ST New clues re: Rey's secret past?

Obviously spoilers for TFA

On a 3rd watching, I was on the hunt for clues about Rey's past. I've seen all the same stuff you guys have about Snoke, Ren, "the girl," etc. Same goes for nods to "she's a Skywalker / Solo." But I think the biggest evidence is in the final scene, showing that Rey is almost as much of a legend as Luke, Vader, or Han.

Lea... the first order... EVERYONE is looking for Luke Skywalker. This manhunt has spanned many years, costing millions or billions of credits, with each side likely taking huge gambles to unearth his wear-abouts. The good guys finally find him, and what do they do? They send Rey and a wookie. No Lea. No generals. No senior operatives. Just Rey and Chewie.

Let's assume the counter-point, that Rey is a relative unknown to Lea and the Resistance. Why would they ever let her make first contact with Luke? They wouldn't have good proof that Rey's a force-sensitive. Maybe Maz tells Lea about the lightsaber flashback, or maybe Rey is really convincing during the post-op briefing when she explains how Ren was defeated, but none of this is much proof. And I can't think of anything else that would give the Resistance reason to trust a young stranger with such an important mission.

Most likely, Lea and the resistance are well aware of "the girl" who escaped from the knights of Ren, and was hidden away on a desolate planet. While they may not have met her before, there is some semblance of protocol on what to do upon her return (kind of like how the british government treats the doctor in doctor who ). Their must be something, that backs their faith as they send her, alone, to uncover Luke's secrets.

Perhaps she was a gifted padawan. Perhaps she was a "wild jedi" (like an apostate mage living in the forest) who interfered in a previous conflict between the First Order and the Resistance, making both factions aware of her potential. I don't really know what her legend is, or who's in the loop, or how "legendary" her story was, but it makes a few things make sense (eg the warm familiarity from Lea to Rey).

tl;dr Am I crazy, or does the fact that the Resistance entrusted Rey alone to find Luke hint at a robust resume / story behind Rey?

 

You're definitely not crazy. By the end, it's obvious that the Resistance considers her "somebody." I don't know who that somebody is; one part of me totally wants her to be Luke's kid, while a bigger part thinks that's just too easy, almost lazy. But obviously she has some kind of cred with the Republic. I'm sure careful thought went into selecting her for this mission. And I don't think it's just that she won the fight, either. Surely there have been enough dark side shenanigans in this series already that a stranger claiming to have cut up a famous Knight of Ren on a secret base with no witnesses does not automatically get a ticket to Luke.

One very interesting question is, what is the Resistance trying to tell Luke by sending her? Maybe Rey thinks the situation is, "I'm super strong with the Force and everyone loves me and they sent me to get Luke 'cause I'm so cool!" But maybe that's not at all the message that Leia or others are sending to Luke through her.

Maybe Luke declined to kill Ren when he had the chance, and this is their way of saying, "This little girl did what you couldn't bring yourself to do. Now put your black outfit back on, get out here, and finish the job."

Maybe Luke left because he was bitter about his students being too weak or too easily corruptible, and Rey is supposed to be a counterexample, a star rookie he can't resist training.

Maybe her presence here means Luke was wrong — she was put on Jakku for safekeeping, maybe with Max von Sydow as her "Old Ben," and the Resistance is telling Luke, "Plan A failed, we gotta go another way here."

She's there for a reason, but that reason may be to have an effect on Luke, an effect very different from the one she thinks she's going to have.

 

Good point about why after all this trouble in finding Luke, why send Rey, Chewie, and Artoo only? But in response I say consider this: perhaps she is Leia's daughter, whom Han never knew about, but Luke did of course. And so Solo's daughter, his ship, and his long-time friend show up with your favorite droid, what's an uncle to do? It's as if Leia is saying Luke, we tried your way, it didn't work that easy,Han couldn't bring back Ben, we need your help. You brought back dad, maybe you can teach Ben's sister how she can bring back him. Luke, I know you've separated yourself from us to protect us, but we need your help. Help us make this right.

 

Felt this article has a great summary of other hints to her past. I'll edit it into my post once I find the "edit" button.

Points above are good. It'd be fantastic if Ep VIII picks up right where VII left off to hear this next exchange between Luke and Rey.

Unsure how Luke will react to seeing "that girl" and the saber showing up at the same time. Maybe Lea doesn't need to be there in person... maybe she and Luke can communicate via the force since they're siblings...

 

I think the main characters know who she is. When Maz asks Han "Who's the girl?" the film cuts to Rey going down the stairs into the basement. What Han told Maz, other than that she is trying to return BB-8 to the Resistance, is anybody's guess. I feel like he told her more than we know.

 

That was an awesome reading: thanks!

 

My kingdom for story writing in EPVIII that achieves multiple levels of meaning in the same scene, the ostensible vs the implicit vs the tacit. This would be worthy of Lucas in his strength with Sheev Machiavelli scenes. As far as the narrative/cinematic weapon of unleashing raw uncontainable emotional power, the Rey Skywalker configuration has a discernible and very nearby maximum total power. After waiting for her family for 20 years, Rey confirms that Luke is her father and.... (?). A feint within feint?

 

Maybe she's the result of some kind of experiment by the Dark force. Luke & co found out about her, kidnapped her and hid her on Jakku?

 

I understand that Rey getting hidden on Jakku is something that could happen. Force user hidden on a desert planet, living a small life, then the galaxy beckons, I get it. I don't think any of us are going to be surprised. But it doesn't sit right with me. Luke was left with family and with Ben. No, it probably wasn't an easy life, but he wasn't working all day in exchange for a half a meal, either. Maybe this Plutt character she's left with is really a responsible protector, but wouldn't you want tomorrow's super-Jedi kept somewhere a little less... desperate? You get the feeling Finn may be the first friend she's ever had. Is that the mental state you want the next Chosen One — or whatever she is — to be in? Who profits from Rey living that life?

I don't know. I'll be happier if we don't end up with some Force mastermind like Luke or Snoke deciding little Rey somehow needs to grow up like that, for the good of the great plan.

And it's a cool, emotional conversation. And then R2 rolls up. He delivers a hologram message from Leia. It's even cooler and more emotional. It gets you right here.

Luke, R2, and Rey head back to the Falcon, off on the next great adventure.

As they walk up, Chewbacca is fussing over one of the pneumatic struts on the ramp. Something's not quite right with it. As Luke arrives. Chewie glances up.

"Hey, Chewie. What's up with you?"

Chewie clearly gives a yowl that clearly means Nothing. What's up with you?

"Nothin'."

With a slap of his paw, Chewie gets the strut to behave, and they head up the already-closing ramp.

 

Let's get one thing straight here, OK?

It's Leia.

L-E-I-A

Who is this Lea I keep reading so much about?

 

I think someone missed the scenes where Plutt kept shortchanging her on rations, or sent his goons after her, or sold her out to the New Order.....

 

Yeah, this is a huge sticking point for me. Ok, assume Rey needs to be hidden. There's an entire freaking galaxy available. Taking her to Jakku wasn't like Obi-Wan leaving Luke with Owen and Beru. This is more like if Obi-Wan had left Luke with Watto.

If Rey was left there on purpose as part of a plan, I'd say it was vastly more likely to be Snoke behind it. Maybe he was trying to replicate Anakin's upbringing.

As far as Rey being sent to find Luke, well, I don't think it's evidence for much either way. Like Maz, Leia is no Jedi, but she knows the Force. Presumably she senses what Maz recognized: the Force was pushing Rey to Luke.

 

Leia's hug aswell. As if these characters weren't known for lying or hiding information in the past...

 

I feel like shes Lukes but I don't want to find out Luke put her there and left her with Plutt I rather find out it was a quick moment thing I have a feeling her mom left her with Plutt for a second thinking she would come back but ended up getting killed. That would be cruel to do to a child I don't think Luke would do that to his kid, I have a feeling it might have been Kylo because he knew she was strong and didnt want her to be to strong or Snoke perhaps.

 

It's almost as if she was stolen and hidden by the dark side. Her up bringing is now hard, like Anakin's. Could make her a candidate to be turned. It's not that far fetched to think maybe her mother ended up on the other side of the war and took her, and hid her. Or was hiding her from BOTH the resistance and the first order. Just shooting ideas. I just don't see it in Luke or Leia's character to leave a family member with a shady junk dealer on the outer rim without some kind of protection or babysitter so to speak.

 

I mean, "Maybe, in defiance of what we see of him, he's a responsible protector."

A bunch of people are on fire for Luke to have left her. And whoever left her, left her directly in Plutt's care, right? So... I guess the theory would be, maybe he's not as bad as he seems?

 

Yeah.....that's not helping your argument.....at all.

Any theory that presumes Rey is blood-related to the Solo or Skywalker family must explain why either family would leave her in the hands of someone like Unkar Plutt, who knowingly stole a ship that he knew belonged to Han but never contacted him (and who Solo clearly didn't have a high opinion of), and also cheats Rey out of money and sent goons after her to steal BB-8.

Until this scenario is reasonably taken into account, a Solo/Skywalker connection is completely absurd.

Precisely.

Which implies that the information needed to account for this theory /wasn't/ demonstrated onscreen.

 

Don't know if this has been mentioned but I watched a video this morning about a theory that Rey is actually a reincarnated Anakin. It's a fine theory in and of itself but as I commented on the video itself, if HC was rumored to be in TFA and is again rumored in 8 as a force ghost, that would imply to me that the theory really isn't possible. Give it a watch though and post what you think.

 

Who is "HC"?

 

Edgar Allen Poe Dameron Well then I'll guess we will get that ESB homage in Ep VIII after all!

Rey: "I am your father!"

 

i think she is too young to be known beyond family connections.

 

Because the movie is about her journey. Same reason why Luke was given an X-Wing in ANH to battle against the Death Star despite having zero military experience.

 

Ok...a theory I'm kicking about. I think Rey has to be related somehow...because of the 'memories' she receives from the lightsabre (I'm going with a Dune-like take on this) to Luke and Anakin. I have an idea that she was left on Jakku by Kylo, or someone entrusted by Kylo to leave her there; that he was given the order (like Anakin in ROTS) to "kill them all; do what must be done"...but, unlike Anakin, he couldn't bring himself to fully carry out that order. I thinjk he secreted Rey and Finn away (yes, Finn was also removed from his family young, and Kylo knows exactly who it is that has left with Poe...and it also explains why his reaction to Finn's 'betrayal' was felt so personally by him) because he could not do what Anakin did.

 

When the lightsaber flew into her hands right before her battle with Kylo, Luke's music started playing.

 

To me Maz flat out says Rey is NOT directly related to anyone in TFA with her line "the belonging you seek is not in your past, but in your future. Those who left you aren't coming back , but there is still someone who can"...give or take a word or 2. Doesn't this explicitly state for you guys it wasn't anyone presently in her life (Han, Kylo, Luke, Leia) that left her on Jakku?