Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Post-release)

[Solo4114]

I think the thing that drives me nuts about the parents mystery is that it seems like a created mystery for us. But not necessarily for her. Nothing in the movie told us that SHE didn't know who they were.

So this is more about JJ Nolan building hype, rather than a real mystery.

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Well, yes, and no (potentially). Rey knows who dropped her off on the planet. But does she know everything there is to know about them? I mean, Luke thought his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. Turns out he was wrong. Rey may think her parents are just...you know, her parents. Mundane folks who worked as Tibanna gas prospectors or something. We don't know enough of the backstory to know whether their identity is a mystery to her, whether it's only partially known, etc. She might not know that her mother was Obi-Wan's granddaughter. She might not know that her father was a clone. She might not know that her parents were volunteers for an experiment to purposefully imbue a fetus with the power of the Force. Or whatever.

I mean, just because she knows "That's my mom, and that's my dad," doesn't mean that she knows about their backgrounds.


There's plenty of stuff our parents don't tell us.

I didn't find out until my Dad's 70th birthday that when he was working as a young lawyer in a War on Poverty program in Detroit in the late 60s, that he and his buddies would buy junker cars and have their own demolition derbies on deserted streets. >shrug<


Regardless, it's pretty clear she doesn't know why they left her, which likely relates to the significance of her lineage, and therefore holds the meaning of learning the truth for Rey. So, sure, JJ gets to build up a mystery (which he loves to do), but that doesn't mean it needs to be a mystery without meaning for Rey. It's fine to have a mystery, as long as the ultimate purpose of the mystery is not solely to jerk the audience's chain, but rather for the characters to learn something about themselves (and in so doing, the audience learns it, too).

 

[Axlotl]

This "Who's Rey's Parents?" mystery is only happening because it's a Star Wars movie -
because good old Uncle George made sure in the prequels that everybody is related to everybody else,
everyone were pals or enemies or met at one time or another, or built this or that important thing, etc, etc.
So people have come to expect crap like that from Star Wars.
It's canon.

 

[Solo4114]

This "Who's Rey's Parents?" mystery is only happening because it's a Star Wars movie -
because good old Uncle George made sure in the prequels that everybody is related to everybody else,
everyone were pals or enemies or met at one time or another, or built this or that important thing, etc, etc.
So people have come to expect crap like that from Star Wars.
It's canon.

To be fair, he kinda did that in the OT, too.

Luke is Leia's sister.

Vader is Luke's father.

Obi-Wan was Vader's teacher.

Yoda was Obi-Wan's teacher.

Lando is Han's old buddy (kinda).

About the only people who aren't connected to anyone are the various pilots, Boba Fett, and Chewie.


Although, I'd say that the interconnecting and everyone being Someone Important didn't really kick off until the mid-90s heyday of the EU. When stuff like Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina came out, suddenly every individual seen on the screen has some kind of back story that is somehow at least tangentially related to the main characters or is some story of independent importance. The Wolfman guy in the Cantina (pre-SE) is apparently a pilot who falls in love with the weird lamprey looking thing, and then dies in the Battle of Endor or somesuch.

But George did, indeed, make the universe like playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon in the PT.



WAIT!!! THAT'S IT!!!!!!


REY'S FATHER IS KEVIN BACON!!!!!!

 

[Axlotl]

To be fair, he kinda did that in the OT, too.

You're right. Ugh...

 

[Wolfsburg]

I think Leia being Luke's sister was one of the biggest missteps of the OT...

And the Ewoks...

 

[Kylash]

This "Who's Rey's Parents?" mystery is only happening because it's a Star Wars movie -
because good old Uncle George made sure in the prequels that everybody is related to everybody else,
everyone were pals or enemies or met at one time or another, or built this or that important thing, etc, etc.
So people have come to expect crap like that from Star Wars.
It's canon.

Buy Rey herself says several times in the film, things that make it clear she doesnt want people knowing who she is. So as a character, it is apparently important to her, not just the film makers or audience.

"Classified? Me too, big secret.."
"You got a boyfriend, cute boyfriend?" .... "None of your business."
"I don't want any part of this..."

 

[DINVADER]

"Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth?" Or was she faking ignorance?

 

[oota goota]

And the Ewoks...

Just to further derail this thread I think I've misunderstood the ewoks until recently. When you actually look at the kind of stuff they were doing on screen they were vicious little bastards. Remember they were going to cook and eat han chewie and luke; they're clearly comfortable with eating intelligent beings.

I bet they ate neighbouring ewoks whenever they could. I reckon if Leia hadn;t come across wicket when she did he would have ended up on someone's menu

 

[Solo4114]

"Luke Skywalker? I thought he was a myth?" Or was she faking ignorance?

I think she genuinely doesn't know, or has had her memories altered.

That's another possibility: the people she thought were her parents -- the ones who dropped her off -- aren't actually her parents.

 

[Wolfsburg]

Just to further derail this thread I think I've misunderstood the ewoks until recently. When you actually look at the kind of stuff they were doing on screen they were vicious little bastards. Remember they were going to cook and eat han chewie and luke; they're clearly comfortable with eating intelligent beings.

I bet they ate neighbouring ewoks whenever they could. I reckon if Leia hadn;t come across wicket when she did he would have ended up on someone's menu

Yep, I like to think they ate the Imperials in the end! If this darker side of Ewoks had been played up more, even to darkly humorous effect, I think I could accept them a lot more. Maybe show a little more "gremlin" in these cute cannibalistic teddy bears. At the very least, even if George had added a wide shot when he was making all his SE additions and changes that showed thousands or millions of Ewoks surging through the trees at the Imperials would've gone a long way for me.

 

[joshvanrad]

I feel like I'm the only one who does not like the idea of mind erasing in Star Wars. Am I alone on this one?

 

[Axlotl]

I feel like I'm the only one who does not like the idea of mind erasing in Star Wars. Am I alone on this one?

No, you're not.

 

[Bryancd]

I feel like I'm the only one who does not like the idea of mind erasing in Star Wars. Am I alone on this one?

We we accept a mind trick, which is effectively short term mind erasing. And Ren in his interrogation demonstrated a level of mind probing unlike me anything we have seen in a SW film and I think that, along with Rey's sudden abilities, is intentional and key to the story and who these characters are.

 

[Wolfsburg]

It's a rather cheap and convenient "out" from a writing perspective I agree, but it'd depend on how they handled it I guess. Mind erasing was a big part of Knights of the Old Republic so there is a precedent, though the game isn't canon by any means.

 

[joshvanrad]

Maybe I'm in the minority but a memory wipe is too far for me to stretch.

 

[kristen jones]

I feel like I'm the only one who does not like the idea of mind erasing in Star Wars. Am I alone on this one?

No, you aren't alone on that score. I don't care for the idea either, as it really hasn't been shown thusfar to be something that Star Wars "does". That doesn't necessarily make it a no-no, but I'm not particularly taken with the idea of them resorting to that in order to prop up a mystery.

I hope there is another explanation.

 

[Bryancd]

I don't get the sense a mind wipe is the direction we're going. When Rey is left on Jakku she seems to know who she is calling to to come back.

 

[Wolfsburg]

I think it's because a mind wipe is needed for some of these theories to work. I like the idea that Rey is no stranger to the Force (which explains her rather sudden Force "awakening" as some of those amnesia walls are broken down) but it otherwise doesn't make sense that she wouldn't remember that she had at least some Jedi training. If that isn't what's going on, I'm not at all crazy about her being so adept without some prior training.

 

[Solo4114]

So, another theory.

People's timelines are off somehow. Rey doesn't necessarily leave immediately before the Jedi are destroyed. She leaves some time before that, perhaps as a baby, perhaps in the care of people who are or are not her real parents. They traipse around the galaxy until Kylo Ren destroys the academy and then they leave her with Unkar Plutt.

So, Rey knows who she thinks mom and dad are. But she doesn't know the truth about them (or, indeed, if they are her real mom and dad).

 

[joshvanrad]

I'd agree with that. The larger issue I see with the memory wipe thing is that it wouldn't be JUST a memory wipe, but a replacement of memories since she obviously has some recollection of her family and past. And if that were the case, we'd essentially be seeing a LONG TERM jedi mind trick. And if that sort of jedi mind trick is achievable in Star Wars, all bets are off at that point. You could essentially make anyone believe anything for any amount of time, and that's just too far for me. It also infers that Rey was weak-minded as a child, when we know that she's been force sensitive for a long time, so that seems a bit counterintuitive.

This is all probably a waste of time though since, I'd agree, the mind wipe theory doesn't seem like the way they are going to go with it.

I still think she is a Kenobi. I'll probably continue to think that until the truth is leaked... because we know her lineage won't be kept a secret until December 2017. At which point I'll either say "I knew it this whole time and never doubted!" or "Josh, you dense moron. It was so obvious. They practically put it right out in front of you the whole time!"