SPECULATION OFFICIAL Rey Discussion Thread

Rey being a Solo is even more difficult to explain than she being a Skywalker. If Han and Leia knew that she is their child, I can't see any reasonable explanation for their behavior in TFA, not even why they left her Jakku. If they knew how she was living in Jakku and did nothing about, they simple destroyed their reputation. I don't think any good mother/father would left a son/daughter continue to live in the situation we found Rey.

As for the coincidences, its there to make the movie go further (or is The Force arranging things). Lets not forget the "coincidence" of R2D2 falling in Tattoine and going to stop in Luke's hands.

I'm still on the side of Rey's being a Skywalker, although I know it will be hard explain all the situation convincingly. Rey being just a random makes the saga a little less bright, at least for me.

 

If they presume she is dead or she was kidnapped 15+ years ago there's really no reason to bring this up during the film.

 

Welcome

Your theory could definitely work (as many others), but i agree with reneoliveira that it would be too complicated. A few things:

0) As you mentioned yourself, leaving their daughter in a desert planet is one thing. Leaving her in a desert planet at the hands of an awful creature is another

1) I still find it hard to believe Han and Leia wouldn't bring her up during TFA even in the situation you described. Han seemed pretty defeated regarding Kylo's turn to the dark side, as if he had washed his hands about it. I doubt he would agree to this crazy plan of sending a little girl to a desert planet to maybe one day fight Kylo Ren. You mentioned Han looked guilty at some point, but if she was his daughter I would expect him to have a stronger reaction than guilt. Something more like anger.

2) BB-8 didn't find Rey, Rey found BB-8. I'm personally okay with that being just a coincidence.

3) I'm also okay with the simple explanation for Rey to be able to fly the MF (i.e she used to sneak into the ships that Unkar owned and she was familiar with the MF), I don't think she needs to be a Solo to be able to do so or that the ship was Rey's Obi-Wan.

4) If Leia and Luke planned it together, and Han was in the know, then why wasn't she too worried when she heard Rey had been captured? You mentioned the part of the script that says "Han might be more relieved than the others", but Leia seemed to see saving Rey as ""collateral damage"". And if she was part of Luke's grand plan to use Rey to defeat the dark side in Kylo, then why would she suggest to Han that he could do it himself because he was Ben's dad?

5) JJ said R2 woke up because of BB-8, like he started a "boot process" after BB-8 told him they needed his help. JJ could be lying though, it would certainly not be the first time.

6) I don't remember where I've read this (I think it was the leaked call sheet) but it seems like Maz just found the saber long ago, from someone who found it somewhere, no grand mystery there. But maybe it was cut from the movie for a reason and they changed their minds, I don't know.

7) The timeline was mentioned by other people, but to be honest I don't know how seriously I take Pablo's twitter. He always answers with a question.

8) I interpreted the script differently regarding Luke and Rey's meeting. I don't think he recognized her. But hey, that's a minor detail, definitely something they can discard going forward if they want to.

 

Ok, but in TFA it seems that Han and Leia know something about Rey. If she is their daughter presumed dead or kidnapped, why don't tell her? Why she was send to find Luke? Why Han don't show any emotion about she being kidnapped again, this time by her own brother? I see that it is a real possibility, but it weakens TFA movie/script decisions.

 

I can just as easily argue that Han and Leia know nothing about Rey. That's something you as an audience member are seeing, but could very well be nothing. Why would they tell her about their daughter? I don't tell everything horrible thing about my past to a person I just met. Obi-Wan certainly hid things from Luke initially. It seemed to me Han didn't care that much about Rey being kidnapped because he's was more emotional from seeing his son.

 

Thank you!

Yeah, I'm trying to keep that in mind. But if we're going to hold on to this argument for dear life, it will lead us to the inevitable conclusion that a villainous character dropped her off. Let's go through them, shall we?

- Palpatine (dead)
- Darth Vader (dead and not even villainous by the end)
- Snoke (if he was creeping on little Ben, like Leia said in the novel, then I'm pretty sure he was creeping on little Rey too. Therefore, why drop her off in the middle of nowhere instead of taking her under his arms and turning her to the dark side?)
- Ben/Kylo. Possible. He was my guess for a long time and I'm still willing to adapt my theory to accomodate him. But let's keep in mind that little Rey was looking up at someone taking off, which means he would have to fly a ship at 10 years-old. But it's possible, I guess. Perhaps he even stole dad's Falcon (which would pose the problem of how he flew back)

After I finished writing the theory, I came up with another idea about the Falcon. Instead of planting it there, maybe Han actively offered it to Unkar in exchange for treating Rey well or at least leaving her alone. If he could really monitor the place through some sort of camera, they killed two birds with one stone.

For what it's worth, from what I read about Jakku it seems like its main characteristic is how isolated it is, so perhaps it was their only option to keep Rey really hidden.

Fair enough

I'd have to rewatch the movie, because I don't recall Rey being "collateral damage" for Leia. All I remember is that they hugged when they met for the first time.

Yeah, I found out about this after I had finished the theory. So R2 reacted to a plea from BB-8, but it took a while for him "wake up", he didn't respond as soon as BB-8 "talked" to him. Apparently because he's such a dear character that his comeback needed to be memorable and unexpected. Hummm... I don't know, I'm still thinking of how to process this information, if it's even true...

Damn, I seriously hope we're gonna get better explanations than "oh that's just what happened"

The leaked script definetely says that Luke "didn't have to ask who she is" and that there was affection and conflict in his eyes.

 

I mean remember that Rey only spent like a day with Han - we saw signs of vague recognition from him which could, in retrospect, end up meaning he thought there was something familiar about her - like he's seeing signs of a daughter he lost in Rey, but he firmly believes she died 15 years ago so the idea seems impossible to him (it was a strong enough feeling that it makes him want to offer her a home of course). It doesn't help that Rey doesn't seem to recognize him, and Han's mind wouldn't immediately jump to the idea that she's got amnesia or something. Rey doesn't say anything to indicate this so for all he knows she's got parents who aren't him. And he didn't get the chance to investigate further as all hell broke loose with Kylo and the FO. Notice how Han doesn't get the opportunity to find out Rey has the Force in this movie - he never saw it, I don't think Maz ever told him (he looked pretty confused when Maz was getting the lightsaber out), so that's one big clue about her identity he was oblivious to. Only Leia finds this out, and well she's the one who's looking at Rey with a far more pronounced look of "could this girl be...?" at the end. I couldn't say if that means Leia figured it out with the benefit of the Force or if she was simply feeling something very strong that she was unsure (afraid?) to express out loud. We do know from the novelization that Leia is reminded of what happened to Kylo while she's sending Rey off to Luke, and it worries her that the same thing could happen to Rey - could be that's a reason she might know but doesn't say anything? Maybe she doesn't wanna burden Rey with any overwhelming knowledge about the family legacy she's a part of (and compound the grief she feels over Han) which could potentially derail Rey's training and send her to the Dark Side just like Kylo. On top of that I don't think Leia would have any idea how Rey could even be alive (like I'm pretty sure someone else would be responsible for putting Rey on Jakku in this scenario) and if Leia had brought up her suspicions to Rey we'd be left with a ton of distracting unresolved questions, for Rey and the audience, that Leia doesn't have the answers to yet. I mean if we're assuming TPTB are saving the Jakku backstory mystery reveal for the next movie, it wouldn't do to dump leading questions and exposition about that in the last few minutes of TFA. Not when it'd be better to save all of that for a really climactic family reveal moment in VIII.

 

Lets remember that the abandoned child Rey have almost the same style of clothes/hair of the older one. That should be a clue to her parents.

Other thing that bugs me is the Maz kanata dialog. Before the vision Han is going to tell Maz who is the girl. After the vision Maz says that Han have told her, and the things starts to point to Luke. If she is really Han/Leia daughter this scene was purposely put there to cause digression. Any plot twist concerning Rey's parentage will have to be very well constructed.

 

Just wanted to point out that Ben and Rey are (supposedly) 10 years apart in age, so if Rey is 5 when she goes to Jakku Ben would be 15, so he could perfectly fly a ship.

I'll admit my wording was unfair, but while watching the impression I got was that Leia had two or three things above "Rey being kidnapped" on her list of "things to worry about". But others may have seen differently.

After "didn't have to ask who she is" the script says "His look says it all" and follows that with "In response, Rey offers the lightsaber" (paraphrasing), so my interpretation is that he didn't need to verbally ask her who she is and what she's doing there because it was clear in his face, which Rey understands and promptly responds showing the lightsaber, which is the reason she's there ("An offer. A plea. The galaxy's only hope").

 

Why?

I keep seeing this popping up. What if Han said... "Rey stole the Falcon with Finn and fled Jakku. She's a pretty good pilot and knows how to fix things." Yeah, it's boring. It would also be a good reason for it happen off-screen.

 

Body language, facial expression tells you Han knows more than he is letting on. That does not mean Rey is related though. Maybe he recognizes that she has the force, he has seen it before remember

 

Is "Han uses body language to show he knows more than he's letting on" in the script?

To be fair I'm pretty much open to all possibilities when it comes to Rey, but there is an element of "I Want to Believe" in some of these theories.

 

If I had my daughter kidnapped, and 15 years later I see a girl about the same age, dressed in the same way, with the same hair style, certainly it would draw my attention.

Yes, it's possible, but it would mean that the whole scene was there just to confuse and hide the truth.

 

Agree. The point there was the First Order threat and that their son was part of that threat.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 13, 2016, Original Post Date: Jan 13, 2016 ---

Great post. It could be. "A mother's embrace." As Snoke said: "We shall see."

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 13, 2016 ---

Either that or there was not a lot of clothing choices for a scavenger living on a desert planet.

 

Interesting that Rey's outfit is being brought up, because...





from The Art of Star Wars The Force Awakens

 

Very interesting! I think it was very wise from the producers/director leave Rey's parentage open. Anyway, I just expect she is really a Skywalker or Solo (my bet is Skywalker). Being a random would weaken the Saga.

 

I kind of feel like her new outfit is more just a nod to her idolizing Han (she was ecstatic to meet early on) and the surrogate father/daughter thing that they were beginning to build before Kylo ruined it all.

I would also argue that Han's looks could just be sympathy in a broader sense. Like first of all, she reminds him a bit of himself as a younger man with her technical knowledge. And then when she says something like "I didn't think that there was this much green in the whole galaxy," the look on his face struck as him thinking "oh my, just how miserable a life has this girl had to lead up till now?" And he knows that she idolizes him, so his offering her a job is both a way of getting a promising new crewmember onboard, and giving her a "way out" of her lonely existence on Jakku.

 

Plus, Disney was like... we'll need another Rey toy! $$$$

 

No I don't think it would be in the script mainly because the film crew shoot the same shot over and over again. With different tones, gestures ect... I don't think the final formula is made until the editing process. Look at the trailer with the chewie where home line. The scene is in the film but its a different take.

 

Hello guys!

I would really like Kylo and Rey to be brother and sister more than Rey being Luke's daughter. In any case, for me there's a scene of the film that tells the family relationship between both, and that's their meeting in Starkiller cell.



I think Abrams takes care of the characters at every detail. When I look at Kylo here, I see a boy siting in a bedrom while chatting to his sister / cousine. His attitude is very different from the scene where he tortures Poe (standing, menacing). In fact, what he wants from Poe is to be frightened, the contrary with Rey:

Kylo: You still want to kill me?
Rey: That happens when you're haunted by a creature with a mask.

Kylo, instead of using her fear in his favour (wheather to get information or to bring her to the dark side), decides to release his mask.
For me this pretty much explains how this two people are related. Kylo seems to feel compassion for Rey.