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

Ok...sure, in the Force vision little Rey could have just ran out to a random ship that was leaving, but why would that be more likely than it being her parents or someone of her family leaving her and taking off? The way JJ and the team did it, it seems to be a very simple thing...Rey tells BB-8 she's waiting for her family to come back, and the vision is of her as a little girl yelling "come back" as the ship leaves and Unkar Plutt holds her arm.

Plus, how she has such extreme Force abilities if her parents are just random people who are killed is nearly unexplainable and certainly doesn't make the best storyline.

 

If her parents are darksiders they would not have left on Jakku... They would have sat on their Darkside egg until it hatched. Snoke was corrupting Kylo from a very young age.

 

At the very least he had a happy childhood, which turned into "troubled teenage years". Which makes you wonder...



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It was a Force vision deliberately designed to be cryptic and to potentially mislead and get us all thinking and talking. Both JJ and Rian have used techniques like this before to create hurdles within mysteries. Such a reveal would also be less of a lie than what Obi-Wan First said to Luke and the audience about Vader killing his father, or Luke happily putting his hands behind his head after being kissed passionately by his sister because this particular misdirection with Rey would still indicate that as one of several painful memories for her in her life. She's longed for family and projected that into others and part of her process, and possibly her training, in VIII would be learning more about herself and those moments among others.

I think they knew very well how most would attempt to freeze frame and dissect that scene at face value but they threw in just enough questionable elements to suggest it isn't quite what it first appears. Her ragged, dirty peasant clothing designed primarily for desert conditions already being one such aspect. Especially when contrasted with what would have been a very expensive, and relatively modern ship. The fact that they want us to wonder how a family member could or would deliberately leave their 6 or 7 year old daughter all alone with Unkar Plutt. The fact that a child that age would know any recent kidnapper was not in fact their actual parent and would likely hate that kidnapper. The fact that the novelization introduces new dialogue elements including warfare and actual abandonment that sound like somebody talking to a younger child than a 7 year old. The fact that in her new EU they talk about how she watched the ships come and go regularly, hoping for her family. The image of her older looking out at the same ship. The ease with which they get themselves out of the Plutt hole simply by showing what happened directly before that scene and after and then showing her real abandonment.

I also didn't suggest her parents didn't have strong Force lineage. I shared a plausible scenario whereby which a Kenobi descendent was among the villagers at the Church of the Force on Jakku and was killed protecting her and the other children from being taken by the then terror group known as the Knights of Ren who at that time would not have been lead by Ben Solo but in fact some other leader, acting on orders for the then hidden First Order to prepare their child army protocols. After all, we know that Finn would have been abducted as well shortly around the time that Rey was a baby so it's not at all hard to beleive that this terror group just picked villages to pull kids from that they didn't think would provide much Resistence (Think Boko Haram parallels in that way) and that Rey's village was hit following Finn's and many others. It wouldn't necessarily have to be the KOR of course. I just chose them to give the writers another excuse to showcase them in the movie doing something bad, rather than others. Whenever writers can give already established protagonists or antagonists more to do believably by giving them the tasks of somebody they'd otherwise have to write for new characters, it's often beneficial to do so. That's why in second drafts you so often learn of 2 supporting characters being combined into one more complex one with more time spent to showcase that one character as opposed to splitting the time up between 2.

In Bloodline it's clear that terror cells and organized crime did much of the legwork for the First Order on the ground prior to their grand reveal to the world as the First Order.

EDIT: Now, it's important to note that the second part of my theory (the one with the Church of the Force, and being a Kenobi, and her never actually leaving Jakku at all is obviously more speculative and less rooted in any actual hints than the first so if you dislike the second aspect it shouldn't necessarily stop you from believing that my first theory (the misdirect of that Force vision) could end up being the case. I imagined the Kenobi, Church of the Force, children being taken at a younger age than what we see in the Force vision idea but the beauty of the Force vision being misdirection is that is opens up massively brand new ways by which Rey could end up with Plutt that go beyond somebody she knows and cares about leaving her with him.

 

Bloodline made me think Ben was a normal kid, Leia had good memories about Ben's childhood

 

Yeah, which means that something happened to turn that around. Loss of sister? I don't know.

 

Bloodline doesn't show Leia fretting about an 'event'. She seems quite relaxed about Ben being with Luke. The only suggestion of trouble is that she's worried about how Ben will take the news about his Vader-relatedness, especfially as he's likely to get that news from other sources than his parents. She also dismisses the chance of Ben wanting to inherit the overlordship of a planet, suggesting she knows he's not status-oriented.

So he was a normal kid, with friends and mischief; he's not concerned to strut around and have people bow and scrape; he's been with Luke without problems up till the end of Bloodline. Han and Leia's apartness does not seem to have a dramatic cause, just a clash of careers and lifestyle needs. Bloodline suggests the 'event' has not yet happened.

 

Her ragged, dirty peasant clothing designed primarily for desert conditions already being one such aspect. Especially when contrasted with what would have been a very expensive, and relatively modern ship.

Wow something I had never considered before, but yeah....

 

You're right that Leia seems "relaxed" about Ben being with Luke, so she must have thought that things were going well. However, we do know from TFA that Ben was displaying darkside tendencies before he went to be with Luke because Leia specifically says that's why she sent him to Luke in the first place. Also according to Leia, Snoke has been influencing him from a young age, so maybe some of Snoke 's influence was beginning to show up in ben's actions, words, and attitudes which caused concern for his parents? Then Leia sent Ben to Luke and she thought things started to improve . However, maybe things weren't going as well as she thought? After all, during bloodline she hadn't seen or heard from kylo or Luke in quite a while....

 

Random but:

Maybe she had friends her age at the time of the flashback. When her friend(s) parents had enough credits to book a flight to somewhere more civilized, she tries to run after them and Plutt holds her back. Now she is all alone until BB8 shows up.

That though doesn't explain how Rey came to find herself on Jakku.

 

I'm thinking Rey is related to Luke, Han or Leia but regardless of who Rey's parents are I think she's basically a Random. Yes we might find out that she's related to the Skywalker's/Solo's but if you think about who Rey is, she very much is a random woman who basically raised herself on a random planet.

She doesn't really remember her family or her life before Jakku. Not remembering her family and obviously not being raised by her family, Rey's personality, her character, her beliefs, all of that was informed by her life growing up on her own. She has become the person she is, not because of who her parents are but because of who she is and the life experiences she's had growing up on Jakku.

Her upbringing was random. That's not going to change if we find out she's related to the original three. Her backstory will still largely be that she was a random little girl scavenger who learned to survive out in the wilderness on her own.

As it's been pointed out before Rey might not even be her birth name but it's who she is now. Even if we learn that she had a different name at birth she's not going to start going by that name. She won't identify with that name. She'll stick with Rey. It'll be her way of saying, "I made myself who I am. I make my own decisions. I decide how to define myself."

Maybe some people will think it's a copout but I think when it comes to Rey's defining character and personality I think she's a Random, a Skywalker and a Solo all rolled into one. Her bloodline makes her a Skywalker/Solo and Force sensitive, and her time on Jakku makes her a Random. Put it all together and she's much more than all of that. She's her own person.

 

If Rey is just a random little scavenger, then why the need for a mystery at all? JJ said he only had enough time for one "family": reveal in TFA.... if she is a random abandoned orphan there is no need to reveal or keep a secret of anything.

 

Yeah... I guess the most likely scenario si that she has always been on Jakku. Either she was hidden when she was a baby, or kidnapped.

 

Who is Rey's dad? Well there once was a man from Nantucket. It's poetry!

 

If you look at other media, TV shows in particular, the concept of what "family" represents in SW has been extended outside of blood relative. I don't think it's where she came from that's important, "I'm no one". It's what she choose from this point forward. "The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead." and I thing it will be important in the next episodes.

 

Just to be clear, I think Rey is related to Luke, Han and Leia. I'm just saying that after she was brought to Jakku she basically had the life of a Random girl.

 

I have always found these massages kind of "conflicting" on one side we have all these familiar elements that link her to the Skywalkers and the Solos, like her ending the movie with the Falcon or using the Skywalker saber. On the other side we have these other elements you mention.

 

That's why I'm leaning more towards Rey Random. Rey is just Rey, Finn is Finn, Snoke is Snoke etc... I don't subscribe to only ONE type of family. Bail may not be Leia's biological father but what is important is her thinking of him as family.

 

Well, not that I would have a problem with her not being related to the Skywalkers but, with all the quotes regarding the Skywalker family saga, the teasing of her parentage reveal... I still think her being a Skywalker is the most likely scenario.

 

Also this is not a new concept. Some people seem to think that "surrogate family" is some grand new idea that makes "Rey Random" worth doing. But it's not, it's been a thing in SW from the very beginning. They're not making some new and big statement about the nature of family or whatever, because it's ALWAYS been there. So nothing new here.

And it also still doesn't justify keeping EVERYTHING about her parents secret from the audience. That's counterproductive actually, if that's the direction that they want to go.

 

even with some surrogate families in SW,
someone's family usually also a plays a part in the story. In fact all of them whether Rebels/TCW or the movies including RO. Next episode of Rebels we're going to see Sabine's real family and we've seen Ezra and Hera's families already.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Nothing says it can't be both, which is in fact the usual for SW.

 

Exactly, and we have our "non-family" heroes already (Finn, Poe, possibly KMT's character depending on what they do with her). And we have our "non-family" villains as well (Hux, Phasma, Snoke, etc). So it's not like their bases aren't already covered there as well.

 

I went back and re-read transcripts from Q&As, watched video of Ardnt signing autographs and talking, and also some
other Q&As.

After doing all that I'm nowhere closer to having a definitive answer and I'll explain why. It's like one step forward toward a theory and then one back.

- Ardnt stated he agreed to do it only when Kathleen Kennedy said she wanted an origin story about a girl who becomes a Jedi.
My interpretation of that? I found it curious she didn't say anything directly about the primary character having to be a Skywalker.

- Ardnt signs autographs explaining that only like 3 words of dialogue of his remain in TFA but that they kept much of the frame of his story.
My interpretation of that? It's been widely reported that Ardnt wrote it initially to be that the female Jedi is Luke's daughter and that she meets up with him on the road following her home being destroyed by the villains. So, if the key frame is the same then does that mean she remains a Skywalker? Ardnt also spent months talking to Lucas early in the process.

- Contrasting this is the fact that at the JJ Abrams and George Lucas Q&A George almost seemed frustrated that things had changed and seemed to suggest that he felt the original Solo twins story which was in the EU was the way he thought things should go and what he thought fans wanted. JJ was sort of thrust into a defensive mode and moderator role afterward and tried to present a United front to the audience. It was kinda strange.
My interpretation? Does this mean things have changed?

- We do know that Abrams and Kasdan rewrote everything and that in Ardnt's original story Han and Leia get back together and Han didn't die. JJ changed that obviously and has explained his reasoning for that choice. Apparently it was Ardnt who convinced JJ though that Luke had to be the object in the first movie to allow the new characters enough time for an audience to connect and root for them. JJ wanted Luke in his story more.
My interpretation? There's been some give and take on ideas between Ardnt and Abrams but JJ's influence seemed larger.

- Kasdan has on several occasions intimated that it's truly Rian's story from here and that becsuse none of them truly knew where to take things in a way that everyone believed in it was up to Rian to come up with everything else and that they believed in his ability to do that. He then shared how each new director on TESB and ROTJ helped shape those movies significantly.
My interpretation? It seemed like Kasdan was saying anything can happen from here on out and that changed to story have long been part of Star Wars.

- JJ says that TFA could really only have one big reveal and get away with it and goes on to say that telling the backstories of Finn and Poe and Rey is up to the other movies.
My interpretation? This strongly suggests we should expect more reveals up ahead and he did use the word familial so lineage seems likely to be that reveal.

- We now know a character like Poe has gone from being killed in the first act to now becoming a crucial supporting character. Simply based on how much the actor playing him was so vibrant and likeable in the role.
My interpretation? It reminds how much can change in screeenwriting. We know the father twist in TESB was a second draft revision. It speaks to the fact that things were fluid for a while there.

- Daisy says it's obvious to her and then says she can't wait to see people's faces when they find out.
My interpretation is that the most obvious was Luke, the second most obvious was her parents being dead but her coming fromtbr Kenobi line, the third was that she was truly Rey Random and that she thinks we'll be surprised that her parents will never be known.

- Rian Johnson talks with Christopher Nolan about how brilliant it was to hide Matt Damon in the movie and not promote him in Interstellar so that people see him and just immediately assume he's good.
My interpretation? Was Rian wondering about how to misdirect better for VIII? Was he thinking of hiding Ewan's involvement to closed sets to hide the key role he might play in Rey's life? Will he also make use of the audience's trust in Luke to catch us off guard?

- Also during the writer's guild Abrams Q&As he starts to tell talk about the Forceback and then stops and is like "Ah, screw it. It's you guys. I'll tell this" and that's when he first shares the info on Obi-Wan being one of the voices and also how the Forceback is more of a radio going in and out of tune.
My interpretation? He almost seemed hesitant to share that bit about Obi-wan at first but then does. Just felt kinda strange. Like he was worried he was giving something away before realizing "Wait a minute. They don't know all that I know so I can share this. It's factual. It's in this movie."

Add it all up and I'm close to where I started! Lol. Luke seems most obvious and likely but I'm still not convinced they'll choose it for that reason and others. Nor am I sure we can put too much weight into the old quotes or dismiss them outright because of all the change that has happened since. Basically, still as uncertain as ever.

 

From what I read in the Art of TFA and GL's interview on episode 7 I think Rey was supposed to be related at first. He constantly referred his story as the story of the father, the children and the grandchildren or Vader's grandchildren more specifically. He also said that Luke never married and never had children so I would lean on her being originally a Solo child. Then according to Pablo, there are bits of GL's treatments in the Art of book, names such as Thea who became Rey, Skyler who became Finn and Darth Talon. And I'm pretty sure it was Arndt who originally had the Luke upstaging Rey problem, not JJ that's why they decided to have him appearing only at the end, Vader's mask was the original MacGuffin.

 

except that Lucas never said that Luke would never have children. He only had problems with a Mara Jade kind of marriage. It was also a time in which he did not consider any sequel trilogy.