About Rey's Parents....

Love posting here because the Cantina tends to have more civilized and thoughtful conversations that many other SW chat forums lack. I'm hoping that'll be true of this topic too:

Rey's Backstory is Far from Confirmed...
I'm surprised so many people have been so adamant that after TLJ, it is now confirmed that Rey's parents were in fact nobodies or drunkards buried in the desert of Jakku. It may be true but also seems to be far from a sure thing.

Kylo Thinks Rey's Parents are Dead Junk Traders...
To review, Kylo asks Rey if she knows the truth about her parents, if she's hidden it away. Importantly, Kylo takes digs at Rey's parents: "They were filthy junk traders" who "sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing...."

Each statement Kylo makes is devastating to Rey--a person desperate to learn about her parents. Each statement comes from Kylo--a person twisted by the Dark Side--who knows the information will devastate Rey. Each statement comes from Kylo at a time when he is desperately trying to manipulate Rey to join him and the Dark Side.

After telling Rey she comes from nothing and that she's nothing, Kylo continues: "But not to me."

Kylo is literally trying to manipulate Rey into rejecting her past and joining him!
I don't think we can trust Kylo completely....

Rey Thinks Her Parents were Nobody...
Significantly, Rey does indeed seem to suggest she may have known all along that her parents were nobodies. During Kylo's diatribe about Rey's parents, Kylo forcefully tells Rey she has always known--"you've just hidden it away! Say it!"

To which Rey replies: "They were nobody."

To me, this might be the strongest evidence her parents were in fact nobodies (along with the mirror sequence). It came from the horse's mouth after all. Her reply suggests she might remember something about her parents being nobodies.

*** Or *** Perhaps Rey is simply blurting out her worst fear at a time when she is under great stress. Her fear that her parents are nobodies could reasonably be something she has increasingly come to believe herself.

Remember, when Rey says "they were nobody," this is not long after:
(1) She left Jakku for the first time after waiting for her family her entire adolescent life;
(2) She met all these neat Resistance people and has begun finding her place in the galaxy; and
(3) She had just met Luke Skywalker, who did not seem to recognize her as his daughter.

Importantly, for point (3), if Rey had any inkling that Luke might be her father--say perhaps from her ForceBack vision and Maz's speech about Luke's saber calling to her--Rey's suspicion was likely crushed after she met Luke and he didn't acknowledge her as a daughter. Why is this important? Because it would fuel her increasing belief that "maybe I truly come from nobodies."

Rian Thinks the Question is Answered "From a Certain Point of View"
So then we have the director's perspective. Context is important. When asked whether Kylo is telling the truth to Rey about her parents, his response is: "[1] I can't speak to what [the writers of Episode IX] are going to do. [2] And there's always, in these movies, a question of 'a certain point of view.'"--invoking Obi-Wan's "lie" that Darth Vader had killed Luke's father.

The fact he first answers the question saying he doesn't know what the next writers will do is about the strongest evidence we have that the story of Rey's parents has not yet been fully told (or at least is not yet conclusive). The fact that he says it is true from a certain point of view--invoking a line used by Obi-Wan when he misled Luke about his father's death--is even more proof that there is likely much more to the story!

But then Rian continues: "For me, in that moment, Kylo believes it's the truth. I don't think he's purely playing chess. I think that's what he saw when they touched fingers and that's what he believes. And when he tells her that in that moment, she believes it."

So from Kylo's point of view he may have had a vision of parental-type figures who sold Rey for money. Were they actually her parents? Would it be so strange that a child scavenger had been sold by her wards?

Now What?
For all of this information, whether Rey is a nobody or a Skywalker or something in between, it is very reasonable to say that we know very little for certain about the story behind Rey's family. The door is open to a wide range of possibilities.