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Offline DXistenz

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Who is Rey?
« on: January 10, 2016, 03:36:50 PM »
Found this article in tge Huffington post on Facebook

While there are dozens of new questions posed about our beloved galaxy in The Force Awakens, the "white whale" is who is Rey's family? If you're reading this, you've probably already seen the movie, so I won't make a case for why this is so important -- just that we all know how key parentage is to the whole saga. It's the theme of lineage and the passage of the godly force that elevates this series to modern mythology...

I left the theater after my first (and even second) viewing entirely convinced that Rey is Luke Skywalker's daughter. Duh. All signs point to this (the inheritance of the lightsaber, Maz Kanata's cryptic insights, the final scene with Luke, etc). After all, the whole story is about the sins and redemptions of the Skywalker family, right?

"This is not the plot twist you're looking for."

Not so fast. After days of marinating, I'm convinced: that was all misdirection -- too narratively easy for what should be the biggest reveal in this new trilogy. In the following post, I'll make a reasoned case that Rey is in fact Obi Wan Kenobi's granddaughter -- both because of clues planted in The Force Awakens and especially because it would bring the nine episode series to a much more satisfying emotional conclusion; lending more poignance to the earlier films, including the maligned Prequels.

First, the clues:

The accent

The only two "good guys" in the entire series who have British accents are Obi Wan and Rey (if you exclude C3PO). This likely isn't an accident since other British actors (i.e. John Boyega, Liam Neeson) perform with American accents.

The Jedi mind trick scene

The scene in which Rey persuades her Stormtrooper (007) captor to open her cell door and drop his weapon strongly echoes Obi Wan's successful uses of the Jedi mind trick in both the OT and Prequels -- one of his signature abilities. This is not the plot twist you're looking for.

Poking around Starkiller Base

The scenes of Rey scaling the walls and tip-toeing around the First Order's Starkiller HQ echo Obi Wan in A New Hope sneaking around the Death Star and disabling the tractor beam. A superficial homage to Episode IV or a breadcrumb leading to answers about the Third Trilogy's protagonist?

"Ben Solo"

The only reference to Obi Wan in The Force Awakens comes with the reveal of Kylo Ren's real name: Ben. That climactic moment serves to highlight two key things: 1) a reminder of the overall importance of "Old Ben" Kenobi to the broader Star Wars story, and 2) the notable absence of any references to Obi Wan up until that moment -- the only major A New Hope character not to get a prior visual cameo or major plot point (so we think). This omission looks like a filmmaker's "sleight-of-hand," guiding us away from a reveal about Obi Wan later in the new trilogy.

But the clues continue to pile up, addressedhere.

Similar costumes between Rey and Obi Wan (in the Prequels).

Both Ewan McGregor's and Alec Guinness's voices appear in the key basement lightsaber flashback scene at Maz's.

And, lastly, JJ Abrams has suggested that Rey's loneliness is a key to her origin, likely a referencing Obi Wan's status as a lonely hermit between Episodes 3 and 4. Unless Rey is Yoda's granddaughter but probably not.

Sure, these are all basic clues that could easily be discounted, but there's ample fodder with which to rack your brain...

"How satisfying would that be to learn that the nine episode arc is really, underneath it all, about the Kenobi family and not the Skywalkers?"

The deeper strain of this "Rey Kenobi theory," however, is rooted in the concept that Star Wars has always had a certain narrative symmetry: good versus evil, light versus dark, small versus big, faith versus technology. Characters even refer to bringing "balance to the force." These patterns abound in the Star Wars universe, appearing again and again in both minor and major ways. Many have even been critical of how closely The Force Awakens mirrors earlier narrative patterns and beats. That criticism is fair, but it's being used for intentional effect to both guide and misguide and play with our assumptions and expectations.

With that said, here are the juicier reasons why Rey being Obi Wan's granddaughter would ring true and be so satisfying to the completion of the story:


Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2016, 03:40:05 PM »

Offline darth hondo

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2016, 05:24:48 PM »
Kenobi connection for Rey is quite interesting. Still it comes across as little forced since it requires many unproven scenarios to hold like Obi Wan developing a love interest and fathering a child. (Ben Solo is more credible since Han and Lei developed a relation at the end of ROTJ.

Obi Wan is a true Jedi that Anakin never was. So him going off and having children seems inconsistent to whom Obi Wan had been through PT and OT. My 2 cents.

Offline patolcott

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2016, 06:04:41 PM »
I think that that would be really really cool. but you cant ignore the very skywalkeresk traits. Great pilot, really good with technology, very strong in the force. I can see it both ways.
Olc-Pa-Mabec

Offline anakin2000

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2016, 06:11:43 PM »
The movie makes it very obvious she is a Skywalker. Her backstory (orphan on a desert planet), the fact that she's a natural pilot (just like luke and anakin) and the fact she wields the graflex, just like luke and anakin. Plus, the luke theme plays after she force pulls the lightsaber in to her hand. The music gives away a lot.

Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2016, 04:30:05 AM »
Well she wields the Graflex because it is the only saber available to her.
Which the Graflex was lost at the end of ESB. Luke used a different saber in ROTJ.
So like Ben she is shown returning it to Luke at the end of TFA

Offline Sythen_Kharr

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2016, 07:30:20 AM »
My logical reasoning.

Kylo is Ben Solo, son of Leia.

At the end Kylo senses/recognizes Rey, like

seeing your cousin for the first time in 14 years.

Rey is good at building things like Anakin.

Is a good pilot like Luke and Anakin. Grew up on a

Desert planet like Luke..and Anakin. Uses the

force. Anakin then Luke's Lightsaber calls out

to Rey as she touches it and gets reconnected....like a family

heirloom/relic that is a conduit for the force,

from the amount of jedi/sith

stuff it has been involved in.

It shows the scene at Bespin.

Obi-wan is still a force ghost and can send out a one way message. Like episode 4.

which fits episode 3, Yoda says that Obi has training to do,so he can commune(as in see and talk in person) with Qui Gon.

tho the issue is Hoth, Luke was able to commune with Obi,Unless since luke was hanging by a thread and skimming on the brink of death

Obi was able to present himself to luke? Then on Dagobah, because it is a planet strong in the force and because of yoda and his training

Luke was able to see him.


Then we have Maz Kanata, and what she said to Rey.

Then the fact that the Trilogies where always about the Skywalkers.
Rey = Luke's kid.

Offline Sythen_Kharr

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2016, 07:35:56 AM »
I might add that I don't hold the Huff in any credible view.

After reading one of their articles.

40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' | Seth Abramson

I wondered if the writer even saw the movie or payed attention, and has any kind of creative imagination at all and thought humanity doomed.

Until this guy redeemed humanity for me.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/matty-granger/at-long-lastmy-star-wars-episode-vii-review-the-force-awakens-the-rise-of-idiot-/10153163095086277

Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2016, 08:38:52 AM »
I read the article and found it interesting.
The fact is everything is pointing to Rey being a Skywalker. But who knows they may decide to make her Snoke's kid.
 The question of Luke's graflex is going to be interesting to answer since he lost it in Cloud City fighting Vader along with his hand.
Who found it and how did it come to be in a box on Takodana.

Offline Greywolf

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2016, 08:44:32 AM »
Life is but a series of missed opportunities.

Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2016, 08:54:53 AM »
That would be a great plot twist especially since she was left on Jakks with so far no one to watch over her.

Offline Brad1981

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2016, 09:06:30 AM »
I think that the second trailer hinted to us the lineage of Rey. -"My father has it, I have it, my sister has it, you have that power too"  Luke is taking about someone else from the Skywalker bloodline.  Could he be talking about Ben Solo?  Sure, but I think my overwhelming thought is that Rey is who he is speaking of.  Leia and Han would have had a much stronger maternal and paternal reaction if she was theirs, although Han seems to know her heritage a bit just from the looks he gives her...In the end I think Luke, somehow, wiped away her memories of childhood in an attempt to keep her safe.  However, the force finds her and, subsequently, awakens within her. 

Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2016, 09:10:36 AM »
Yeah but neither the Solo's nor Skywalker would have left her unwatchable on Jakku.

Offline Brad1981

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2016, 09:18:01 AM »
I think that is what Lor San Tekka was doing on Jakku.  I don't think it is a coincidence that he is there on Jakku with Rey.  Taken from the Star Wars wiki page: "Tekka also helped Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi Knight, seek out Jedi lore that the Empire had attempted to destroy". 

I believe that Tekka was watching over Rey from a distance, as a courtesy to Luke.  Luke worked with Tekka and I believe, after the slaughter of Luke's recently established Jedi school, Tekka took Luke's child in order to keep her from Snoke.

Also, Maz kind of alluded to that heritage as well by claiming that the lightsaber "belonged to luke and his father before him and now it calls to you".  Again, just my thoughts but if I were a betting man I would bet that Luke would have had a child as opposed to Obi-Wan or Han and Leia having a daughter but had minimal reaction upon seeing and interacting with her.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2016, 09:22:03 AM by Brad1981 »

Offline DXistenz

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Re: Who is Rey?
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2016, 10:13:43 AM »
No matter which way Hollywood goes, they will go for greatest impact.
With what is known from TFA Luke could be the father. But take it back even further. Shmi told Quigon Anakin had no father. But Palpatine told Anakin that Plageius could create life.
So now many more questions arise.
Did Shmi only have one child?  Did Plageius use the force on her to create children?
Is Snoke actually Plageius?
So if Hollywood chosen this route then Snoke is the father of all the Skywalker and Rey. And this could all be just a retelling of Cronus and the story of the Titans.

 

retrousse