Star Wars – My Theory about the origin of Rey

Photoshop mashup borrowed image of Leia, Rey and Han.

The Last Jedi opens in just a few months, and I keep meaning to write up my own theory about the origin of Rey, the young woman with force abilities whom we last saw handing Luke Skywalker his father’s lightsaber.

This isn’t based on any inside information and it could quite possibly not be where the story tellers have decided to go. I believe that as J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm wrote The Force Awakens, they had no idea what back story they were going to give Rey. They might not have even thought she needed to have a back story until “who are Rey’s parents” dominated the conversation. Unlike the original Lucas stories, which were linked together by one person’s vision, this new trilogy seems to be made up as it goes along. I am not necessarily saying this is a bad thing (well, yes, I am saying that), rather that it is just a thing. Therefore, absent a grand plan, the answer to the “Who is Rey” question might never really be fully satisfying.

My theory below isn’t meant to be “the” answer. It’s actually the only story that will redeem this new trilogy for me. Up to now, I don’t really incorporate it into my own “head canon.” I have gone on and on before about how I abhor the fundamental changes to the main three characters (Luke, Han and Leia) in this new trilogy. My theory tries to fill in some acceptable background story so that I might find their motivation slightly more palatable. I don’t think I will ever accept the new trilogy as my Star Wars. It lacks so much of the heart and wonder and joy of the original.

So, given that long introduction, my theory on Rey is that she is the presumed dead daughter of Han and Leia, younger sister to Kylo Ren (aka Ben Solo), and also a former student of Uncle Luke Skywalker’s young Jedi academy. I based this theory less on how it neatly ties up loose ends and more on the fact that the pain of losing their daughter is the only way I will accept that Han and Leia wandered around in a separated state. They fought too long together against too many things to separate because their son made bad choices. Having their son turn to the dark side is just another thing in a long line of things that Han and Leia would have faced and fought together. I never felt it was enough of a motivation to drive Han to run off and return to smuggling as an antidote to parental pain. But the loss of a young child? That kind of grief could drive our favorite smuggler to wander about the galaxy, a grieving father, drifting about.

If I were to frame the story, Rey would have been another one of Luke’s pupils, along with her older brother and other force sensitive young children. She could have been 8-9 years old at the time of the massacre of this new Jedi academy at the hands of the Knights of Ren. But because she is his little sister, and perhaps “there is good in him”, Kylo would not have been able to kill Rey. Instead, he’s the one who took her away and hid her on Jakku. He had to do it quickly, and left her someplace that his fellow First Order folks would never look. He either had to make it look like she died as well or that somehow she got away and disappeared. Perhaps he’s spent the last few years trying to prevent anyone from finding her, keeping her safe from a distance.

Rey would have been young, and things would have been traumatic. Maybe she has a vague memory of her parents, maybe she doesn’t. We haven’t really been shown any memories on purpose so the storytellers after The Force Awakens weren’t boxed into any decisions about Rey. So, with a little hand-waving, the story could decide that Rey is be the daughter of Han and Leia.

In the end, I think the back story of Rey will be revealed in The Last Jedi. I don’t know which way Lucasfilm has decided to go. For some time, both Abrams and Johnson have said that her origin didn’t matter as much as her future. I contend that Star Wars is all about origins, and their impact on the future as well as the choices we make in spite of those origins. I approach this December with much trepidation. After I do see The Last Jedi, you can be sure I will weigh in with my opinion. Depending on how it goes, it might be the last new Star Wars movie for me for a long, long time.