SPECULATION Is Luke Rey's Father? - The Evidence For and Against

I have an inkling that a retcon is in the works, making Shmi Skywalker Force-sensitive but ignorant of her own potential - just like Rey in TFA. Rey's entire Jakku episode including the "I can't explain what happened" may be designed to mirror what must have happened to Shmi Skywalker in the past. This might be the reason why the Plagueis novel is no longer canon, because it would make the retcon impossible.

Maybe they want to make the prequel story less outlandish (and thus emotionally more accessible) by turning Palpatine into Anakin's father, having him seduce the Force-sensitive Shmi Skywalker, wipe her brain afterwards, and put her on a remote planet as a slave until their kid is old enough to be picked up by daddy's gullible footmen. I for one would certainly like the prequels better this way.

 

Big problem with this theory is that Rey is on Jakku before the Kylo Ren betrayal of Luke. It's been more than 15 years since she's been on Jakku and the betrayal happened more recently.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 27, 2016, Original Post Date: Feb 27, 2016 ---

Plutt must know more about Rey's past. Is his arm getting ripped off by Chewie at Maz's castle in the novel? If so, that's canon. He's not really a nice guy.

This tells us nothing about Rey's origins. Not sure where you're seeing a twist.

 

"at 11 years old, that wasn’t where my heart was." [but] "I respect and adhere to the canon"

He's not 11 years old. Nor is he in charge of Star Wars. It's also a wrong interpretation that the Force isn't inherited. The first movie made it clear that Luke wasn't the son of a spice freighter navigator that Luke thought he was. He was the son of a Jedi that had "too much of his father in him" and that's why he was important. His father wanted him to have the lightsaber, Kenobi told (retconned lied) to him.

 

Unrelated to my previous post above, I just had a totally wacky random thought on this...

how awkward it would be for Luke to have to give Rey what amounts to a twisted Plagueis rendition of the "birds and bees" talk.

Rey wants to know who and where her mother was...

and Luke might be like, "Well... it didn't quite happen that way...."

...then Rey's pricelessly quizzical expression...

And Luke tries to explain, "I mean... you see... I was... experimenting with the Force... and I..."

Rey:

Luke: No! No! Nothing like that -- I mean...

[Rey storms out of the cave.]

[Luke facepalms.]

And somewhere even Yoda's shaking his head, "Protection to use, told him did I...."



JediMasterRobert

 

I can see that as actually happening although not exactly in the way you've described .

 

This is actually quite a helpful piece of information. Thanks!

Certainly sounds like Unkar Plutt was quite intentionally protective of her, as if carefully instructed.

Although there were supposedly *several previous "owners" of the Falcon before Unkar Plutt, I had wondered if it was really there as a sort of "deposit" ("1 billion portions!") in return for watching over Rey.

(* http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Millennium_Falcon#Reappearance)

Perhaps Lor San Tekka was the last "owner" (and perhaps with Han Solo's blessing).

I'm thinking this all could be a rather complex setup along the lines of what happened at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.

It's otherwise far too convenient that the Church of the Force was not far away, and that the Falcon was literally right there, and that Han Solo and Chewie just to be soaring through the right part of galaxy to intercept the ship.

Perhaps this all was the will of the Force working overtime.

JediMasterRobert

 

It was when Leia was staring at Rey but before they hugged, that Chewie walked by Leia. I think that Leia was so focused on Rey that she didn't notice Chewie, and Chewie was still so dazed by Han's death that he didn't notice Leia either.

 

According to the TFA script/screenplay, when Luke saw Rey he immediately knew who she was. Luke was the only one who immediately recognized her. Han and Leia didn't seem to recognize Rey. Maz only seemed to know that Rey was strong in the force and was called by the light sabre. Kylo didn't seem to recognize Rey until she pulled the light sabre away from him.

Another reason it is likely that Rey is related to Luke is that it would enhance the internal conflict for Luke. He had failed in training his nephew and had lost him to the dark side. If Rey is related, she presents a second chance for Luke to train a Skywalker family member to become a Jedi. If he succeeds this time it would mean "redemption" in a way for Luke. On the other hand, there is also a risk that Luke would fail again and another Skywalker descendent would be lost to the dark side. If Rey is not related, then the stake of the conflict would not be as high and personal for Luke.

 

I wasnt saying anything about Reys origins nor a twist. I was just going by what she is going through. the connections that Obi Wan has with Luke and her hearing his voice when she doesnt know about him. I know we dont know her backstory and that I have to read the surviors guide everyone is saying. but still it doesnt factor in how she knows how to do certain things that are similar to ANH.

 

Me too. Mara jade-like mother possibly?

 

Of course, if Snoke felt the awakening Luke did it too.

 

I think this has been the most important thing said in this thread so far and it's a major reason why Luke's New Jedi Order is different than the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. It's a dogma that Luke can't accept because he is a compassionate person.

I am still undecided about Rey's lineage but @Benny Reno is absolutely correct in his, uh, colorful arguments about storytelling in film. All roads point to Rey being Luke's daughter. Before TFA even went into production Kathleen Kennedy stated that the central Star Wars saga is about the Skywalkers. Ben/Kylo being the only Skywalker in this new generation doesn't make sense because although he's a major character, Rey is very much the central focus of the story. Rey has to be a Skywalker and Luke being her father makes the most sense from a filmmaking perspective. The question then is why did Luke abandon his own child? Did he think her dead? Did he leave Rey and her mother at some point to lead the new Jedi Order? If for some weird reason Rey and Luke are not blood relatives, there will have to be a lot of explanation of who she is and that kind of situation doesn't make sense for Star Wars. Granted, it would make sense why Episode VIII is being described as "weird".

 

Where did you get that information? (Out of curiosity, cause I'd love to read up on that myself.)

 

Pablo Hidalgo

 

I would love to see Rey becoming Luke's Ahsoka for Ep VIII.

Greater link than the father / daughter one which would overshadow the master / apprentice relationship.

 

As a fan of The Clone Wars and Anakin's dynamic with Ahsoka, I am so much in agreement on this. I want her to be a nobody that Luke takes under his wing and adopts as his own. Don't think JJ and Rian are going that direction, though.

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015 movie):
[Spoilers] Who are Rey's parents? Is she Luke's daughter?

Although J.J. Abrams has a reputation for and seeming love of plot twists, that seems like one stretch too far given the extents that the movie goes to club us over the head with suggestions that Rey is Luke's daughter.

1. The name Luke generally means "light." Our central hero's name is "Rey" (ahem, "ray".) No matter how much people might try to assign it, subtlety has never been a part of the Star Wars films.
2. Anakin and Luke's lightsaber "called" to her. And it was more "responsive" to her as an untrained force user then it is to known Anakin descendent and trained Force user Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren is Leia's son, and the lightsaber in question never belonged to Leia.
3. R2-D2 slept the whole movie until Rey finally arrived at the Resistance base at the end. Then R2-D2 woke up and showed the way to Luke. R2 was waiting for her. (The connection in this moment wasn't that well communicated, but it's the only explanation for R2's awakening that has even a shred of logic.)
4. Given how much these series of films look for homage and "rhymes," I am compelled to believe that they're setting Luke up to say, "I am your father."

• Ewan MacGregor reportedly recorded new dialog for the Force visions that Rey has after coming into contact with the lightsaber, and they apparently edited Alec Guinness into the vision too. [1] Could she be a Kenobi instead? [2] There'd certainly be some symmetry there given that a Kenobi once retrieved a Skywalker from a desert planet.
• "Choice and Free Will" seems to be a very prominent theme in this movie and it seems to stand in marked contrast to the very Destiny-focused first six films. A stormtrooper chooses to abandon the First Order. The child of Han & Leia chooses the dark side (and it seems to require some active commitment rather than the typical drug-like seduction we've seen previously). What if Rey, keeping with this theme of choice, isn't a member of any family we've previously seen as "good"? Given her natural Force talents, what if she's Palpatine's descendant?