I cant buy that Rey is a Kenobi, despite the compelling arguments laid out by Ben Ostrower.

Spoiler Alert! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s also a little on the long side. Buckle up.

Obi-Wan Would Not Violate the Jedi Code

The biggest problem I have with the “Rey is the granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi” theory is it would mean that Obi-Wan violated the Jedi Code and had a child. Anakin tells Padme in Attack of the Clones:

Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden.

That Anakin breaks the Jedi Code and marries doesn’t surprise me and it could be argued it was simply another step on his inevitable march to the dark side. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, was always the man who chose the right path, the path of the Light side. Obi-Wan would deny himself to do what he felt was right. Now, after Order 66, the Jedi order had been destroyed. Obi-Wan could have reasoned that he was no longer bound by the archaic rules of the Order, but that doesn’t seem to fit his character. Obi-Wan was watching over Luke with the idea that Luke would be their “New Hope” and that one day Obi-Wan would train Luke to be a Jedi. He had not abandoned the Order, in fact, he wanted to resurrect the Order. He was still a Jedi through and through and I believe he would have kept himself bound to Code and celibate.

What is odd is everyone seems to know what is going with Anakin and Padme but no one seems to make a big deal out of it. Obi-Wan even yells at Anakin to not let his personal feelings get in the way when Anakin wants to abandon his pursuit of Dooku to save Padme. Obi-Wan does threatenthat Anakin will be expelled from the Jedi Order. Would that be because they could no longer turn a blind eye to the obvious affair or because of insubordination/dereliction of duty? Maybe a little of both.

The necessary corollary isthat if Rey is Luke’s child, then he must have violated the Code. But did Obi-Wan even tell Luke about that aspect of the Jedi Code? Obi-Wan gets separated from Luke prior to Luke meeting Leia so Obi-wan wouldn’t have seen the attraction which would have provided a natural segue to the topic.

In A New Hope, Obi-Wan is dealing with Jedi 101 topics with Luke. What is the Force? How does it work? Jedi celibacy seems like more of a 300 level concept. Yoda would have had the time to get into that with Luke, but we don’t ever see that discussion onscreen. Even if Luke knew of that part of the Code, perhaps he decided that it was part that should come forward to the new Jedi. Luke was not brought up in the Jedi way as Obi-Wan would have been. I think it would have been far harder for Obi-Wan to let go of the Code than it would have been for Luke.

It also begs that question that if Force ability can be passed down genetically, why arent the Jedi encouraged to have children? But that, as Maz Katana might say, is a discussion for another day.

Not a Solo Either

I know the other idea that’s been discsussed is Rey is the daughter of Han and Leia and Kylo’s twin, echoing the Luke and Leia twin story from the originally trilogy. I can’t buy this either. I can’t see Han or Leia spending as much time as they do with Rey and not saying anything if indeed she is theirs.

Skywalker Clues are Stronger

Everything in the film points to Rey being a Skywalker. I know it seems too easy and too obvious, but somtimes a Skywalker is a simply a Skywalker. If Rey is Luke’s daughter, it would explain why Luke can’t say anything when Rey approaches him at the end of the film. Whatever he says will have to show familiarity.

Let’s look at what see of Rey. She’s fixes stuff like a Skywalker. She flies like a Skywalker and she uses the Force like a Skywalker. Who else, but someone with Skywalker blood, could wrestle the lightsaber away from Kylo or mind trick a Stormtrooper despite being untrained. Let’s also not overlook that that lightsaber, the Skywalker lightsaber of Anakin and Luke, calls to her.

Then there are the smaller clues. In Rey’s AT-AT home, we can see a small doll dressed up as an X-Wing pilot in an orange jumpsuit, the exact uniform Luke wore during the attack on the first Death Star. We also see Rey don a helmet that looks to be either Luke’s X-Wing helmet or perhaps a podracing helmet.

Rey is growing up on Jaaku, a world so similar to Luke’s homeworld of Tatooine that I thought it was Tatooine when the trailer was first released. It stands to reason that Luke would have picked a world similar to Tattoine and left Lor San Tekka (the old man at the beginning of the film who gives the last part of the map to Poe) to watch over her just as Kenobi watched over him. Finally, Lor has the missing piece of the map that leads to Skywalker. A map Luke probably intended Lor to give to Rey when she was old enough.

Where do you stand? Is a Rey a Kenobi, Skywalker or Solo?