Novelization-Exclusive Details.

Does it say in the novel who Kylo Ren kills in on the rainy night Jedi slaughter in Rey's vision? I have seen the movie twice and it looked like someone with a helmet (did not look like a Jedi) being cut down by the red blade. Could this be evidence that Ren saved Rey as a toddler from death and also point towards early evidence of conflicted sentiments of Light and Dark?

 

This is the whole vision:

The box was not locked. She opened it.

A heavy, slow, mechanical breathing filled the room. Turning, she found herself looking down an impressive hallway, its architecture reminiscent of the Old Empire. Peering harder, farther, she sawin the distance a section of the famed Cloud City. Two figures were locked in combat, distant, distant. Someone, somewhere, somewhen, spoke her name.

“Hello?” Wreathed in the irrationality of the moment, she called hopefully, but received no answer.

A boy appeared at the end of the hallway. She started toward him, and the world turned inside out, causing her to trip and fall.

Ontothe wall, which had become the ground. Not the adamantine ceramic she had just seen, but dry grass. Nearby, a lightsaber slammed into the ground. A missed thrust, a statement of power—she didn’t know, couldn’t tell. A hand appeared to pull it upward.

Day became night, sky ominous and filled with rain, cold and chilling to the bone. She was standing, she was sitting, she was looking up—to seesomeone, a warrior, take the full force of the lightsaber. He screamed and fell.

Battlefield then, all around her. Putting a hand to her mouth, she rose and turned. As she turned, she found herself confronted by seven tall, cloaked figures, dark and foreboding, all armed. Soaked and shivering, she stumbled backward, turning as she half fell. Firelight illuminated her, firelight from a distant,burning temple.

The seven vanished. A sound made her turn, and she blinked in surprise at the sight of a small blue-and-silver R2 unit. A new figureappeared. Falling to his knees, he reached out to the droid with an artifice of an arm—metal and plastics and other materials with which she was not familiar. She blinked and both were gone.

Around her now: barren, snowy woods, the soundsof unknown forest creatures, and a conviction that she must be losing her mind. Once more she climbed to her feet, her chilled breath preceding her. From in front of her, not far away, came the sounds of battle: the cries of the wounded and the clashing of weapons. Then behind her, another voice.

Thatvoice.

“Stay here. I’ll come back for you.”

She whirled, glazed eyes desperatelyscanning the dark gaps between the slender trees, trying to penetrate the darkness.

“Where are you?” She started running toward the voice.

“I’ll come back, sweetheart. I promise.”

“I’m here! Right here! Where are you?”

No response. She started forward again, running, only to be brought to a sudden halt by a figure appearing without warning from behind a tree.

She screamed,and screamed again, and fell backward, backward, sitting down hard in—

She was in the underground corridor, sitting on the cold old stone, her chest pounding as if she had just run from her home all the way to Niima Outpost.

“There you are.”

The voice made her jump. But it was only Maz Kanata, standing alone in the passageway between her and the far stairway.

“What was—that?” Reystammered as she struggled to catch her breath.

Maz looked from her to the open doorway and then back to Rey. “It called to you.”

Rey stood unsteadily, her mind still rocked by a succession of rapidly evaporating nightmares. BB-8 rolled out of the room to come to a stop beside her.

“I—I shouldn’t have gone in there.” Aware that she might well have violated unknown privacies, she hurriedto voice amends. “I’m sorry…”

“Listen to me.” Maz was watching her closely. “I know this means something. Something very special…”

“I need to get back.” Rey shook her head, as if the simple physical action might somehow clear everything from her memory.

Maz came closer. “Yes, Han told me that.” Her voice was gentle now, not at all the hard, sardonic tone she had employed up until thismoment. “Whatever you’ve been waiting for—whomever—I can see it in your eyes, you’ve known it all along…they’re not coming back. But there’s someone who still could. With your help.”

Tears were beginning to trickle down Rey’s face. She’d had enough, of all of this. It was too much. “No,” she said simply.

“That lightsaber was Luke’s. And his father’s before him. It reached out toyou. Thebelonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it. The light. It’s always been there. It will guide you. The saber. Take it.”

Rey’s voice strengthened as she wiped away tears. “I’m never touching that thing again. I don’t want any part of this.”

Without another word Rey tookoff running, heading determinedly toward the stairs that beckoned just ahead. Accelerating, BB-8 easily kept pace. Maz watched her go and sighed.

One could teach knowledge. One could teach skills. One could even, she knew, teach something of the Force.

But patience had to be learned alone.

 

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 21, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 21, 2015 ---

He kinda looked something like this v Could he have been a ren?

 

Strangely, the official hardback cover novel isn't being released in the UK until 1st January 2016. Imagine my surprise to this news on 18th December when i went into the bookstore expecting to purchase the book of the movie which I saw the previous day. Grr.

Wasn't a wasted journey though, I bought "Before The Awakening" and "Rey's Survival Guide" instead, both of which were enjoyable and informative reads.

 

It irks me to no end reading all the comments to the news article, where poeple keep repeating that Rey can't be Luke's daughter because prequel-era Jedi could not have sex/kids (as if Luke would even want to reconstruct the rigid Jedi code that led to their downfall in the first place). It's as if these commenters had totally forgotten what Lucas himself had to say about the matter...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1989505.stm

Now, to spam this link and quote to each and every comment claiming otherwise...

 

I've read the novel and I'm trying to find there some info on how long Luke has been missing. Annoyingly, I don't appear to find this reference. I've now read two different theories on this - that he has been gone about 1o years, OR 20 years.

This is significant for me in terms of Rey's link to Luke. If Luke went into hiding 20 years ago, Rey wasn't even born. However, she is told to be around 5 when she was abandoned in Jakku.

However, if Luke went into hiding 10 years ago, that would explain it a lot better...

 

That would make sense. Regarding the information, I read a review of the novelization (here on starwars7newsnet) in which the reviewer told that book reveals Luke has been missing 20 years. It irks me that I couldn't find that detail myself.

Anyhoo, what I am speculating with this is the following: there is a lot of theorizing on Rey being Luke's daughter. However, if she is 19 years old by the time the movie starts, and Luke has disappeared 2o years ago, that pretty much shoots down that theory. Rey was left on Jakku at the age of 5, Luke disappeared 4 years earlier... This whole concept of Rey being whisked away from Kylo's cohorts doesn't make much sense in that timeframe.

 

Thanks @Pomojema. Yes, I put the 20 years number together in my head, but now I think it's closer to 15 years. Sorry about that @lighteye. Didn't mean to send you on a wild Bantha chase.