Wow.. Just wow. Everytime i see these theories about Rey being Luke's daughter, I think "what a boring and lazy option that would be".

Here is how I see it: Rey is related to none of the legacy characters. There is a reason for this. First off, we see Han take a shining to her, and this is probably because she reminds him a bit if himself and, likely, the child he lost. Han is feeling a bit empty and Rey makes him feel like a parent. Losing a child, in this case a different type of loss, a more metaphysical one, is the toughest thing ever I've been told. Han ran away from the only thing that likely made him feel he belongs. Rey rekindles that feeling.

Maz's comment about knowing the truth: has nothing to do with some force induced memory block and everything to do with denial. Rey wants to believe that her family is coming back, and they didn't abandon her. The truth is she knows they aren't coming. Her family couldn't and didn't care. You know who does care? The young stormtrooper that just met her. Who Chewie tells her it was HIS idea. The idea that someone she just met would risk his life to come back for her whereas her family abandons her is a huge, and important, point.

All this leads to the concept of "family". That it doesn't have to be shared blood that makes family, only that the people care about each other. What I see happening is there will be an epic showdown somewhere and Luke or Leia will choose to save Rey over their blood relative. Not in a vengeful way, but because this abandoned scavenger girl becomes more family than Kylo Ren did in his other life.

Bonus review: Leia and Rey's Hug. No blood connection there, but an emotional one. Leia is likely very empathetic and perceptive. She probably knew how Han had a fatherly ferling towards Rey, and seeing her so upset about the loss of the man she herself loved, she does the motherly thing and consoles Rey, another symbolism moment of family directed to this abandoned child. Leia was also not as affected by Han's loss as she had already Lost him years earlier, and this girl helped bring back, symbolically anyways, the Man that Han had become - the father.

Yes, i believe it would be a more poignant and interesting way to explore the family themed story by one of acceptance and belonging.

Good writeup, but as someone who worked in film and television albeit german productions I am a big cynic towards this. It is a great idea, but Hollywood or any other film biz aside from Indie companies will deem it not selling. It is basically the same thing why we have that blasphemy of a romance in the hobbit films: to sell it to other groups outside the focus group. Yes it is boring to make Rey a Skywalker, but it put's the butter on the table.

And in one thing I have to disagree heartily: you imply that a blood connection is not emotional? I have a deep friendship towards 37 cousins of mine, we meet every year and I love each of them dearly. We have fun together we meet during the year, too although in smaller groups and do something together, be it parties or travels. We give and gave each other emotional support, like when the mother of 6 of my cousins suddenly came out as being lesbian and always been lesbian and never wanting to see her kids again, we took them and my uncle in fo a while and helped them sort through the grief they had. And don't make me mention my 8 siblings, with whom this bond is even thicker! Don't sell a blood relation short!

As for why Han and Leia might not know about Rey: Maybe even Luke doesn't know about Rey being his daughter... Think about that.

I never implied that a blood connection is not emotional. Indeed they are. What i WAS implying is that being related by blood is not the only emotional connection possible.

I never implied that a blood connection is not emotional. Indeed they are. What i WAS implying is that being related by blood is not the only emotional connection possible.

Okay that clears everything for me. I get a bit on edge when someone disses the importance of family. But you did not so we are in the clear.

Just so that I make my position towards Rey's relation status perfectly clear one last time:

With feeling!

In my opinion the way it's gonna be is perfectly clear by the circumstances we have. And money speaks: related to one of the heroes. There is just so much possible there, it will probably still be an interesting story, although no a grand one maybe.

I personally don't care really because I am open for anything. I just see the stuff that's most likely. If I don't interpret into it too much and make my own theory I won't be as dissapointed.

In my opinion the way it's gonna be is perfectly clear by the circumstances we have. And money speaks: related to one of the heroes. There is just so much possible there, it will probably still be an interesting story, although no a grand one maybe.

I personally don't care really because I am open for anything. I just see the stuff that's most likely. If I don't interpret into it too much and make my own theory I won't be as dissapointed.

On the possibility that she's part of an existing "bloodline" -- I hope you are wrong and fear you are right.

Left "for her safety" on a remote desert world... no, no parallel there, TFA's not a no-imagination rehash of a certain older movie or anything.

In my opinion the way it's gonna be is perfectly clear by the circumstances we have. And money speaks: related to one of the heroes. There is just so much possible there, it will probably still be an interesting story, although no a grand one maybe.

I personally don't care really because I am open for anything. I just see the stuff that's most likely. If I don't interpret into it too much and make my own theory I won't be as dissapointed.

On the possibility that she's part of an existing "bloodline" -- I hope you are wrong and fear you are right.

Left "for her safety" on a remote desert world... no, no parallel there, TFA's not a no-imagination rehash of a certain older movie or anything.

*Yodavoice*

Fear you must not! For fear the path to the dark side it is. Do as I do and accept, that the future in constant motion is. Accept you must and learn to be disappointed not, but at the good parts of the whole picture you must look! When dissapontment you fear, the dark side amplify it will!

*Yodavoice off*

I get your point, but here's a clue from someone who was madly disappointed (not by STAR WARS) in the past by something he put high expectations in. Don't make yourself too high hopes about the next film. Let those things go and accept what will come. Maybe it will surprise you positively. But don't give the disappointment room to fill. Don't build up your hopes for certain story elements. Look at all possibilities equally. I did that so I was not too sad about Han's death.

In my opinion the way it's gonna be is perfectly clear by the circumstances we have. And money speaks: related to one of the heroes. There is just so much possible there, it will probably still be an interesting story, although no a grand one maybe.

I personally don't care really because I am open for anything. I just see the stuff that's most likely. If I don't interpret into it too much and make my own theory I won't be as dissapointed.

On the possibility that she's part of an existing "bloodline" -- I hope you are wrong and fear you are right.

Left "for her safety" on a remote desert world... no, no parallel there, TFA's not a no-imagination rehash of a certain older movie or anything.

*Yodavoice*

Fear you must not! For fear the path to the dark side it is. Do as I do and accept, that the future in constant motion is. Accept you must and learn to be disappointed not, but at the good parts of the whole picture you must look! When dissapontment you fear, the dark side amplify it will!

*Yodavoice off*

I get your point, but here's a clue from someone who was madly disappointed (not by STAR WARS) in the past by something he put high expectations in. Don't make yourself too high hopes about the next film. Let those things go and accept what will come. Maybe it will surprise you positively. But don't give the disappointment room to fill. Don't build up your hopes for certain story elements. Look at all possibilities equally. I did that so I was not too sad about Han's death.

I already gave up on these Star Wars films beyond something to catch when they're on TV a few years from now.

Pessimists are never disappointed.

Firs emos and now pessimists...

this thread has gone down the trash compactor chute...

Off topic in so many places......(sigh)

I was hoping people would want to talk about Rey's force power, self defense ability, and AWESOME lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren.

Speaking of which, does anyone know why he kept pounding himself where he'd been hit?

And boy, could Rey do some wicked things with a lightsaber when she started drawing on the Force!

So this thread is to talk about Rey, and also the vision she had when she touched the lightsaber.

It took me three viewings, but I finally was able to remember some of the voices in the background of Rey's vision. Particularly the one I didn't get until my third time was the voice at the end of the vision that intones "These are the first steps." I did hear Obi-wan say "Rey", and there was another voice at the beginning of the vision, but I don't remember what it said.

Rey also says she has flown ships before, but never off planet, something I'd also missed the first two times.....

So what did any of you get out of the vision or Rey in general? (Besides the fact that she's the first potential jedi to arrive with a course in kick-ass already under her belt!)

Rey's vision and some of the other things about her are interesting consider. When Kylo is probing her mind he talks about an ocean, where he also sees the island. Then he shakes his head as if he can't believe what he is seeing... Luke? Why is Rey dreaming about an island where Luke is, when she's never seen his face, and knows him only through Myth?

Maybe that's why Kylo is a little shaken, and tries to dismiss it as just as a freak coincidence. He's already in denial about many things (the call to the light for one), he can deny this too.

Rey hearing Obi-Wan and Yoda might have something to do with the Saber being close to both of them. Luke did take Anakin's blade to Degobah, and Obi-Wan held it for a very long time. It seemed to me that the saber retained the echoes of where it has been and who it was with. On that note, Mas Kata didn't necessarily have to get the saber straight from Cloud city... Luke may have recovered it for his days of training successors, and then left it with Mas when he abandoned the galaxy, perhaps to keep it away from his turned apprentice.

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

On the matter of Kylo Ren... his is an interesting character. Like vader he tries to claim that he destroyed his former personality in order to "become" Kylo Ren, but his delivery to Han on the bridge suggested it was kind of a desperate justification. He is not confident about himself and his abilities and he's trying to clothe himself in the mantle of Darth Vader in order to feel powerful. Rey revealing this about Kylo Ren suggests his vulnerability. Even after killing his father to feel powerful, he doesn't feel any better than he did after the deed.

I don't think we've seen a sith character pushed to the dark side by their lack of confidence, motivated by fear. Maybe that's what Lucas wanted to show us with anakin in the beginning but it was lost in the awkward dialogue delivery.

Different theories on the injury thing. One, which makes a fair amount of sense, was too feed off the pain to strength himself with the dark side. So he kind of had a Darth Sion thing going on. Another possibility is he was hitting himself to lessen the pain; it's a trick somebody can do, although it makes the injury much worse. Temporarily, though, it would have lessened it so he could focus.

And I dig the entire fight, except maybe they made the part at the end where Rey centers herself and turns the tide a little too drawn out. I appreciate the rawness of the entire fight, from Kylo vs Finn to Kylo vs Rey.

On the matter of Kylo Ren... his is an interesting character. Like vader he tries to claim that he destroyed his former personality in order to "become" Kylo Ren, but his delivery to Han on the bridge suggested it was kind of a desperate justification. He is not confident about himself and his abilities and he's trying to clothe himself in the mantle of Darth Vader in order to feel powerful. Rey revealing this about Kylo Ren suggests his vulnerability. Even after killing his father to feel powerful, he doesn't feel any better than he did after the deed.

I don't find him an interesting character at all. There is no hint of his motivation. What terrible thing happened to him that he wants to "burn away the light"? He's far less interesting than Anakin, who at least had both a psychological and sociological rationale for his descent (at least as fleshed out in TCW).

Granted we knew nothing of Vader either when E4 was released, but he at least had a Presence. Kylo is a joke, and even his minions know it.

On the matter of Kylo Ren... his is an interesting character. Like vader he tries to claim that he destroyed his former personality in order to "become" Kylo Ren, but his delivery to Han on the bridge suggested it was kind of a desperate justification. He is not confident about himself and his abilities and he's trying to clothe himself in the mantle of Darth Vader in order to feel powerful. Rey revealing this about Kylo Ren suggests his vulnerability. Even after killing his father to feel powerful, he doesn't feel any better than he did after the deed.

I don't find him an interesting character at all. There is no hint of his motivation. What terrible thing happened to him that he wants to "burn away the light"? He's far less interesting than Anakin, who at least had both a psychological and sociological rationale for his descent (at least as fleshed out in TCW).

Granted we knew nothing of Vader either when E4 was released, but he at least had a Presence. Kylo is a joke, and even his minions know it.

A flashback scene that maybe showed why he turned on Luke would have been nice. Or if maybe Han and Leia in their scene had actually discussed what they felt made him turn.

On the matter of Kylo Ren... his is an interesting character. Like vader he tries to claim that he destroyed his former personality in order to "become" Kylo Ren, but his delivery to Han on the bridge suggested it was kind of a desperate justification. He is not confident about himself and his abilities and he's trying to clothe himself in the mantle of Darth Vader in order to feel powerful. Rey revealing this about Kylo Ren suggests his vulnerability. Even after killing his father to feel powerful, he doesn't feel any better than he did after the deed.

I don't find him an interesting character at all. There is no hint of his motivation. What terrible thing happened to him that he wants to "burn away the light"? He's far less interesting than Anakin, who at least had both a psychological and sociological rationale for his descent (at least as fleshed out in TCW).

Granted we knew nothing of Vader either when E4 was released, but he at least had a Presence. Kylo is a joke, and even his minions know it.

You held out for Clone Wars to give Anakin a better justification for his character, but you won't hold out for Kylo Ren? I think if Kylo ren had the same unassailable presence as Vader did, TFA would just be a more perfect copy of ANH, and it would be trashed for copying Vader to present him as our big bad.

And unlike Vader's nearly undetectable motivations in the original series at start, we're given some direction of why Kylo Ren does what he does. Why he's looking for Luke is a mystery but it wasn't hard for me to figure out Kylo Ren wants to kill Han Solo: because he isn't related to Darth Vader. "Weak and foolish" is the father of Ben Solo, because Solo isn't related to the skywalker line. So to prove he's more skywalker than solo, he has to extinguish the Solo part of his parentage. But it doesn't make him feel any better, and that's another problem we'll have to see how he deals with.

Also coming out of TFA there's also clear motivation for Kylo to hunt Rey now. Not only is she carrying the lightsaber he feels is his inheritance, but she also carved out a part of his face with it. Since Snoke is going to complete Kylo's training, whatever that means, I'm expecting less conflicted and definitely deadlier Kylo Ren in VIII. Only Leia is going to snap him out of it, being the daughter of Skywalker, but Snoke might have even hardened Kylo to this possibility.

Kylo is interesting not as a statue villain but as a figure whose outcome in 8 is unpredictable. Why Is he looking for Luke? What are the long-term ramifications of finding no satisfaction of killing his father? Is he still open to converting Rey, or will he kill her for stealing his destiny? Will he succumb to his fears of never living up to Vader's legacy, and how will he respond to it? These are more interesting questions to ask about this antagonist than wondering which underling Vader is going to force choke in the next movie.

Different theories on the injury thing. One, which makes a fair amount of sense, was too feed off the pain to strength himself with the dark side. So he kind of had a Darth Sion thing going on. Another possibility is he was hitting himself to lessen the pain; it's a trick somebody can do, although it makes the injury much worse. Temporarily, though, it would have lessened it so he could focus.

And I dig the entire fight, except maybe they made the part at the end where Rey centers herself and turns the tide a little too drawn out. I appreciate the rawness of the entire fight, from Kylo vs Finn to Kylo vs Rey.

With abdominal wounds (especially explosive ones), there's sometimes a pressure build-up inside the body you need to lessen before it gets fatal. Forceful expulsion aka punching via pressure above the wound to get the air out is literally to prevent himself from dying. He was "feeding on his pain" is what you tell kids when you don't want to tell them "he doesn't want his lungs to be crushed inside his body and his guts to spill out due to air pressure buildup".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumothorax

(notably what Kylo is doing doesn't work for long and unless he receives proper medical care ASAP after the fight, he's going to need his lungs regrown, or artificial ones...)

Different theories on the injury thing. One, which makes a fair amount of sense, was too feed off the pain to strength himself with the dark side. So he kind of had a Darth Sion thing going on. Another possibility is he was hitting himself to lessen the pain; it's a trick somebody can do, although it makes the injury much worse. Temporarily, though, it would have lessened it so he could focus.

And I dig the entire fight, except maybe they made the part at the end where Rey centers herself and turns the tide a little too drawn out. I appreciate the rawness of the entire fight, from Kylo vs Finn to Kylo vs Rey.

With abdominal wounds (especially explosive ones), there's sometimes a pressure build-up inside the body you need to lessen before it gets fatal. Forceful expulsion aka punching via pressure above the wound to get the air out is literally to prevent himself from dying. He was "feeding on his pain" is what you tell kids when you don't want to tell them "he doesn't want his lungs to be crushed inside his body and his guts to spill out due to air pressure buildup".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumothorax

(notably what Kylo is doing doesn't work for long and unless he receives proper medical care ASAP after the fight, he's going to need his lungs regrown, or artificial ones...)

His Grandpappy survived being burned all over next to a volcano. At this stage we can safely guess, that force users know some disciplines to survive such stuff. He was just aiding it by doing what you described.

But yea! Neat description, I guess you are either a doctor or in a different medical job.

BOT: Do you think Rey will take any lasting injury with her, come next movie? Luke lost his hand, would be nice to see something different. Eye, leg maybe... Her having a cybernetic eye in the last film would rock! Cosmetically she doesn't need a scar, but a different looking cyber-eye... that would be neat!

Nah, one of the people I went to see the movie with is a surgeon. I'm anything but

I think Rey's lasting injuries will be emotional ones in episode eight, given who's directing it and who's writing it. Nine is where they're going stab her.

Long lost descendant of the Sunrider line?

If I was forced to make a choice with the limited knowledge we have, I'd go with Rey being Luke's daughter.

Problem with film is it's gotta be for mainstream audiences, so we can't introduce characters from the new EU willy-nilly, becasue that confuses the audience who don't read the EU stuff and thus lowers ratings by the casual viewers. Which is bad for mouth-to-ear propaganda of the film. Film is "Show, don't tell".So Rey has to be either the daughter of Luke or Leia, or the granddaughter of Obi-Wan, or from somebody entirely unrelated.

Quick question, wasn't Poe an EU character? I remember his mom in one of the novels.

Well technically he's not, his mom is. Poe's character was established as a new character like Wedge. Not related to anyone,but his parents were mentioned in one of the books yes.

Finn is similar.

Personally I hope Rey isn't related to anyone famous at all. Not every single character has to be a scion of some "established" family in the Star Wars galaxy. If we start going down that path, pretty soon Finn will be Lando Calrissian's long-lost son, and the reason why C-3P0 has a new arm and R2-D2 is shut down is that they took parts of themselves and built their lovechild BB-8.

I hope she isn't related to someone special .......but I have my doubts that they won't go that route.

Finn is not a Calrissian, so much has been said. I personally don't care if Rey's surname is Antilles (the Star Wars equivalent of Miller or Smith) or whatever. Same goes for her lineage.

There are just 2 problems I see with her being from some different family:

• The developers said that Star Wars is about different generations of a family: Anakin, the (grand)father, Luke the Son plus Leia the daughter and the grandchild/ren. So in order to have a scion from that family with which we can heroically identify it's gotta be Rey. Kylo Ren did not deliver on that for most people because of his whiny attitude, his grandpappy-posing and temper tantrums. He is not a suitable Skywalker to lead us through this next chapter in my opinion.
• The Marketabillity. I was at a Nerfbattle a few days after the film came out, which was Star Wars themed. Three of the staffwere dressed as Padmé, Leia and Rey respectively. They posed for a generations picture. Pretty much every casual watcher and all those kiddies assumed,that Rey was related to Leia and Padmé. The nature of this relation was quite heavily discussed by them, ages 10 and upwards. Was quite amusing. "No she's Luke's daughter!" "Nuh uhh!"

EDIT: Found this little quote on top of her wookiepedia entry:

"The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead."

―Maz Kanata^[src]

Seems to me as if this means that she won't find her family back on Jakku waiting there,but by going forward. A VERY strong implication, that she might me Luke's daughter, but everything is still open.

I wish I could edit quoted posts better...

1. Anakin and Luke weren't whiny? If anything, he is carrying on THAT part of the Skywalker legacy brilliantly. He goes the next step, though. Anakin and Luke couldn't kill their own blood. Kylo pulled that off. The battle in that family could easily be between mother and son... but I imagine it would be a lot less direct than we've already seen in other movies.

2. I think the generations weren't the characters. They were the fans. I also think Padme was the worst of them all, as far as role models go. I'm old enough now to get how much she did but it was almost all off camera. To little me, she was in decline throughout the prequels. She went from strong willed queen to butt kicking senator to whiny, crying, losing the will to live, purposely refusing to accept the truth until it was way too late. Leia and Rey (so far) are a lot more like what I would want my movie heroes to be like.

I don't know what Rey's connections to previous characters will be, if any. I'd rather she not b a Skywalker. A Kenobi has put Skywalkers on the right path for generations, though. It would certainly be in sync with that for Kylo, a Skywalker, getting set straight (maybe dismembered and burnt up by lava) by Rey if she turns out to be a Kenobi.

I've never quite grasped the whole thing about Luke being a whiner. Most of the situations he does complain in I can sympathize with; I think anybody would be incensed when some swamp toad steals your stuff and starts bossing you around. And he grows out of by the end of Ep. V. It's not even remotely as grating as Anakin.

I remarked in another thread elsewhere how awesome it would be to have Leia go full darkside on Kylo, now that he's killed Han. Her son, her responsibility, et al. Alternatively, have her be his 'Vader' trying to turn him back to the light. Though I think that's less likely than an aggressive response. Leia was always pretty angry from what I saw of her on screen. Never mind SHE gets along fine with a bunch of fuzzy cannibals for some reason. Didn't that creep anybody out?

I could see Leia being the main reason Kylo went bad, too. She was tortured by Vader, she associates the force with Vader, so her son having it and going to train with Luke likely would have netted a very poor response from her. She even hints at this in her conversation with Han about Kylo. All the force stuff and her own personal Vader-trauma could well lead to her pushing her own son away...and right into Snoke's arms.

As for Rey, oof, she's kind of a hybrid in concepts between Jaina and Jarael. That much is clear for me from simply looking at her character. One of those inspirations is related to Luke, the other isn't related to anybody and, iirc, a genetic experiment. It could really go either way. I'm liking the Anakin connection more and more, though. Having the Vader-wannabe face off against literally Vader would be amusing. On the other hand: Do we even know Luke is still good or wants to be a jedi? The next arc could very well be Rey coming to learn and finding out that there's not only very little to learn, but the real task is getting Luke back in the fight.

I've never quite grasped the whole thing about Luke being a whiner. Most of the situations he does complain in I can sympathize with; I think anybody would be incensed when some swamp toad steals your stuff and starts bossing you around. And he grows out of by the end of Ep. V. It's not even remotely as grating as Anakin.

When I was younger (1981) I was disappointed by Luke's reaction to Vader's revelation at the end of ESB. I was 9 and Luke needed to man up and be a hero! Now that I'm older, I don't think the trauma and shock and disbeleif inherent in his reaction is out of line, or makes him a whiner. I do think, however, that one of Lucas' flaws is pushing actors to over do it and be unnecessarily melodramatic. Emotion can be conveyed powerfully without smearing on a thick layer of schmaltz. All things considered, Hamill executed the scene just fine and we're nitpicking success. I don't entirely blame Hayden Christensen for his portrayal of Anakin, either. He was given a crap script and directed to amplify his emoting. He's a competent, if narrow-ranged actor. A defter hand could have saved him, if not Anakin, I think.

On the matter of Kylo Ren... his is an interesting character. Like vader he tries to claim that he destroyed his former personality in order to "become" Kylo Ren, but his delivery to Han on the bridge suggested it was kind of a desperate justification. He is not confident about himself and his abilities and he's trying to clothe himself in the mantle of Darth Vader in order to feel powerful. Rey revealing this about Kylo Ren suggests his vulnerability. Even after killing his father to feel powerful, he doesn't feel any better than he did after the deed.

Granted we knew nothing of Vader either when E4 was released, but he at least had a Presence. Kylo is a joke, and even his minions know it.

^ This actually. They even make Kylo's outbursts INTO a joke with the two stormtroopers turning and walking away. Had they toned down the humor surrounding Kylo I think he would have much more presence. However, I think Adam Driver's performance was fantastic and thought he brought believable anguish to the role.

One thing that I have been mulling over, and haven't seen mentioned anywhere so far (and it's surprising because of all of the other dumbass theories on the net), is that what if someone force compelled Rey to wait on Jakku as a mind trick. And this was only broken after she touched the sabre and her force powers 'woke up'?

This would explain why she feels the need to stay on Jakku and wait for someone that will apparently come get her, especially after being given ample opportunity to turn her back on the crappy junk planet and actually go searching for whoever left her behind.

On a slightly separate note, was Lor San Tekka on Jakku watching over Rey or did his search for the map lead him to Jakku as a point along the journey?

Or was the map part actually hidden on Jakku with the expectation that Rey would find it 'when the time was right' but Lor found it first?

However, I think Adam Driver's performance was fantastic and thought he brought believable anguish to the role.

Agreed, my criticism isn't about the performance, just the lack of information, or failing that, some resonant quality. I understand a quest for power better than some nebulous Emo funk.

As a kid I might have wanted a Vader action figure. I would never have wanted a Kylo action figure.

However, I think Adam Driver's performance was fantastic and thought he brought believable anguish to the role.

Agreed, my criticism isn't about the performance, just the lack of information, or failing that, some resonant quality. I understand a quest for power better than some nebulous Emo funk.

As a kid I might have wanted a Vader action figure. I would never have wanted a Kylo action figure.

I guess his journey is the reverse of Luke's, he starts off unable to control his emotion and then over 3 films grows into a much more mature, and badass, dark sider?