With The Last Jedi finally hitting theaters and creating the bridge between 2015's The Force Awakens and the still to come Star Wars: Episode IX, fans are looking forward to the film answering the questions of its predecessor while also setting up new questions for its follow up. And the main query on everyone's mind is this: Who are Rey's parents? But just going off of the clues left in The Force Awakens, some fans think they've already got it all figured out, and they believe that there are plenty of clues Leia is Rey's mom. Now why would they think that?
Leia being Rey's mom is hardly a new theory, but it seems to have picked up speed recently just based on how much sense it makes. For starters, many fans believe that Rey has to be a Skywalker. Episodes I-VI all dealt with a Skywalker at the center of the story — which is why they're sometimes referred to as the "Skywalker Saga" — and Episodes VII-IX conclude this story arc. Luke Skywalker was the protagonist of the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy focused on his father Anakin, and now the new trilogy is all about... Rey. So why would the third trilogy in the Skywalker Saga be about some random person who's not connected to the Skywalker family? It wouldn't, which is why Rey has to be a Skywalker.
Now, if Rey is a Skywalker, that means she is either the daughter of Luke or his twin sister, Leia (some fans think she may be the daughter of both, but that's a little too Game of Thrones for Star Wars). And while a good number of fans think she's Luke's daughter, the smart money is probably on Leia. While fans don't yet know much about Luke's past between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, it's pretty clear that he has remained a Jedi throughout. And to live as a Jedi, one must swear off pesky things like love and relationships. If Luke stuck to these rules, and there's no reason to think he didn't, then it's unlikely that he fathered a child. Leia, on the other hand, has the Force but did not follow the path of the Jedi, and it's already known that she had at least one child with Han Solo: Kylo Ren.
Speaking of Kylo, there is no denying that he and Rey share a special — and unusual — relationship. The two seem to be two sides of the same coin, which leads many fans to believe that they are in fact brother and sister. Also, having Rey learn that her brother is the most villainous person in the galaxy would be in tune with Star Wars' familial themes while not duplicating the parent vs. son aspect of the original trilogy. If Rey is Kylo's sister, then that would also explain why she was abandoned by her parents on Jakku. We know that Kylo went nuts and killed all of Luke's students and then joined up with Snoke, and since then has had it out for his parents. So it would make perfect sense that after his dark turn, Leia and Han felt the need to leave Rey somewhere unsuspecting so she would remain safe in case Kylo came calling.
Further evidence of this can be seen in one scene of The Force Awakens in particular. Many fans were critical of the scene where Leia embraces Rey — whom she supposedly just met — after Han Solo's death, while seemingly ignoring Han's longtime partner and best friend, Chewbacca. But this scene could have been by design rather than an example of sloppy filmmaking, and it may have been showing Leia embracing her daughter because she just unknowingly lost her father.
Leia being Rey's mother would make a lot of sense in the Star Wars universe, and fans are hoping The Last Jedi offers even more evidence to back up the theory.
