Quote Originally Posted by CosmiComic View Post
Why exactly does Luke need a kid?
I think it's necessary from a thematic standpoint. Not that Luke specifically have a kid, but that the Skywalker bloodline continue because Palpatine's bloodline did. The Skywalker saga is about balance, so if one bloodline survives, both should. And while I can appreciate Rey taking the Skywalker name, I don't think that counts.

Leia only had the one kid. There was too much talk between that side of the family for me to believe she had another child that, somehow, was never mentioned. But what Luke was doing between RotJ and the sequels is left vague enough for him to have had a child. He doesn't talk to Han, Leia, or Ben enough for a kid to be mentioned, and he has no reason to tell Rey about one. If he believes the child is dead, or would be in danger if people found out it exists, that's reason enough for him to stay quiet about it. And something like that has a nice symmetry with Anakin. Again, thematics. Star Wars plays hard and heavy with its archetypes.

For me, that's the only reason Luke "needs" to have a kid. Star Wars demands a certain degree of balance, I find Rey's parentage throws that off because there isn't a surviving Skywalker as well, and Luke's the only real option left to us.

There are other ways to balance out the bloodlines, but I think Luke having a kid is the simplest, cleanest solution.

Plus there's precedent; he had at least one child with Mara Jade in the old canon. This would just be bringing back something we already had.