From here on there will be some speculation on Episode IX and I will explain the similarities between the characters based on my familiarity with the Star Wars Universe from movies, television shows, comics, games, interviews and other cannon.

“The Skywalker Saga”, Episode’s I-IX, is a classic tale of “the Hero’s Journey”. The story of “father and son” echoing each other’s actions in their lives but with changes in decisions that result in different life outcomes, it’s a classic tale. If you watch the movies as a whole you can see the similarities in the different Skywalker experiences. You can leave out Episode I-III for the most part. They exist. I kid, but only slightly. I digress, based on what we’ve seen so far, and despite his “denial” of who “she” is, I’m writing this assuming that Rey IS Luke’s daughter. I think that Luke was playing dumb and is going to leave this for Rey to find out on her own, if Kylo doesn’t tell her first. Below I will layout reasons why the similarities exist and are leading us to an epic conclusion of a modern day masterpiece!

Why Rey is A Skywalker:

As a young child, Anakin Skywalker took part in an epic space battle over Naboo. His natural use of the force helped him win one for the good guys. Compared to his son, who was also a young man with near no flight combat experience aside from a T-16 and killing small animals. Luke was in a space battle where his use of the Force helped him win for the Rebels. Rey took part in a lightsaber fight, never handling a lightsaber before, against a far more seasoned lightsaber opponent. Just like dad and grand-dad, she relied on her force abilities to help fend off a stronger yet seriously wounded Kylo-Ren.

Episode I and IV ended with an “awards ceremony” and all three films ended with handing something over to another. The medals on Yavin , the glowing orb on Naboo , and Luke’s lightsaber at the end of The Force Awakens.

Anakin, Luke, & Rey are older then they usually would be to start “training”. Their strength in the force makes this a non-factor for all three. All three Skywalker’s look to the stars and cannot wait to escape their desert planet.

There was some sexual weirdness between Kylo and Rey. Just like with Luke and Leia. Hopefully they don’t do more then just hold hands for now. We still cringe at that kiss in Empire knowing what we know now. “Kissing Cousins” is not OK! GOT has us at our incestual max.

Kylo was lying to Rey when he said that her parents were junk traders who sold her into slavery. He was preying on her fears. Rey wasn’t a slave and was free to come and go as she pleased, she just had no desire to leave Jakku in case her family came back for her.

Just like Luke, Rey was left on a desert planet to protect her from an evil force user who would use her for their own gain.

Being abandoned on a desert planet has led both Skywalker’s to the Millennium Falcon and Han Solo.

Luke, Rey’s Mother, or Lor San Tekka , probably delivered Rey directly to Unkar Plutt . Rey was about 5-6 years old and should have bonded with her relatives prior to her being abandoned despite forgetting them as a young adult.

The “old man” Lor San Tekka, Max Von Sydow , was on Jakku holding Luke’s map. Luke would not want to know where his daughter was, for her own protection, and closed himself off to the Force. San Tekka was potentially watching over Rey like Obi-Wan did in case she ever came seeking Luke out. According to cannon, Luke relied heavily on San Tekka to help rebuild the New generation of Jedi. San Tekka was a trusted individual and an expert in the force but not a Jedi.

Han Solo reacts to Rey when she mentions never seeing “so much Green” on Takodana. He’s eager to bring her onboard his crew and has faith in her skills. Rey is his niece and he must be elated to have found her alive!

R2D2 is in sleep mode the entire time of TFA until Rey lands on the base. Sensing her DNA match to Luke, R2 turns back on and is able to send Rey home to dad. R2D2 holds the map to Luke and the only person Luke would WANT to find him would be his only daughter. R2 does this again in TLJ when he gives Luke a hard time for leaving him for so long.

When Kylo-Ren first hears of a “girl” who has interfered in their plans on Jakku he’s more upset then he should be. He would have remembered Luke’s daughter and knows His Knights of Ren never found her. Luke’s “handful” of students who disappeared with him after they destroyed the New Jedi temple.

Luke’s lightsaber, which was also Vaders, calls to Rey in Maz’s Castle And she hears Obiwans voice.

Luke surrendered to Darth Vader on Endor exactly like Rey did to Kylo. All to get close to the Emperor. The elevator scene on the way to the throne room was the same as it was in ROTJ.

Just like Luke at the end of Empire, Rey is left on her own to build a new lightsaber. This is part of connecting a Jedi to the force completely. She’ll be a stronger better Jedi for it in the next movie.

When Rey and Leia see each other for the first time on a crowded base in TFA they automatically are drawn to each other, Leia is a Jedi too! She sensed her in the Force and is happy to see her niece again.

When Kylo-Ren is reading Rey’s mind he sees an island of green that she’s already seen. Chewbacca watches Rey when they are approaching Ahch-To, Luke’s island, as if to see if she recognizes it. Ahch-to would be a location he would have visited often and probably with his wife and child. She was familiar with Luke’s Jedi Library.

When Rey was waiting for Luke to come around it was just like he was to Yoda on Dagobah. He looked at her and smiled at her resilience because he was her 40 years ago. Luke has discovered that the light and dark side of the force is what has kept the force in chaos. Which is why the jedi way had to die. Perhaps this is where Luke went wrong with Kylo’s training. Perhaps they were looking into ancient force magic that led to The Knights of Ren? The Grey Jedi are coming! Which is what the next movie will be all about.

Why Kylo will be Ben Again:

Luke made the choice to spare Vaders life and not turn to the dark side. He’s also decided to continue training others. Just like the Jedi, Luke feared the Darkside, even in his own blood and was almost driven to murder to defeat it. It didn’t dominate Luke or turn him fully dark. Luke has always had a fight with the Light and Dark side of the Force himself. He force choked a Gamorian Guard to get into Jabba’s in ROTJ don’t forget. Anakin had to murder the Jedi and Padme, his only remaining family, to complete his turn to the dark side. Kylo made the decision to murder his father and complete his journey, yet it tore him in two. He had a Vader moment when he defeats Snoke, the way Darth saved Luke from the first Emperor. He could not kill Leia and assumes she is dead until the very end of TLJ when he finds his dad’s golden dice in the abandoned base. This would have both hit him in the feels and confirmed for him that his mother was still alive. The look in his Eyes when Rey cut off their force connection hurt him. He knows she has faith in him and he has nothing left. Kylo is struggling with the light, and just like Grandpa, Kylo’s journey doesn’t end in the dark. Luke’s farewell words to him were very foreshadowing: “See ya around kid.” Kylo’s not going to be getting much sleep with Yoda making stuff spark everywhere he goes and Luke giving him Uncle Force Ghost Noogies. Kylo will come to the light side just like Vader did. I have so much faith in this that I named my cute puppy Kylo-Ren-Tin-TIn!

Just like in the classic tales, the evil that you thought is dead is never dead, Snoke is Emperor Palpatine’s clone. He was somehow damaged in the cloning process or perhaps he was just undercooked. It’s doubtful he would have survived the fall in ROTJ or the immediate and subsequent Death Star II Explosion. The Battlefront 2 single player mission focuses around “Project Resurrection”. The game takes place during the time just before The Force Awakens. After the battle of Endor, the Emperor had droids stored with his last commands executing missions on his behalf. For more on that read this article . Snoke was a clone of the Emperor although that wasn’t explored that much. I don’t think Snoke is gone for good. His whole goal was to find Luke and has been all about Luke for over 40 years and he’s up to the same tricks. He’s going to go through the family. Is that the last Clone? He mentioned the “Skywalker” blood. There could be 1 or 20 more, clones. He could also be Darth Plagueis who is still afraid to die and keeps manifesting himself.

Episode IX-The Grey Jedi

Episode IX will be the movie that will stand out the most. It needs to wrap up the Skywalker story.

We will see the creation of The Grey Jedi. John Boyega had hinted to “spin off” movie . Perhaps Finn, Rose, with Benicio Del Toro’s character “DJ”. DJ=Dark Jedi? We saw him pull a very Han Solo style move when he “double crossed” Finn and Rose. Not much was explained about how BB-8 kept showing up at the right times. Also, his appearance in the jail cell was very reminiscent of “gods” in Greek plays who would randomly appear in order to bring heroes home safely from certain death. He also made out double financially with the deal he struck and the shuttle loot he stole. Maybe enough to finance a small rebellion? He’s a character we shouldn’t write off too soon.

Kylo will team up with his cousin to help finish their training in the Force. They will finally restore the “balance” Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to bring. We saw the idea of two people being the living force in the Clone Wars Series. That probably won’t happen until the final episode.

I feel that “The Skywalker saga” has taken on a much larger picture then Lucas had previously envisioned, even with the prequels being relative throwaways. The involvement of Disney and other creatives like Johnson and Abrams have really pulled the saga together. I still believe that George never wrote a 9 part opus. I think after the success of “A New Hope” Lucas was able to capitalize. You can spot the contradictions in ANH compared to ESB and ROTJ as big as sarlaac pits, but that’s a story for a different article.