Star Wars: Episode VIII has begun filming in Croatia. During the first days of shooting Mark Hamill made a few random comments about his relationship with Daisy Ridley. This once again sparked a conversation over, who the heck are Rey’s parents?
I’m no Star Wars expert. Sitting next to Alan Dean Foster on a comic con panel is about as close as I have ever been to a true Star Wars expert. Still it is fun to make semi-educated guesses.
It’s fairly clear that Rey is strong with the force and, therefore, most likely comes from a line that is strong with the force. It also makes some sense that we already know or have seen at least one of her parents. That leaves us with a few possible candidates.
Note: possible spoilers if you have not seen this movie and have been living in an internet-free cave. But then why are you reading this?
Yoda: Don’t think he was interested in having kids. Plus there is no hint of green in Rey.
Ben Kenobi: some theories are Daisy can be Ben’s granddaughter. On some level, this could make sense. We come full circle now with Ben’s student Luke training Ben’s granddaughter Rey. The problem with this, in the brief time we got to know Ben he made no reference to a wife no less any children. Plus if Ben were the grandfather that would mean we the audience haven’t met the grandmother and both parents. Too many holes to fill in there.
Leia and Han: they’ve already had Kylo Ren, who is very apt at using the force. Could Rey be his sister or half sister that they had hidden? Much like Ben Kenobi hid Luke and Lei from Anakin / Darth. It’s also not unheard of for the characters in this universe to keep these types of secrets. But if Hans and Leia were Rey’s parents they certainly would have told her. If not before, fighting Kylo than you would think Leia would have done it after the battle. It would have been an emotional mother-daughter moment that lifted both their spirits.
Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader: Just because he was in a mask and was an evil tyrant doesn’t mean he couldn’t have produced more children. He does have a history of producing children that are very force sensitive. This would mean Luke was now training his little sister. Logically this could work. After all, tyrants do like to reproduce. But cinematically it’s not as dramatic as say, teaching your daughter. Which brings us to…
Luke Skywalker: From the cinematic and logical point of view this just makes the most sense. R2D2 popped back on when Rey was around. Luke’s light saber called to Rey. She, like Luke is “way good” with the force. Luke now has a mechanical body part much like his father. It only makes sense that he would teach his daughter how to use the force correctly so she doesn’t tip to the dark side like his father. The mother could very well be Mara Jade or some version of her that will most likely never get to meet. Even it for some reason it turns out Luke is gay (as has been sort of, kind of, maybe suggested) that doesn’t mean he couldn’t still father a daughter especially if were for the benefit of the Universe.
So yeah, I’m using Occam’s Razor, and the simplest and best solution is Luke is the father. The character who did not speak in the last movie may now start the next movie with those iconic words, “…I am your father.”
