After the harsh heave-ho followed by the harsh life on Jakku, she barely remembers anything about her past. It's been suppressed and forgotten, including her force abilities. Or perhaps Luke even did a Jedi mind trick on her to make her forget her youth and training. Until they are unlocked by Kylo Ren trying to delve into her mind. Old force training kicked in to defend her from Kylo's mental assault.

Hell you don't even need any mind tricking to account for that. I can't remember anything beyond about 6-7 years old, only vague snippets of thought and memory. Like the hallway outside of my kindergarten class. Or seeing Return of the Jedi, and even then, it's only vague moments that I remember. Everything else is simply not there. Granted, I could say this about any period of my life, memory of past events isn't something I really devote a lot of memory..(haha!) to in my operating system I call a brain.

I'm 42 and I still remember some things from when I was 4 in vivid detail.

I have memories of telling people I was 3. I have distinct memories of the winter of 70-71 when I was 3.

I have memories of telling people I was 3. I have distinct memories of the winter of 70-71 when I was 3.

I remember riding on the back of my Dad's orange motorcycle, and my Mom being mad at him for taking me out on it. My parents still tell me I shouldn't remember it because they sold the bike before I turned 4.

(Ah, the 70s... helmet or no, if you did that now, you'd get hauled into CPS... )

You are remembering emotional moments. Such as being dumped onto a harsh desert world.

You are remembering emotional moments. Such as being dumped onto a harsh desert world.

Have you seen the movie "Inside Out"? These are your core memories.

You are remembering emotional moments. Such as being dumped onto a harsh desert world.

I remember a lot of other snippets too, and some important aces and names, from that time. However, I also have to admit to having an unusually sticky long-term memory.

The point being, it's nothing like impossible for Rey to remember what her parents looked like, their names, etc.

You are remembering emotional moments. Such as being dumped onto a harsh desert world.

Yes they are emotional moments, but I couldn't tell you any details. The names of my classmates, the name of my teacher, or any other adult figure at that time. I said I can picture the hallway outside my kindergarten class, but that's not an emotional moment. Nothing "deep and meaningful" happened there. It's just, something I remember. And even then it's in broad strokes, not precise details. So I could easily see her forgetting the world before this desert world she's living in now, having to work to live day to day. She could easily drop those memories of before, without any need of a mind wipe Force trick. I mean, sure they might've done one, it' s just that I don't think it would even be necessary. Just simple human memory dumping would account for her not remembering any of it.

Rey was left in the car or Unkar Plutt, who also "coincidentally" owned the Falcon. Was the Falcon payment for taking in Rey? (I know Han said Plutt stole it. But he wouldn't be going around saying that it was given to Plutt in exchange for hiding a mysterious young girl.)

Plutt didn't steal it from Han, he stole it from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain, who stole it from Han.

You don't even need a Jedi Mind wammy to explain Rey's lack of memory. Victims of severe trauma, such as witnessing a trusted friend (and maybe cousin?) brutally massacre everyone she knew, could fracture her mind. The mind could suppress the memories in order to protect the conscious from the trauma. This happens a lot with people who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Often the alters hold memories that the host consciousness is not aware of. In many cases, the alter may not even be aware of the traumatic memories that they hold until something triggers it. Of course Rey doesn't have DID, but suppressed memories do happen.

I'm sticking with the theory that Rey is a descendant of the founder of the Knights of Ren. Perhaps he abandoned her when he heard Luke was training new jedi and helped turn Ben so he would destroy the school. Then she was left with some relic that identified her as a "REN", but part of the N was worn off and looked more like a Y. Of course it would be in Aurebesh, but the left half of N could look like a stylized Y if the right half wore away.

I´m in the heir of the Skywalker bloodline team.

because:

First of I never will belive any of JJs statements again!

Second the lightsaber flashback scene would make perfect sense if she is a skywalker. (because I don´t see any reason for this particually lightsaber to call out just for her after beeing thrown through the galaxy by the will of the force. With out the Flahback I´d say "yeah she is a jedi and found an jedi weapon that wants to be swung again so it called her down like kanaans saber did with Ezra (who had no Flashbacks off screamings of kanaan when his master was slain...)")

to the point of recognition:

I for my part can´t remember the faces of people I haven´t seen for years. e.g. my granmother that past away 5 years ago, I actually have to look at pictures to rember her...

also it is hard to recognize people again when I meet them by accident, like my Gradeschool teacher that was in her late twentys when I saw her last time and then I meet her on an occasion in my hometown in her fiftys... If the narrotor wouldn´t announced her as patron of the occassion I would never had belived that this old near granny like women is the same person that thought me who to read and right and do my math.

Even harder with people that I knew when they were childs:

When i went to my former Hometown I walked through shopping mile and passed a group of teens, the front men of them met me eye to eye,...we´ll we bumped right into each other by accident, he apologized quite firmly and we went on in different directions.

I met with my mother in an cafe and had a good time. then after a while those bunch of teens went by the cafe... the boy I crashed in earlier let the rest stray further while he went into the cagfe and came straight to my Mother calling her by her first name and that he was lucky to meet her since his mother wanted him to drive by at her place to bring something.

When my mother thanked him and called him by his first name I was totally shocked... i knew this boy like a cousin from his first year on. he was ten when i left the town to settle with my wife on the other end of the country... Now he was 16 and I wasn´t able to recognize him, nether his voice nor his face or his movement... that boy I once knew so well was now a totally stranger to me... and so was i for him... well he also was shocked when he realized who was sitting there next to my mom...

So I totaly can see that nether Rey, nor Han, Leia or Ben were able to recognize each other.

of course there are two other possibillies why they don´t know... the so called Jedi mindtrick (like it was used on Revan)

Or of course they didn´t know of luke having a daughter since it was a one nightstand, the mother wasn´t able to tell Luke and so he could never tell any of his friends. Later on the mother found out who that man was that gave birth to her child and the whole Knights of ren story took place so she decided to hide her precious daughter...

OF COURSE this is only my two cents of thinking here. It also could be that we will never find out who her parents are, or that they were just some deepseafarmers living on Mon Cal in disguise... or what ever.

It is just my hope that she is a Skywalker... because I don´t like the Idea that this whiny little milky boy Ben/Ren is the last of the Skywalkers lineage, with his godlike-grandfather-complex and his way to big aggrassions contaiment deficit... that would be...well... sad in my oppinion

But hey as long as Ep. VIII isn´t out there it is all an "Schroedingers Cat"-Box. It could be and at the same time it could be not, you have to open the box to find out ^^

Yeah, if Rey isn't Luke's child, I'm curious to see if they'll address why Anakin's lightsaber "called out" to her as opposed to any other Force-sensitive that might have happened to be in Maz's place, or even why Rey had such a strong reaction when touching it for the first time, something that notably didn't happen to Luke in ANH.

Here is the weird part there are moments in the movie where it seems like they do know exactly who she is.

1. Han Solo offering her a job to get her to stay. (Totally out of character for him)

2. Kylo Ren trying to convince her to be his apprentice

3. Kylo Ren reached into her brain and plucked out exactly where Luke Skywalker was. (This requires there to be a connection between Luke and Rey for her to know exactly where he is without the complete map)

4. Leia comforts her after Han's death ?(Because complete and total strangers who have never met before and barely knew your ex for less then a few hours and you are comforting that person?)

5. Han Solo goes on a crazy suicidal rescue mission with practically no resources deliberately to rescue a girl he barely met with zero reason to do so.

6. Han shows up to recover the Falcon immediately after it leaves Jakku and Han couldn't find it despite having a way to track its precise location in hyperspace? It wasn't even hidden well on Jakku.

Now lets look at the known characteristics of the Skywalkers

1. Mechanical Aptitude

2. Exceptional natural piloting abilities.

3. Strong Force abilities

4. Anger management problems

5. Understands Droid

Here is the weird part there are moments in the movie where it seems like they do know exactly who she is.

1. Han Solo offering her a job to get her to stay. (Totally out of character for him)

2. Kylo Ren trying to convince her to be his apprentice

3. Kylo Ren reached into her brain and plucked out exactly where Luke Skywalker was. (This requires there to be a connection between Luke and Rey for her to know exactly where he is without the complete map)

4. Leia comforts her after Han's death ?(Because complete and total strangers who have never met before and barely knew your ex for less then a few hours and you are comforting that person?)

5. Han Solo goes on a crazy suicidal rescue mission with practically no resources deliberately to rescue a girl he barely met with zero reason to do so.

6. Han shows up to recover the Falcon immediately after it leaves Jakku and Han couldn't find it despite having a way to track its precise location in hyperspace? It wasn't even hidden well on Jakku.

Now lets look at the known characteristics of the Skywalkers

1. Mechanical Aptitude

2. Exceptional natural piloting abilities.

3. Strong Force abilities

4. Anger management problems

5. Understands Droid

1: I guess you missed the (not so) subtle hints that she was growing on him during the time they spent together, partly because of her mechanical skills, and partly because of her love for the falcon (and her moxy, I'd bet).

2: Uh, yeah, the first force sensetive he's met since the slaughtering of Lukes' other apprentice(s)... and he wants to train her... imagine that

3: No, he plucked out the part of the map she had... he states in the movie that they have the rest of the map from imperial archives.

4: Even JJ admits that this was a mistake, she should have hugged chewie. He went on to explain why he made the decicion, but since nobody trusts anything he says any more, why bother to explain.

5: Eh, no? He goes on a crazy suicidal mission to blow up the murder-ball-planet-thingy. Only once they're there does Finn reveal that he just went there to rescue Rey, and Han is kinda forced to go along.

6: But it was turned off on Jakku. Besides, it's not like it's the first time a massive coincidence has happened in the Star Wars movies...

Also, those skywalker "traits"... yeah, they only fit on anakin and luke, not really on leia. (well, other than the ones that fit on pretty much everyone, like "understands droids")

Yeah... everyone seems to think that Kylo Ren pulled Luke's location out of her mind... I don't think so.

He wasn't even looking for it. He was looking for the map, since she'd seen it (and I don't think he got it, by the way... but we'll see in next movie).

"I see an island..." is as close as it comes. Maybe they were on an island before. Like, when she was a kid, with her family, whoever that was.

Luke's hideout isn't the only island in the galaxy, you know...

Yeah... everyone seems to think that Kylo Ren pulled Luke's location out of her mind... I don't think so.

He wasn't even looking for it. He was looking for the map, since she'd seen it (and I don't think he got it, by the way... but we'll see in next movie).

"I see an island..." is as close as it comes. Maybe they were on an island before. Like, when she was a kid, with her family, whoever that was.

Luke's hideout isn't the only island in the galaxy, you know...

No, but there is an unspoken rule in most creators of entertainment to not waste screen/page time on stuff that is ultimately pointless. So the fact that Kylo Ren mentions seeing an Island, surrounded by a vast ocean, and then we just happen to find Luke on an island, surrounded by a vast ocean, does suggest they are linked. It would suggest that he got that image from her head, maybe not from the map itself, but from her obviously repressed memories of being a child. Assuming that JJ didn't just toss that line out for no reason, and thus waste valuable screen time on superfluous dialogue, it very likely had relevance to the discussion of Luke and his location.

Besides, you know the First Order is going to have to show up as a threat again at some point. it would make sense for them to eventually show up at that island world, forcing Luke and Rey to flee on the Falcon, and having that vague clue about where he might be would justify it.

1. They know what basic quadrant of the galaxy he's in, simply from the missing piece.

2. They know it's a planet that supports life, and is mostly water, with islands on it.

3. They have bajillions of probes they can send out (just like in Empire), to scour that region, looking for candidate planets. They simply might just play the odds, and keep tossing probes into space until they find Luke and Rey. Like around oh, Act 2, after Rey has had her training montage, and then they have to flee.

Bah.

The problem with that sort of "never waste time" / "All Hail Chekhov's Gun" approach is that they end up telegraphing their moves and have to walk a tightrope to not end up looking contrived.

For example, it's so hard for me to watch most television mysteries now because I've reached the point where I can guess the outcome over half the time.

I see an Island...

Rei has been on a desert planet since she was 6.

Who do we find on an Island?

Hey its Luke..

Gee I wonder what Island Kylo pulled out of her mind?

I don't think it was her repressed memories from childhood. Since Luke didn't go there until after his new Jedi Order got all murdered by Kylo and the Knights who say Ren.

I see an Island...

Rei has been on a desert planet since she was 6.

Who do we find on an Island?

Hey its Luke..

Gee I wonder what Island Kylo pulled out of her mind?

I don't think it was her repressed memories from childhood. Since Luke didn't go there until after his new Jedi Order got all murdered by Kylo and the Knights who say Ren.

Actually we don't know that Luke didn't go there until after the Jedi Order was destroyed. For all we know that was where he raised Rey (assuming she's his kid), but since he was the only one who knew where it was, he felt it was safe to go back to it.

1. Han Solo offering her a job to get her to stay. (Totally out of character for him)

2. Kylo Ren trying to convince her to be his apprentice

3. Kylo Ren reached into her brain and plucked out exactly where Luke Skywalker was. (This requires there to be a connection between Luke and Rey for her to know exactly where he is without the complete map)

4. Leia comforts her after Han's death ?(Because complete and total strangers who have never met before and barely knew your ex for less then a few hours and you are comforting that person?)

5. Han Solo goes on a crazy suicidal rescue mission with practically no resources deliberately to rescue a girl he barely met with zero reason to do so.

6. Han shows up to recover the Falcon immediately after it leaves Jakku and Han couldn't find it despite having a way to track its precise location in hyperspace? It wasn't even hidden well on Jakku.

1. So he didn't offer the farm boy a job he knew a few days when they got to Yavin?

2. Kylo may know her, I like the idea she was youngling he didn't have the guts to off and he took her when he wiped them.

3. I don't understand what you are saying here, he knew she saw the map.

4. Complete and total strangers who can read each other's minds and emotions and realize they're mourning the same person, yes.

5. Han is a good guy, he dive bombed the Death Star for a farm boy he knew a few days.

6. I'm not sure what this point has to do with him knowing Rey, and he decided to stage the conversation with Chewie about not looking better in Jakku's region for what reason?

Kylo interrogated Rey AFTER she had the lightsaber flashback thingy.
Who's to say that didn't either create a subconcious connection to Luke, or that she gleaned more information than we see in the flashback?

I mean, it makes no damned sense for luke to bring her all the way to his hideout, and THEN go back and put her on jakku.

We hear Obi Wan speak specifically to Rey in her Force dream sequence as well. There's more going on than just Luke's saber.

Kylo interrogated Rey AFTER she had the lightsaber flashback thingy.

Who's to say that didn't either create a subconcious connection to Luke, or that she gleaned more information than we see in the flashback?

I mean, it makes no damned sense for luke to bring her all the way to his hideout, and THEN go back and put her on jakku.

It's likely that island she saw in her dreams was a subtle nudge from the Force as to the direction in which her future lay, it's way of saying "this is where you need to go" as opposed to staying on Jakku and dwelling on her past.

We hear Obi Wan speak specifically to Rey in her Force dream sequence as well. There's more going on than just Luke's saber.

Yeah, I think it's simply the force (and it's "ghosts") trying to "awaken" her latent force abilities.

It would seem that she's one of the strongest (or at least fastest learners) force users since luke.