The Comic discusses Rey's Origin in Star Wars The Force Awakens

its a long one, but sometimes you cant sum everything up in 140 characters. I may add some pictures if I get time but really the words are the article. If you are interested in Star Wars speculation please read on, to everyone else "this isnt the article you are looking for, move along, move along"

It goes without saying that I enjoy the film, I think that there are sequences that stand proud with the original trilogy and I do think its more coherent and enjoyable than anything the prequels had to offer. The biggest story problem is the Starkiller base/death star retread, although i find the middle act to be the weaker section of the film. Overall I’d say the film is a 6 (with sequences that are worth a 9 and some that are worth a 4) where ROTJ is a 7.5, ANH is 8.5 and ESB is a 9.5. It’s a guilty pleasure, but one where the crawl alone is worth the admission price.

Enough of that, this piece is not a review it is a discussion of the hints and clues about Rey’s origin, examining Rey’s relationships with Finn and Kylo Ren and ultimately what this means for the next two films in the saga.

Looking at Rey, her introduction and origin parallels Finn. Finn wears the new stormtrooper Mask whilst rey wears an old one she has adapted for herself. We meet Finn amidst a crisis of conscience where he doesn’t know his place in the world, this is the same for Rey who repeatedly dreams of leaving Jakku despite her compulsion to stay, both are in conflict between their true nature and their programming. Finn was taken as a child whilst Rey was abandoned as a child, Finn lives in the glossy new First Order whilst Rey lives in the relics of the old Empire. And specifically in the cut between Finn and Rey that serves as her introduction, they are both located in old and new star destroyer hangars. Rey and Finn are the same, but also different, which is pretty much the overall theme of the film.

As well as parallels and contrasts with Finn the movie also positions Rey against Kylo Ren, the movie poster certainly portrays Rey as the ying to Kylo’s Yang. Even their names Rey/Ren suggest this, as do their opposite colour schemes (note that Rey’s final costume is Grey, a mixture of light and dark). In the conclusion of the fight between her and Kylo their sabres become a perfect straight line red to blue with Kylo/Rey in the middle. Before this there are really good shots of reflections of the lightsabers clashing in the pupils of both Rey and Ren, which seem to indicate a personal battle between light and dark happening inside each of them. It also seems as though Rey has to lose her cool to defeat Ren. She certainly seems emotional as she defeats him, and possibly, but for the seismic activity she’d have finished the job. So both a link to Kylo Ren and a duality of light and dark in both characters is hinted at.

In the main Rey’s journey in this film echoes that of Luke in A New Hope, although whilst Luke is desperate to leave the desert world of Tattooine, Rey is desperate to return to jakku. in contrast Kylo Ren’s journey has elements of Luke’s in Return of the Jedi. In Jedi a conflicted Luke must face his father and spare him in order to renounce the dark side once and for all, Kylo Ren is required to face his father and kill him in order to renounce the light. An enraged Luke comes close to killing his father whilst Kylo is clearly distressed, killing his father in a moment of tenderness and trust. Rey and Ren both represent parralels and variations on Luke’s journey through the original trilogy.

When Rey learns that Finn is in the resistance she is visibly excited, similarly when Han offers her a job. This from the same pen that gave us “Adventure, excitement a Jedi craves not these things”. Nuanced signposting or interior character logic with no thought for ‘in universe’ wisdom? Even the receipt of Luke’s saber is explained as “it was Luke’s, and his fathers before him” i.e. it is an artefact associated with the light and the dark. i am not convinced that Rey will always be our 'hero'.

Rey gains her abilities fast, is it Hollywood logic? So kids new to the franchise get to see the full range of Jedi powers? Or is it a sign of Rey’s existential growth? Her powers begin manifesting after she is called to Luke's saber and experiences a force vision. Looking at the force vision, and assuming it’s a chronology we have.
 

1. Luke Vs Vader on cloud city
2. Luke & R2 by a fire
3. Knights of Ren destroy the new Jedi (side note is Kylo Ren named after the Knights, or are the Knights named after him?)
4. Rey abandoned on Jakku
5. Rey vs Kylo in the snow

 
We know the Saber on cloud city was lost until somehow ending up in the possession of Maz Kanata. So this sequence isn’t the chronicle of the journey of the Saber from Cloud City to Starkiller Base because it wasn’t present during the intervening moments. So what is the vision showing us? I believe it is depicting the respective origins of both Rey and Kylo, the key dynamic of the new trilogy. Just as Luke’s vision on Dagobah showed us Luke’s potential to become like Vader, and Vader’s potential to redeem himself and become like Luke. We see Kylo’s betrayal of the new Jedi and Rey’s abandonment on Jakku, we see their destinies converge on Starkiller Base. What if the first scene in this sequence is as relevant as the last scene? What if it isnt just a callback? We see Cloud City and the conflict of Vader and Luke, immediately prior to this happening Leia and Han have just exchanged “I love you” and “I know”, surely this moment is the origin of Kylo? What if Luke/Vader and their clash on Cloud City is also the origin of Rey? That ultimately the ending of Empire Strikes back gave us, from love, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, and from anger Rey ‘Skywalker’.

Max Von Syndow’s character hints at this saying something like – “The First Order emerged from the darkness, you did not” to Kylo Ren. That Kylo and Rey are linked is hinted at not only in their portrayal, naming, and conflict, but specifically in that Kylo force chokes an officer when he hears of a Jakku “girl” helping BB8/Finn, and rages when he learns of her escape. She effects him deeply, despite his wound he is easily able to defeat Finn, but cannot best Rey. He offers to teach her the “ways of the force”, note not “the dark side of the force”. I think the only character who seems to know who Rey is, is Kylo Ren. 

But, how can Rey originate in the battle between Luke and Vader on cloud city? I believe there is substantial evidence that Rey is a clone of Luke skywalker, made from his lost hand.
 
‘In film’ evidence

• Maz Kanata is in possession of Luke’s Lightsaber, this creates the possibility, even probability, that the hand could have been found as well.
• in response to Finn's defection, Kylo questions the effectiveness of Stormtroopers to Hux, stating that maybe they should use a clone army. This is one of very few references to the prequels and a rather clumsy line, unless it carries greater significance? i.e. the line is a reminder of both cloning technology and an indicator of Kylo Ren’s familiarity with it.
• The Star Wars saga is about Skywalkers, and we don’t have a Skywalker, but our lead grew up in the desert, intercepted a droid with vital secret information, escaped the desert planet in the Falcon, received a blue lightsaber, started using the force, witnessed a mentor die at the hands of a dark lord… She shares Luke’s origin beat for beat. If not an actual clone, she is certainly a narrative clone.
• She is dressed as Luke is dressed in the original McQuarrie artwork for Luke
• Luke’s prosthetic hand looked like flesh and bone, his prosthetic hand now is skeletal and robotic. This seems the easiest way to signpost that he lost his hand, and highlight the importance of its absence.
• Rey repeatedly states that her background is a mystery or a secret? Given that she also explains that she was abandoned… what is the secret?  It appears that she knows little of her origin other than it being a secret, she even speculates that Luke was a myth so it doesnt seem likely she was snatched from him, her father, at a young age, nor that Luke would give up looking for her in favour of exile.

The events of the Force Awakens seem to tell us that Kylo Ren is aware of who Rey is, because of his response to hearing about a "girl" helping BB8 and Finn. it also seems to be the case that none of the hero characters know who she is. She is strong with the force, shares a childhood with Luke/Anakin. It also reminds us that Cloning is an ‘in universe’ technology, that Luke lost a hand and that the object Luke’s hand was holding, was found.

 
Other canon evidence

• Vader cloned his apprentice Starkiller (Force Unleashed is still canon) and the clone retained strength in the force, the name of the base in TFA is… Starkiller (this was also an iteration of Luke’s name – which was originally Mace Windu!)
• Anakin Skywalker was created unnaturally by Darth Plagueis, a Sith obsessed with cheating death and creating life
• From the TV spots we had an exchange between Maz and Rey which included Maz saying she’d seen her eyes before and Rey responding to the question “Who are you?” with “I’m no one”
•  
• . If she is a clone of Luke maybe she is literally correct, she is no one, she is a facsimile of someone else.
• Luke pulls the lightsaber from the snow in the Wampa’s cave, Rey pulls the lightsaber from the snow in the forest, luke’s right hand, the one he used to free the saber, is the one he loses in cloud city

In the main these are really prequel conceits, however cloning is specifically mentioned and Snoke does pass more than a resemblance to non cannon artwork of Plagueis. Maybe the idea of the soul, of cloning, of unnatural conception are all opportunities to revisit and subvert what has gone before?

 
Other supporting evidence and speculation

• Rey repeatedly mentions her family, but not her mum or dad, maybe her “family” were the scientsts who made her, maybe a young Kylo Ren, maybe thousands of other Rey’s on Kamino? Maybe her longing for her returning Family is simply programming, like order 66 in the clone troopers.
• Kylo appears jealous of Rey and he mocks her for seeing Han as a father figure could he be jealous of her purer DNA, does he see Han, his father, as a pollutant to his Skywalker heritage? It would explain why the focus is on the breakdown of the Han/Kylo relationship whilst his relationship with Leia is barely mentioned?
• There were early rumours that Luke's hand would be the first shot after the crawl.
• There is no mention of a love interest for Luke either in the Original Trilogy or in the Force Awakens.

I believe that the narrative and thematic evidence points to a connection between Kylo and Rey where they are both the same and opposite. Light and dark, male and female, Skywalker and Solo, leader and scavenger, wanted and abandoned, Rey and Ren. I believe that alongside the lightsaber and the helmet of Vader, Luke’s hand is another artefact that was retrieved and preserved. I believe that to mimic the childhood of Anakin and Luke that Rey was placed on a desert planet either as an experiment, a punishment or simply because Ren, or someone else, couldn’t bring themselves to kill her.

Rey may have been created to form the template of an aborted clone army to serve the First Order, created after Luke’s self imposed exile. I also believe that the failure of the clone army is what lead to the drafting of Stormtroopers, snatched from their families, and therefore ties directly to the origin of Finn. This theory explicitly links Rey to Kylo Ren and Finn, and also to Luke and Vader. It links her to the conflict at the end of ESB, the start of her force vision. It also explains her powers and the narrative of the force vision. This adds even more meaning to the conclusion of Empire Strikes back, as the relationships we see forged, we now know begat new heroes and villains. If this is true then Rey’s ‘father’ may actually be Kylo Ren (from a certain point of view), although she is literally made of Luke Skywalker. Rey’s literal origin is the “I am your father” moment from Empire Strikes Back, one of the series highlights, the revelation of which will form this trilogy’s “I am your father” moment. Her creation fits both Star Wars lore and has appropriate mythical/biblical overtones, where Eve was made from Adam’s rib so Rey is made from Luke’s hand. This would see the end scenes of The Force Awakens as Luke being reunited with his lost lightsaber, but also, in a way, his lost hand.

To test the evidence further I will super impose this theory onto the backstory we know and the sequence of events established in the force vision. Assuming that the gap between movies is similar to the gap between events then 30-35 years pass after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens.

1. Luke Vs Vader on cloud city
2. Return of the Jedi
3. Luke & R2 by a fire
4. Knights of Ren destroy the new Jedi
5. Luke goes into exile
6. Han leaves Leia
7. FIrst Order is created
8. Finn is abducted from his family
9. Rey is abandoned on Jakku
10. Leia forms the resistance
11. Leia begins the search for Luke Skywalker
12. Rey vs Kylo at Starkiller base

Whilst actor and character ages are not necessarily the same it is worth noting that Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are both 23 whilst Adam Driver is 32. I think that Rey is played quite young so my feeling is that there is a 10-15 year age difference between her and Kylo. I believe a 15 year old Ben Solo was turned to the dark side by Snoke. This would explain Kylo’s emotional immaturity, his need for Snoke’s guidance when he cannot interrogate Rey, his fixation on his grandfather, why Luke would take such personal responsibility for his betrayal and why Han and Leia would be so devestated. It would also explain the exchange between Kylo Ren and Max Von Sydow’s character, Lor San Tekka, their dialogue suggests that they have not seen each other for many years despite Kylo Ren’s relative youth.

It is possible that a young Kylo Ren experimented with cloning, using material from Luke’s hand he created Rey. And that either compelled to recreate the life of his idol Vader, or because he was ordered to destroy her by Snoke, Kylo abandoned Rey on Jakku under the supervision of Unkar Plutt. A character we know doesnt care for Rey and who we know has links to the First Order, he also appears to be the one holding the child Rey in the force vision. Its possible that Snoke’s creation of the First Order actually followed this event and was a way to occupy or test his apprentice, and greatest threat, Kylo Ren. After all why after 10-15 years does Kylo, defeated on Starkiller, suddenly need to "complete his training"? What has Snoke been waiting for? Is it because Snoke now needs a Dark Lord to battle the new emergent, and possibly a returning, Jedi? I cannot see from the evidence that Snoke was aware of Rey so its uncertain what part he played in Rey’s creation? However since Plagueis was obsessed with defeating death then maybe coning was one of his many avenues of investigation. Maybe a young Kylo showed mercy on a young clone that Snoke was set to destroy? Maybe this act of mercy is the very element of the light side that torments him?

The only alternative I can think of is that Leia had a child after Han left, that Han did not know about, and that under the watchful eye of Lor San Tekka, Rey was left behind to ensure she would not also be turned to the dark side. Although this is a story possibility I do not believe there is much evidence to support this within the movie itself, although Rey’s connection to Han would support this alternative theory.

As for the future… Well the Skywalkers don’t have a great light side hit rate with Anakin and Kylo both going dark and, in Return of the Jedi, Luke was a lightsaber swing away from turning dark himself. Leia’s goodness appears to have never been tested; however she also seems to have largely ignored her connection to the force, something that could be said of Rey until her capture by Kylo Ren on Takodana. I believe that the story of episodes 8 & 9 will see Rey and Ren switch places, and that a new third way may be to occupy a centre position within the force may conclude the 9^th chapter. The idea of less defined principles of good and evil with characters switching sides or occupying moral grey areas has already been signposted with Finn's defection.

Whilst I do not really enjoy the use of cloning as a sci fi conceit, nor did I enjoy the prequel narrative and explanation of Anakin’s immaculate conception, the monkish behaviour of the Jedi in the prequels does make Jedi propagation seem difficult and unlikely. The Jedi of the prequels being sterile un feeling characters not knowing love is counter intuitive and not relateable. Especially since this is surely the very definition of a ‘light side’, the opposite of which is violence and hatred? Maybe Rey’s unnatural origins and a greyer position within the force will be what forms the basis of a new balanced Jedi order where emotion and relationships are normal and Jedi are far less susceptible to the dark side of the force. After all, the Skywalker saga is about family, something the Jedi are forbidden to even have.  

Thanks for reading feel free to speculate, challenge or support this theory below