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We might know who Rey’s parents are! But, it’s a lot to unpack – so let’s jump right in.
*Potential Spoilers Ahead*
The Star Wars Battlefront II campaign (which is canon) follows two former Inferno squad members, Iden Versio and Del Meeko, who settle down on Jakku after helping put the final nail in the empire’s coffin. The two eventually have a child, and are perpetually on the run from the eventual First Order. That information alone has sparked a lot of discussions about the obvious link to our new heroin, Rey. On the surface, the theory seems to line up, BUT can be easily shut down by thinking about one simple factor; Rey’s parents have been the most talked about topic coming out of Episode Seven, why would they reveal the answer in a video game?
Well, what if it’s simply not a big deal who Rey’s parents are?
This might be the case because Disney has made it very obvious that they are pushing the idea of flipping the classic Star Wars tropes on its head. In A New Hope, it is made clear that Luke Skywalker’s father is dead, come to find out in the next movie, that his father is actually Darth Vader. Leaving The Force Awakens, everyone was debating weather or not Luke was Rey’s father … but it might all be irrelevant. Daisy Ridley even said that Rey’s parents are “not that important” in an interview.
For the sake of argument, let’s just say that, come December 15th, after everyone’s seen The Last Jedi, there will be bigger questions to answer; maybe what we know about Kylo Ren’s parents is not exactly true, maybe Finn finds the force and has to train along side Rey, maybe Maz Kanata was a spy the whole time!? Rey’s parents might not end up playing any role in the arc of the new trilogy, and Battlefront II is just a cool way to see where our new favorite Jedi actually came from.
First things first, the setting works for Iden Varsio and Del Meeko to be Rey’s parents. The two would have started their post-war life on the remote planet of Jakku, and the timing of their relationship would make their presumed daughter the same general age as Rey. Also, Del says at one point in the campaign that he “discovered the force”. While not being the most convincing piece of evidence, it would work for his daughter being force sensitive. Also, he has a British accent, just like Rey.
Furthering this, Versio and Meeko were clearly skilled pilots in the Battle of Jakku, so that would make sense why Rey had this helmet and this doll in The Force Awakens – she idolizes the soldiers that fought to bring the empire down, because two of them were her very own parents.
Pulling away from Jakku, a major plot point in Battlefront II is that Del Meeko helped Luke find an ancient compass, that more likely than not turned into the map to Luke Skywalker that kicked off the events of The Force Awakens. Being in possession of such important information would absolutely put you on the First Order’s map. Trying to keep his wife and daughter safe, he abandons his family and lived a life on the run from the first order, until we catch up with him at the end of the game, where he was executed.
Yikes.
It’s a pretty gnarly story, that could most likely be confirmed by Poe Dameron, who conveniently never interacts with Rey in all of Episode Seven! Why do we have so many buddy buddy moments with Poe and Finn but never with Poe and Rey? Maybe because he could reveal life shattering information to her?
Pulling away from the game and the movies …. The name of the publishing company that distributes all of the official Star Wars books is literally called “Del Rey”.
With all of that knowledge on the table, it is probably just another clever way that Disney was able to create buzz for Episode Eight. By using all the different mediums that Star Wars houses, they encouraged their fans to purchase every piece of information (games, comics, novels, TV shows, etc) that have hints about how The Last Jedi might go down.
