Warning: There are major spoilers ahead from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
One of the biggest questions "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" left unanswered was the identity of Rey, the new female character at the heart of the movie.
By the end of "The Force Awakens," the young scavenger from Jakku learned she was powerful in the Force, a power wielded by Sith lords and Jedi alike, meaning it's quite likely she's related to someone we're already familiar with in the "Star Wars" universe.
The first two emerging theories were the most obvious conclusions: Rey is probably Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa's daughter.
However, soon after, a third theory emerged about Rey possibly being Obi-Wan Kenobi's granddaughter. Not only was he Anakin Skywalker's Jedi master, but he was also Luke Skywalker's mentor.
If you're not familiar with the theory, people believe Rey is a Kenobi for the following reasons(last warning for spoilers!):
1. She hears the voices of Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness — two actors who have played Obi-Wan Kenobi in her flashback/flashforward vision in Maz Kanata's castle.
2. J.J. Abrams has suggested Rey's loneliness is a key to her origin. People think that's a reference to Kenobi's time as a hermit between "Star Wars" episodes III and IV.
3. Kenobi had a potential romantic interest in Duchess Satine of Mandalore in Disney's animated series "The Clone Wars."
4. When Rey convinces a Stormtrooper to let her go using the Force, it's reminiscent of how Kenobi uses Jedi mind trick powers in the original trilogy and prequel series.
5. Rey is a good pilot, like Kenobi.
6. Fans point out that Kylo and Rey's duel at the end of "The Force Awakens" is more dramatic if it's seen as the two channeling a battle that took place between their grandfathers — especially their final battle in "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope."
7. At the end of the film, Rey hands over the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker in a way that mirrors how Kenobi handed the same lightsaber to Skywalker in "A New Hope."
8. Her accent sounds like Kenobi's. (Yep, this is an actual reason people are using to back up this claim saying Rey and Obi-Wan are the only two heroes with British accents.)
I'm not buying the Kenobi theory, and neither should you.
It's easy to dispel a lot of the points above.
1. Rey hears Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice in her vision at Maz Kanata's castle.
Rey hears A LOT of voices in her vision. "The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams told Entertainment Weekly you can hear Yoda's voice in Rey's vision as well but we don't hear anyone claiming Rey is related to Yoda. One scene which was cut out of Rey's vision was a shot of Vader cutting off Luke's hand in the iconic "Empire Strikes Back" scene. She was supposed to see the Skywalkers. After talking with many people about this flashback scene, I always thought it was normal for Rey to hear the voices of previous Jedis in this scene. I simply comprehended it as the Force ghosts reaching out to her to help guide her on a journey to bring balance to the Force. Obi-Wan was someone who looked out for the Skywalker clan and I thought he was doing the same here.
2. J.J. Abrams has suggested Rey's loneliness is a key to her origin.
Other than a Medium post, I'm not really sure where this supposed quote of Abrams' came from but I don't know why someone wouldn't read into this as Luke either. Luke was left on Tatooine to live with his uncle and aunt. Though he had them, it would be remiss to suggest there wasn't a sense of loneliness in his life. He had no recollection or memories of his mother or father and didn't know much about where he came from. That's a pretty lonely existence.
3. Kenobi's romantic interest in Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore.
If anything, this is the strongest argument towards Kenobi having any children and grandchildren. Disney's animated series is considered part of canon and Kenobi clearly loved the Duchess. Kenobi says he would have left the Jedi Order to be with her if she asked. There are a few problems here, though. First, it's difficult to imagine Kenobi breaking an oath to the Jedi for a romantic relationship. It's not part of the Jedi code to love and Kenobi always seemed especially steadfast to keeping with the rules. Also, Satine is killed off in "The Clone Wars," which takes place after "Star Wars: Episode II."
4. Rey's Stormtrooper Jedi mindtrick
Sure, Obi-Wan Kenobi was known to use the Jedi mindtrick move, but so did Luke throughout the original trilogy. If we're to believe Rey was at one time training with Luke's group of young and upcoming Jedis, before they were slain by the Knights of Ren, this was probably something Luke was teaching in his lessons. Perhaps it was something Rey was retaining.
5. Rey is a good pilot, like Kenobi.
The pilot argument doesn't stick much either. The fact that Rey is a naturally good pilot seems to fit better with Anakin and Luke Skywalker who over and over again throughout the "Star Wars" saga are referred to as some of the best pilots in the galaxy. Sorry Ben/Obi-Wan, but no one was really ever bragging about your pilot skills. (Though they weren't so shabby either.) It's just known that the Skywalkers are among the best pilots who ever lived, so if "The Force Awakens" is going to introduce another ace pilot, it doesn't make a lot of sense to automatically think she's a Kenobi.
6. It would be cool retrospectively if the grandchildren of Skywalker and Kenobi, Kylo Ren and Rey, were fighting at the end of "The Force Awakens" as a nod to Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Yes, it would be. But this isn't really an argument for why Rey is a Kenobi.
7. Rey handing the lightsaber to Luke mirrors Obi-Wan Kenobi handing the lightsaber to Luke.
Again, this really doesn't prove how Rey could be a Kenobi. If anything, that scene showed how much Luke was struggling with multiple emotions — possibly over Han's death, but also over the reappearance of the lightsaber, and Rey's existence. After the official screenplay was sent out to members of the Writers Guild of America, it was made pretty clear that Luke knows who she is. According to slashfilm, the script says there's a "kindness in his eyes, but there's something tortured, too." It also says Luke doesn't need to ask Rey who she is or why she's there. "His look says it all."
Luke's final look is described as both amazed and conflicted.
Also, why would Leia — who has been searching for her brother for some time — just let some girl go off to see Luke without her by her side. Leia probably knows who Rey is, too.
8. Rey's accent sounds like Kenobi.
I'm going to pretty much dismiss people connecting the accents because, in my opinion, that's a pretty weak argument.
Face it. Rey is not a Kenobi.
As cool as it would be to imagine Anakin's grandson fighting against Kenobi's granddaughter, much of the evidence provided in "The Force Awakens" leads viewers to believe Rey is a Skywalker, either Luke or Leia's daughter.
Yes, I know a lot of fans are saying "that's TOO easy." But when has "Star Wars" ever tried so hard to give red-herrings to mislead viewers about the identity of characters.
1. It's Anakin and Luke's Skywalker's lightsaber that calls out to Rey.
The Maz Kanata basement scene aside, why would a Skywalker lightsaber go to a non-Skywalker over Kylo Ren (Anakin's grandson) in the snow battle scene near the end of "The Force Awakens"? It would make perfect sense that the lightsaber would gravitate toward another Skywalker who was purer in the Force.
2. There's that voice over in the second "The Force Awakens" teaser trailer
Go back and rewatch the second teaser trailer for "The Force Awakens" which came out in April 2015. Mark Hamill's voice as Luke Skywalker can be heard saying, "The Force is strong in my family," Skywalker says, "my father has it, I have it, my sister has it. You have that power, too."
That dialogue wasn't in the movie, because director J.J. Abrams had Hamill himself come in a week before the trailer was released to record dialogue to mix together with some of his old "Star Wars" dialogue.
From what Hamill recorded, it sure sounds like he's talking to a member of his family when he says "you."
3. Rey was left on a sand planet, similar to Luke.
The origin stories of the two just seem too similar. Kid left on a barren, desolate planet comes into the possession of a droid with important world-changing information and later gets swept up in an adventure to take down the dark side. I could be describing Luke or Rey there.
Many think Lor San Tekka (the older gentleman who Poe Dameron gets the map from in the beginning of "The Force Awakens") was on Jakku to watch over Rey, just as Obi-Wan Kenobi was on Tatooine secretly watching over Luke.
4. Rey struggles with the dark side just like Luke.
From the official "The Force Awakens" screenplay, we know that in the last battle between her and Kylo Ren that she gets tempted by the dark side of the Force. When Rey strikes Kylo Ren down into the ground the script says "and she could kill him — right now, with ONE VICIOUS STRIKE! But she stops. Realizing she stands on a greater edge than even the cliff — the edge of the dark side."
It's at that point when the ground splits between the both of them.
Apparently, at that same point, according to slashfilm, Rey hears a voice in her head saying "Kill him."
The Skywalkers have all had this struggle. Anakin had Emperor Palpatine command him to kill before he turned over to the dark side with Count Dooku and Mace Windu. Luke also struggled with this several times in the original trilogy including during his final battle with his father. Palpatine was in Luke's ear nearly the entire time telling him to feed into his anger.
5. "Star Wars" is a Skywalker saga.
The biggest reason I'm not convinced Rey is a Kenobi is because "Star Wars" has always been a Skywalker saga. The entire first six movies were about Anakin Skywalker, a boy who had to live up to the ridiculous pressures of supposedly being "the chosen one," a person who was destined to bring balance to the Force. We watched as he became corrupted by the dark side, conquered the galaxy in the name of the Sith, and then saw him saved by his son at the end of "Return of the Jedi."
We're supposed to believe that after six films that "Star Wars" is just going to stop being about Anakin Skywalker and his family? The new saga will definitely continue to be about the Skywalker family. That's not me saying that. That's straight from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
"The Saga films [Episodes VII, VIII, and IX] focus on the Skywalker family saga," Kennedy told Costco in an interview. "The stories follow a linear narrative that connects to the previous six films. 'The Force Awakens' follows 'Return of the Jedi' and continues that generational story."
So how exactly could Rey be a Skywalker and not even know?
That's the biggest question. She doesn't even seem to have any recollection of Luke at the beginning of the film.
I've been thinking about this for awhile. My thoughts have slightly evolved since writing an initial post on Rey bring Luke's daughter. These are my thought's on Rey's heritage: Rey, who we now know is 19 thanks to the "Star Wars Visual Dictionary," and about 10 years younger than Kylo Ren, trained with Luke and his upcoming Jedis when she was younger. Then Kylo, a ravenous teen swayed to the dark side, presumably killed all the Jedi with the Knights of Ren (we see this in Rey's vision and it's confirmed in the screenplay that Kylo and the Knights of Ren are surrounding a group of bodies).
This is the scene I'm talking about:
Rey is with all the Jedis and stumbles upon the Knights of Ren. (In Rey's vision, we see her looking up at them.) Kylo spares her life, but has her hidden away on Jakku where no one will ever find her. I'm thinking Rey either repressed these memories or somehow was made to forget them. (Young kids repress traumatic events so it's not that far-fetched.) I'm thinking that everyone else believes Rey was killed.
The screenplay says in the scene where Luke is seen with R2-D2 that we see a "burning temple at night" in the background. Is that Luke's Jedi training temple set ablaze? And if it was burned down maybe there were no bodies to be found.
Even if Rey wasn't training with Luke's padawans, maybe she stumbled upon Kylo and the Knights of Ren at the wrong time and they decided they needed to do something with her. After all, what could be so bad to drive Luke into hiding and not want to have any contact with his sister or Han? If he were to think his nephew killed his daughter, Luke would have a lot of reason to want to get away so that he didn't go down the path of the dark side to get revenge on Kylo.
That could help explain Luke's mixed reactions to seeing Rey at the end of the film. Of course, that may not be how it plays out, but I would be surprised if Rey isn't a Skywalker at this point.
Go ahead, search your feelings. You know it to be true.
Rey's most likely a Skywalker.