SPECULATION Rey Kenobi...how does it work?

Honestly, when it was confirmed that Vader’s Castle was on Mustafar (and not on Sullust, as I think I was sort of right to believe at the time?) this prospect in particular was very exciting to me: Rey Kenobi vs. Ben Solo (Skywalker) on Mustafar; it would be such a poetic way to bring the story full circle.

And then I thought about Rey Kenobi, realistically, and I just can’t bring myself to buy it. My biggest problem is that many people’s argument is that he could have had a child whilst on Tatooine, but then surely this puts into question how much he was really protecting Luke? Likewise, many of the more casual fans haven’t watched an episode of TCW and have zero idea about his past with Satine, and, without that set-up, the reveal of Rey being a Kenobi doesn’t seem nearly as impactful as some alternatives, and it would also confuse those who had watched TCW: wait, so when exactly did Obi-Wan have his child? Why wasn’t he expelled from the Order? Etc.

I think that it’s a little more poetic than it is practical, honestly, simply because Rey finding this out requires some explanation, not just for us, but for Rey too.

I sort of touched on this above, but I think that the idea that Kenobi has a child at any point goes against the content of the Saga films up to this point, and not having an explanation for something like this and saving it for the standalone film...well, would Rey, or we, really be okay with Luke going “See this Force Ghost? He’s your grandfather” or “You’re a Kenobi”, etc.?

Personally, I don’t see how this can seamlessly be an easy case for casual or hardcore SW fans to believe, and I am sort of concerned that the reveal of Rey’s parents could cause much more confusion than celebration if it’s not explained; for instance, how does Rey being a Kenobi tie into being left on Jakku, etc.?

Just seems a hard one to fathom right now, but I’ll walk into that screening with an empty and peaceful mind willing to accept whatever Rian Johnson’s efforts have to offer.

 

You could make pretty much the exact same counter argument against her being related to any one of the original characters. It all depends on context and a good, convincing explanation.

As far as ob1 was supposed to be looking out for Luke, thats fair enough but are we also supposed to believe that he sat in his hut for 20 years with absolutely no life at all because that is pretty unrealistic. OB1 must have had some sort of existence on tattooine, and don't forget the at that time the Jedi order was expunged. I'd find it harder to believe that he sat in a sand hut jerkin his gherkin for 20 years than he broke his now long irrelevant vow to not have a personal life or family.

20 years is a long time and if they are planning on making a stand alone film based on his time on tattooine I doubt we will get 2 hours of Ben Kenobi and his gherkin lol.

Im not saying its a dead cert but I think its possibly more feasible than some may think. (I mean rey being a Kenobi of course, not the gherkin thing lol)

 

That's where maybe I can offer a slightly different perspective. I was never a fan of the old EU (I know shame on me lol). The only stuff apart from the main films I've really taken an interest in are KOTOR and a few seasons of rebels. That's it. I never watched CW nor have I really read any of the novels apart from a couple of the old republic ones. I just never had the desire to know more but I do know the films inside and out.

My interest extends as far as I'm a massive movie buff and an aspiring writer, so I look at the films from that perspective. In short I know probably just a bit more about the lore than the casual fan.

I'm not too bothered about the EU characters being included or named as that isnt really relevant and I wouldn't be surprised if LF didn't use R1 as a little bit of a guinea pig to test how it would be received if they did.

They made several references to rebels characters in R1 and they did it in such a way as the casual fan assumes they are just new to the story and the more serious fans acknowledge the reference.

I they were to use satine they could apply the same principle.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 7, 2017, Original Post Date: Nov 7, 2017 ---

From a writers point of view if you were to have ob1 explain to rey where she comes from, you limit the amount of info that he has access to. Leave it in a bit of mystery. We as an audience only need to know enough to drive the plot. Anything above that can be explained in the EU.

For example no one really questioned anakins scar in rots, it was just there. You only knew how he got it if you watched CW. Not everything needs to be explained.

 

No complicated forcebacks or exposition needed to let the audience understand that Rey is a Kenobi, as eloquently stated by @Obi-Wan Solo in her Obi-Wan Kenobi's Legacy in the Sequel Trilogy thread:

Bottom line: I think those strongly objecting to this scenario for logistical reasons are overthinking this.

 

I'd like to see a second confrontation between Kenobi and Vader. As the guys of Collider have pointed out, Vader's line to Luke in RotJ "Obi-Wan once thought as you do." leaves that door open.

Agreed. There are any number of ways to explain it. Luke could well have known about Obi-Wan's granddaughter, and been looking for her. He and Snoke could even have been racing to find her first before she "vanished" - that would allow them to explain most of the big questions about Rey's past without needing an elaborate flashback sequence.

 

To be clear: I was not strongly objecting to this scenario (i.e. Rey is a Kenobi), I was strongly objecting to many viewpoints about how it could be explained within TLJ and TLJ alone; likewise, learning that Rey is the granddaughter of Obi-Wan doesn’t answer the question about who, exactly, her parents are/were, besides that they are a Kenobi.

Furthermore, to paraphrase yourself, I think that those strongly agreeing to this scenario based almost purely on hypotheticals are over-theorising.

Entertaining the idea is one thing, but acting like this is the most likely scenario based purely on what we currently know is something else entirely.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea and the ideas that have been explored as a result of this possibility in this thread and elsewhere, but I still believe that we currently have much fewer reasons to argue for her being a Kenobi than against her being one.

So, no, I’m not writing it off, and by all means if Rey is a Kenobi I’ll be happy (much better a Kenobi than anything else, if not a Skywalker, in my books) because I’m 100% confident that RJ will deliver with this film regardless of who Rey’s parents turn out as being; I simply think that there isn’t enough to go off currently to have a firm belief that Rey Kenobi is the most likely scenario is all.

 

I don't think we're in disagreement. Not arguing that that this is the most likely scenario, just that it can be simply explained within TLJ. An elaborate exposition on the backstory is not needed.

Personally, I think all options are on the table and equally plausible, and all have their "benefits" from a story perspective. I think @Maximillian put it best near the beginning of this thread:

 

Thanks for the shout out and quoting me!

It is indeed not important to explain in the ST how exactly is Kenobi Rey's grandfather. That's really not the story.
This story can be told in the stand alone, in cartoon, in a book, etc.

Kenobi having fathered a child is not tarnishing his legacy as a jedi, because if the child is with Satine, when he was still a padawan and she never told him because she didn't want to make him chose (and we have a canon reference in the Clone Wars were Kenobi says to Anakin that if she asked him to leave the jedi he would have!).

But the plot of the ST really doesn't necessitate us to know details about how exactly Kenobi fathered one of Rey's parents. That's simply not the story.

We as viewers only need to be told as much as to tell her and us that she is a descendant of Kenobi. (which you already cited from my original post in my thread Obi-Wan Kenobi's Legacy in the Sequel Trilogy which is basically my version of Rey Kenobi thread).

What is important for her and us to know is that she has a legacy and that that legacy is very much tied to the legacy of the Skywalkers. There is a big destiny driving all these events together (thus uniting all the 9 movies) where Obi-Wan Kenobi trained Anakin Skywalker but he fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader, who was then brought back to the Light by Vader's son Luke, who was Kenobi's last student.
And now, destiny is pulling things together again, by bringing the Kenobi descendant (Rey) and the Skywalker descendant (Ben/Kylo) to redeem their grandfathers' failure to bring balance to the Force. (Naming Kylo Ben after Ben Kenobi is not a coincidence at all either!)

SW databank teases us that Kylo and Rey's "destinies are intertwined" and a "strange mysterious connection" links them.

With Rey being the legacy Kenobi the circle will be complete and will tie the trilogies together in an epic and very satisfying way.

Epic space saga: