Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead. The biggest question coming out of The Force Awakens in 2015 was "who are Rey's parents," as this majorly force-sensitive desert orphan played by Daisy Ridley effectively looks like she could be related to the entire cast of the original Star Wars from Carrie Fisher to Mark Hamill to even Alec Guinness. Fans were left guessing at the truth — but does The Last Jedi reveal Rey's parents? Technically, yes, but many fans are still unconvinced that it's actually the real answer.
In the new film, Kylo "reveals" to Rey that her parents were not heroes or royalty. They were junk traders who sold her and died "offscreen," so to speak, both literally and figuratively. He insinuates that Rey has always known this truth about herself, and she appears to agree. Ever since The Force Awakens, Rey has referred to herself as nobody. While she clings to the idea that she has a part in this saga, "nobody" is truly how she sees herself, and The Last Jedi seemingly confirms that.
Just like the titular character in Annie, Rey grew up thinking she was special because (unlike everyone else at the orphanage) her parents were alive and coming back for her, only to discover that she was special all by herself. That's a nice thought at least, isn't it? She's the new chosen one. She's a hero on her own merits and talents, not her bloodline. But would it be more or less satisfying if she was a secret Skywalker, Solo, Kenobi, or even, gulp, Palpatine? There's no pleasing every fan, especially when it comes to Star Wars.
Still, Kylo Ren a.k.a. Ben Solo is not entirely trustworthy — and he revealed this information to Rey in order to get his Force friend to embrace her dark side and join him. He was trying to manipulate her feelings, plain and simple. Plus, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the nature of Rey's calling to this adventure. Was the Skywalker lightsaber calling to her, and Obi-Wan speaking directly to her based on the Force alone? Why, then, were her memories mixed up with Luke's?
Snoke claims to have fabricated the Force connection between Rey and Ben in order to get them to betray Luke Skywalker and one another. First of all, it didn't work. Their connection to each other was way stronger than Snoke's hold over either force-sensitive young adult. So it wouldn't be surprising if you didn't that that evil dude's word for it. Second of all, Rey and Kylo's ForceTime connection was mirrored by the connection between siblings Luke and Leia.
Keen fans will have noticed thematic, visual, and dialogue parallels between The Last Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back — both middle entries in their respective trilogies. The Force Awakens even drew comparison to A New Hope, so it stands to reason that Episode IX will pay homage to Return Of The Jedi.
In the 1983 film, Luke confronts the Force ghost of Ben Solo's namesake, Obi-Wan Kenobi, about his own parentage. Old Ben had told him that Darth Vader killed and murdered his father, when infamously in fact the villain is Luke's father. "He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader," Kenobi says. "When that happened, the good man that was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view." Many of the truths we cling to, he says, depend on perspective.
If The Last Jedi was setting audiences up for a new "certain point of view" moment, it would most likely be with Rey's origin story. It would especially be cool, from a storytelling perspective, to reference that moment from a nefarious side. Obi-Wan was not so much trying to manipulate Luke as protect him. And even with this alleged reveal, there are still a lot of ways this story could go and more we can learn about Rey. Perhaps her parents were junk traders — but junk traders who were related to Mon Mothma, Mace Windu, or Han Solo's second cousin. Or perhaps her parents were killed by the Knights of Ren — we'll find out soon enough.
