It’s been a wild ride over the past half a decade, but now that we’re only a month away from learning every Star Wars secret, I thought it would be appropriate to make one last case for Rey being a Skywalker (or, interchangeably, a Solo).

By this point, the internet has moved on—it’s been discussed so much that everyone’s bored with the idea and grasping at the more creative and convoluted theories out there, and many of the leaks and rumors support that Rey is the granddaughter of Palpatine. But given the time—a week from the conclusion of the saga—I think it’s worth one last look.

How we got here

To get everything in context, I want to go back in time—“before the dark times…” if you will: 2015. Before any of these movies came out and all we had was a trailer, the general assumption was that Rey was the next Skywalker in line. Luke Skywalker paraphrased his “the Force is strong in my family” line to reflect a passing of the torch as a lightsaber physically changed hands. Lucasfilm even named the mainline story the “Skywalker Saga.” When we all finally got to watch the movie, every beat in The Force Awakens seemed to set up this inevitable conclusion until… it didn’t.

There we were, literally on a cliff with Luke Skywalker and his supposed heir, and the movie ended on a cliffhanger. In the year following, the internet was abuzz with theories about who Rey could be. The people involved with the film played coy, and every deflection they made became an overanalyzed political and religious affair.

Then, finally, when a full year passed and we got to sit down and watch the Last Jedi, we were harshly informed by Kylo Ren that Rey is “nobody.” For some, that seemed to be the nail in the coffin, but for others (like me) it seemed to be a manipulative lie by an untrustworthy character with an agenda.

And that’s where we are.

The Invisible Film

As the first film in the trilogy, Lucasfilm had a tough job because they had a unique problem: Unlike most films, we already knew what happened before and if Rey was a Skywalker, we would know what would happen at the end. This would create no mystery, no stakes, and a boring saga.

So Lucasfilm didn’t write The Force Awakens as a first film. They wrote it as a second.

Everything we see in The Force Awakens is a result of a plotline we didn’t see and don’t know all the details to: Leia’s son, who seems to have some kind of contact with his dead grandfather, turned to the dark side and helped the First Order take over the Galaxy. Leia and Han’s marriage disintegrated, and the Falcon was lost. Luke’s Jedi academy was destroyed, driving him to abandon everything, reject his mandate as a Jedi, and seek seclusion. All this, while a girl with extreme force is inexplicably left abandoned on a desert planet.

That’s a movie, and that’s the context in which we begin The Force Awakens. And while we have the plot, what we don’t have are the motivations. Why did all this happen? Ben didn’t just wake up bad one day, did he? Leia and Han didn’t start arguing about nothing, did they? There’s something missing in all this: A catalyst.

Linking Kylo Ren to Rey

Something happened that links Rey and Ben together that we don’t know about yet, and it’s addressed in the first act of The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren is tracking down BB-8 and the map to Luke Skywalker. When he learns that the droid has escaped on a YT-1300 Corellian Freighter accompanied by a girl, he explodes at all those facts separately.

This dialogue has been discussed over and over, and rightly so. By becoming angry at what should be minor details, Kylo Ren has indicated to the audience that he knows something about both the ship and the girl. This association is the missing piece of the puzzle we are looking for.

Kylo Ren makes it even more obvious when he decides the map is no longer important but, somehow, this unnamed girl from a junk yard is. He’s never met her, he’s right on the cusp of getting the droid, but yet he’s so certain that the girl will know more than the map could ever tell him that he abandons the mission and immediately probes her mind. In the film this is dragged out to practically the end of the story, but if we’re just going step by step it sounds insane and illogical unless Kylo Ren knows that there is some type of association between Luke Skywalker, the Falcon, and a random girl that he’s never met that just happened to run into BB-8.

Furthering Kylo Ren’s past ties to Rey, and perhaps clarifying them, is the novelization of The Last Jedi where he says to Luke, “Rey, your chosen one, chosen over me.” One could argue that Kylo Ren is referring to Luke’s current association with Rey, but the film never mentions Rey as a chosen one. The way this dialogue is written not only suggests this is something that happened in the past, but also a revealing feeling: jealousy.

A stolen ship

We already know (through various media that most fans are familiar with) that Kylo Ren was a bit neglected as a child. We also know that his family had kept his lineage a secret until it was exposed a few years before The Force Awakens takes place. Could it be possible that a young, dark, and mistrustful Ben Solo became jealous of his parents’ and uncle’s adulation for a talented, light side leaning sister (or cousin)? Could he have been encouraged—maybe by a close adult mentor that told him the truth about his family—to do something about it? If he did, what would that look like?

I’m of course alluding to the once held theory that Ben Solo may have kidnapped Rey while she was aboard her father’s ship, sold her to a junk trader on a desert planet, wiped her memory, and then framed the whole thing as his father’s fault. An irresponsible Han who can’t completely shake his smuggler ways, brought Rey into a dangerous situation, and then had his ship stolen with Rey inside. How could Leia forgive that?

I believe this, or something like it, is the catalyst that destroys the lives of Luke, Leia, and Han, and sets in motion the events of The Force Awakens.

If you’re Kylo Ren, imagine learning ten years later that a map to Luke Skywalker had escaped your grasp in the hands of the sister you kidnapped, aboard the ship you stole. What would his reaction look like on screen? Exactly like the reaction he had in The Force Awakens. And what would his next move be? To find the girl before anyone else does.

Han Solo knows, but isn’t sure

If we follow this once-held line of thinking about Rey’s origins, it brings us to the depressed Han Solo we find in the film. His daughter (or niece) was kidnapped 10 years ago and it was all his fault. His son turned to the dark side and destroyed everything he had ever worked for. Luke Skywalker is missing while the first order takes over, and his marriage is dead.

Suddenly, the stolen ship that started all of this appears out of nowhere. Aboard this ship is a girl that looks like his what his daughter may have looked like if she hadn’t been kidnapped, with a map to Luke Skywalker. Two seconds later, she’s showing a knack and love for the same things he’s good at—much to his surprise. What on earth could Han be thinking?

Well, whatever it is we can certainly see it on his face. He doesn’t seem to care for Finn and treats both of them much the same until he starts interacting with Rey. Soon there’s noticeable change in Han’s mannerisms, and there’s a gentleness he’s never exhibited anywhere in any of these films—all while wearing a face that looks like he just remembered that saddest thing that ever happened to him. He even offers her a job, almost like he wants to keep her around a little longer to figure this whole thing out.

Put it this way: If Rey wasn’t of any interest to Han, the most obvious thing to do next would be to turn BB-8 in to the Resistance. He wouldn’t even have to interface with Leia if he didn’t want to, he’d just have to give the map to the right people. But he doesn’t. No, instead Han stops off at arguably the worst place to bring top secret resistance material: a smuggler’s cantina bugged with spies to talk to an old friend.

This old friend with giant glasses has the special and unique ability of looking into the eyes of people and finding out who they really are. An interesting choice, considering all they have to do is deliver the map. But that’s why they’re there: So Han can know for certain whether this is his daughter or not. Unfortunately, there’s never another moment in the film afterwards where Han can really talk to Rey because the first Order abducts her shortly after. The only information we get is when Maz asks Han “who’s the girl?” The scene cuts away so we never hear what Han has to say. A similar thing happens when Han tells Leia there’s something he needs to tell her in the novelization—the scene unsurprisingly cuts away. But that’s okay, because a moment after Han’s conversation with Maz, the Skywalker saber gives the answer.

All of this makes the finale to the film much more powerful. Han is presented with the opportunity to reverse everything that has gone wrong in his life. If he’s successful, he can save his son, his daughter, his marriage, and the galaxy. The Han we see dying on the bridge is a man who sacrificed his life in order to get his children back. It doubles the sadness of TFA’s most emotional scene and makes Han one of the most tragic characters in the entire saga.

She’s nobody…wink, wink

So I don’t think I need to explain the whole lightsaber Force-back thing, but just to drive the point home: why on earth would the lightsaber of Anakin and Luke call out to Rey if she was not also a Skywalker? Why would Obi-wan Kenobi reach out from beyond the grave to tell her “Rey, these are your firsts steps”? Why would it show her the day she was abandoned but not her parents? Why would it show her Kylo Ren? Why would the saber fly right by Kylo Ren and fly into Rey’s hands? Why would (in the novelization) Kylo Ren exclaim “It is you”? Extending this to The Last Jedi, why does Rey ask the dark side mirror to show her parents if her lineage is not important? Aren’t there way more important things at hand that she could ask it? Even Luke seems to see past this “Rey from nowhere” thing, as if there’s something else he can’t quite put his finger on.

There’s a very vocal section of the fan-base that’s very adamant about “Rey Nobody,” claiming you don’t need to have a familial connection to have the Force, and that anyone can be the hero. I completely understand this, but it’s misguided. Most fantasy stories do start with a main character that comes from nowhere with no attachments to anybody. It’s almost impossible not to, because the call to action almost always requires them to uproot themselves and go on an adventure. You can’t do that when you have a wife and kids! Star Wars has already had standalone movies about “nobodies,” and they work fine. Rey is different.

With Rey, we’re constantly made to question her origin. Her entire character is shaped by a mysterious past and waiting for someone to come back and dreams about Ahch-to. Then, throughout the movie, we’re constantly fed mysterious Skywalker connections: the Falcon is located in her town, the saber not only calls to her but chooses her over Kylo Ren, Han acts like a father figure, Kylo shows way too much interest and acts like he knows something she doesn’t, and suddenly—she performs advanced jedi abilities out of nowhere. Do you really mean to tell me that Rey’s mystery origins and this ridiculous barrage of Skywalker coincidences have nothing to do with each other? That’s just not how stories are written.

Ask yourself: If TFA ended with Rey being revealed as Leia or Luke’s daughter, what would have been different? My answer: nothing. The entire finale to the film practically screams Skywalker lineage, and beyond what was shown in the film, it nails the point home with (what the script describes as) Leia’s “motherly embrace.”

The explanation usually tossed around for this is that Leia can sense Rey’s loss and goes to comfort her. Wouldn’t the appropriate recipient of a hug be Han’s best friend, Chewie? Leia’s a general. She’s sent hundreds, if not thousands, of scared young kids off to their deaths. She shouldn’t be that interested in Rey’s feelings. But instead, the movie dramatically slow walks these two people (who have never seen each other before) together, and has them not only hug once, but hug all the way to the next scene where they look into each other’s eyes like a mother and daughter would before they part. These two scenes are a time jump—what happens between, we don’t know. The next time Rey and Leia meet is briefly at the end of The Last Jedi. Rey and Leia have a relationship, and films purposely don’t show it.

And where was Rey going when she and Leia part? With the the most important piece of navigational data the Resistance possesses, no military training, and no background, she’s going to find Luke Skywalker. Because Leia already knows that Luke’s given up, and seeing her was the only real thing that will make Luke come back. So why did Leia select Rey to do this? Luke had the same question for Rey in The Last Jedi. So the big question is what will JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm do with these dangling threads in Rise of Skywalker? We’ll find out next week.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for this wonderful experience.

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