(Pop Culture) Editorial #3 - Who is Rey?

(Pop Culture) Editorial #3 - Who is Rey?

Month by month, as we approach the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, questions begin to arise as we anticipate answers. However, the prevalent question that all Star Wars fans have been asking is: Who is Rey? What is her parentage? What is her importance? What is her significance and why can she use the Force so capably? I'm going to break down three major theories and explain to you why I believe these are the most likely scenarios. 

A Little Background Information

Firstly, before diving into these theories, there is something that a Star Wars fan must understand - the Star Wars universe is all about parallelism. The whole idea of Star Wars films are to parallel each other, to mirror each other in a beautiful way. While the prequels may not have done such a great job, the similarities between The Phantom Menace and A New Hope are there. Young, adventurous boy on desert planet wants to leave his home and seeks adventure, and meets a mentor who takes him out to the galaxy, but who ends up dying to a greater evil. The next episode, II and V, are about training the child and the child learning their potential with the force, and the final episodes, III and VI, are the conclusion to their arcs (or in Vader's case, the leading into a new chapter of his life). Star Wars is all about trying to bring certain elements from other movies into the future installments to create a bigger picture. 

Theory #1 - Rey is the granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi

Chances are, if you have been searching Star Wars theories online, you have seen this one before. This theory states that Obi-Wan Kenobi, master to Anakin Skywalker, had a child while living in the desert for so many years. In that time, this child of his was separated from him, perhaps the wife died, and his child went on to have another child, which was Rey. 

If this theory turns out to be true, I believe that Obi-Wan's wife would be of importance and might be a character we already know due to Rey's immense strength with the force. 

How does this draw parallelism? Rather than looking at the theory in a traditional sense and trying to connect dots based on given information and speculation, in this case, it's actually important to look forward. 

Ben Solo is Anakin Skywalker's grandson. In this sense, we already have one string of mirroring as we have the grandchildren of the Master and Apprentice duo from the prequels. Imagine this: you could set the scene in Episode IX where Ben and Rey have an epic duel, maybe on Mustafar even. This draws a major connection to Episode III - in Episode III we see Obi-Wan and Anakin fighting on Mustafar in an attempt to bring balance and to persuade each other that their side is right. Many, many years later, we have their grandchildren in the exact same scenario - this parallels Episode III so nicely and even hearkens back to the prequels.

Theory #2 - Rey is a Palpatine

As I'm sure you've heard the Obi-Wan theory many times, I'm sure you've heard this one, too. I put this at a slightly higher credibility than the Obi-Wan theory - here's way. Again we have to look for parallelism and to see if this theory makes sense. While it is plausible that Kenobi could have a child, with the established Jedi Code, he would not do such a thing, even though he has had love interests in the past. However, Emperor Palpatine is not beyond romance and love - he is evil and has no limits to his morals.

So it would be possible that he had a child, who then had Rey. What does this mean? Set the scene again. You have Rey and Ben fighting on an unspecified planet, an epic duel for the ages that will determine the balance in the Force. The entire Star Wars saga before Episode 7 was about the fight of a Skywalker against a Palpatine. Luke, and more subtly, Darth Vader, fighting against the Emperor. The beautiful parallels in this scenario is that you have a Palpatine and a Skywalker fighting against each other - except their roles are reversed. The Palpatine is on the good side and the Skywalker is on the evil side. This draws connections to previous movies while still giving an original spin on the characters.

Theory #3 - Rey is... Nobody

"I'm no one," we hear Rey say in the third trailer for The Force Awakens. What if this was true the whole time? However, there's a twist. She can't just be no one.

What if the Force is a sentient life force (which we know, but with more capability and influence than we think) and saw the failure of two people. We see the downfall of Anakin Skywalker, a child prodigy from an isolated, desert planet who aspires to be more and meet his destiny. But eventually, he turns to the dark side but comes back when his son, Luke, persuades him. But not before giving up his life, which the Force could consider a failures.

Now what if, in The Last Jedi, Luke turned evil? Or was evil the entire time? This would count as another failure for the Force as it sees that its attempt to draw balance has failed yet again. 

So what would it do? It would find another child prodigy, living on a desert planet all by herself, who has aspirations to go on adventures and live out in the world, and the Force tries again. 

See, in this way, you can explain the fact that Rey is nobody, but was instead chosen by the Force to fight the good fight after the Force sees its previous two hopes, Anakin and Luke, both fall.

At any rate, we'll have to wait and see if any of these theories are true come this December when The Last Jedi hits theaters.