‘Star Wars’ Theory: Was Rey Meant To Be A Kenobi?
It is no secret that the reveal of Rey's parentage in Rise of Skywalker was a shock to many of us, and a bit of a disappointment to others. The fact that Rey was a Palpatine seemed to come out of the blue. Many fans felt that there were no hints or foreshadowing in the previous two movies of the sequel trilogy. There were no story threads to suggest that Rey would have been connected to Emperor Palpatine at all. The only shadow of a hint in the movie was just before the reveal when Rey managed to use Force lighting, a power that had been associated with Dark Side users like the Emperor, and Starkiller from The Force Unleashed games. Another interesting story with Rey and her lineage had come up in fan discussions. It actually made more sense within the Star Wars saga, and connected her to the overall story. There was actually a subtle hint about it in The Force Awakens. Instead of being related to Emperor Palpatine, perhaps Rey was actually meant to be a Kenobi.
Two very specific scenes in The Force Awakens hinted at the fact that Rey could be a Kenobi. In Maz Kanata's palace when Rey first picked up Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber that Luke had lost on Cloud City, she was thrown into a Force vision. She heard voices of past Jedis. Among the cacophony and confusion, the first comprehensible voice she heard was not Luke nor Anakin. It was not even Yoda nor Qui-Gon. It was Obi-Wan.
"Rey, these are your first steps."
Others might say that this was a parallel to Obi-Wan Kenobi introducing Luke Skywalker to the Force. However, in my opinion, this was a hint at a familial connection between Rey and Obi-Wan. In essence, he was guiding his descendant to the same world he had shown a young Luke.
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Another scene of note was when Rey was captured on Starkiller base. Rey used the Jedi mind trick successfully on what was essentially her first attempt. In canon, the Jedi who we have seen use this Force power successfully many times was none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi. While he might have used the power successfully at other times off-screen, Qui-Gon's attempt on Watto failed, albeit it was due to the Toydarian not being susceptible to it. Luke may have successfully affected the mind of Bib Fortuna in Return of the Jedi, but we did not see him use this Force power again. Obi-Wan was the Jedi who had become synonymous with this ability. We would see him use the Jedi mind trick at various points during the prequel and original trilogies. For Rey to be able to naturally use the Jedi mind trick hinted at her possible Kenobi lineage.
Furthermore, if we were to look at behind-the-scene videos of Daisy Ridley's lightsaber training, we could her practicing moves that look suspiciously like Obi-Wan's trademark twirls. What would be the reason why she would be emulating the lightsaber style that we have associated with Obi-Wan? Was it just out of practicality or was there a deeper meaning?
Having Rey be a Kenobi would make much more sense when linking her character to the overall story and the saga as a whole. From a certain point of view, the Star Wars saga, especially the prequel and the original trilogies, revolved around the Skywalker and the Kenobi families. The prequel trilogy looked at how a Kenobi met and trained a Skywalker. In the original trilogy, we saw a Kenobi take on another Skywalker and guided him through his Jedi journey even after his death on the Death Star. Since the saga started with the story of a Kenobi and a Skywalker, ending it with a Kenobi and a Skywalker would have been quite poignant for fans. We would have come a full circle with a Skywalker now passing the torch to a Kenobi.
Finally, after I have presented my thoughts on this theory, I would like to point out that Daisy Ridley actually confirmed that Rey was indeed supposed to be a Kenobi. Ridley explained to Josh Gad on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
"At the beginning there was toying with, like, an Obi-Wan connection."
There you have it, straight from Rey's mouth. She could have been a Kenobi. I have always thought this was the case. After we saw The Force Awakens on opening night, I bet my dad £10 that Rey would be a Kenobi. I am claiming this as a win, so pay up, Robert McKechnie!
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Source(s): Twitter, Wookieepedia