The lightsaber is the key.
Ever since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015, fans have speculated endlessly on the back story of Rey, debating multiple theories that point to who her parents are and why she’s so strong in the Force.
You’ve done it. I’ve done it. We’ve all had something to say on this matter because we all know that the second movie in this trilogy, The Last Jedi, will contain “the twist” that defines the new generation of Star Wars, in the same way The Empire Strikes Back did for fans in 1980.
That said, J.J. Abrams has given us a lot to go on when it comes to explaining Rey’s back story. But even if you don’t believe his comments that Rey’s parents don’t appear in The Force Awakens, there’s ample evidence within the movie itself to support that her parents are not Skywalkers, Solos, or Kenobis. And they’re certainly not anything related to Palpatine because that would be far too complicated for these movies to explain.
But Force Awakens does leave plenty of clues for us to put together that will make more sense in The Last Jedi, coming this December. And it all ladders up to what I call The LIGHTSABER Theory. This is the comprehensive theory that outlines how Star Wars: The Force Awakens reveals the most important details about Rey’s origins all by itself.
The LIGHTSABER Theory is simple: everything we need to know about Rey and her parents can be surmised by understanding the role of Luke’s first lightsaber, a macguffin that was at one point the main plot device in Force Awakens. Years ago, before the release of Episode VII, Lucasfilm hinted that the story of the movie would hinge on Rey and her friends trying to keep Luke’s lightsaber out of Kylo Ren’s hands. All we knew of Kylo at the time was that he sought Sith relics, especially related to Vader, but they cut most of this out of the final film, perhaps to make the big twist less obvious.
In fact, you can see a blatant hint of this in one of the first teasers for Force Awakens when it’s shown that a lightsaber is being handed to Leia. Eventually, the lightsaber hot potato was diminished a great deal by Abrams (or the producers) and later replaced with our heroes trying to find Luke Skywalker through use of BB-8’s map, but there are still hints of the lightsaber’s ownership struggle, like when Kylo Ren demands Rey give him Luke’s lightsaber on Starkiller Base. “That lightsaber doesn’t belong to you.”
When you watch Force Awakens, you’ll probably notice that it’s unclear what Han, Leia, and Maz know about Rey’s origins. All of their conversations about Rey are cut short for the audience, hinting that they know exactly who she is, but we don’t get to know yet. Many fans claim this as evidence that Rey is related to another character in the franchise, but that’s almost certainly not the case.
Before we dive deep into the crux of The LIGHTSABER Theory, let’s cover a few important details that you might have missed on your first viewing of the movie.
1. Lor San Tekka (played by Max Von Sydow) seems connected to Rey somehow.
The fact that Lor San Tekka’s village, which is part of the “Church of the Force,” is so close to Rey’s salvage town is too coincidental to ignore. In fact, it strongly suggests that Lor San Tekka was an Obi-Wan Kenobi-esque character in Force Awakens, watching Rey from afar. His strong connection to Luke Skywalker, as revealed in the canon novels, is a crucial piece of evidence for believing Rey’s identity is known and understood by Luke’s inner circle.
It’s also a bit suspicious that the Millennium Falcon is also within close proximity to Rey, but that’s a theory for another day. For now, we can try to believe it was really stolen, though I think there’s ample evidence to suggest that whoever dropped Rey off on Jakku has a serious connection to the Millennium Falcon.
2. Han, Leia, and Maz know who Rey is, but not at first.
When Han Solo first runs into Rey, he clearly doesn’t recognize her. In fact, he assures her and Finn that they can “be on their way” once they’ve dealt with the smugglers on the freighter. But after spending some time with Rey, it’s easy to notice that he’s slowly realizing who she is.
This is supported by how conversations between Han and Maz and Leia that are about Rey are all offscreen. Maz asks Han “Who’s the girl?” as soon as they’re alone, so clearly Maz can discern that Rey is somehow special, and we know Han has told Maz something crucial about Rey’s identity because the next we see of Maz, she’s trying to convince Rey to take Luke’s lightsaber and learn about the Force.
In fact, that entire scene of Rey stumbling across the lightsaber feels like an orchestration. Like Maz purposefully put the lightsaber in a place where Rey could feel the Force guiding her. When Rey goes to find the lightsaber, the door even opens for her. There’s no way Maz would just leave such a valuable relic unguarded, beneath a cantina filled with outlaws, no less. She wanted Rey to get the lightsaber because of something Han told her. Which is why she’s there as soon as Rey finishes her Force flashback, or “Forceback” as Abrams calls it.
This flashback essentially completes the puzzle, or at least the most important parts we can know. After watching it, you can figure out who Rey is, why she was left on Jakku, and who it was that left her. This is the crux of The LIGHTSABER Theory. When Rey has her flashback, she’s taken through several moments in time that appear random, but they’re actually not.
3. The “Forceback”
The first scene is a shot of Cloud City, where Luke fought Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. This was confirmed by Abrams, who has said that they actually wanted to show some of the fight itself but then chose to make it more eery by illuminating an empty hallway. Fair enough.
Then there’s a crash, and Rey finds herself in front of Luke and R2-D2 by a fire, and we hear Luke scream “Nooooo” from when he learned Darth Vader was his father. Then the scene changes to the Knights of Ren and Kylo himself (if that is Kylo) standing around a group of bodies, presumably the next generation of Jedi trained by Luke. Someone goes to attack Rey, or whoever was there instead of Rey, but he’s killed by Kylo.
Then we see a young Rey getting left behind on Jakku with Unkar as an unknown ship flies away, a ship by the way that looks a lot like the one we see as concept art for Rey’s family’s ship, but let’s just assume that’s a coincidence. Finally, we get a glimpse of the future, when Rey confronts Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base. And we hear Obi-Wan Kenobi calling out to Rey. These are her first steps.
What do all of these scenes have in common? It’s pretty obvious, actually.The lightsaber. It ties them all together, and we’re seeing a sequence of events in chronological order. In each of these scenes, the lightsaber is present and something significant happens to it.
First, Luke loses it during his fight with Vader. Then, Luke presumably finds it again with R2D2, supported by how he and Lor San Tekka sought out Jedi relics together. I believe finding the lightsaber again is one of the triggers for Ben Solo’s turn to the dark side, and we’re seeing the aftermath of the Jedi Massacre as hinted in The Last Jedi teaser. We know Luke had to seek out the lightsaber himself because Rey finds the lightsaber in the same chest Obi-Wan had. Only Luke would know about that relic.
And then there’s the rain scene. The blue lightsaber must have changed ownership to Ben Solo at this point, but when he became Kylo Ren, sometime after the worst of the Jedi Massacre. In each of these scenes, the lightsaber is the key. That’s how we know who dropped Rey off on Jakku.
It was Luke Skywalker. The lightsaber had to be present when we see her being left on Jakku. And Rey even says this when Maz pressures her moments later, telling her that who she’s waiting for isn’t coming back. Maz then says someone else could come back, and Rey says, “Luke.” Rey actually realizes that Luke left her on Jakku at this point, but she didn’t know it was him. She thought Luke was a myth and that her family would come back to get her, which is what Luke must have told her. The red herring is that we think she wants the person who left her to come back, but really, she just wants answers. She wants to know what happened to her parents.
I strongly believe based on the movie that one or both of Rey’s parents were Luke’s Jedi apprentices and that they’re among the bodies we see in front of the Knights of Ren. An alternate way to interpret this is that Luke ends up giving the lightsaber to Rey’s father or mother, believing them to be the rightful heir to the Jedi and angering Ben Solo because Luke doesn’t trust him to carry on the legacy. This would be huge for a villain who’s been set up to revere his grandfather. Luke might even suspect Ben is slowly being seduced to the Dark Side by Snoke as he picks his successor.
The Knights of Ren scene shows us how Luke gets the lightsaber back during the massacre. I believe Luke has been defeated at this point in the scene, as evidenced by what appears to be Kylo Ren holding Luke’s green lightsaber. Then we see Kylo killing one of his own men who is about to attack Luke, but Kylo kills him, perhaps because he doesn’t want Luke to die just yet, or at all.
After surviving this encounter, Luke leaves Rey on Jakku to protect her from the First Order and Kylo Ren, who might suspect another Force sensitive is around. Han, Leia, and Maz would know about Rey because of her parents, but they’re not as familiar with her as Luke is. This would explain why Kylo seems to find Rey so familiar, yet he clearly doesn’t know who she is when he talks to Supreme Leader Snoke.
And this even explains why Kylo gets so angry, especially about Rey using that particular lightsaber, which he recognizes the first time he sees it. He wants to be like Vader, and Anakin’s lightsaber is his key to getting there. This would serve as the real source of conflict between Kylo and Rey. Kylo believes himself to be the rightful heir to Darth Vader by blood, but Rey is his natural enemy because she is heir to Luke Skywalker by the sacrifice of her parents, Luke’s true successor(s).
Why do we hear Obi-Wan in the flashback, then? It’s not because Rey’s parents are somehow connected to him. They don’t have to be. Remember, Obi-Wan gave Luke that lightsaber in the first place. And he has the ability to appear as a Force Ghost, calling out to Rey as a way to pass the proverbial torch on to her.
This adds a whole new layer of significance to some of the ending scenes, and overall, it makes The Force Awakens a better movie. Han told Leia about Rey, as we see in her conversation with Finn. So when Rey comes back after Han Solo’s death, she and Leia hug, even though the audience doesn’t realize they know each other. But they do. At this point, Rey knows that Luke dropped her off on Jakku and that Leia has lost Han. When they see each other, they grieve together as if they know one another.
And this also adds new meaning to the final shot of Rey offering the lightsaber back to Luke. It’s a full circle moment for her to remind Luke who he is, who she is, and how the Force has brought them together again. We see Luke’s slow realization of this, as he puts the pieces together himself, and we’ll likely start The Last Jedi with Rey convincing Luke to train her. The big twist will be Rey realizing that her parents were killed and that they were Jedi (or one of them was), and Luke’s decision to leave her on Jakku was rooted in his desire to end the Jedi.
It’s also possible that one parent died by Kylo’s hands while another died on Jakku, where Rey might have been raised alongside the Church of the Force. Perhaps one of her parents is someone who used to live there. Luke could have found Rey with a dead parent, wondering where the other might be, then choosing to leave Rey with Unkar by trading the Millennium Falcon (theory for another day), rather than let her explore the Force among its worshipers. But she’s still close enough for Lor San Tekka to keep an eye on her.
At that point, Luke might have given the lightsaber to Maz, or someone else who would eventually get it to her. We can tell from Maz’s bond with Han Solo and Chewbacca that she’s someone the original heroes trust, and she’d be a less obvious suspect for Kylo Ren to go after when searching for the lightsaber.
When we finally see The Last Jedi, I believe we’ll learn about Luke’s dissatisfaction with the Jedi order. Perhaps he sought out the temple in order to find out where he went wrong with Ben, only to realize that the Jedi order has always had its flaws, and maybe it’s best just to let the order die, disregarding Lor San Tekka’s wish that the Jedi come back to bring balance to the Force.
Until Rey comes along and starts to question Luke’s shift into being neutral. She could be the literal ray of hope for the light side, even redefining it for a new generation, in part because she learns about the legacy of her parents and decides that she wants to follow in their footsteps and take their place as Luke’s successor. A new Skywalker who isn’t one by blood, but rather, merit. She’s not strong in the Force because she was trained at a young age and had her memories wiped or something, it’s because she’s the result of a new legacy and step forward for the Star Wars saga.
And that’s The LIGHTSABER Theory.
There are still a lot of pressing questions to be answered, like where the Knights of Ren rain scene takes place and who was killed there, for example. And I highly doubt I’ve guessed everything exactly right. Part of me does still buy into the idea that Rey had her memory erased via Jedi Mind Trick, but touching the lightsaber “awakened” her, explaining how she was able to use the Force so well all of a sudden—the idea is that she was trained as a Jedi and had her mind wiped, which is why she doesn’t know much about herself and her name “Rey” may actually be fake.
All that said, I sincerely believe that this theory points fans in the right direction. It uses evidence from within the text of the movie, so it’s simple enough for younger viewers to get it in a pinch.
The Force Awakens preps us for knowing that the lightsaber is important and that a lot of Jedi died. There doesn’t have to be a complicated explanation, but rather a rethinking of what we were shown and why were shown it. Rey doesn’t have to come from nothing. In fact, that’s already being set up in how Finn might become a Jedi from nothing.
Rey has a unique legacy that is both new for the Star Wars universe and still connected to the original characters in a simple, believable way that will make perfect sense when revealed in Episode VIII.
I dig it. I’ve really been thinking alot lately about Luke’s decision to seclude himself mirroring Obi-Wan’s decision to watch over Luke and leave the Jedi. But it’s also very different, if you are correct. Luke is leaving because he doesn’t want it to resurface. That’s dark.
Thus entrusting Lor San Tekka with the Obi-Wan role while he seeks out answers to Ben Solo’s turn. I didn’t have room to bring this up in the post, but I also think love between Jedi is a likely plot point that makes Luke disillusioned. Rey may be the product of two Jedi, which is defiance to the rule for no attachments. Luke may have decided that rule didn’t have to apply to his new generation, only for his attachment to Ben Solo to blind him from seeing the dark side in him, leading to the death of his students.
Totally makes sense. Attachment is a major theme to Star Wars. The Jedi’s views led to Anakin’s turn. But attachment was why Luke was able to turn Vader back. So where the Jedi and attachment go in the new trilogy should definitely be addressed.
Everyone has really missed a key piece of information in o e o e reys first scenes in the movie. When the camera pans the room in her home, there in a figurine on the shelf which resembles a pilot, an orange and white pilot suit in which Luke wears in the first trilogy. She would only make that figurine from her memory. Luke did or was present in leaving her on jaku. He is her father!
She wouldn’t only know the uniform from memory though. She literally lives in the aftermath of a huge war between the rebels and the republic. She wears a rebel pilot’s helmet while she’s eating. Given all of the wreckage all around her, it’s safe to assume there were plenty of dead pilots around, whose uniforms would likely be scavenged at some point to be sold. There are lots of ways she could know what a rebel pilot’s uniform looks like.
solid
That is a ballin’ theory. I feel like this is the sort of direction that Starwars would take because it has had some a strong sense of broken families throughout the franchise.
I LOVE IT… best theory I’ve seen. even if you’re not 100% right, I definitely feel like you’re headed WAY in the right direction. Great job 🤝👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I like the theory, just have one minor issue. If Kylo was about the same age as he looks now during the slaughter of the academy, and Rey was a little girl, why is it they both look relatively the same age now? Either kylo would need to be, I dunno, 8-10 years older, or something doesn’t fit. Because I just can’t imagine a pre-teen kylo killing everyone, especially with how tall he looked in the forceback.
I like this theory, and it definitely seems plausible, but I really hope that Rey turns out to be a Solo. Because that would be more fun.
I like your theory.
I’ve always thought Rey might be the daughter of Wedge Antilles. This theory does support that. A lot of people might say the rebel pilot helmet and the pilot doll in Rey’s home would be representative of Luke but I reckon it represents Wedge.
Neat theory, but not workable because of the timeline. I don’t know if you’re aware of Bloodline, the canon novel by Claudia Gray, but it covers the events six years prior to The Force Awakens, and makes it clear that things were still good with the Skywalker family six years ago. In the vision, Rey is abandoned as a small child so it couldn’t have happened six years ago, she would have had to be a young teenager at least since she is officially 19 in TFA. I used to be a fan of the idea that it was Kylo who dropped off Rey on Jakku after the massacre, but Rey’s abandonment and the school destruction were years apart.
Also, the fact that the movie cuts away after “Who’s the girl” question from Maz could simply mean that the film didn’t want to spend time on Han repeating the information we already know.
I don’t think the new movies are going to consider Star Wars books “canon.” It would really handicap the casual viewer, and limit the movie’s ability to tell the story. I mean, if you were working on a Star Wars film, would you want to leaf through a bunch of books and then change your story to line up with it all?
Well, except for the fact that they come up with the books to give us hints of what is to come when the movies arrive. They don’t have to change the script because of them, hence the script was probably already complete when The Journey To The Force Awakens started. Plus, Rian Johnson worked with Claudia Gray providing political background for the novel, so he did consider the book as canon when he was writing his script.
My personal theory is that yes, she is the daughter of Like Skywalker, but he didn’t know about her until the moment she showed up to hand him the lightsaber. I’ve seen some pretty interesting theories on Lor San Tekka being Rey’s grandfather, and you yourself talked about canon novels stating he was, at one point, close to Luke…
There is evidence that Rey is a Kenobi—Obi Wan’s granddaughter. Not that it matters, but I think this had to switch from a Skywalker saga to a Kenobi saga….
I really like this theory. The only thing I find “wrong” with it is that you are giving JJ and crew far, far too much credit. I have no doubts at all that the folks behind TFA didn’t have any of this stuff figured out when they slapped the movie together. I think this is evident in the fact that, once you get past the warm fuzzies of your initial first viewing of the film, the thing completely falls apart upon subsequent rewatches and ALOT of people have been forced to come to the sad realization that, when you’re perfectly honest with yourself, it’s kind of a lousy movie. At least in terms of story. It is simply a retread of what’s come before. A greatest moments highlight reel in a shiny new package. All of the mystery of the film — who is Rey? Why has Luke gone away? What is the First Order? Why did Ben Solo become Kylo Ren? How the hell is Lady Yoda wind up with a lightsabre Luke lost down an airshaft on Cloud City? etc, etc. — comes from plot HOLES, not plot POINTS that were omitted to keep the viewer in suspense. Plot HOLES. There’s a big difference. And it is my firm belief that they didn’t sweat releasing such a shoddy product because they knew damned well that we, the fans, would jump through all kinds of hoops to fill in those holes with our myriad fan theories and speculations thus giving them a ton of material to pick and choose from when it came time to produce the next film(s). One half diabolical, one half genius. That’s MY theory and I’m sticking to it 😉
@Scott
“Who is Rey?”- Rey is the daughter of Luke and an unknown woman who was hidden from Ren, Snoke, the First Order. Aside from the stuff I already laid down in my post, the movie gives this away explicitly. After the light saber “forceback”, Maz tells Rey “it once belonged to Luke and his father before him, now it calls to you”. Yeah the lineage is pretty clearly spelled out there.
“Why has Luke gone away?”- He hid as Yoda did after his defeat at the hands of Palpatine. This was to avoid being hunted down and killed by the Sith and the army at their command. Clues were left so that he could be found by the right person, again, same as Yoda.
“What is the First Order?”- The political faction that took the place of the fallen Empire upon the deaths of both Palpatine and Vader.
“Why did Ben Solo become Kylo Ren?”- He’s a brat with a temper, just like his grandpa. Ben Solo was probably envious that Luke’s father (Vader) wanted him to join him, where he (Ben Solo) felt neglected by his own father (Han Solo). Vader/Anakin was supposed to have been the most powerful in The Force, so Ben Solo revered him (Vader is also grandpa). So, Ben Solo is gradually turned against Luke (via Snoke/Dark Side), dawns a new Sith “persona” (i.e.; Kylo Ren), and even wears a mask similar to grandpa’s. That, and he kept Vader’s old mask/helm, proof of his admiration for him.
“How the hell is Lady Yoda wind up with a lightsabre Luke lost down an airshaft on Cloud City?”- I believe that Luke went back with R2 for that. It was left with her (Maz/”Yoda Lady”) for safe keeping, but also so that it could be “found” by the right person. (it is suggested that The Force led her to her father’s and grandfather’s former saber, Maz did state “… now it calls to you”.)
” etc, etc. — comes from plot HOLES, not plot POINTS that were omitted to keep the viewer in suspense. Plot HOLES.”
Now that I filled in the gaps for you, you can no longer consider them “holes”.
Hey. Good thinkin’ Tex, but you’re not in charge of filling plot holes. So, plot holes they remain.
Not too sharp. They are only “holes” if those questions are unanswerable. Seeing as how I answered those questions (filled in the holes) with information provided in the storyline, they are not “holes”, just some things that “went over your head”.
An idiot you are
It was Rey’s mother that left her on Jaccu, she also had the light saber with her at the time, to leave it with Maz. Luke could not know where Rey was hidden so as to keep her safe in the event that he was found. The reason Max states that the person who left her (Rey) would not return for her and that she (Rey) already knew this is because her mother had already passed away (and she could feel that through The Force). “There is another…” and Rey replies “Luke” (mom is “gone”, but there is still her father). We see Luke standing over a marked grave at the end of the film. That is the grave of his wife, Rey’s mother. He is there to say his final goodbye because he can sense that Rey is on her way to him. He is also apologizing for having failed to keep their daughter safe, the Sith are now aware of her and both Luke and Rey are being forced to confront them. This is the reason for his deploy troubled pensive expression as he turns to Rey.
You’re welcome.
Are Jyn and Cassian the parents of Rey? Maybe they survived the Death Star blast with the protection of the Kyber Crystal?
haven’t read all the comments, but does this theory even preclude her from being a kenobi? could kenobi’s child have been one of her parents in Luke’s order?
Maybe, maybe not. Me personally? I don’t want a “twist” as it won’t have any impact on account of everyone expecting it. I want Rey to be a Skywalker. The mainline Star Wars films have always been the story of the Skywalkers. That’s the point of them. But, that’s just my opinion.
One piece of the theory doesn’t make sense. How can Maz leave the lightsaber somewhere where Rey can find it while she is talking to Han. She didn’t know that they were coming, even if she did, how would she know if Han was bringing Rey with him if he unexpectedly found them. None of the party aboard the Millennium Falcon contacted Maz and let her know that they were coming. This was evident when they first walked in to Maz. She even asks “where is my boyfriend”, to which she is referring to Chewie, if they had contacted her beforehand, she would have talked to Chewie. Maz cannot be in two places at once and she doesn’t know that Rey found the lightsaber until after her conversation with Han finishes.
You watched the wrong movie—Maz pretends nothing happened with Rey and the saber. It’s AFTER that when Max pushes the saber on Fin, doing so because she knows Rey will get it from Fin later.
No, Max did not need to leave the saber out for Rey to find it. Rey was drawn to the saber, that very “force” that pulled her to it is the proof that Rey is a Skywalker. Maz tells Rey “That lightsaber was Luke’s. And his father’s before him. And now, it calls to you.”. It doesn’t get any more clear than that, case closed.
I thought Jedi weren’t allowed to have sex. If Rey’s parents were students of Luke, did they keep her birth a secret from him? Or was Rey a product of midichlorian conception like Anakin? That would really drive Kylo Ren up the wall.
“There is another…” and Rey replies “Luke”
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