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

Again, what does Kylo having a child has to do with the Skywalker Saga argument?

 

Im the opposite. I went in not knowing or caring if Rey was related to anyone. However I walked out pretty convinced that she was Lukes.

 

Goodness knows. I had no idea that the "Skywalker Saga" argument revolved around the bloodline continuing past Episode 9...

 

JoJoPenelli

I interpreted the scene between Rey and Maz differently. Rey tells BB-8 that she's "waiting for her family" on Jakku. Maz tells Rey, "whoever it is you're waiting for, they're never coming back". Maz then tells Rey that the belonging she seeks is not behind her, but ahead of her. From there, she meets up with first Kylo, then Leia, then Luke. I think Rey is and will be connected in important ways to the Skywalkers, but not as a Skywalker herself.

 

I'm pretty much in the same boat. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the new cast show up in future Star Wars films but I really don't want another trilogy about scrappy rebels fighting space Nazis. At the very least move that part of the story into the background and have the main plot focus on something else.

EDIT: I've said it before and I'll say it again. I thought (before the TLJ trailer dropped) that the end goal was for Luke and Rey to rebuild the Jedi Order in which case Ep. 10 would ostensibly have numerous unrelated/random Jedi in training. Seems like that would be a win-win for everybody.

Despite the "Jedi must end" line I think the new Jedi Order might still happen.

 

That's why I believe TFA should have been more like TPM than ANH. With the galaxy order restablished and an exterior menace coming from an unexpected place.

Which is what we should eventually get IMO, maybe with Episode X.

 

Hm. I believe I know what you're saying. I feel that if Maz had said "family" and not "whomever," I would be less sure of my interpretation. Maz does say, after that quote, "But there’s someone who still can," and Rey says "Luke." Maz may just be generically saying that Luke can return, but in context it sounds like Luke can still come back *for Rey.* Like a parent would. (Even if Luke didn't leave Rey on Jakku.)

I really do try not to read too much into little details that seem to connect characters (a particular phrase, battle stance, etc) but which usually don't signify blood relationship. But I feel the hinting in TFA is to the level of heavy-handedness. This is the first time I've ever really speculated about something in a series. I'm generally pretty cynical about things other fans like to ballyhoo as "hints."

I would hypothesize that Rey is related/connected in a way other than being Luke's daughter, but they seem to be specifically hammering on the connection to *Luke,* not just the Skywalker family generally.

 

Me netiher. Heck, Luke can have a baby too in this trilogy or in the future. Leia can have a secret child. It still has nothing to do with Rey being the lead character of this ST and the Skywalker Saga argument.

 

As I see it:

1) Rey is waiting for her family on Jakku, as stated to BB-8
2) Maz tells her "whoever it is you're waiting for is never coming back", i.e. her family is never coming back
3) Maz says but someone else i.e., someone other than her family, still could, i.e. still could come back, and Rey responds "Luke"

I therefore concluded from this exchange that Luke is not her family. Maz does say that Anakin and Luke's lightsaber called to Rey, but as somebody up thread pointed out the lightsaber does not have a history of "calling" to Skywalkers. It was apparently on Tatooine for a long time just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Luke and it never called to him. So I conclude that the lightsaber is calling to Rey for some purpose involving the Skywalkers, the details of which are as yet unknown.

This is my interpretation, of course.

 

Lol I wouldn't want to be disingenuous. Let me say then, your response is still a strawmen, and you still lumped all reywalkers together as demanding some nonsense. There is zero rule that there has to be another generation of Skywalkers, or that Kylo or Rey has to have Skywalker babies.

It would be random because it has nothing to do with the current story or drama, and that's why the comparison to Vader is so bad. That would be like if in the OT, there was a side scene of Sheev patting his little grandchild on the head. It would not at all be in the SW tradition. When has a character ever had a child not part of the story randomly dropped?

Of course I don't know, but I have come here over time after listening to Random theory after Random theory. They all accomplish the same thing - depriving Rey of her own story. Beyond which, LF keeps telling us, and you keep emphasizing, that this is the Skywalker saga. Skywalker angst is being emphasized, a Skywalker story is being told. You think they're going to tell dual stories, and Rey Random gets her own unique story and development not wrapped up in skywalkers? Interesting because the rumors have her almost completely with Luke and Kylo in TLJ, and we all know they have quite a history that needs sorting out.

It's a perfectly valid criticism in that it's my opinion and concern about the story. If you don't agree, that's your business and your right, but don't I need to justify or "own" anything to you about it.

I thought you would take something like that from that. Hey guess what? I never cared about the new protagonist having to be a Skywalker. TFA makes me want her to be a Skywalker for the reasons I have given. If we get Harry Potter in the Malfoy saga for our first girl Jedi, it will annoy me. I didn't even feel like that at first, because I figured they could still make a Rey Random saga about Rey. It's the continued emphasis on the Skywalker saga and sticking Rey between Luke and Kylo in the next movie while RJ has said he will be deepening the theme of family for her that makes me feel strongly about it.

 

With that logic though, you are assuming Maz has any idea who Reys family is. Otherwise she's just using logic. If her family hasnt come back by now they either cant for some reason or won't. In either case waiting on Jakku is a lost cause.

 

I think she does.

The problem with comparing this situation to the OT is the fact that the Star Wars as a "saga" is constructed on a bedrock of hardcore ret-cons. So it's hard for me to conclude that something like "the call of the lightsaber" isn't a thing just because it wasn't in the OT.

 

It might be her just using logic and she doesn't know who her family is. (i think she doesn't know) BUT it also sounds like we hear the writer's voice through Maz, a way to tell the audience things about Rey. Whatever the answer Luke is clearly not considered as "Rey's family" in this sentence. Luke could come back...to the galaxy and intergalactic Jedi affair!

 

Well, Luke is clearly not considered "whomever," as Maz puts it. I guess it depends on whether one thinks that Maz's use of "whomever" instead of "family" was deliberate on the part of the scriptwriters.

 

Which is what Rey seems to accomplish in TLJ, where she plays a key role in the return of The Last Jedi. This could be played from several angles, either his daughter is the only one capable of bringing him back to the fight, or a new, unrelated apprentice achieves that his own family (nephew) took away from him.

 

if Maz meant "but Luke could come back to you" Rey would have reacted differently, like "what do you mean??", she would have been surprised since absolutely noone nothing ever have indicated to her that they're linked somhow...and Maz's knowledge of something would have been adressed. But we see Rey answering normally "Luke", without being shocked, because she made the safest, simplest logical conclusion, that Luke has retired from galactic affair and could come back to save the galaxy. She won't get her family back (at least thats what she thinks) but the galaxy could have Luke back.

Darth_Bertie : maybe she's his daughter, but even if she is that's not what Maz is implying...reactions would have been very different!

 

I'm not opposed to Luke having a child. That's just silly. I've mentioned multiple times in this thread that, seeing as we don't know anything about Luke, it's possible he might have a child revealed during this trilogy.

I just don't think it's Rey. Despite my initial reaction after seeing TFA, I've come to believe that Rey will not be the daughter of Luke Skywalker. Arguing that point, and pointing out other possible ways to continue the Skywalker bloodline with the next gen Skywalker we already have onscreen, is not being "so opposed to Luke having a daughter".

You're mixing apples with oranges.

 

The novel has an extended dialogue that makes it clear is Rey the one who goes to return Luke to the fight, and it is not Luke the one going back for her. Maz said in the novel "... but there is someone who still could. With your help". This, together with Daisy's statements about Luke not knowing who she is, would lead us to the logic conclussion that, is she is Luke's daughter, Luke was never going to come back for her, because probably he did not even know she existed.

 

So if Rey is a Random will Rey Random fans in twenty plus years be hoping that the new Star Wars protagonist is related to Rey or will they be hoping that person is unrelated?

 

Interesting.

So Han/Leia were "pushed to the background" in TESB?
The discovery of Anakin was "pushed to the background" in TPM?

SW has no history of being able to juggle, and integrate, multiple storylines?

 

There is nothing in any of the actual dialogue to indicate that Rey is concluding that her family won't come back for her, but Luke can come back for Galaxy. There is nothing in Rey's development in the movie to indicate Rey equates a need to save the galaxy with her longing for family. Just the opposite actually. Maz's speech to Rey in that intimate setting wasn't ever literally about saving the galaxy. It was about Rey and Rey's life. She basically told Rey to be proactive in her life and trust in the force because it's guiding her somewhere, namely to Luke. It could be guiding her there because she needs to save the galaxy with him, but that is not at all clear from the dialogue, nor is that how conversations work: "little girl, give up on your family. You have to save the galaxy now." If that's really what JJ was going for, no wonder he obscured it behind vague as hell code language. That would be godawful dialogue and godawful development for Rey.

 

They probably re-wrote Maz's lines a few times, taking out this or that word, replacing this or that word, in order to make it as cryptic as possible knowing fools like us will lap it up and interpret it in any one of 100 ways.

 

Im not sure to get what you mean? is this different from what i said? maybe i explained myself badly, sorry english is not my mother tongue. To sum it up Maz never says to Rey that Luke will come back to her implying they're related. Nothing more. Maz thinks Luke could go back to save the galaxy. And Rey could have a part to play. And yes it doesn't mean Rey believes her family wont come back.

 

Yes, and here are some things Pablo said about this scene on twitter:

Pablo: But, as far as Luke goes, Maz says the person she’s waiting for is never coming back. But there is one who still might.
Tweeter: but still might what? come back?
Pablo: Yeah. She’s saying Person(s) X aren’t coming back. But Luke might.
Pablo: I think she sees how limiting holding onto this idea of a return is to her. Everyone sees it but her.
Tweeter: Maz never says Rey’s “family” isn’t coming back, she says “whomever.” The only reason to say that is ambiguity
Pablo: Rey’s waiting for her family. She says as much to BB-8. It’s what keeps her on Jakku.
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/705984343198420992
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/715715707288289280
Full convo (as some tweets were deleted): http://i.imgur.com/zi9punb.png

Pablo: I think what Maz says to Rey about the belonging she seeks says a lot. But I guess that requires believing Maz.
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/705980117198118912

Tweeter: You know Maz Kanata basically disqualifies Luke Skywalker from being one of Rey’s parents in all of two sentences, right?
Pablo: Oh, sure, if you want to use the movie as the basis of speculation. Whatever.
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/721811412914339841

Tweeter: According to some people, saying that Maz’s speech invalidates Rey Skywalker is also “appealing to authority. (Pablo liked)
https://twitter.com/OasisSmoothie8/status/723735860852719616

 

It is very relevant, as there are indeed Reywalkers, many of whom have posted in this very thread, that flat out say that the Skywalker bloodline must continue, and Rey is it's only hope. Other options are raised to counter that argument.

That's who we're addressing. If that's not you, than by all means, scroll on.