Palpatine, or at least a descendant of him. I just saw the movie, and it was pointed out to me how when she fights with the lightsaber she does lots of lunges and thrusts, like Palpatine did. Additionally, they made a big point of NOT saying her last name or clarifying who her parents are. If it was Luke, I feel like they would have just revealed that during this movie, rather than save it as some kind of predictable twist (and Luke hasn't hung out with a girl who wasn't his sister for the entire movie series now). Also if it was Luke, while it would keep up the Skywalker tradition of growing up on a desert planet, it does paint him as a terrible person for just leaving her there.

If she's related to Palpatine though...then things get a lot more interesting.

Also a friend asked me never to say "Reypatine" again, so I just gotta throw this out here.

Completely outlandish but awesome.

Problem #1: Unless Palpatine survived ROTJ she'd be 30 ish in TFA (possibly she was in some kind of carbon freeze maybe). (Just noticed descendant, that would be more plausible but would kind of diminish the impact).

Problem #2: That make would both her and Finn tykebombs (or something close to one), that might be too much.

Interesting theory... how do you propose to reconcile the apparent age of Rey with the time of the Emperor's death?

Put another way, Rey is around about 20. The Emperor died around about 30 years before the events of The Force Awakens .

I was hoping she'd be somebody else's daughter. Not a skywalker, but still someone we know. Like Wedge Antilles. But then again if she's Wedge's daughter then there'd really be no good reason to hide her on Jakku.

Interesting theory... how do you propose to reconcile the apparent age of Rey with the time of the Emperor's death?

Put another way, Rey is around about 20. The Emperor died around about 30 years before the events of The Force Awakens .

I never liked Palpatine fighting with lightsabers in the prequels and the series (though his fight with Maul and Savage was amaaaaaaaaaaaazing), his disdain for the Jedi weapon is so obvious in RotJ.

Lightsabers are a Jedi weapon, and Sith had a different approach to the Force.

Lunging with a sword or lightsaber seems quite natural if you have no idea and you are still a bit scared and surprised you are holding one.

I still go for Skywalker. She is not the daughter of Solo and Leia or they would have mentioned it by now. However Kylo Ren seems upset when he hears the escapees got help from a girl, as if he has a suspicion this girl could be his.... Cousin....

Desert planet, good with mechanics and electronics, skilled pilot, The Force, receiving the familiy lightsaber; Skywalker is written all over it.

She did the same poorly executed lunge like 3-4 times. And anyone whose ever fenced or done any other weapons work would have just shifted her off to one side and gone for the kill.

As a saber enthusiast, I was not happy with the fight scene. Also, could they not have one camera angle for more than half a second? Sheesh.
I can't help but think very little choreography actually went into it

She did the same poorly executed lunge like 3-4 times. And anyone whose ever fenced or done any other weapons work would have just shifted her off to one side and gone for the kill.

As a saber enthusiast, I was not happy with the fight scene. Also, could they not have one camera angle for more than half a second? Sheesh.

I can't help but think very little choreography actually went into it

She's panicked, with an unfamiliar weapon.

He's shot, just did a *thing* that seriously impacts him and sees his whole world literally crumble about him.

I think we can be forgiving for not seeing a perfect duel between two highly trained practicioners. This fight had more feeling and urgency than that boring thing at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

I loved the fight! No fancy fencing indeed, but raw panic and desperation on both sides. Both characters are having problems with psychological turmoil in their heads and it shows. Forgetting any training they ever had.

The emotional acting of the lead characters in this episode might actually be the best we have ever seen in a Star Wars movie.

Daughter of both Luke and Leia, hidden and abandoned because of the shame. This is why it didn't work out between Han and Leia, he freaked out. This is why she is super Force-y. She's the series's Joffrey, but cuter and, for now, nicer. Look into your heart. You know it to be true.

I don't think casting someone that looks very much like Natalie Portman/ Young Fisher was a coincidence. She's got to be Luke's.

However, she could be Han and Leia's and they thought she had died or was lost somehow. I dunno.

She is either Luke's kid or another force-baby like Anakin. Maybe the ACTUAL Chosen One.

She did the same poorly executed lunge like 3-4 times. And anyone whose ever fenced or done any other weapons work would have just shifted her off to one side and gone for the kill.

As a saber enthusiast, I was not happy with the fight scene. Also, could they not have one camera angle for more than half a second? Sheesh.

I can't help but think very little choreography actually went into it

Interesting theory... how do you propose to reconcile the apparent age of Rey with the time of the Emperor's death?

Put another way, Rey is around about 20. The Emperor died around about 30 years before the events of The Force Awakens .

Two words: Frozen Sperm

I was going to say this, but then I got a mental image of the specimen collection and violently puked.

timetravelling sarah connor with amnesia. there.

..

The only way that this makes any sense to me is if she's a clone of the Emperor with some X/Y switching. Of course, the X/Y switching means that the cloning experiment was a failure, but it may not have been realized until after she was birthed and for whatever reason the scientists working on the cloning couldn't bring themselves to kill her. So they raised her as their daughter for a time before sending her away, because if the First Order found out that there was a female Emperor clone being raised like any other kid... bad things might happen.

In Battletech, there's a story featuring the female clone of a great male general - the X/Y switch was on purpose in order to make her clone nature less obvious.

That said, it does seem a tad far-fetched to me, in the context of Star Wars.

Yes I saw the fencing aspect of the choreography too. One could say she wields a lightsaber like a ...Reypier?

Anyways, it's possible Palpatine figured out how to create someone through the force like Anakin was, it's possible Rey's not entirely human and ages slower, or it's possible Palpatine came back somehow or force ghost influenced someone into creating Rey. It's so obvious that she's a skywalker that I feel she can't be a skywalker, because otherwise they should have just revealed that at the end of the movie. I feel like we're being tricked and she's the daughter of someone who's a big enough **** to leave her on Jakku for decades, and Palpatine revels in being a giant ****. Also, it seems like Han and Leia (definitely Maz) knew or suspected they knew her heritage, and what if they didn't tell her because her heritage is terrible?

It's probably not Palpatine, but that would be an amazing twist. I would thumbs up the movie.

The only way that this makes any sense to me is if she's a clone of the Emperor with some X/Y switching. Of course, the X/Y switching means that the cloning experiment was a failure, but it may not have been realized until after she was birthed and for whatever reason the scientists working on the cloning couldn't bring themselves to kill her. So they raised her as their daughter for a time before sending her away, because if the First Order found out that there was a female Emperor clone being raised like any other kid... bad things might happen.

ew.. that's gross.

In Battletech, there's a story featuring the female clone of a great male general - the X/Y switch was on purpose in order to make her clone nature less obvious.

That said, it does seem a tad far-fetched to me, in the context of Star Wars.

say what..? erm.. what book is that? I thought I was pretty familiar with the books (up to the eff-up that is travelling to the clan homeworlds), and that one is new to me.

say what..? erm.. what book is that? I thought I was pretty familiar with the books (up to the eff-up that is travelling to the clan homeworlds), and that one is new to me.

Rey was immaculate conception in Luke by midicholorians. The anthology movie will be very similar to the movie Junior.

So....., if it is too obvious she is a Skywalker, then she must be the granddaughter of......

Count Dooku!

Palpatine, or at least a descendant of him. I just saw the movie, and it was pointed out to me how when she fights with the lightsaber she does lots of lunges and thrusts, like Palpatine did. Additionally, they made a big point of NOT saying her last name or clarifying who her parents are. If it was Luke, I feel like they would have just revealed that during this movie, rather than save it as some kind of predictable twist (and Luke hasn't hung out with a girl who wasn't his sister for the entire movie series now). Also if it was Luke, while it would keep up the Skywalker tradition of growing up on a desert planet, it does paint him as a terrible person for just leaving her there.

If she's related to Palpatine though...then things get a lot more interesting.

Also a friend asked me never to say "Reypatine" again, so I just gotta throw this out here.

Can't be. No third eye.

say what..? erm.. what book is that? I thought I was pretty familiar with the books (up to the eff-up that is travelling to the clan homeworlds), and that one is new to me.

That would be Wolf Pack : a fairly early book- the great military leader in question is Colonel (so not actually General per se) Jaime Wolf of Wolf's Dragoons.

say what..? I have it here (okay, haven't read it in 15/20 years, but still..) and I remember no such thing. who is he supposed/rumoured to be / have a clone of?

20+ years of battletech and then the bomb drops..