We have a theory about who BOTH of Rey’s parents are in ‘Star Wars’
First of all, everyone who’s reading this should DEFINITELY have already seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you haven’t, why are you even here? You KNOW there are going to be spoilers! Just don’t click!
Okay, so those who remain have definitely seen the new Star Wars at least nine times once or twice. A lot of people are pretttttty sure the last shot of VII (plus the entire history of Star Wars) suggests that Luke is Rey’s father. Which begs the question: who is Rey’s mother?
There’s a super-intriguing theory floating around that Luke is Rey’s father and Rey’s mother is the secret daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi (which would make Rey a Skywalker AND a Kenobi, eeeeee!)
But there’s another character very much present in the Star Wars-verse who, if Luke was Rey’s father, would make a TON of sense as Rey’s mother. That would, of course be Mara Jade, Luke’s wife, a character in the Expanded Star Wars Universe who is introduced as a smuggler, and eventually becomes a Jedi Master.
For those that aren’t familiar with the Expanded Universe, it encompasses all the officially licensed material outside the Star Wars films, including books, comic books, video games,toys and other assorted media. When Disney bought Lucasfilm, it was announced that the Expanded Universe would no longer be considered canon, and was rebranded Star Wars: Legends.
Already, the seventh film has stepped away from the Expanded Universe, as it is heavily implied that Leia and Han only had one son in the seventh film, Ben Solo, who now goes by the much more evil-and-emo-sounding Kylo Ren. In the Expanded Universe, Han and Leia have three kids, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo.
Interestingly enough, Luke and Mara also have a kid in the Expanded Universe, Ben Skywalker, named after Ben Kenobi. We wonder if Ben”Kylo Ren” Solo was also named after Kenobi? Or if this is a tip-off from Abrams that he’s given the Skywalker Ben over to the Solos to make room for a new Skywalker heir…REY?
So who is Mara Jade? She was originally introduced in Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire in 1991. Fan favorite author Tim Zahn, who penned the tome, explained why he created this particular character to Echo Station:
“In the case of Mara, she’s a strong female character (which were few and far between in the Star Wars movies), but she’s also flawed and searching and—dare we say it?—human. At the same time, she’s highly competent at her job.”
Strong, complicated, flawed, searching, and highly competent at her job? You could describe Rey with those exact same words, and much has been made of her as a strong female lead that was a much-needed addition to the canon. Like mother, like daughter?
It would totally make sense for Rey to be the daughter of two Jedi masters, the family tree logic here totally works out. How DID Rey get the hang of the Force so quick? Jedi on both sides, boom, mystery solved.
Of course, Mara Jade isn’t a canonical character. But Mara Jade is a huge fan favorite (when Star Wars Insider did a poll of favorite Star Wars characters, Jade was the only Expanded Universe character to break the top 20) so it’s possible Lucasfilm recognizes the appeal of the character and gives her a shot at canonical status.
We’ll see in 2017 (or maybe in 2019 if the filmmakers decide to be awesome/mean and make us wait). So, we’re super excited to get this question answered, you know, in roughly two to four years.
(Image via Lucasfilm)