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Star Wars: The Last Jedi recently hit theaters and ignited a firestorm over one moment in particular: the reveal of Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) parentage. The shocking secret of the mysterious new character’s mother and father didn’t sync up with any of the theories fans had speculated on… But what if it was a massive misdirect? What if Rey isn’t the daughter of junk traders who sold her for drink money, as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) tells her?

What if Rey’s parents are Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark?

Let’s consider the evidence for a moment. In the Last Jedi scene, Kylo, in a very plainspoken manner, tells Rey that she’s “nothing.” She’s not a Skywalker, or a Solo, or a Kenobi, or related to any other character we’ve seen previously in the Star Wars saga. She’s not part of this story, he tells her… But she could be, if she joins him in ruling the galaxy. There’s no reason for Han Solo’s (Harrison Ford) son to lie in this scene. The worst thing he could tell Rey, the most direct way of breaking her down, is to tell her the truth.

But what if he didn’t tell her the truth, as some fans have suggested? Those who follow the Dark Side of The Force lie all the time… Kylo could have been lying about this, hiding the truth from Rey to hurt her, even though she also admits to knowing the truth in that moment, and the filmmakers have said he’s telling the truth. What if they’re all lying, and Rey still has some greater lineage, some bigger destiny? Bigger than picking herself up from being sold as a child on a desert planet and eventually saving the entire galaxy? You know, bigger than that?

And what if Kylo told her she wasn’t part of the Star Wars story because she’s part of an entirely different story???

Over in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, and the accompanying TV show Game of Thrones, one of the longest standing mysteries was the parentage of Jon Snow (Kit Harington). He was supposedly the bastard son of Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and a random prostitute, someone the otherwise completely honest and loyal character had a quickie with while away at war. It never quite gelled with the character of Ned Stark, and based on further information fans developed the theory of R+L=J.

That would be Raeghar Targaryen, plus Lyanna Stark, equals Jon Snow. For those not versed in Thrones lore, simply put it suggested that Jon Snow was the secret son of Ned’s sister Lyanna and Rhaegar, the heir to the Iron Throne of Westeros. Ned didn’t bone a prozzie, but in fact was hiding Jon because he knew that if the heir’s heir was found by opposing forces, he would be killed.

Turns out, on the show at least, fans were completely correct. Jon isn’t just a random kid with no prospects who through loyalty and honesty and hard work managed to become a hero; he’s the chosen one who will save and eventually rule the entire world. Way cooler.

There’s a second theory, though, which wasn’t followed on the show but still may happen in the novels: that Jon has a secret twin. That the day Lyanna gave birth to Rhaegar’s son Jaehaerys Targaryen (Jon’s birth name), she also had another child, a girl, who was also hidden away. The novels are obsessed with twin pairs, so it makes a certain amount of sense that Jon would have a sister.

What if that sister is Rey?

Follow me here for a moment… Just like Game of Thrones, Star Wars has a plot thread about mystical twins hidden away for their own safety, in the latter’s case Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). We haven’t seen any twins in the new Star Wars trilogy, though many thought Rey might be Kylo Ren’s secret twin. Perhaps instead of being the sister of one brooding, long-haired dude with a scar on his eye, she’s the sister of another brooding, long-haired dude with a scar on his eye (that would be Jon Snow)?

It’s also important to establish that Star Wars, though it has the trappings of science fiction, is firmly established as fantasy. It takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far away. Game of Thrones takes place in a semi-medieval society on what seems to be another planet. Both societies had magic in the distant past, but lost most of it due to a Great War, and are experiencing its reemergence decades later. What if Westeros is just one of the planets in the Star Wars galaxy?

[One slight bit of evidence against that: Westeros has more than one environment. But we’ll ignore that for the moment.]

“But wait,” you say, “We clearly saw a spaceship drop off Rey on Jakku in The Force Awakens!” Yes, we haven’t seen any spaceships in Westeros… but we also haven’t NOT seen spaceships in Westeros. The people of the Seven Kingdoms forgot dragons were real in, like, 30 years, so who knows about the spaceships? There’s probably spaceships all over the place!

But let’s talk about Rey: She’s loyal to a fault, which makes her just like Jon Snow, and clearly points to Stark blood… Ned, Lyanna and the rest are all characterized as earnest, truthful characters. And though she doesn’t have the white hair that characterizes Targaryens, she does have their fire, their anger, and their signature slightly wavy haircut broken up by some weird braids.

Oh, and one last piece of evidence: her name is Rey. That easily could be short for Rhaegar, which is what approximately 50% of all Targaryens are named. Boom.

So does R+L=R? It makes a lot of sense, because ultimately when it comes to fan theories like this, you can finagle the equation to look however you want — having the answer not quite fit with the actual math (meaning the source material) by basing your own conclusions on suppositions or filling in the blanks. When it comes to theories… That’s fine! You can speculate however you want. But you also must accept the storytellers will tell whatever story they want. You can’t control what direction they go in — which is why, if you’re unhappy with how things turned out, you have the ability to create your own stories. Heck, you can even fanfic to your heart’s content. But until you understand that just because you disagree, that doesn’t make the story “wrong,” you won’t learn to truly enjoy fiction.

(Even if Rey fighting thousands of undead White Walkers on the steps of King’s Landing with a lightsaber would look frickin’ cool.)