LOR SAN TEKKA, Grandfather of Rey

Agree. It would be a great twist plot for episode VIII. After all, they have been playing with it for a long time (is she a Solo or a Skywalker?" and it was heavily implied but never declared. A friend told me "Rey has a lot of Luke in her, but also a lot of Han." so I see everything is possible.

 

Rey Rey Rey!

If you want to know who Lor San Tekka is watch...
1. Minority Report
2. The Wolfman (w/ BENICIO)

 

I think the reason he calls her Princess is that his home planet is Alderann. Not confirmed but just my guess.

 

In the book Before the Awakening, it is written that Poe spies on a Republic Senator who is suspected to be leaking information to the First Order.

Taken from @Hard Case's review: http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2015/12/swnn-review-star-wars-before-the-awakening-by-greg-rucka.html

It is implied that the Resistance (i.e., Leia) was not aware of Lor San Tekka until just before the beginning of TFA.

 

Are you sure? I thought the opening crawl said he was "an old ally." Which very rarely refers to age but rather refers to a long history together.

 

A high-ranking member of the new "Jedi academy" who isn't actually Force sensitive?

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I'm thinking, that due to his extensive exploration of the galaxy, he was able to point Luke in the direction of the First Temple.
Tekka went with Luke to Jakku when he was send Rey away... and promised to keep an eye on her, and if she ever came looking for answers, he could give her the map piece to find him.
That didn't happen, so the Force intervened.

 

i like the energy of the OP theory, but i can't help but think it's bunk.

firstly, anything to do with erasing memories is ridiculous: this isn't a video game plot. the fact that Rey was as young as she was when abandoned allows for her not to remember anything specific. no further elaboration necessary.

secondly, the film makes no connection between Rey and Tekka. in fact, it's alluded in the film (and pretty much confirmed in the new books) that Rey didn't have any friends or support structure during her life on Jakku. that means that Tekka was either not looking after her at all, or a terrible guardian at best.

thirdly, Tekka wasn't entrusted with anything: he discovered the map (how is a good question), got in touch with Resistance, and handed it off to Poe. as has been stated in this thread, Tekka hadn't been in touch with the Resistance for a while (although he clearly knows the key players). that means that Luke did not tell him to hide up anywhere special with the map until... what, why? it just doesn't add up.

fourthly, why would Rey have been left with Unkar in the first place? Luke and Tekka wouldn't do something like this without really breaking character (i'm assuming Tekka is at least a semi-decent person); it makes a lot more sense for Ben to have dumped Rey there and allowed everyone to think that she was killed during the massacre at the academy.

to summarize: Luke didn't entrust anything to Tekka, nor did he leave Rey on Jakku to hide her from herself. my guess is that Ben dumped her there out of fear and compassion and allowed everyone to assume she had been killed. she was young enough to not really retain this information, but was probably told by Unkar (and maybe even Ben), that someone would be back for her someday.

although i said i don't agree with the OP theory (for the above reasons), it still doesn't block the way for Tekka being Rey's grandfather: it just couldn't have happened the way you spelled it out. Tekka could have had a daughter who got with Luke and was later killed by Ben, but i don't think anyone (other than perhaps Ben and Snoke) know that Rey is still alive.

 

Great speculation, and as is the case with pretty much everything Star Wars related these days, will be better than whatever the official explanation winds up being.

 

Knowing about the Force and being Force sensitive are two very different things.
Tekkas's "knowledge" of the Force is purely philosophical. He believes it exists. He believes that there needs to be balance. He believes the galaxy needs Jedi. But he is not a Jedi himself.

Can a non-Jedi teach the ways of the Force?

 

I don't know... that would basically mean that Jedi don't actually need to be trained by Jedi.

That just seems a bit strange.
I don't really picture a Jedi Hogwarts with classes on history and stuff like that.

 

The Force is a bit different to politics or rocket science. The Jedi path is a way of life... it's really something that needs to be taught by other Jedi.