Rey's Parents - Who Do You Want Them To Be?

[Zero Hunter]

Again like I said if she is the kid of Han and Leia or even Luke then her getting dumped on some shithole world and abandoned makes them look like the worst people in the galaxy. You don't think if they knew she was out there they would ever stop looking? If they tried to pull the old they didn't know she was a live troupe that would jsut be beyond **** writing.

Sure the main films are about the Skywalkers, and the new ones have that in Luke, Leia, and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). Rey does not need to be a blood relative to fill a role.

[ClanAskani]

Again like I said if she is the kid of Han and Leia or even Luke then her getting dumped on some shithole world and abandoned makes them look like the worst people in the galaxy.

Not if they think she was dead or safe somewhere with someone given the role of hiding her. If Jaaku is like Dagobah and full for Dark side energy that will mask her being there, then Luke wouldn't be able to find her.

If the situation is that Luke is freaked out if he trains Rey (no matter if she's a Skywalker, Solo, Kenobi or Random), she'll turn evil like Ben and be a tool for the Dark Side destroying the galaxy, then it's a sacrifice he has to make.

Unless Rey is a Skywalker or Solo, this really could be the end of the Skywalker saga. Disney is going to keep pumping out more Star Wars trilogies. Mark may not come back, Carrie is gone. I suspect Kylo stays a bad guy and doesn't follow Anakin's path to avoid duplicating the OT after so much criticism was made of Episode 7 just rehashing ANH.

[ZeroBG82]

I don't think this is how the movie will actually approach it, but this is what I've been thinking:

One thing has always bugged me about TFA (Ok, in truth, several things. It's kind of a shitty movie actually, if it wasn't so fun. But only one relevant here.), why does Leia immediately take to Rey? Even with Chewie coming off the Falcon hurt, it's Rey that gets the hug after Han dies.

The simple answer is the most obvious. Rey is a Skywalker. But she isn't Luke's daughter. She's Leia's GRANDdaughter. Ben Solo is her father. She was sent away as a child because Ben can't be allowed to have attachments as a would-be Jedi. Ben believes her to be dead, and not being able to be a father to her is why he hates the Jedi so much. This is why both Han and Leia form such quick attachments to the girl, and why Leia instinctively goes to Rey after Han is killed. They don't KNOW who she is, but they can instinctively sense the connection.

This is also why the Jedi must end. Luke has realized that the Jedi philosophy is dumb, and that wanting or having families shouldn't be frowned upon. Our families make us stronger. Them being torn apart weakens us, opens us to the darkness. The Sith preyed on that darkness, as does Snoke. Rey will be something new, not a Jedi but something better, more whole.

[Carabas]

If the situation is that Luke is freaked out if he trains Rey (no matter if she's a Skywalker, Solo, Kenobi or Random), she'll turn evil like Ben and be a tool for the Dark Side destroying the galaxy, then it's a sacrifice he has to make.

Ben didn't turn until many years after Rey arrived on Yakku.

Unless Rey is a Skywalker or Solo, this really could be the end of the Skywalker saga. Disney is going to keep pumping out more Star Wars trilogies. Mark may not come back, Carrie is gone. I suspect Kylo stays a bad guy and doesn't follow Anakin's path to avoid duplicating the OT after so much criticism was made of Episode 7 just rehashing ANH.

I suspect Rey will turn bad in the end, and Kylo will turn good, without dying.

[WebLurker]

I don't think this is how the movie will actually approach it, but this is what I've been thinking:

One thing has always bugged me about TFA (Ok, in truth, several things. It's kind of a shitty movie actually, if it wasn't so fun. But only one relevant here.), why does Leia immediately take to Rey? Even with Chewie coming off the Falcon hurt, it's Rey that gets the hug after Han dies.

Chewie wasn't hurt, though. JJ Abrams has admitted that Leia seemingly ignoring Chewie was because of a filming error (Chewie was supposed to be gone by the time Leia got there), but I think there are reasons that Leia went to Rey, as explained below.

The simple answer is the most obvious. Rey is a Skywalker. But she isn't Luke's daughter. She's Leia's GRANDdaughter. Ben Solo is her father. She was sent away as a child because Ben can't be allowed to have attachments as a would-be Jedi. Ben believes her to be dead, and not being able to be a father to her is why he hates the Jedi so much. This is why both Han and Leia form such quick attachments to the girl, and why Leia instinctively goes to Rey after Han is killed.

Never heard that idea before. Props on creativity. However, here's the deal: Rey was born 15 ABY (15 years after A New Hope) (Force Awakens Visual Dictionary, et al.) Kylo Ren was born 5 ABY (Aftermath: Empire's End. Ergo, Kylo was 10 years old when Rey was born. That seems a little young for him to be her father .

There would also be reasons for Leia to go to Rey beyond being blood relatives. JJ Abrams has stated that the idea is that Leia recognized Rey as a fellow Force user. Leia would also know what it's like to be a prisoner in an Imperial/pseudo-Imperial base, so could have compassion for someone who went through the same thing. She might have even worked out that two of the only people that made up Rey's world (Finn and Han) were dead or in critical condition (the novelization suggests that Leia understood Finn need to go on the rescue mission, presumably from her own experience with a loved one being held somewhere from the original movies, and so might've worked backwards that Rey would be in distress over Finn's condition).

Even if you don't buy any of that theorizing, there's also the simplest possibility that Leia saw a girl who'd been run through the wringer, was in a fragile state, and being ignored by everyone present, she might've decided that offering support was the right thing to do.

As far as Leia forming an attachment to Rey, she does seem a bit on the motherly side in the various depictions of the movie's end. I do have to say that it could be an interesting setup in Last Jedi if Leia decides to become a mother figure of some sort to help fill the void the loss of her own family has left or something.

I suspect Rey will turn bad in the end, and Kylo will turn good, without dying.

I hope not.

[ZeroBG82]

Chewie wasn't hurt, though. JJ Abrams has admitted that Leia seemingly ignoring Chewie was because of a filming error (Chewie was supposed to be gone by the time Leia got there), but I think there are reasons that Leia went to Rey, as explained below.

This is the first I've heard of that. Wish they paid an editor lots of money to catch things like that and keep them from being in the movie. Because it makes Leia look like a giant douche to Han's best friend.

As for the rest, you're right in that the timing doesn't work. It's a pipe dream. But it's what I'd have done. I'm not making these movies, thank god.

That said, Episode 8 is both a chance to finally make another good Star Wars movie, and a chance for the series as a whole to jump the shark. I'm expecting the latter, hoping for the former. But I suspect that Rey's parentage, if it even factors in at all, is the most obvious place for the people behind these movies to lose their way and just go off into the woods where I won't bother following.

[WebLurker]

This is the first I've heard of that. Wish they paid an editor lots of money to catch things like that and keep them from being in the movie. Because it makes Leia look like a giant douche to Han's best friend.

Personally, since we see Chewie by himself later and in ESB he seemed to be by himself when they thought that Han and Luke were going to die in Hoth's frozen wasteland, I kind of wondered if Chewie preferred to process his grief alone or something. He was also occupied at the time when Leia came in.

As for the rest, you're right in that the timing doesn't work. It's a pipe dream. But it's what I'd have done. I'm not making these movies, thank god.

Well, if you were making the movies, I'm sure that theory would've made sense, since the backstory would've been made to fit the story.

[Vegeta]

Why would the writers bother making it a mystery if the parents are just some nobodies that haven't appeared in any of the films? That's a pointless waste of everyone's time, and bad storytelling to boot.

[Carabas]

Why would the writers bother making it a mystery if the parents are just some nobodies that haven't appeared in any of the films? That's a pointless waste of everyone's time, and bad storytelling to boot.

I think the mystery here is not who her parents were, but why she was abandoned on Jakku.

[ChrisIII]

I've been reading the book "Bloodline", which deals mainly with Leia forming the resistance six years before the events of "Force Awakens". In the novel, it seems to be clear that the Jedi massacre hasn't happened yet, Ben hasn't gone to the dark side, Han and Leia are still happy etc. Rey around this time was probably 13, older than in the flashback force vision, so whatever happened seemed to occur earlier to the massacre.

Rian Johnson actually was an advisor on the novel, for what it's worth.

I wonder if Rey's "classified" joke meant that perhaps her parents are actually classified?

[Bunai]

Not that I want her to be, but it is getting obvious that Rey is a Kenobi.

And NOT by Obi-Wan himself.

[Starter Set]

Shmi Skywalker reborn so she can redeem the name of the Skywalker

Haha, i'm back, motherf****rs, the original midichlorians soup maker!!

[WebLurker]

Not that I want her to be, but it is getting obvious that Rey is a Kenobi.

And NOT by Obi-Wan himself.

How's that? (I do follow a lot of the tie-ins and I have found zero clues to support that idea).

[Carabas]

99% of all Rey and Snoke theories have 0% support from clues.

But obviously not by Obi-Wan himself because he died about 40 years back and Rey is 19-ish. Maybe Obi-Wan's non-canonical son or daughter?

While I personally would love Rey to be related to nobody we have ever heard off, this is my favouite theory, because it is about damn time proper Mandaloreans show up in the movies.

[godisawesome]

It's a good thing this thread's title is who do you want Rey's parents to be; kind of gives you a leeway to save face regardless of the turnout.

I'm a Luke and Unknown-But-Based-Off-Mara-Jade Mom supporter. Here's my reasons:

It's cleaner than other options.. If Rey's Unrelated, than the film's going to have to work a bit harder to make her parents an interesting answer to the mystery of TFA, a film in which any clues they *might* have left would tell us nothing about Unrelated parents; and Inthink both Rey Kenobi and Palpatine are included here, because we have to also cram in time to explain how their kids were conceived. If Rey is Related, than Rey Skywalker *does* give you an out for why Luke, Leia, or Han didn't find her; Mama Skywalker is a total cypher of a character, and Luke's the one with an enigma of a storyline between trilogies, so you can use her to explain why Luke wouldn't find Rey and write whatever his reaction is later.

It's epic and poetic. This is more the appeal of Rey Related in general, but it's worth emphasizing what it does. It not only reinforces the idea that the Trilogies are the Skywalker Saga, but it also makes the Sequel Trilogy a kind of Vader Vs Anakin epic; you've got Ren fighting for Vader and Rey fighting Anakin, which is a theme we've already got considering the Force tug-of-war between the two over the lightsaber used by both identities. You can make Rey Unrelated epic as well, but there's a clearer and more immediately appealing path by making her Related, and it even opens up more options for Kylo; if he's the *only* Skywalker 3.0, either he gets redeemed or the family line is probably going to die out having caused far more damage to the Galaxy than good.

It's intriguing for Rey, Luke, and the Mom. The biggest advantage I see is that you've immediately got both a good, short hook for Rey throughout the rest of the trilogy, and you've now hit a very intriguing story that we have between trilogies; who is Mama Skywalker and how did she and Luke hook up? And Mara Jade proved an Action Girl love interest for Luke has some clear financial benefits; I smell an inter-trilogy Tv series starring character.

To me, Rey Skywalker feels like the perfect combination of conventional ideas and high payoff risk, and even the most economically appealing option for Disney and the story group.