Parentage and Legacy in The Force Awakens *potential spoiler



I'm sure by now almost all of you have seen the massive storyboard dump that hit the web a few days ago here: spoilerboard.blogspot.com googledrive

Most of it was stuff that we already knew about, based on spoilers and speculation.

One thing about it that made me slap my forehead at its obviousness in hindsight was the reveal at the very end of the film. The fact that, contrary to almost universal certainty by everyone following the movie, Rey is not a Solo, but is in fact Rey Skywalker, Luke's daughter.

It seems so blindingly obvious now that this is the case:

-We meet her partway in to the film, as a scavenger dressed in white and beige eking out a life on a desert planet. She's swept up into a galactic adventure fighting against an evil Empire;

-She's good with machines, a natural pilot, and a tough warrior;
-She ends up inheriting Luke's saber to protect Finn from Kylo;
-She's strong enough in the Force to be able to resist Kylo's probing and that they are related in some way;
-She looks more like Natalie Portman than Carrie Fisher

And, finally....

- The main Star Wars movies have and always will be the Skywalker story. With Luke completely absent from the film until the very end, the only other person to fit the bill, by default, is Rey.

This also falls in line with the previous story treatments about Luke originally being written as a female, and the sequels focusing on a long-lost female relation.

The one story aspect that was never explored in the EU, even in the hypothetical Infinities comics, was Luke having a daughter. So this is also enough of a departure to justify jettisoning the Jaina/Jacen characters and the rest of the EU completely. It's also a perfect fake-out for JJ, someone who is known to love that sort of thing.

I have mixed feelings on this, to be honest. On the one hand, i'm ecstatic that there's a Skywalker legacy still at play. On the other, i've really grown attached to the concept and idea of a Ben Skywalker. My opinion may be problematic, but I think there's a strong argument to be made for a young male Skywalker in these movies for young boys of this generation to self-insert into, the way they did with Luke and Anakin.

From everything i've seen, Finn and Poe are both essentially side-characters, and while Kylo may be redeemed, if he does actually kill his father Han, then every mythic story trope out there dictates that he will have to himself die for the cardinal sin of patricide, so I expect him to kick the bucket in the last film.

I like how JJ turns elements around, but it seems lazy at some point.

Yeah, it needs to be a good story, not just twists for twists sake.

That's how it felt reading that PDF...

Then I think they've hired the wrong writer/director....

M night? What a tweest!

Has Finn's surname come up at all?

So what? My sister looks like my aunt, and nothing like our parents.

While this does come across as a classic Abrams "twist" at first blush, let's look at it more closely.


This doesn't seem like a twist for the sake of a twist to me.

Not only does it make good thematic sense (for reasons you already listed), but it also works better as a twist within VII's narrative structure. Rey spends far too much time with Han throughout the course of the film for an "I'm Your Father" twist to feel natural.


And it fits Kathleen Kennedy's stated goal to introduce more powerful female characters to the Star Wars universe.


As much as Abrams loves to defy audience expectations, this story development feels like it happened naturally. There are too many similarities between Luke and Rey for the twist to have been conjured up purely for the sake of having a twist.

In retrospect, the whole thing about Rey being Han and Leia's daughter was probably disinformation spread by Disney.


Nah.

I think having a female lead will make the sequels feel fresh and give them an identity of their own. Maybe Star Wars will have a different vibe going forward, but that's sort of the point.


I really hope Finn and Poe don't end up being someone's kids. While I like the idea of Rey and Kylo being connected to the OT characters, it's nice to have original characters too.

Please, please, please don't make Finn the long-lost child of Lando (or Mace Windu, for that matter) just because he's black.


I suspect that he will be a more complex character than we've seen in any Star Wars film to date. I remember Adam Driver highlighting that Abrams did not want him to focus on the character's "evil" traits, but rather to approach him with more nuance and ambiguity. I think Kylo is a mass of contradictions and we'll see him flip-flop to some degree over the course of the new trilogy.

That said, this is Star Wars, so of course he will be redeemed in the end, but I'm not so sure that we'll see him kick the bucket. He may have some greater part to play in the larger story.

I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from J. J. Abrams, but he's really surprised me. This movie sounds better and better the more I hear about it, in spite of the fact that the lightsaber McGuffin is still pretty fucking dumb.

I'm cool with Rey being the offspring of Han, Luke or Leia. But if Finn or Rey is Obi-Wan's kid, that's something I'll have a really hard time accepting.

What if Finn's last name is Kenobi and no explanation is given. The audience can decide if he's related to Obi-wan or not.

I have a feeling that one of the characters is the offspring of Felicity Jones' character in Rogue One.

Based on resemblance alone, one of the characters appears to be Luke's offspring.

The problem with Finn being a Kenobi is that it's too difficult for an audience to accept immediately. If it's something that's revealed in the film - you don't want your audience fixating on that tidbit, while the plot is advancing.

I did read one fan theory, that Finn is related to Zaine Leonis, from Star Wars Rebels. That would make a lot more sense.
I'd prefer if he was part of the Panaka bloodline or even related to Mace Windu. I want these films to tie into the Prequels in some way.
It's important to me that this is one huge and cohesive saga.

I'd rather him simply be an original character. Why does he have to be related to anybody? Having all these kids running around just makes the galaxy feel smaller. Two is enough.

The writers can create ties to the Prequels using shared themes and plot elements. I wouldn't bet on too many prequel references in VII, just because Disney and Abrams are really trying to emphasize that "THIS MOVIE IS NOT LIKE THE PREQUELS", but there will likely be more references in future films.

I suppose it's time to start speculating on Episode 8's plot. Here's my not very creative guess:

a) Rey has been missing for some time.
b) Finn awakes from his coma.
c) Finn decides to track down Rey.
d) Kylio/Ben is looking for Rey as well.
e) Finn and Kylio/Ben find Rey who is found to be Luke's daughter
f) ?

I don't think Disney has enough restraint not to use the idea cloned Jedi. Plus, I think the clone army reference in Episode 7 may have been a set-up for future clones. So, I expect that concept to show-up at some point in the Trilogy.

I have no idea who Benicio Del Toro plays. Maybe is the new leader of Death Watch or an important Ren Knight? Or maybe, he's the leader of a third party threat like Eternal Empire. Will the Republic, Resistance, and First Order have to team-up to stop him?