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

Naaaah...

I still say the biggest impediment to Rey being some dark side child whose parents Luke killed... is the fact that I just don't see that being a part of Luke's character any more. I am not necessarily trying to say he is a pacifist, but Luke has seriously removed himself, apparently straight away after the Battle of Endor, from any direct conflict in the galaxy.

He can certainly be a protector and defender if attacked, but I don't see him as having been engaged in actively hunting down and killing remnant Imperials, unlike the characters in the Aftermath novels. He was seeking Jedi lore... not killing. I see him more as one who seeks out and imparts wisdom and knowledge... after all, "Wars not make one great."

I cannot deny that your scenario would create tremendous conflict between Luke and Rey and there needs to be some of that. However, I think Rey's greatest conflict needs to be not with her mentor, but with her adversary whom she must be convinced to redeem. So try this ReySky theory on for size:

We know that the relationship amongst Han, Leia, and Luke has been strained... and there is at least the suggestion of some prior tragic event in their lives before Kylo Ren turned completely to the dark. What if when he was a child, Ben Solo had some event wherein he could not control his emotions, lashed out with the Force, and hurt someone he did not intend to hurt or kill... like say, Luke's partner, Rey's mother. Maybe while she was still pregnant, so no one knew about Rey. Except Snoke. Luke, Han and Leia were not willing to give up on the boy, but it ultimately drove a wedge among them all. Leia eventually sends Ben (riddled with guilt, part of why he thinks it is too late for him) to train with Luke, but then word leaks out about Darth Vader being his grandfather, so he believes the dark is his ultimate destiny.

A similar kind of theory would also work for Rey Solo. Ben has some outburst that ultimately results in the loss of Rey... before he has gone completely dark. Maybe even at the behest of Snoke's machinations. I would still like to believe that Rey's abandonment on Jakku was orchestrated by Snoke and executed by Ben Solo... again, before he has completely turned dark and before he goes to train with Luke (riddled with guilt, part of why he thinks it is too late for him). And I can still see a scenario where, based on their troubled family history, Leia, Han, and even Luke would not want to talk about this kind of family tragedy, whether publicly or even with each other.

I always say that nothing is off the table and anything is possible, so I would like to think a scenario like this could happen.

EDIT: If you have to have a kick to the guts for Rey, it certainly should come from Kylo. But I say, just when she is convinced (by Luke and/or Leia) it is her destiny to redeem Ben Solo, he tells her all about what he has done to destroy her family... that should do it, and give some doubt as to whether or not she will really redeem him.

 

Just watching day one of SWCO, and how much importance the LFL brass have placed on GL and his vision for SW, and rightly so. That I'm filled with a new found confidence that while they may have made small tweaks too his original ST ideas, like the ages of Rey and Ben.. I'm now quite sure they gave stuck to his plans of them both being Anakin's grandchildren!

Yea for GL =]

 

Just funny to hear anyone say, "My dear Toilet" unless you are sick from too much alcohol and clinging to the side of the cool porcelain throne.

I am well aware of Luke's Force-tree-recovering escapade with Poe Dameron's mother. But are you suggesting that Rey is merely the offspring of some lowly Stormtrooper and his family? Perhaps Luke occasionally comes across the grunt enforcers of the Imperial remnant while seeking out Jedi lore, but I don't see any of those, let alone any true Sith/Imperial evil-doers, as family-first types. What, did Luke not only come across such a Stormtrooper (Rey's real mother or father) and then promptly hunt down and kill all of his or her family? Or are you suggesting that the Stormtroopers have husbands and wives and kids serving side by side in their ranks? Either way, doesn't seem like a very Jedi thing to do...

Even so, if you want to give Rey's alleged Imperial background some gravitas, you are going to have to go way further up the chain of command than lowly Stormtroopers. And I just don't see Luke being the hunter and killer of such Imperial higher ups. Especially when one faction of the New Republic (see Mon Mothma) was more interested in de-escalation and diplomatic solutions. Luke was focused on Jedi lore, leaving the task of cleaning up and/or dealing with the Imperial remnant to others, as he rightly should have.

Sure, Luke killing Rey's Imperial family is possible (just like any of these origin theories), but as you have stated time and again, Luke is too busy trying to learn about and rebuild the Jedi order to be out killing bad guys that the New Republic should already have a handle on.

Admittedly, I don't recall offhand which book it was, but the article I reference below goes into more detail. A criticism is that Leia didn't ever mention a lost child, but I clearly recall reading that a reporter-type was trying to do an expose' on Leia and could not obtain personal information about her, not only related to her own family origins with Vader, but also specifically during the time period when Rey would have been born. Now maybe someone else inaccurately summarized such story lines, but I know I read it somewhere. And I am sure that a review of one of @MagnarTheGreat's compilations suporting his Rey Solo theories would identify it...

There is also another interpretation of the dialogue between Han and Leia that potentially suggests some prior tragedy:

Han Solo: Listen to me, will you? I know every time you... Every time you look at me you're reminded of him.

Leia: You think I want to forget him? I want him back.

Han Solo: There's nothing more we could have done. There's too much Vader in him.

Leia: That's why I wanted him to train with Luke. I just never should have sent him away. That's when I lost him. That's when I lost you both.

Han Solo: We both had to deal with it in our own way. I went back to the only thing I was ever any good at.

Leia: We both did.

Han Solo: We lost our son. Forever.

Now, one can assume that the "it" Han Solo was referring to was what Leia said, "That's when I lost him. That's when I lost you both." But another way to interpret it is that the "it" she refers to is the prior loss of another child, some other "profound tragedy." Leia says when she sent Ben away was when she lost Han, too, but we know that Ben considered Han Solo to be a disappointing father... perhaps an absentee father before that. There is the possibility that Han Solo had some difficulty staying put and not being in the middle of the adventure, so to speak, even though he and Leia may have initially made a go of "family life." But imagine that if Han and Leia lost a younger child, they both immersed themselves in their non-family pursuits, Leia on the political side, Han in his racing/freighter captain career, both leaving Ben somewhat alone and susceptible to further corruption by Snoke. Perhaps just at the time Ben was feeling guilty, responsible, or even just distraught over the loss of his younger sister.

I understand there is more from the Visual Dictionary about Han returning to his life as a freighter captain due to a "profound tragedy":



This article also provides a pretty good argument that:

https://moviepilot.com/p/brekaing-down-the-profound-tragedy-that-affected-the-solos/4173708

As I said, perhaps she was inadvertently killed by Ben Solo... as for a wedge between them, I am not suggesting that Han, Leia and Luke no longer cared for each other, wanted nothing to do with each other, and so on. Let's just say the relationship could be awkward and strange, especially if someone in their inner circle was harmed or killed and one or more of the OT Big Three felt responsible. Anyway, perhaps Leia thought sending Ben Solo to Luke was a way to mend those relationships to a degree.

How do we know Kylo Ren and Rey have never met? If there is some solid canon evidence, I would be happy to consider it. But I think that if Kylo Ren knew he was somehow involved in Rey's abandonment on Jakku and then this "girl" from Jakku shows up and is causing all kinds of problems for him, including the possibility that he is actually trying to hide her from Snoke and fears he is about to find out, it helps to explain some of his temper tantrums...

What if Ben Solo actually stashed his little sister Rey away on Jakku because he was being manipulated by Snoke very early on, felt as though he was not being adequately protected by his own parents, and feared the same fate for his little sister? Maybe in his mind, the end game is learning from Snoke, gaining his trust, and eventually usurping him, as the only way he can truly protect his sister and the ones he loves (Snoke is Plagueis, as you and I would really prefer!)... Kylo Ren certainly wouldn't let on that he knows who Rey is for fear that will be discovered by Snoke. Snoke tells him to bring "the girl" to him, and yet instead Kylo offers to be her teacher and show Rey the ways of the Force. Not introduce her to Snoke, do it himself. Seems like something he would want to do with his own flesh and blood rather than just some Force-sensitive nobody (that he has an unrequited crush on, as you like to believe).

Anyway, I would totally be up for this kind of storyline... but my point is, there are all kinds of believable, compelling storylines where Rey can still be a Solo or Skywalker... whether Ben was involved, responsible, or not.

Look, I don't disagree that such conflict between Rey and Luke would be interesting, but I just find other storylines where she is a Solowalker to be much more connected to the Star Wars I know and love.

Rey Random or Rey Imperial falls extremely flat for me in part because I cannot feel the same connectivity to such a character as I would one related to the Skywalkers... and just as much, if not moreso, because I don't really want to see our original heroes as such flawed and questionable characters given what they were supposed to have learned in the OT. Instead, I think one of the scenarios above, where they are more the victims of Darth Vader's legacy, rather than out-and-out perpetuating it themselves, to be much more palatable.

 

this is actually a great run down of Rey Solo! i've never been a proponent of that particular theory, but i like the way it's laid out. the, "it" portion of that one line, along with the idea of the tragedy happening prior to Ben's fall, are compelling points that i hadn't really considered before.

the most obvious objection will be in the vein of, "Leia would have felt it if her child had died!" which i think is bunk, but i've gone over all that before.

i don't think this stitches everything up with a bow on top, but it does shed light on what may have been going down all those years before TFA.

 

That movie plot article is so good

Believed in this from the very start, and I still do. Go Rey Solo Skywalker!

 

Breathe ...

Did anyone said that breathing was all over TFA ?

 

that trailer! didn't really help with who Rey's parents may be, at least not on the first viewing, but wow! the final line from Luke: i didn't really expect that!

 

When Rey is seeing "light" and the shot shows Leia, there's a whispery voice saying "I love you". Which is... interesting.

 

i was wondering what those whispery voices were saying! i have to watch it again... (and again, and again, and again...)

 

Well, I think this teaser, if the last line from Luke is actually said in the movie and represents his plan going forward, strongly suggests that the old PT era Jedi ways are indeed, dead. Rey Skywalker lives!

... or Rey Kenobi. You can choose! Yay!

 

People are guessing that it's "Help me Obi-Wan" or "my only hope" and I'm not getting that at all lol. It sounds like "I love you" to me.

 

"Daisy Ridley teases her role in #TheLastJedi -- she expects a lot from Luke, but says meeting your heroes can be disappointing"

luke: it's time for the jedi to end

 

I'm starting to wonder if Rey being Luke's daughter theory is dying. Mark once again was joking around calling Daisy his daughter. He obviously knows that Rey Skywalker is a very popular theory. If it was true would he continue to joke like that?

 

Maybe cause hrs counting on people thinking that way.

 

Once a site posted these jokes as if Mark "accidentally revealed the big secret about Rey" and Mark had to explain on his twitter that he has experience in keeping spoilers.

 

Apparently in an interview after the panel, Daisy makes a comment about Luke not knowing who Rey is when she shows up with the lightsaber. It is in the Rey thread

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 14, 2017, Original Post Date: Apr 14, 2017 ---

That's my point. I don't think he'd keep joking if Rey was actually Luke's daughter

 

I heard that too, but my thoughts where it was Leia reaching out through the force to Ben. "The pull to the light he feels".