MAKING THE CASE FOR REY BEING A SKYWALKER, SPECIFICALLY LUKE'S DAUGHTER
I would like to start off stating that the opinions written in this post are my own and I am simply offering up a discussion from my perspective and not stating that I know any inside information about the upcoming installment of Episode VIII. I simply want to make sure that I make the effort to share my thoughts on a topic that I have been passionate about sharing in regards to the telling of the plot and making a story come full circle.
Here with a topic that I wanted to share and talk about with you. I wanted to say that share with you my personal thoughts on the coming installment of the new Star Wars Trilogy with the next installment of Episode VIII. Though it has been stated and there are multiple different theories about the parentage and identities of whom our lead cast members of Finn and Rey. Still have to wait until the next installments of the film to potentially get the revelation of whom do our protagonists come from. But this take will be very simplistic as that is how I think it should be taken when thinking about the potential identity of whom the character of Rey may come from.
We are dealing with the various theories of Rey being related to everyone from Palpatine to Snoke down to Ben Kenobi. But the most prominent and one that has often been deemed "too obvious" is Rey being the daughter of Luke Skywalker. It has been deemed "too obvious" because of the fact that it would make Ben Solo now Kylo Ren be related to Han and Leia and Rey would be related to Luke Skywalker and thus it would be a family drama. I bring up the debate that this would be ideal for the story moving forward on the basis of what was stated from Chairman Kathleen Kennedy when stating during her interview with Costco Connection, that the "core" films, Episodes VII, VIII, IX are the "Saga" films by Lucasfilm. The Saga films focus on the Skywalker family saga. Kathleen Kennedy when on to explain, "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. The Anthology films offer opportunities to explore fresh characters, new storylines and a variety of genres inside the Star Wars universe."
With reading the statements made by the lead person of Lucasfilm, it made it much more apparent that to meet that the Story Group and the team at Lucasfilm are honoring the new Sequel Trilogy as a continuation of the Skywalker family. Many have made a variety of videos on Youtube as well as peers that I have talked with that have stated what it could mean and that it does not necessarily mean that they are continuing the story of the Skywalker family bloodline. That it could be stating the Skywalker family under the past legacy set by Anakin Skywalker whom became Darth Vader and that this would be the passing on to a whole new group of characters to move the core films out of the Skywalker family saga. But the thing is that all of those things do not add up at all when it comes to statement made by Kathleen Kennedy, "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." When it comes to the concept of the generational story being continued and follows the linear narrative that connects to the the six previous films that reads to be as not a mystery or hidden speak but saying exactly what it means, that we are going to have a new Skywalker that will be in this new trilogy and moving in the next trilogy.
Now the argument or debate could be made that Ben Solo, now known as Kylo Ren of the Knights of Ren is a descendant of the Skywalker line and this is true that he too is of Skywalker blood and the thing that people are missing is that his last name is not Skywalker but Solo. When you say that these new films continue the Skywalker family saga that means that the new character will indeed character the last name of Skywalker as well. I honestly do not think that the head of Lucasfilm would be stating things to say that the "Saga" are moving away from the Skywalker family saga. I believe that they are honoring the films that have come before them and from the director and creator of the saga, George Lucas.
With Maz and Lor San Tekka mentioning that the Dark side was prominent with the rise of the First Order, it is safe to believe that Luke also felt the danger of the Dark Side rising through the galaxy. I would imagine that Luke stayed away to not be known where anyone could find him or his students and learned of the things of the past with all of the Jedi lore that he was seeking throughout the galaxy and keeping the students safe from the public or any threats that could destroy his Jedi students. Snoke has a great part to play in the midst of all of this as well due to the passage from the actual novelization of The Force Awakens that deals with Leia explaining the Snoke was there all along seducing Ben Solo. Here is the excerpt:
What could he say to that? What possible response could he give to a willful denial of reason? "He's gone, Leia. He was always drawn to the dark side. There was nothing we could've done to stop it,no matter how hard we tried." His final words were the hardest to get out. "There was too much Vader in him."
He (Han) met her eyes steadily. " We've lost our son, forever."
Leia bit her lower lip, refusing to concede. "No. It was Snoke."
Han drew back slightly. "Snoke?"
She nodded. "He knew our would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil."
From that point Leia explains her reasons for never telling Han about this which is in the novelization version but not in the film version. Here is another excerpt:
He (Han) had trouble believing what he was hearing. "So Snoke was watching our son."
"Always," she told him. "From the shadows, in the beginning, even before I realized what was happening he was manipulating everything, pulling our son toward the dark side."
And this is the part that I believe that made me ponder what was happening with Luke when he was training Ben Solo, that he knew that there was going to be a time when something could have happened involving his nephew. If Han and Leia could see it, it was for sure sensed and seen by Luke without a doubt.
Making the case for Rey as a Skywalker, more specifically, Luke's daughter is steeped in the belief there are no mystery filmmaking changes to the formula of the saga and that they keeping to the touchstones of the saga. In my honest opinion, I do think for thematic, dramatic and emotional sense, having Rey be Luke's daughter makes for a wealth of story opportunities for the films. With Anakin being the Chosen One by the Prophecy and fulfilling that prophecy through redemption by his son Luke, Luke growing up to discover that his father is the actually monster Darth Vader and learning about the Force and having to fight the darkside to become Jedi Knight like his father before him, it makes great thematic sense that we have our new protagonist discovering that all of the stories of old about the Empire, the Jedi, flying the Millenium Falcon without knowing it was indeed the Falcon until meeting Han Solo, that she is in fact connected to all of these tales of old by being the daughter of the Last Jedi. It makes great storytelling that our new hero is connected to those tales because of her direct connection to Luke.
It is not to say that she could not be a descendant from someone else, but at the same time it makes sense to have her be Luke's child because it connects the old films with the new and makes the circle much more complete. I believe that the story group is wise enough to shroud and twist and turn the reveal about her father being Luke to not make it so easy to guess and thus having people thinking that it would easy to guess it and not speculate because it is commonly considered to be "too obvious" and "too convenient" that she is in fact Luke's daughter. The old saying works best in "hiding in plain sight" and no one would suspect it. This is why I do believe that all of the various hints and similarities that are echoing from the previous six films in the seventh installment surrounding Rey that mirror that of Luke and his father Anakin in the Prequel Trilogy are not coincidence whatsoever.
The main thing that we need to know in order to discover most of the missing pieces of the mosaic deal greatly around Luke and what exactly he was doing during the years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Thankfully we have some small tidbits of about Luke within the novelizations of Star Wars Aftermath: Life Debt and Star Wars: Bloodline which both detail that Luke did teach Leia techniques in the Force before he vanished and during Bloodline, Leia has been trying to get in contact with Luke and Ben as he was 23 years of age and it was not known if Ben was already gone down the path of the Dark Side of the Force and destroyed Luke's new generation of Jedi. The story group and the writers of the films have done a good job of keeping Luke's journey and adventures out of the picture on purpose and that is due to having to wait until he returns in Episode VIII, and then we will be given answers to what the last Jedi has been doing while traveling the galaxy seeking all of the hidden Jedi temples and what he has learned at that time and if he fell in love finally and if in that time a child was conceived in born.
I do believe that with the novelizations of Heir to the Jedi, it gave a hint at something that even the films did before Luke realized that Leia was his sister. In the novel, there was a biotech engineer character named Naraki Kelen, and it showed in that novelization that Luke did in fact look for love in his life aside from trying to learn the Force. The novelization showed that Luke was a flawed protagonist as he was trying to learn how to use the Force and it was a difficult task for him but it showed that he also was attracted to the female main lead of the novel as well. This was something that I kept in mind when it came to Luke during the 30 years that he has been missing and off in the galaxy seeking Jedi to train and searching for all of the knowledge he could to bring back the Jedi.
I do believe that in that time they may potentially hint that Luke finally feel in love or found someone, be it a traveler that he met along the way in his travels alone in the galaxy or someone that he was training in the ways of the Force and they fell in love. But I came to break down that if Luke is in fact that father of Rey that it could be explained in two ways.
Like in the novelizations have done before, backstory included, Luke has a story that is going to fill in the blanks be it in the novels and comics that are coming out after Episode VIII is released or during the 8th installment that it is addressed what Luke has done during the times that he was away from all of the events taking place in the galaxy. I think that it is good to make Luke human and not without flaws. Yes, he is a Jedi Master at this time but at the same time, he is human and if there is any indication from both the films and the novels, Skywalker is not without a desire to have someone to share his emotions with. It makes sense to me that an young man whom has no memory of his mother, his father has redeemed himself and died and his aunt and uncle are gone as well. The only family he literally has left is his twin sister and she is off to help fight the war in politics.
Luke Skywalker from what the story sets up with the comic Shattered Empire, that Luke Skywalker traveled to the planet of Vetine to retrieve a fragment of a stolen Force-sensitive tree, which was at the heart of the Jedi Temple before Emperor Palpatine converted the Temple on Coruscant in the Imperial Palace. He was accompanied by Shara Bey (Poe Dameron's mom), whom was his pilot on the stolen Imperial shuttle, Antarra. Upon having retrieve the fragment it was then discovered that there were two fragments unto which Luke gave her one and she and her husband Dameron planted next to their new home on Yavin 4. I do believe that with all of the various places that Luke Skywalker traveled from Gatalenta to various planets and even being assisted by Lor San Tekka who remember the Jedi Knights before the Clone Wars, that at some point while Luke was acquiring knowledge about the Force and Jedi lore that he found someone be it someone whom was Force sensitive or not like Naraki Kelen, that he found somebody.
Having Luke being a Jedi Master, the one topic that was brought up was dealing with the lore of the Jedi Order as stated in the Prequel Trilogy about Jedi not having love or having a relationship being a Jedi Knight and this was being said that Luke can not be the father or it would be against the Jedi Order. I say that thought it is a valid point, remember that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda while taking Luke under their wing, neither never mentioned the idea of love being forbidden as they were primarily only focused on training Luke in order to have him ready to take on Darth Vader. So, unless we are officially told otherwise, Luke has never been told about this and thus he would not take into account that aspect of the his training and becoming a Jedi Knight into Jedi Master. I am sure that he will have learned a great swell of information about the Jedi Order of old, but it makes sense to me that while on his search through the galaxy that he came across someone whom helped him become better with the force. Once again, the galaxy of Naraki Kelen helped Luke with his Force ability to move objects. I truly think that he would have a similar experience like this with someone whom was in the galaxy that was a kind person and he was grateful of her time and had the ability to share the emotions with her and fall in love. This makes sense to me as right now we don't know what Luke was doing during his searching the galaxy other than the information that has been presented in the current books and comics.
Having Luke being flawed is a must for his character. That is something that is needed. To have you be powerful in the Force is one thing, but to have his character being almost perfect is something that would not be a service to his character. Yes, he has reached his arch in Return of the Jedi with overcoming the Dark side of the Force, but having Luke have been vulnerable or having found someone and having lost that person does add drama to the saga. It makes it personal to begin with that he has lost his students that he was training but it also makes sense for his character to be with someone and that things did not go as planned for him and he would have experienced attachment as well and have lost that attachment but dire circumstances.
It is a possible could have fallen in love with someone from the Church of the Force, it is also possible that he could have in the time that he was searching for all of those many Jedi artifacts and lore that he and the person that he was with could have parted ways, be it not a personal breakup, but that they were on separate paths in their journey in life. Luke could have stopped on a planet or a variety of planets and this young woman whom followed and helped him whatever way possible be it learning of a various temples or Jedi or Force abilities that were long forgotten but in the end, both of them had separate journeys and destinations to travel. It is possible that they have traveled together and like any human interaction, if there was a natural attraction between the two of them and having spent time together there was something that caused them to go their separate ways, not necessarily a break up but her understanding that Luke has a much larger path to go down and that he has much work to do and that he would always have a place in her heart.
But looking at The Force Awakens, looking at Rey it just feels right that she would be a Skywalker by way of Luke's genes. Looking at the vision Rey has upon touching the lightsaber that was once Anakin Skywalker's, then Luke's and then calling upon Rey and seeing the history of the places that the lightsaber has been and the seeing a glimpse of the events that have happened in the past and also a glimpse of Rey as a child being left behind on the planet of Jakku. The possibilities are limitless about the meanings behind the Force Vision, but upon seeing a younger Rey and getting the context of the novelization which is a bit more expansive. On page 171 of the novelization of The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster, Rey is heard a voice in the dark.
"Stay here. I'll come back for you."
She whirled, glazed eyes desperately scanning the dark gaps between the slender trees, trying to penetrate the darkness.
"I'll come back, sweetheart. I promise."
"I'm here! Right here! Where are you?"
Now, the beauty and the smart move done by the writing staff was to never identify if the voice was feminine or masculine. But it is referred to as "That voice," in the novelization it indicates that it is a voice that Rey does in fact remember. Rey is 19 years of age during the time of Star Wars Episode VII, and she was abandoned at age 5, which would have been 16 years before the events of Episode VII, and was born 11 years before the events of The Force Awakens and 10 years after the Battle of Jakku. We do have information from the novelization from Claudia Gray "Star Wars: Bloodline," that takes place 6 years before the events of "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," which Ben Solo is 23 years of age and is with Luke whom is still training at Luke's Academy. I think that the story has crafted a measured timeline to Rey's parentage to be kept quiet until the next installment of Episode VIII or IX with a purpose. There is a potential chance that while Luke retired from public life and avoided the spotlight at all cost after the events of Return of the Jedi that he simply even kept something of his personal life quiet as he never returns messages that were sent to him by Leia as stated in the novel of Bloodline.
There is no mystery box, but I do believe that in the event that it is Luke to be her father that there is a possibility that Luke does not know that Rey is his daughter if the parent would have been the mother that left her on Jakku. This is definitely one way of looking at it that someone Rey found close to her left on the ship that was seen in her vision in Maz's castle. It is a possibility but that the mother of Rey was trying to protect her or there was something that has been taking place or a foreshadowing of what was to come. The main logic behind a repeat of history similar to the way that Tatooine was a place that Darth Vader would never return to which was why Luke was placed there for his protection, is something similar to what Jakku would be with the Empire having lost their final battle there on Jakku, it is nothing left but the bones of the war and no one is coming there to hold a final stance. Rey would be safe from the dangers of the galaxy though she had a hard life growing up on the desert planet but she is safe and has protection somewhere.
Lor San Tekka being an ally to Luke and Leia, I would imagine that though the vision showed Unkar Plutt holding the arm of the young Rey, I do believe that Lor San Tekka might have been commissioned with keeping an eye on Rey, the same way Obi-Wan Kenobi was to Luke. The novel of The Force Awakens, Lor San Tekka definitely knows of Ben Solo before he was Kylo Ren which indicates that he crossed paths with Ben Solo at some point and that could be during the time that Luke was training the next generation of Jedi. He had the missing part of the map leading to Skywalker and so I do believe that there were steps in place that maybe Luke felt as something was coming and that he felt there needed to set in the wake of things.
Which leads us back to Rey in regards to possible reasons for her being on Jakku. If a non Force sensitive like Han and Leia who has Force powers could know about their son's descent into the dark side, others among the Jedi could sense it as well. It is not out of the possible realm of imagination like Lor San Tekka, there were other people whom were members of the Church of the Force that were offering being of help to Luke in his striving to recreate the Jedi Order and saw that he had a burden on his hand doing so and did their best to help him in any way possible be it having knowledge of things that he needed to know or just being there as a support system. I do believe that if you go through all of the new canon stories be it books or comics, it is a steady indicator that Luke has learned a lot about the Force from people whom are not Force sensitive necessarily. Be it Farnay, the female Devaronian and her father Kivas whom repaired his starfighter on Devaron when visiting the Jedi Temple Eedit and being guided into the Temple by Sarco Plank whom wanted to kill look and ransack the Temple to pay off his debt.
It can be theorized that with Luke leaving on the quest with continuing seeking Force sensitives and training Jedi hopefuls that
The dreams that Rey has had when she was on Jakku alone were revealed by Kylo Ren during the interrogation scene. "At night, desperate to sleep, you'd imagine an ocean. I can see it...I can see the island." Those were the words spoken to her by Kylo Ren as he was using his Force abilities to peer into her mind. But the clue is the mentioning of the ocean and the island, which are reflected in the end where she and Chewbacca along with R2-D2 travel in the Millennium Falcon to find Luke Skywalker. Having Rey journey to find Luke can be summed up to the will of the Force guiding her but I also believe that along with her touching the lightsaber that she has been guided back to her father. If she was having visions of the future it could be the same for her father having had visions of what was to come and took steps in place that she would be guided to him and protected if dark times were to return to the galaxy.
The things that I wanted to make sure that I state is that the story of the lightsaber is something that we can go back to Maz and Luke both explaining how the lightsaber came into her possession.
This will be battle over the Skywalker legacy and the name. It makes for more dramatic twist and turns for having the battle be a family struggle and the two that are pitted against one another are in fact cousins. To have Leia's only child, Ben and Luke's daughter Rey have to fight one another, one having chose to following in the footsteps of his Grandfather and the other walking the path of the light side it makes for a very powerful family drama and our heroes from the Original Trilogy having to deal with history repeating itself through their children this time around and trying to save them. Ben Solo / Kylo Ren getting stronger in the dark side but having conflict with being pulled to the light, and having more conflict when he knows that Rey is his cousin and his uncle Luke's daughter. It makes for dramatic tension, and it goes the same for Rey, having despised Ren and then discovering that he is her cousin. It makes their fight much more drama based and the two of them will come into conflict.
With the Saga being a continuation of the Skywalker tradition it would make circular sense to bring into the fold a new Skywalker to carry on the saga should they move forward after Episode IX. I do not know anything of what the Story Group has laid out, but I truly wanted to state that I do hope that Rey is Luke's daughter because it really would give Luke in my opinion much more of dramatic arc to his character and his motivations in my opinion would be to make things right in passing on the Legacy of both the Jedi and his family and the name of the Skywalkers.
Thank you for your time in reading this. May the Force be with you. Always. Share with your friends and let's start the conversation.
Last thing I wanted to share is that similarity of the posters. Just let that sink in.
Here with a topic that I wanted to share and talk about with you. I wanted to say that share with you my personal thoughts on the coming installment of the new Star Wars Trilogy with the next installment of Episode VIII. Though it has been stated and there are multiple different theories about the parentage and identities of whom our lead cast members of Finn and Rey. Still have to wait until the next installments of the film to potentially get the revelation of whom do our protagonists come from. But this take will be very simplistic as that is how I think it should be taken when thinking about the potential identity of whom the character of Rey may come from.
We are dealing with the various theories of Rey being related to everyone from Palpatine to Snoke down to Ben Kenobi. But the most prominent and one that has often been deemed "too obvious" is Rey being the daughter of Luke Skywalker. It has been deemed "too obvious" because of the fact that it would make Ben Solo now Kylo Ren be related to Han and Leia and Rey would be related to Luke Skywalker and thus it would be a family drama. I bring up the debate that this would be ideal for the story moving forward on the basis of what was stated from Chairman Kathleen Kennedy when stating during her interview with Costco Connection, that the "core" films, Episodes VII, VIII, IX are the "Saga" films by Lucasfilm. The Saga films focus on the Skywalker family saga. Kathleen Kennedy when on to explain, "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. The Anthology films offer opportunities to explore fresh characters, new storylines and a variety of genres inside the Star Wars universe."
With reading the statements made by the lead person of Lucasfilm, it made it much more apparent that to meet that the Story Group and the team at Lucasfilm are honoring the new Sequel Trilogy as a continuation of the Skywalker family. Many have made a variety of videos on Youtube as well as peers that I have talked with that have stated what it could mean and that it does not necessarily mean that they are continuing the story of the Skywalker family bloodline. That it could be stating the Skywalker family under the past legacy set by Anakin Skywalker whom became Darth Vader and that this would be the passing on to a whole new group of characters to move the core films out of the Skywalker family saga. But the thing is that all of those things do not add up at all when it comes to statement made by Kathleen Kennedy, "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." When it comes to the concept of the generational story being continued and follows the linear narrative that connects to the the six previous films that reads to be as not a mystery or hidden speak but saying exactly what it means, that we are going to have a new Skywalker that will be in this new trilogy and moving in the next trilogy.
BEN IS A SKYWALKER BY BLOODLINE, BUT HIS LAST NAME IS SOLO, NOT SKYWALKER
Now the argument or debate could be made that Ben Solo, now known as Kylo Ren of the Knights of Ren is a descendant of the Skywalker line and this is true that he too is of Skywalker blood and the thing that people are missing is that his last name is not Skywalker but Solo. When you say that these new films continue the Skywalker family saga that means that the new character will indeed character the last name of Skywalker as well. I honestly do not think that the head of Lucasfilm would be stating things to say that the "Saga" are moving away from the Skywalker family saga. I believe that they are honoring the films that have come before them and from the director and creator of the saga, George Lucas.
With Maz and Lor San Tekka mentioning that the Dark side was prominent with the rise of the First Order, it is safe to believe that Luke also felt the danger of the Dark Side rising through the galaxy. I would imagine that Luke stayed away to not be known where anyone could find him or his students and learned of the things of the past with all of the Jedi lore that he was seeking throughout the galaxy and keeping the students safe from the public or any threats that could destroy his Jedi students. Snoke has a great part to play in the midst of all of this as well due to the passage from the actual novelization of The Force Awakens that deals with Leia explaining the Snoke was there all along seducing Ben Solo. Here is the excerpt:
What could he say to that? What possible response could he give to a willful denial of reason? "He's gone, Leia. He was always drawn to the dark side. There was nothing we could've done to stop it,no matter how hard we tried." His final words were the hardest to get out. "There was too much Vader in him."
He (Han) met her eyes steadily. " We've lost our son, forever."
Leia bit her lower lip, refusing to concede. "No. It was Snoke."
Han drew back slightly. "Snoke?"
She nodded. "He knew our would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil."
From that point Leia explains her reasons for never telling Han about this which is in the novelization version but not in the film version. Here is another excerpt:
He (Han) had trouble believing what he was hearing. "So Snoke was watching our son."
"Always," she told him. "From the shadows, in the beginning, even before I realized what was happening he was manipulating everything, pulling our son toward the dark side."
And this is the part that I believe that made me ponder what was happening with Luke when he was training Ben Solo, that he knew that there was going to be a time when something could have happened involving his nephew. If Han and Leia could see it, it was for sure sensed and seen by Luke without a doubt.
MAKING THE CASE FOR REY AS A SKYWALKER
Making the case for Rey as a Skywalker, more specifically, Luke's daughter is steeped in the belief there are no mystery filmmaking changes to the formula of the saga and that they keeping to the touchstones of the saga. In my honest opinion, I do think for thematic, dramatic and emotional sense, having Rey be Luke's daughter makes for a wealth of story opportunities for the films. With Anakin being the Chosen One by the Prophecy and fulfilling that prophecy through redemption by his son Luke, Luke growing up to discover that his father is the actually monster Darth Vader and learning about the Force and having to fight the darkside to become Jedi Knight like his father before him, it makes great thematic sense that we have our new protagonist discovering that all of the stories of old about the Empire, the Jedi, flying the Millenium Falcon without knowing it was indeed the Falcon until meeting Han Solo, that she is in fact connected to all of these tales of old by being the daughter of the Last Jedi. It makes great storytelling that our new hero is connected to those tales because of her direct connection to Luke.
It is not to say that she could not be a descendant from someone else, but at the same time it makes sense to have her be Luke's child because it connects the old films with the new and makes the circle much more complete. I believe that the story group is wise enough to shroud and twist and turn the reveal about her father being Luke to not make it so easy to guess and thus having people thinking that it would easy to guess it and not speculate because it is commonly considered to be "too obvious" and "too convenient" that she is in fact Luke's daughter. The old saying works best in "hiding in plain sight" and no one would suspect it. This is why I do believe that all of the various hints and similarities that are echoing from the previous six films in the seventh installment surrounding Rey that mirror that of Luke and his father Anakin in the Prequel Trilogy are not coincidence whatsoever.
LUKE'S JOURNEY TO HELP GIVE ANSWERS
The main thing that we need to know in order to discover most of the missing pieces of the mosaic deal greatly around Luke and what exactly he was doing during the years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Thankfully we have some small tidbits of about Luke within the novelizations of Star Wars Aftermath: Life Debt and Star Wars: Bloodline which both detail that Luke did teach Leia techniques in the Force before he vanished and during Bloodline, Leia has been trying to get in contact with Luke and Ben as he was 23 years of age and it was not known if Ben was already gone down the path of the Dark Side of the Force and destroyed Luke's new generation of Jedi. The story group and the writers of the films have done a good job of keeping Luke's journey and adventures out of the picture on purpose and that is due to having to wait until he returns in Episode VIII, and then we will be given answers to what the last Jedi has been doing while traveling the galaxy seeking all of the hidden Jedi temples and what he has learned at that time and if he fell in love finally and if in that time a child was conceived in born.
I do believe that with the novelizations of Heir to the Jedi, it gave a hint at something that even the films did before Luke realized that Leia was his sister. In the novel, there was a biotech engineer character named Naraki Kelen, and it showed in that novelization that Luke did in fact look for love in his life aside from trying to learn the Force. The novelization showed that Luke was a flawed protagonist as he was trying to learn how to use the Force and it was a difficult task for him but it showed that he also was attracted to the female main lead of the novel as well. This was something that I kept in mind when it came to Luke during the 30 years that he has been missing and off in the galaxy seeking Jedi to train and searching for all of the knowledge he could to bring back the Jedi.
I do believe that in that time they may potentially hint that Luke finally feel in love or found someone, be it a traveler that he met along the way in his travels alone in the galaxy or someone that he was training in the ways of the Force and they fell in love. But I came to break down that if Luke is in fact that father of Rey that it could be explained in two ways.
LUKE MEETS SOMEONE DURING HIS JOURNEY THROUGH THE GALAXY
Like in the novelizations have done before, backstory included, Luke has a story that is going to fill in the blanks be it in the novels and comics that are coming out after Episode VIII is released or during the 8th installment that it is addressed what Luke has done during the times that he was away from all of the events taking place in the galaxy. I think that it is good to make Luke human and not without flaws. Yes, he is a Jedi Master at this time but at the same time, he is human and if there is any indication from both the films and the novels, Skywalker is not without a desire to have someone to share his emotions with. It makes sense to me that an young man whom has no memory of his mother, his father has redeemed himself and died and his aunt and uncle are gone as well. The only family he literally has left is his twin sister and she is off to help fight the war in politics.
Luke Skywalker from what the story sets up with the comic Shattered Empire, that Luke Skywalker traveled to the planet of Vetine to retrieve a fragment of a stolen Force-sensitive tree, which was at the heart of the Jedi Temple before Emperor Palpatine converted the Temple on Coruscant in the Imperial Palace. He was accompanied by Shara Bey (Poe Dameron's mom), whom was his pilot on the stolen Imperial shuttle, Antarra. Upon having retrieve the fragment it was then discovered that there were two fragments unto which Luke gave her one and she and her husband Dameron planted next to their new home on Yavin 4. I do believe that with all of the various places that Luke Skywalker traveled from Gatalenta to various planets and even being assisted by Lor San Tekka who remember the Jedi Knights before the Clone Wars, that at some point while Luke was acquiring knowledge about the Force and Jedi lore that he found someone be it someone whom was Force sensitive or not like Naraki Kelen, that he found somebody.
LUKE BEING FLAWED IS ESSENTIAL TO HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Having Luke being a Jedi Master, the one topic that was brought up was dealing with the lore of the Jedi Order as stated in the Prequel Trilogy about Jedi not having love or having a relationship being a Jedi Knight and this was being said that Luke can not be the father or it would be against the Jedi Order. I say that thought it is a valid point, remember that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda while taking Luke under their wing, neither never mentioned the idea of love being forbidden as they were primarily only focused on training Luke in order to have him ready to take on Darth Vader. So, unless we are officially told otherwise, Luke has never been told about this and thus he would not take into account that aspect of the his training and becoming a Jedi Knight into Jedi Master. I am sure that he will have learned a great swell of information about the Jedi Order of old, but it makes sense to me that while on his search through the galaxy that he came across someone whom helped him become better with the force. Once again, the galaxy of Naraki Kelen helped Luke with his Force ability to move objects. I truly think that he would have a similar experience like this with someone whom was in the galaxy that was a kind person and he was grateful of her time and had the ability to share the emotions with her and fall in love. This makes sense to me as right now we don't know what Luke was doing during his searching the galaxy other than the information that has been presented in the current books and comics.
Having Luke being flawed is a must for his character. That is something that is needed. To have you be powerful in the Force is one thing, but to have his character being almost perfect is something that would not be a service to his character. Yes, he has reached his arch in Return of the Jedi with overcoming the Dark side of the Force, but having Luke have been vulnerable or having found someone and having lost that person does add drama to the saga. It makes it personal to begin with that he has lost his students that he was training but it also makes sense for his character to be with someone and that things did not go as planned for him and he would have experienced attachment as well and have lost that attachment but dire circumstances.
It is a possible could have fallen in love with someone from the Church of the Force, it is also possible that he could have in the time that he was searching for all of those many Jedi artifacts and lore that he and the person that he was with could have parted ways, be it not a personal breakup, but that they were on separate paths in their journey in life. Luke could have stopped on a planet or a variety of planets and this young woman whom followed and helped him whatever way possible be it learning of a various temples or Jedi or Force abilities that were long forgotten but in the end, both of them had separate journeys and destinations to travel. It is possible that they have traveled together and like any human interaction, if there was a natural attraction between the two of them and having spent time together there was something that caused them to go their separate ways, not necessarily a break up but her understanding that Luke has a much larger path to go down and that he has much work to do and that he would always have a place in her heart.
REY'S VISION
But looking at The Force Awakens, looking at Rey it just feels right that she would be a Skywalker by way of Luke's genes. Looking at the vision Rey has upon touching the lightsaber that was once Anakin Skywalker's, then Luke's and then calling upon Rey and seeing the history of the places that the lightsaber has been and the seeing a glimpse of the events that have happened in the past and also a glimpse of Rey as a child being left behind on the planet of Jakku. The possibilities are limitless about the meanings behind the Force Vision, but upon seeing a younger Rey and getting the context of the novelization which is a bit more expansive. On page 171 of the novelization of The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster, Rey is heard a voice in the dark.
"Stay here. I'll come back for you."
She whirled, glazed eyes desperately scanning the dark gaps between the slender trees, trying to penetrate the darkness.
"I'll come back, sweetheart. I promise."
"I'm here! Right here! Where are you?"
Now, the beauty and the smart move done by the writing staff was to never identify if the voice was feminine or masculine. But it is referred to as "That voice," in the novelization it indicates that it is a voice that Rey does in fact remember. Rey is 19 years of age during the time of Star Wars Episode VII, and she was abandoned at age 5, which would have been 16 years before the events of Episode VII, and was born 11 years before the events of The Force Awakens and 10 years after the Battle of Jakku. We do have information from the novelization from Claudia Gray "Star Wars: Bloodline," that takes place 6 years before the events of "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," which Ben Solo is 23 years of age and is with Luke whom is still training at Luke's Academy. I think that the story has crafted a measured timeline to Rey's parentage to be kept quiet until the next installment of Episode VIII or IX with a purpose. There is a potential chance that while Luke retired from public life and avoided the spotlight at all cost after the events of Return of the Jedi that he simply even kept something of his personal life quiet as he never returns messages that were sent to him by Leia as stated in the novel of Bloodline.
There is no mystery box, but I do believe that in the event that it is Luke to be her father that there is a possibility that Luke does not know that Rey is his daughter if the parent would have been the mother that left her on Jakku. This is definitely one way of looking at it that someone Rey found close to her left on the ship that was seen in her vision in Maz's castle. It is a possibility but that the mother of Rey was trying to protect her or there was something that has been taking place or a foreshadowing of what was to come. The main logic behind a repeat of history similar to the way that Tatooine was a place that Darth Vader would never return to which was why Luke was placed there for his protection, is something similar to what Jakku would be with the Empire having lost their final battle there on Jakku, it is nothing left but the bones of the war and no one is coming there to hold a final stance. Rey would be safe from the dangers of the galaxy though she had a hard life growing up on the desert planet but she is safe and has protection somewhere.
LUKE'S PAST WITH LOR SAN TEKKA
Lor San Tekka being an ally to Luke and Leia, I would imagine that though the vision showed Unkar Plutt holding the arm of the young Rey, I do believe that Lor San Tekka might have been commissioned with keeping an eye on Rey, the same way Obi-Wan Kenobi was to Luke. The novel of The Force Awakens, Lor San Tekka definitely knows of Ben Solo before he was Kylo Ren which indicates that he crossed paths with Ben Solo at some point and that could be during the time that Luke was training the next generation of Jedi. He had the missing part of the map leading to Skywalker and so I do believe that there were steps in place that maybe Luke felt as something was coming and that he felt there needed to set in the wake of things.
Which leads us back to Rey in regards to possible reasons for her being on Jakku. If a non Force sensitive like Han and Leia who has Force powers could know about their son's descent into the dark side, others among the Jedi could sense it as well. It is not out of the possible realm of imagination like Lor San Tekka, there were other people whom were members of the Church of the Force that were offering being of help to Luke in his striving to recreate the Jedi Order and saw that he had a burden on his hand doing so and did their best to help him in any way possible be it having knowledge of things that he needed to know or just being there as a support system. I do believe that if you go through all of the new canon stories be it books or comics, it is a steady indicator that Luke has learned a lot about the Force from people whom are not Force sensitive necessarily. Be it Farnay, the female Devaronian and her father Kivas whom repaired his starfighter on Devaron when visiting the Jedi Temple Eedit and being guided into the Temple by Sarco Plank whom wanted to kill look and ransack the Temple to pay off his debt.
It can be theorized that with Luke leaving on the quest with continuing seeking Force sensitives and training Jedi hopefuls that
REY'S DREAMS AT THE INTERROGATION
The dreams that Rey has had when she was on Jakku alone were revealed by Kylo Ren during the interrogation scene. "At night, desperate to sleep, you'd imagine an ocean. I can see it...I can see the island." Those were the words spoken to her by Kylo Ren as he was using his Force abilities to peer into her mind. But the clue is the mentioning of the ocean and the island, which are reflected in the end where she and Chewbacca along with R2-D2 travel in the Millennium Falcon to find Luke Skywalker. Having Rey journey to find Luke can be summed up to the will of the Force guiding her but I also believe that along with her touching the lightsaber that she has been guided back to her father. If she was having visions of the future it could be the same for her father having had visions of what was to come and took steps in place that she would be guided to him and protected if dark times were to return to the galaxy.
THE LIGHTSABER
The things that I wanted to make sure that I state is that the story of the lightsaber is something that we can go back to Maz and Luke both explaining how the lightsaber came into her possession.
LEGACY OF THE SKYWALKER FAMILY TO BE WAGED BY COUSINS
This will be battle over the Skywalker legacy and the name. It makes for more dramatic twist and turns for having the battle be a family struggle and the two that are pitted against one another are in fact cousins. To have Leia's only child, Ben and Luke's daughter Rey have to fight one another, one having chose to following in the footsteps of his Grandfather and the other walking the path of the light side it makes for a very powerful family drama and our heroes from the Original Trilogy having to deal with history repeating itself through their children this time around and trying to save them. Ben Solo / Kylo Ren getting stronger in the dark side but having conflict with being pulled to the light, and having more conflict when he knows that Rey is his cousin and his uncle Luke's daughter. It makes for dramatic tension, and it goes the same for Rey, having despised Ren and then discovering that he is her cousin. It makes their fight much more drama based and the two of them will come into conflict.
With the Saga being a continuation of the Skywalker tradition it would make circular sense to bring into the fold a new Skywalker to carry on the saga should they move forward after Episode IX. I do not know anything of what the Story Group has laid out, but I truly wanted to state that I do hope that Rey is Luke's daughter because it really would give Luke in my opinion much more of dramatic arc to his character and his motivations in my opinion would be to make things right in passing on the Legacy of both the Jedi and his family and the name of the Skywalkers.
Thank you for your time in reading this. May the Force be with you. Always. Share with your friends and let's start the conversation.
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