5 Star Wars Theories From Someone Who’s Thought About It Way Too Much

It’s been slightly more than a month since the latest Star Wars movie hit our screens. Over that period of time, I’ve thought about the movie a lot. Excessively. Way too much. And what I’ve gotten out of it are pretty cool theories which are grounded in some really solid thinking. Maybe they’ll come true, maybe they won’t — I’ll lay out the evidence and let you judge for yourself.

Hopefully, when the next two movies come out, I’ll be able to share this post once again with a four-word caption: “I told you so”. Obviously, there will be spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t caught the movie, turn away now.

This is going to be a long post, so to give you a sneak peak of what’s to come, the theories are as follow:

1. Rey is Luke Skywalker’s daughter and she’ll work with Kylo Ren to bring balance to the Force (AKA The Obvious One)
2. Han and Chewbacca, together with Luke, brought Rey to Jakku on the Millennium Falcon (AKA The One That Explains a Shitload)
3. The Force is hereditary and the First Order is breeding an army of Force-sensitives (AKA The One That Might Be Wrong)
4. Rey will become a Space Pirate (AKA The One Crazy Enough To Be True)
5. Luke’s Going to Train Finn (AKA The One That I Really Want To Happen)

Also, I’ve written a three-part post on The Force Awaken before the movie came out. Some of my predictions came true, while others did not simply because I made the foolish assumption that just because certain scenes or dialog were in the trailer, they’ll be in the movie as well. I will be repeating some of the points I’ve made there in this post right here. Here we go. In a galaxy far far away…

1) Rey is Luke Skywalker’s daughter and she’ll work with Kylo Ren to bring balance to the Force

The Star Wars movie has always been about the Skywalkers. Rey, the main protagonist of The Force Awakens (hereby known as ‘TFA’), is definitely a Skywalker too. Anakin was destined to bring balance to the Force. He failed to do this in his lifetime — even after he died, the Dark Side and the Light Side continue to rage against each other, as we see from the events in the seventh movie. From the seventh movie, we also see that Luke has failed as well. He seeks refuge in the planet Ahch-To, away from the fighting.

It is through his grandchildren, Ben and Rey, that Anakin will restore balance to the force. On one hand, we have Ben (or Kylo Ren, to those who might not have been paying attention) who clearly leans towards the Dark Side, but is periodically tempted by the Light. On the other, there’s Rey who’s of the Light, but with a Darkness in her which rears it’s head in the dying moments of the movie, where she almost kills Kylo Ren. In the next two movies, I expect these two to put aside their differences and create a new normal — a hybrid between Sith and Jedi, and therefore, bring balance to the force. (You can read more about my thoughts on the Force here.)

On top of that, the parallels between Rey and Luke and Anakin are numerous — they all grew up in a desert planet, they all have an affinity with droids and machines, they’re all pretty good pilots, and the Force is strong with them.

“Isn’t Luke a Jedi? How can he have a daughter?” Good question. Luke was never properly trained as a Jedi, and Obi-Wan and Yoda never did tell him the exact Jedi codes. Moreover, it’s kind of a messed up rule anyway — one which I can see Luke ignoring, given that he’s the only Jedi around. It will come back to bite him in the ass though, as he eventually ends up abandoning said daughter in the planet of Jakku. But more on that later.

Lots of evidence were present in TFA: the dialogue with Maz Kanata, the fact that Luke’s lightsaber called out to her and finally, her interactions with Han Solo, Chewbacca, the Millennium Falcon, which I’ll elaborate on in the next theory.

The last scene was extremely telling too. In the opening crawl, they mention that General Leia is “desperate to find her brother, Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy”. But what happens when they finally find the clue to Luke? General Leia willingly lets Rey go on her own. General Leia knows precisely who Rey is, and she knows that she’s important to Luke.

And finally there’s this interesting costume change she makes just before she meets Luke. After wearing white for the whole movie (like what Luke was wearing in A New Hope), she dons a grey vest as she meets her father who’s wearing a cloak that is also grey. This is purely cosmetic, but I believe visual cues speak just as loudly.

Before I move on, let me just say that the Kenobi theory doesn’t really hold — there was nothing to indicate that Obi Wan might have had a child. While the idea is neat, if they do squeeze it in, it’ll be a great injustice to his character.

2) Han and Chewbacca, together with Luke, brought Rey to Jakku on the Millennium Falcon

It is too great a coincidence that the Millennium Falcon and Rey happen to be in the same planet, out of all the planets in the universe. It is also too great an audacity that Han Solo will “lose” his one and only ship. The ship and Rey’s presence in Jakku, and Han Solo losing the ship — they’re connected.

But let’s take a step back and talk about what happened between Luke Skywalker and the Knights of Ren. Luke is raising a new generation of Jedi. In the process, he meets someone, and they have a kid, Rey. At the same time, Ben is training under Luke. Due to the manipulation of Supreme Leader Snoke, Ben turns against his own teacher, and against the Jedi. Ben, and a few of his cronies massacres the Jedi under Skywalker’s tutelage. What’s Luke to do? He runs away with his daughter, with the help of his most trusted allies, Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Knowing fully that Kylo Ren and the First Order will kill Rey should he find her, Luke makes the difficult choice of leaving her in the crappiest corner of the universe, Jakku. They’ll be separated, but at least she’ll be safe — that’s what he’s thinking. As they’re escaping, it’s worth noting that Rey probably interacted a lot with Han Solo and Chewbacca. And if she’s as mechanically-gifted, she would have picked up some technical know-how and piloting abilities just riding with Han on the ship. Luke probably trained her up on her Jedi abilities too, during the flight, and possibly before it — which explains her prowess.

My guess is that he wanted to leave her with Lor San Tekka, the old man who appeared at the beginning of the movie. Lor San Tekka is an ally of the Skywalkers, and a member of the Church of The Force — he’s someone that will surely keep Rey safe. However, due to some complication, he’s forced to leave her with Unkar Plutt. Before he leaves, Luke modifies Rey’s memory to remove all traces of her past. Only one clear memory remains: wait in Jakku, where she’ll be safe. He modifies Unkar Plutt’s memory too, so that he won’t be able to betray them.

In TFA, it was revealed that the Millennium Falcon could be traced. This forces Luke, Han and Chewie to make the difficult choice of abandoning the ship in Jakku, and leaving on another ship. Finally, to ensure that Rey is perfectly hidden in Jakku, Luke wipes Han and Chewie’s memories of Rey, what happened to their ship, and Luke’s intentions.

Harrison Ford is slated to appear in the next movie, even though his character has passed on. I think his appearance will be in a flashback scene depending what I’ve outlined in the preceding paragraphs. It’ll make for great fanservice too, seeing Luke, Han and Chewie interacting at least once in the new trilogy.

Did seeing Rey jog Han’s memory? Maybe. He does offer her a job — which could be a sign that he wants to keep her close, and therefore, safe. He also hinted at knowing more than he revealed in his interaction with Maz Kanata. What we do know is that Rey showed an unbelievable familiarity with a ship which she had described as “garbage” and that Rey, Han and Chewbacca hit it off really well. If this theory is true, it’ll also add more weight to Rey inheriting the ship at the end of TFA, and add a new layer of depth to Han Solo’s death.

3) The Force is hereditary and the First Order is breeding an army of Force-sensitives

If Rey is Force-sensitive, this means that ALL of Anakin Skywalker’s descendants are Force-sensitive. Luke and Leia had it, and now Rey and Ben has it too. 100% rate of success. Granted, the Skywalkers are the only Force-sensitive family we’ve seen in Star Wars. Maybe I’m making a leap of logic here. Or maybe they’re the only Force-sensitive family for a reason.

The Sith operated in pairs and they usually end up killing each other, so we’re not going to find families over there. What about the Jedi? In the prequels, the Jedi were forbidden to marry, and have children. They could not form bonds because attachment to anything will lead to a fear of loss (and then hatred, and so on). But what if the underlying rational for this rule is so Jedi won’t reproduce and foster even more Jedi?

At the end of the day, the existence of the Force and Force-sensitive individuals is a very dangerous thing. If the Jedi had kids, we would have seen an entire race of Force-sensitive individuals. This does not necessarily have to be a bad thing, but without proper guidance, it could be a terrible thing.

The Jedi Council operated by seeking out Force-sensitive individuals at a young age and taking them to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to begin their Jedi training. They probably used a machine similar to Professor Xavier’s Cerebro…or maybe like with everything else, they just used the Force.

This sounds exactly like what happened to our new protagonist and former stormtrooper, Finn. What do we know about him? He was separated from his family, and has been training from a young age to do one thing — be a stormtrooper. I think that the First Order is using the same methods that the Jedi used to raise new Jedi to create an army of Stormtroopers that are genuinely threatening.

I implore you to look back at TFA and the original trilogy and compare the stormtroopers from back then to the stormtroopers of today. The stormtroopers in the original trilogy couldn’t hit a thing. In TFA, they wielded flamethrowers and axes and executed civilians with little mercy. They are definitely better at being bad, in an evil way.

But are they Force-sensitive? Apart from being more competent (which, admittedly, may just be due to Snoke’s supreme leadership), Finn did show signs of being affected by…something during the massacre at the start of the movie, which hinted at him having some sort of ability to see things (my memory of this part is blurry right now). Moreover, during his escape with Poe Dameron on a TIE Fighter, which he had never flown before, he displayed remarkable marksmanship. He repeated this feat on the Millennium Falcon — gunning down fighters on something he has never had experience on before. You know who else showed exceptional marksmanship on the Falcon? Luke Skywalker.

There was a scene too where Rey attempted to use mind-control on the stormtrooper guarding her. She had to try a few times before she succeeded. This might be a sign of her inexperience. BUT this can also be a sign of the stormtrooper being Force-sensitive. Numerically speaking, not all of the stormtroopers will be Force-sensitive.

What I am guessing is that the First Order forcefully recruits young children from all over the galaxy — those who show a greater aptitude for the Force may be put on special units or given special positions, according to the needs of the First Order.

I’d even go as far as say that the First Order may be breeding Force-sensitives to create an entire generation of stormtroopers. There’s not enough clues to solidify this, but doing this will make the First Order truly formidable. If having a Force-powered army is not a good enough reason, recruiting Force-sensitives also mean that the likelihood of these guys becoming Jedi is less.

4) Rey will become a space pirate

If Theory #3 is true, and judging from the events that transpired in TFA, the First Order is being set up as a party that will be able to dominate the entire universe. With whole planets that support the Resistance destroyed, the First Order is in the best place to take over, even with the destruction of the Starkiller Base. I expect that the threat of the First Order will be the focus of the campaign moving towards Episode 8, and more spotlight will be shone on Kylo Ren, Hux, Phasma and Supreme Leader Snoke.

In the lead up to TFA, the marketing focused on the Dark Side against the Light. It’s good to have two sides to choose from — it gets people involved, makes them curious. I expect that, once again, two sides will be created in Episode 8. On one hand, we’ll have the First Order and on the other…not the Resistance.

Why not the Resistance? First, it’s already a tried and tired formula. We already saw a similar conflict in the original trilogy where the Rebels went head to head against the Empire. Second, the Resistance is in a pretty crappy position, and unlike the Rebels, they don’t stand a chance against the First Order. Last, it’s a pretty boring conflict, and it’ll just frustrate the fans who are clamouring for something different.

And what can be more different than pirates? Pirates go against everything the First Order stands for. They represent ultimate freedom, with a smattering of chaos for good measure. On one hand, we have the First Order who wants to tell people what to do, and on the other, we have pirates who don’t give a shit, valuing freedom above all things.

Before we go on, let’s talk about Maz for a little bit — Maz Kanata is a former pirate and smuggler. She was the person that Han Solo went to for help with getting a new ship. She is knowledgable about the Force, and is familiar with Han, Chewbacca and probably Luke, which might explain how she had his lightsaber. In TFA, her base was decimated by the First Order. What’s she to do now?

I don’t think Maz Kanata was introduced simply to be a one-time character. She’ll be back in the next movies, and the absolute best way I can see her returning is as a pirate — with her base destroyed, she hops back on her old ship, gathers her crew and proceeds to travel the universe, with no particular aim other than the fact that she no longer has a home.

I predict that Rey (and Chewie, Maz’s Boyfriend) will reunite with Maz Kanata, and Rey will spend some time traveling the universe on this ship. After training Rey for a couple of months (or years), Luke will send her off to Maz’s ship. Maybe she’ll have a mission of her own (for example, gathering surviving Jedi)…or maybe he just wants her to see the universe. Either way, Rey needs to see the universe before she can save it, and I believe that Maz Kanata’s pirate ship will be the best (and most fun) way for her to do so.

Rey will board Maz’s ship, which will be the defining ship of the new trilogy, get to know her whacky crew, and travel to different spots in the universe. Along the way, Rey will be able to develop her own perspective on the state of the universe, which is more satisfying than her joining the Resistance right off the bat.

Outside of the movies, a move like this makes a lot of sense as well. It is sufficiently different, in that it’s a concept unexplored by the Star Wars film franchise. On the other hand, it is also sufficiently safe, as pirates have proven to be extremely popular, if done right. No, I’m not talking about Pirates of the Caribbean. I’m talking about One Piece, one of the world’s bestselling manga. I can already see the Star Wars: Pirates animated series in my head.

5) Luke’s going to train Finn

The ending of TFA shows Rey and Luke meeting for the first time. In all the Star Wars movies, they’ve skipped at least a year between one movie to the next. I think that they’ll do the same with Episode 8, and we’ll pick up a year or two after Rey and Luke’s meeting. During that time, Luke would have trained with Rey for a little bit, and they would have reconciled whatever differences they might have had.

This means that we won’t get to see Luke training Rey, or if we do, it’ll be through flashbacks. But won’t it be just plain awesome to see Luke training someone, like how Yoda trained him? My guess is that Finn will seek out Luke in Episode 8, and he’ll undergo some sort of spartan training under the Jedi Master. John Boyega’s already stated in an interview that his role in this movie will be more physically demanding. What can be more physically demanding than being trained to be a full-blown Jedi?

My part in the next film will be much more physical so I might be in the gym a bit more. — John Boyega

If Theory #3 is true, Finn will be Force-sensitive. Perhaps he’ll seek out Luke as a way to get stronger in order to help Rey. This will make for a really neat story arc, where Finn finally gets to be useful to Rey, and he steps out of the shadow of being the impostor that he was in TFA. It’ll also turn the cool posters into reality. What does this mean for Luke? He’ll be redeeming himself from his failures with Kylo Ren in training up Finn and Rey. And it’ll be a great way for him to interact with someone who cares about his daughter as much as he does.

Luke’s meeting with Finn will also be what drags the Jedi back into the conflict. Again, if #3 is true, it’ll establish that The First Order is far more dangerous than even Luke could have imagined. I expect that Luke will learn Finn’s origins as a former stormtrooper, come to the conclusion that The First Order is recruiting Force-sensitives, and fly off to stop Supreme Leader Snoke on his own. He will fail completely — Snoke will probably have a trap set for him, and this will further establish The First Order as a legitimate threat.

Other Random Speculations

I also have some other speculations that don’t really warrant a long-ass essay. Here we go:

• The First Order is connected to Order 66 — the order given out by Palpatine to kill the Jedi.
• Rey will get a double-edged yellow lightsaber, the same colour as BB-8.
• Kylo Ren let Luke, Han, Chewie and Rey go. This is the instance where he “sways to the Light”.
• Luke and Leia will not die.
• Poe Dameron will be forced to do something that’s not completely good.

Phew. I’M DONE. That was really long. I’m glad I got it out of my system. Thank you for making it this far, and I apologise for the writing being really shoddy at parts. This was more of a cleansing process, rather than an exercise in writing excellence. Maybe one day, I’ll edit it to make it more readable, but for now, this is it.

Right now, these theories make a lot of sense to me. I’ll be awfully disappointed if they don’t come true. Then again, I wouldn’t mind being surprised…What are your thoughts? I’d be more than happy to discuss them. Drop a comment, or reach out. Talk Star Wars to me.