Well then, after my fourth trip to the cinema to enjoy The Force Awakens, I’ve got a theory that I’ve just worked out while discussing it with a good friend. So, rather than post the theory on social media where spoilers can still lurk for some, I figured the fair thing to do was post it here and bury it, then only the people looking for it can find it. Fair? Good, glad you agree.

The Force Awakens is a fantastic film and a great Star Wars film. I’ve seen it in the cinema more than any other film and with each viewing I keep finding new things I love and things I’d not noticed in the last viewings.

The thing I’ve noticed this time round revolves around Rey and the role she does and will play in the next two films. So if you want to stay away from spoilers and theories, stop now!

Still here? Ok, let’s go…

At the end of The Force Awakens, we see Rey stood in front of Luke Skywalker on top of a rocky island on an ocean planet at the end of a map that has been the focus of the film. Why Luke is there and why Rey is the one to find him have to be linked, but I have a theory about why it’s her and who she is.

It’s popularly believed that Rey is Luke’s daughter. As Luke once said, ‘the force runs strong in my family’. This all immediately leads me to believe that first off, her name isn’t Rey. Names make up a big part of this film. FN2187 getting the name Fin, Ben becoming Kylo, Prince Leia refered to as General Organa, hell, even the Empire effectively becoming the First Order and if you listen to some theories, Snoke is not his real name either. All of this leads me to the first ‘Luke’s daughter theory’ that Rey’s name is not Rey and may well in fact be be something like Padmé or Shmi (her grandmother or great grandmother).

Second thing, the call of Luke’s lightsabre and the accompanying vision. Throughout the vision that jumps from cloud city where the sabre was lost, in the past, to things that have happened with the turning of Ben and the Knights of Ren slaughtering the other Jedi students and Luke’s self imposed exile, to the future and Rey facing Kylo in the snow Forrest. Through this vision we hear the voice of Obi Wan, (both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor) who was the master to both Anakin and Luke, who, cast himself to exile (so did yoda, so we can guess where Luke got the idea).

So it’s clear that Luke’s sabre, that was once Anakin’s would call strongest to a direct child of its former owner. (How it wound up in Maz’s possession is something I’d like to hear explained!)

Third thing, Jakku. There’s a lot to Jakku that ties a lot of my thoughts together.

Jakku is a former Empire weapons facility and was the site of a huge battle after the explosion of the second Death Star.  It’s a junk yard now, at the far end of the Galaxy. A sand planet where there’s nothing of value, the kind of place where there is a diamond in the rough. It’s quite Disney, but it’s also the same as New Hope and (I’m going to say it) Phantom   Menace.

Anakin, a slave / scavenger on a desert world, going nowhere. Luke, a moisture farmer on a desert world. Rey, a scavenger on a desert planet. All three of them seemingly talented with technology, being a pilot and strong with the force.

Luke was left and hidden on a planet that was the last place anyone would look for him and I think he had to do the same for Rey. In her vision we see that Rey is left with Unkar Plutt (can hear his voice, well, Simon Pegg’s) and a ship with at least one of her parents leaving. Note I say, one of her parents, this leads me to my Fourth thought.

My fourth thought and this is the most far reaching and has some far reaching implications if it’s right. If Rey is Luke’s daughter, then it’s fair to assume she had a Mother, what happened to her? The ‘who she is’ is something that I’ve not worked on other than, I think she may to have been a Jedi, (but that will come to us eventually I’m sure) but what happened to her, I think I’ve figured that out.

Kylo killed her.

When he turned and in the snippet we see in the vision, we see a lot of bodies, what if, the last person to stand against him is his Aunt. She stands and falls by his hand. In doing so, she’s protecting her daughter as Luke is not willing to do what needs to be done against, not only one of his own students but one of his blood relatives.

After Kylo kills Rey’s mother, Luke is filled with a desire for revenge and so filled with rage that he may well do it. But he knows that if he does, he will become his father and all will be lost. So he does the only thing he knows how when it comes to protecting his daughter and hides her on a desert planet and he goes off to excile after failing (like Yoda and Obi Wan) and as a way for not going and hunting down and killing his nephew.

I know this is something really far reaching, but it sticks in my mind after listening to Han and Leia. They talk about how they ‘had to deal with things in their own way, after what happened. They went back to dosing what they did best’. Han ran and Leia got in charge. It’s safe to assume that the thing that separated them them is what happened with Kylo turning, but would they not need each other more in that circumstance? What would be so harrowing that would send both of them running? Their child literally destroying actual family, yeah, that would do it.

So, to round up the completed theory:

• Rey is Luke’s daughter
• Her name is not really Rey
• Luke left her on Jakku to keep her safe
• Rey has the traits of her father and grandfather
• A family heirloom calls out to her
• Kylo doesn’t know who she is, other than she is strong and possibly stronger than him
• She’s the one to find Luke

So yeah, this is all theory at the moment and we’ve got till 2017 till we get any real answers, but being able to have fun with all this is amazing when you consider that we didn’t get to do with with the prequels as it was all mapped out for us, with the new films, we can and will speculate as much as we like!