Theoretic AL Explanation of Rey’s Significance in Star Wars Episode 7

I recently purchased The Force Awakens on blu-ray and DVD from Target following it’s release. This was a movie my wife and I saw 4 times in theaters (the most I’ve ever watched any movie in a theater). Like many others who’ve criticized this movie, I agree that this new installment is heavily derivative of the original Star Wars trilogy. This move did make sense however, in the way that it needed to convince the existing fans that this would be a return to form for Star Wars (restoring faith lost by the prequels) and capturing the imagination of a new generation of fans that needed to know what Star Wars really is. What this movie lacked in originality it certainly made up for with exciting new characters. And the new character that this movie centers around is that of Rey, played by Daisy Ridley.

Rey is the central figure of the movie, but she is also a character shrouded in mystery. Everyone is wanting to know, to quote Maz Kanata, “Who’s the girl?” Theory after theory have been spewed forth onto YouTube videos and Star Wars blogs. She’s a Skywalker! She’s a Kenobi! And the newest one… She’s the daughter of that one chick from that Rogue One teaser (Jyn Erso played by Felicity Jones)! Whatever camp you fall into, there’s one theory that my wife suggested after we watched Episode 7 for the first time at home that really stuck with me and I believe now to be true. Regardless of Rey’s parentage, there’s one thing I know now for certain, more important than if Rey is related to Kylo Ren at all is this…

Kylo Ren saved Rey’s life, and she’s the only one who can save his!

Let me explain. Despite seeing the film 4 times in theaters, everyone had trouble remembering and taking in all the details of her vision sequence. So many voices and images going on at once. After researching some online and turning on the captions to actually read everything that is being said during this sequence, Rey hears the voices of Yoda, young and old Kenobi (Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness), Darth Vader’s breathing, and Luke saying “No!” Beyond that there are visions of the corridor in Cloud City where Luke and Darth Vader duel (and Luke looses his hand/lightsaber), Luke and R2D2 in the rain next to something burning (dead Jedi trainees?), a warrior about to kill someone but is killed by Kylo Ren instead, Kylo Ren standing with the Knight of Ren in the rain, and Rey being left on a planet with Unkar Plutt (Simon Pegg) on the planet we meet Rey in at the beginning of the movie with a ship flying off into space. The vision ends with Kylo Ren about to fight Rey in the snowy forest (the future fight they have at the end of the film).

So here is my interpretation of all of that… right now we aren’t meant to know the parentage of Rey. I think the movie lends the casual viewer to assume she is Luke’s daughter (a decoy in my estimation) but I prefer the school of thought that she’s somehow a Kenobi instead. After all Skywalker V Kenobi is a major theme especially in the prequels. I doubt that studio would be bold enough to make her a nobody from nowhere. Star Wars is after all centered around one messed up family for the most part.

But here is the heart of the theory my brilliant wife presented to me. Everyone is assuming that in Rey’s vision, whoever dropped her off on that desert planet was her true parent(s). However, what if the person who dropped her off was someone who couldn’t bring himself to kill her along with the other Jedi’s in training? What is Rey’s life was spared by non other than Kylo Ren himself? Kylo Ren speaks or prays to the helmet of Darth Vader and confesses feeling “the call to the light” depicting his inner struggle. What if that struggle, the doubt planted in his head that he could never completely shift to the dark side is routed in his inexplicable inability to chop up young padawan Rey into little bitty pieces when he rebels against Luke? Obviously he sees Darth Vader as a type of role model figure for himself, and as we know, Darth Vader had no problem chopping up young padawan’s. Kylo Ren views this fact as a big question mark and therefore has to kill his father, Han Solo to prove to himself he is that committed. I think this adds some depth to his decision to kill Han which thus furthers the motivation behind Snoke’s desire to complete Kylo’s training.

If Kylo Ren couldn’t bring himself to kill Rey because of her youth and innocence (or possibly because he was charged with training her) but knew he needed to get rid of her because of her strengths in the force or perhaps a prophecy pertaining to her powers or ability to redeem/overcome Kylo Ren, then the next thing Kylo would have thought to do would be to force wipe her memory (this force ability does exist and is referred to as a “memory rub” according to wookieepedia)  and then hide her on a remote planet. While we can’t identify the ship that flies off in that scene, it does morph into a red slot in Rey’s vision, a slot quite similar to that of Kylo Ren’s mask. On top of all this, Kylo does tell Rey during their fight that she needs a teacher, he reacts quite knowingly infuriated when it’s reports “a girl” helped BB8 and FN2187 escape in a freighter, and I think the warrior Kylo kills in Rey’s vision is possibly one of his own Knights of Ren who was about to kill Rey before Kylo stops him. There’s even this guilty tone when he responds to Snoke’s inquiry if he’s felt the “awakening” in the force.

In any case, I think far more important than if Rey and Kylo might be related is what their relationship used to be. Rey may be the only person in the galaxy who can bring Kylo Ren, Ben Solo, back to the light.

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