke's long lost love.