One question that I feel unanswered is, how the hell did Luke's Skywalkers Blue bladed lightsaber end up in a trunk in Maz possesion????

I mean did Luke not loose that lightsaber (and his hand) in his fight with Vader in Cloud City, Bespin???

And would this not mean that he still has his green bladed lightsaber???

Next up, my three-part magnum opus detailing how Wedge painstakingly trained Poe via seventeen consecutive suicide missions.

Do it. Do it now!

One question that I feel unanswered is, how the hell did Luke's Skywalkers Blue bladed lightsaber end up in a trunk in Maz possesion????

I mean did Luke not loose that lightsaber (and his hand) in his fight with Vader in Cloud City, Bespin???

And would this not mean that he still has his green bladed lightsaber???

it si definitely the same lightsaber that was "lost" in bespin and then found by Mas (it was after all still in cloud city)

This. It had to land somewhere.

Probably got found by the janitor.

I'll be disappointed if she's Luke's daughter. That's hardly something to build suspense around, because we're all seeing it coming.

Now, what if she's Palpatine's granddaughter...?

I think its the obvious thing that she is indeed a Skywalker. It would be nice if she wasn't, but so far all the movies have told the story of a Skywalker. Not sure about Mara Jade's daughter, if she had red hair I would have less doubt. Also, maybe Mara Jade doesn't even exist in the new canon?

It would be a nice twist if she turns out to be a female clone of Emperor Palpatine though

I would immediately believe its Lukes daughter due to the similar hiding strategy. But Han did not seem to recognize her at all, and the embrace with Leia can be between to Force-sensitives, nothing more to it. And its a chance to have an emotional scene. (hell, did Luke not train her, by the way? And if they want to again remove all "Jedi" by way of Kylo, Leia has not to be removed? Even of no Jedi, Luke could always train her).

So, if Luke is the father, whoever the mother, did they hide from Han (and Leia) that they have a daughter? Just to make sure *really* no one knows? Or does not even Luke know he has a daughter?

As much as I think the movie not a really good one, the Rey thing is intriguing. A force experiment from one of the Sith, what an idea. Wouldnt be upset if true, even if I, I repeat myself, would miss any reinvention of Mara.

Well might as well compile what we know about Rey and the evidence for each theory

General Rey Notes
-------------------------------

- Rey's name can refer to as simply Ray as in "Ray of Hope". However Rey itself mean's "King" in several languages and derives from the latin word "Rex"

- In the books she is 16 years old. In the movie she looks like she's in her early twenties.

- Her apparent age during her abandonment on Jakku is 5.

- She learned to fly from a flight simulator she built in her home (Novel)

- She was left in the care of someone who died years ago under unknown circumstances (Novel)

- She is incredibly strong in the force, comparable to Kylo Ren untrained.

- She does not appear to have a last name.

- Her abandonment on Jakku seems to coincide with the Jedi Massacre and Luke's disappearance.

- She was drawn to and found the Skywalker family lightsaber

- She was found on the same planet which a piece of the map to find Luke was found.

- Kylo Ren and Snoke know who she is and believe she's important (novel)

- Kylo Ren determines her identity because of how strong she is with the force (novel)

Case for Her Being Luke's Daughter

-------------------------------------------------------

- Outside the movies, it's said Star Wars is the story of the Skywalker family

- She looks like Leia and Padme

- She was found on the same planet as a piece to the map to Skywalker and the Millennium Falcon

- Depending on how you interpret some scenes, there's recognition that Leia, Han, and Luke recognize who she is.

- R2D2 activated when she was present

- Argument for her being Luke's Daughter: After or during the Jedi Academy Massacre, Luke hid her on Jakku for her protection with the intention that when she's old enough she could begin training.

- Argument against her being Luke's Daughter: Even though she's 5, she should have remembered her dad's name is Luke Skywalker and she though Luke was a myth. Also it's odd that Luke never once went to check on her.

Case for her being a Dark Side Experiment

-------------------------------------------------------------

- Kylo Ren and Snoke know who she is. (novel)

- Snoke is portrayed as a logical, scientific man who doesn't believe in things such as free will and self determination. It's strongly hinted he's experimenting with the Force and doesn't view it in religious terms. (novel)

- She is surprisingly powerful in the force and arguably the most powerful force user we've ever seen.

- She doesn't have a last name she knows of (novel)

- Han and Leia definitely didn't recognize her (novel)

- It's strongly hinted that Luke was responsible for her abandonment on Jakku, but didn't inform his closest friends of it. Also, for some reason he never checked back on her over a decade.

- Argument for her being a Dark Side Experiment: Snoke and Kylo Ren did something to Rey that made her as strong with the force as she is, and it's likely the even that caused Luke and Snoke's falling out and led to the Jedi Temple Massacre. Somehow Luke got a hold of her and decided to abandon her on Jakku to keep her away from Snoke since he couldn't bear to kill her. This would explain why no one checked up on her, why Snoke and Kylo are as interested in her as they are, and why she doesn't even have a last name.

- Argument against: Most of the hints for this comes from the novel. There's still hints to this in the movie that Luke might not wanted to find her, but nothing that can't be explained through other means. However there's nothing in the movie or the novel that specifically rules out this possibility.One out of novel or movie argument for this is that the movie is said to be a story about the Skywalker family, and this likely means Rey isn't a Skywalker.

Case for her being a Clone or recreation of Anakin

---------------------------------------------------------------------

- Chekov's Gun. Darth Plagueis and his ability to use the force was mentioned in RoTS and it's hinted that this is how Anakin was created in his "virgin birth". By idea of Checkov's Gun, this information needs to become important later.

- The portrayal of Snoke in the movie and novel, fit that of what little we know about Darth Plagueis. Also his theme music almost fits identically to the music played when Palpatine talks about him in RoTS..

- Argument for: It's really the same as the "Dark Side Experiment Theory" except it takes into the logical conclusion of what it would mean if Snoke is Darth Plagueis and responsible for Anakin's creation. It also means that the line about the movies being a story of the Skywalker family would be somewhat correct, as both Anakin and Rey's creators would be the same person.

- Argument against: Rey was about 5 when the Jedi Academy Massacre happened. Either she was created as a 5 year old or some time earlier. There's also the point most of this evidence comes from the novel.

One last point. It appears that Jakku is in First Order territory. That would explain why she thought Luke Skywalker was a myth as the FO would have control over whatever news she happened to get.

Unkar is clearly working for the FO as he calls them as soon as he sees the droid.

It seems unlikely that Luke would entrust his daughter to a bad guy right in the middle of bad guy territory.

One last point. It appears that Jakku is in First Order territory. That would explain why she thought Luke Skywalker was a myth as the FO would have control over whatever news she happened to get.

Unkar is clearly working for the FO as he calls them as soon as he sees the droid.

It seems unlikely that Luke would entrust his daughter to a bad guy right in the middle of bad guy territory.

That's an interesting point. The novel basically says the First Order only recently took over, but I guess Jakku was under another Imperial Factions control when Rey was abandoned there.

Weird in any case that Luke would leave a piece of the map to find him in Imperial Territory, let alone Rey.

Weird in any case that Luke would leave a piece of the map to find him in Imperial Territory, let alone Rey.

It appears to me that Disney was deliberately keeping much of the backstory as vague as possible. Now, whomever is writing and directing the next movie has complete freedom to decide all the various background element depending on whatever works in the context of Episode 8. Doing this means they'll avoid the problem with lines like "Vader killed your father" that they had to go back and retcon when they changed Vader to be Luke's father in order to increase the impact of the fight at the end of ESB.

So, while this lack of facts is frustrating to us fans, it's JJ Abram's gift to the writing team of Episode 8. IOW, I don't think anyone really knows Rey's background.

I have to wonder...

Do the writers and film makers spend as much time working through potential plot holes as we do? Granted, some plot holes would make it into the final product due to storytelling or overall time of the movie, but I sense that we geeks spend way more time analyzing possibilities as opposed to maybe chalking it up to the potential reality that the filmmakers just don't care as much to have as much of this mapped out as we would like to think they do.

In short, I'm not really sure everything in the movie that we look for to give us clues was really there to give us clues -- such as han, leia and luke's reaction to seeing rey the first time.

"- She was sold to Unkar Plutt, the fat guy who owned the Millennium Falcon"

What is your reference for this statement? In the Novel she vehemently proclaims the opposite.

Unkar Plutt may be paying the scavengers 'Slave Wages' for their scavenged wares...but she is def not a slave.

I agree that "slave" would be the wrong term to use. But during the scene where she was left on Jakku and her family flew off, the hand holding her arm looks like Unkar Plutt's.

No it looks human and would say he caretaker is more lars takken they guy that gave poe the map

Well might as well compile what we know about Rey and the evidence for each theory

General Rey Notes

-------------------------------

- Rey's name can refer to as simply Ray as in "Ray of Hope". However Rey itself mean's "King" in several languages and derives from the latin word "Rex"

- In the books she is 16 years old. In the movie she looks like she's in her early twenties.

- Her apparent age during her abandonment on Jakku is 5.

- She learned to fly from a flight simulator she built in her home (Novel)

- She was left in the care of someone who died years ago under unknown circumstances (Novel)

- She is incredibly strong in the force, comparable to Kylo Ren untrained.

- She does not appear to have a last name.

- Her abandonment on Jakku seems to coincide with the Jedi Massacre and Luke's disappearance.

- She was drawn to and found the Skywalker family lightsaber

- She was found on the same planet which a piece of the map to find Luke was found.

- Kylo Ren and Snoke know who she is and believe she's important (novel)

- Kylo Ren determines her identity because of how strong she is with the force (novel)

Case for Her Being Luke's Daughter

-------------------------------------------------------

- Outside the movies, it's said Star Wars is the story of the Skywalker family

- She looks like Leia and Padme

- She was found on the same planet as a piece to the map to Skywalker and the Millennium Falcon

- Depending on how you interpret some scenes, there's recognition that Leia, Han, and Luke recognize who she is.

- R2D2 activated when she was present

- Argument for her being Luke's Daughter: After or during the Jedi Academy Massacre, Luke hid her on Jakku for her protection with the intention that when she's old enough she could begin training.

- Argument against her being Luke's Daughter: Even though she's 5, she should have remembered her dad's name is Luke Skywalker and she though Luke was a myth. Also it's odd that Luke never once went to check on her. Case for her being a Dark Side Experiment

-------------------------------------------------------------

- Kylo Ren and Snoke know who she is. (novel)

- Snoke is portrayed as a logical, scientific man who doesn't believe in things such as free will and self determination. It's strongly hinted he's experimenting with the Force and doesn't view it in religious terms. (novel)

- She is surprisingly powerful in the force and arguably the most powerful force user we've ever seen.

- She doesn't have a last name she knows of (novel)

- Han and Leia definitely didn't recognize her (novel)

- It's strongly hinted that Luke was responsible for her abandonment on Jakku, but didn't inform his closest friends of it. Also, for some reason he never checked back on her over a decade.

- Argument for her being a Dark Side Experiment: Snoke and Kylo Ren did something to Rey that made her as strong with the force as she is, and it's likely the even that caused Luke and Snoke's falling out and led to the Jedi Temple Massacre. Somehow Luke got a hold of her and decided to abandon her on Jakku to keep her away from Snoke since he couldn't bear to kill her. This would explain why no one checked up on her, why Snoke and Kylo are as interested in her as they are, and why she doesn't even have a last name.

- Argument against: Most of the hints for this comes from the novel. There's still hints to this in the movie that Luke might not wanted to find her, but nothing that can't be explained through other means. However there's nothing in the movie or the novel that specifically rules out this possibility.One out of novel or movie argument for this is that the movie is said to be a story about the Skywalker family, and this likely means Rey isn't a Skywalker. Case for her being a Clone or recreation of Anakin

---------------------------------------------------------------------

- Chekov's Gun. Darth Plagueis and his ability to use the force was mentioned in RoTS and it's hinted that this is how Anakin was created in his "virgin birth". By idea of Checkov's Gun, this information needs to become important later.

- The portrayal of Snoke in the movie and novel, fit that of what little we know about Darth Plagueis. Also his theme music almost fits identically to the music played when Palpatine talks about him in RoTS..

- Argument for: It's really the same as the "Dark Side Experiment Theory" except it takes into the logical conclusion of what it would mean if Snoke is Darth Plagueis and responsible for Anakin's creation. It also means that the line about the movies being a story of the Skywalker family would be somewhat correct, as both Anakin and Rey's creators would be the same person.

- Argument against: Rey was about 5 when the Jedi Academy Massacre happened. Either she was created as a 5 year old or some time earlier. There's also the point most of this evidence comes from the novel.

I agree with her being more of a force baby. It was said in the darth plaques novels that around the tine of anankins birth the forces was turned to the dark side.

Maybe snoke is plaguess and he offered himself to luke as a jedi fan boy with no little talent or jedi in hiding talent but a large collection of holocorn and knowledge. So luke and snoke start the new academy. Snoke tempts yhe students to the dark side. And ray is a force baby brought to them. After ren turn luke flees and either luke or lors san tekkan take rey to hakku to hide her

- Argument against her being Luke's Daughter: Even though she's 5, she should have remembered her dad's name is Luke Skywalker and she though Luke was a myth. Also it's odd that Luke never once went to check on her.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

@hedgehobbit

According to the actress she has read the script for episode 8. So, unless the reveal is in episode 9 someone knows.

I have to wonder...

Do the writers and film makers spend as much time working through potential plot holes as we do? Granted, some plot holes would make it into the final product due to storytelling or overall time of the movie, but I sense that we geeks spend way more time analyzing possibilities as opposed to maybe chalking it up to the potential reality that the filmmakers just don't care as much to have as much of this mapped out as we would like to think they do.

In short, I'm not really sure everything in the movie that we look for to give us clues was really there to give us clues -- such as han, leia and luke's reaction to seeing rey the first time.

I think they are very aware of the plot holes. They dont have to give us all the answers within the first movie. If you just go off of what you learn from A New Hope you have lots of questions about who Luke's father is and who Vader is and what in the world happened. How did luke end up on tatooine and all that jazz.

- Argument against her being Luke's Daughter: Even though she's 5, she should have remembered her dad's name is Luke Skywalker and she though Luke was a myth. Also it's odd that Luke never once went to check on her.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

Still not knowing her dad's name is Luke or her own last name, and then not recognizing it when she hears it again is rather extraordinary. It's a stretch that she's forgotten that much. You're right that 5 year olds don't remember much, but they are able to remember their own last name and their father's name and basic things about him... like he's the hero that saved the galaxy.

"- She was sold to Unkar Plutt, the fat guy who owned the Millennium Falcon"

What is your reference for this statement? In the Novel she vehemently proclaims the opposite.

Unkar Plutt may be paying the scavengers 'Slave Wages' for their scavenged wares...but she is def not a slave.

I agree that "slave" would be the wrong term to use. But during the scene where she was left on Jakku and her family flew off, the hand holding her arm looks like Unkar Plutt's.

No it looks human and would say he caretaker is more lars takken they guy that gave poe the map

When I watched it again I payed very close attention to that scene, the hand holding Rey's arm is not human, and it very closely resembles Unkar Plutt's.

- Argument against her being Luke's Daughter: Even though she's 5, she should have remembered her dad's name is Luke Skywalker and she though Luke was a myth. Also it's odd that Luke never once went to check on her.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

Still not knowing her dad's name is Luke or her own last name, and then not recognizing it when she hears it again is rather extraordinary. It's a stretch that she's forgotten that much. You're right that 5 year olds don't remember much, but they are able to remember their own last name and their father's name and basic things about him... like he's the hero that saved the galaxy.

Theory on why Rey may not remember her parents names/faces...her memory was partially altered through the force to make her forget.

Only way that they would be able to spin it IMO.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

Theory on why Rey may not remember her parents names/faces...her memory was partially altered through the force to make her forget.

Only way that they would be able to spin it IMO.

Okay, but if true then it's even less likely it's Luke's kid. There's little reason for Luke erasing her memories of him, even to try and hide her.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

Theory on why Rey may not remember her parents names/faces...her memory was partially altered through the force to make her forget.

Only way that they would be able to spin it IMO.

Okay, but if true then it's even less likely it's Luke's kid. There's little reason for Luke erasing her memories of him, even to try and hide her.

But who said that Luke was the one who did it? It could have been someone else...such as Rey's mother. Also there would be plenty of reasons, main one being, what kid knows when to not say something? If she was left as a kid, someone asks her who she is waiting on and she says 'Luke Skywalker', that would be very, very bad.

But as I said, just a theory and the only one I can think that would make sense.

I do think that she is Luke's daughter, but exact reasoning why she doesn't know who he is I am unsure.

I would have to disagree with this. Her 5 year old self might have known her dad's name. But in those early years kids dont have a well built long term memory. What do you remember from when you were 5? I think it is very plausible that she forgot her parents names. After all, being raised in surrogate parent's care does weird things to young kids memory. Plus it was very traumatic for her and young kids really suppress traumatic memories too.

Theory on why Rey may not remember her parents names/faces...her memory was partially altered through the force to make her forget.

Only way that they would be able to spin it IMO.

Okay, but if true then it's even less likely it's Luke's kid. There's little reason for Luke erasing her memories of him, even to try and hide her.

But who said that Luke was the one who did it? It could have been someone else...such as Rey's mother. Also there would be plenty of reasons, main one being, what kid knows when to not say something? If she was left as a kid, someone asks her who she is waiting on and she says 'Luke Skywalker', that would be very, very bad.

But as I said, just a theory and the only one I can think that would make sense.

I do think that she is Luke's daughter, but exact reasoning why she doesn't know who he is I am unsure.

Okay but let's look at the number of hoops we have to go through in order for her to be Luke's kid.

After the Jedi Academy Massacre, Luke or another force user decided they needed to hide Rey. To do this they used the force to alter her memories, then decided the best place for her was the desert world of Jakku, an Imperial controlled world and backwater. Presumably whoever was her original "guardian" on the planet knew it was Luke's kid and was entrusted with a piece of the map that would lead to where Luke was going, but somehow this Rey couldn't know. Then Luke would not tell any of his friends about her, and would not check up on her, his own daughter, for over 10 years. Not to mention, Luke seemed to realize that no one had a clue where this first Jedi Temple was and in some ways it was the safest place in the galaxy for him and his kid and presumably his wife.

This is a bunch of hoops.

Best place to hide something is in plain sight.

I like all the theories except the Luke and Leia progeny one. My bet though is on a Skywalker child that disappeared. That the Guardian died on Jakku. Entrusting the map to the church of the Jedi but not the more valuable prize Skywalker daughter.

The junkyard guy did try to take the Droid away from her. In his own way he was trying to protect her as probably the only other being that knew who she was. He had to keep her poor and busy to keep her from leaving the planet and getting her powers recognized.

I think who Reys parents are has sufficiently been beaten to death. Can we talk about how she was able to best Kylo Ren in their saber duel at the end of the film? How does dhe best a trained warrior?

I think who Reys parents are has sufficiently been beaten to death. Can we talk about how she was able to best Kylo Ren in their saber duel at the end of the film? How does dhe best a trained warrior?

One, Kylo Ren is not fully trained (see Snokes line "And bring Kylo Ren, it is time to complete his training).

Two, he took a bolt from Chewie's boltcaster to the gut....that definitely affected him

Three, he took some small glancing hits from Finn when they fought.