Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 9 Moments Everybody Misunderstands

7. Rey's Parentage Reveal

Alongside Snoke's identity, the other big point of speculation prior to, during, and especially after The Force Awakens was the parentage of Rey. Who is this mysterious girl who was left on Jakku and is extremely attuned to the Force?

She's nobody, of course. Her parents were junkers, who sold her off for drink money and never looked back, a truth she shut out because of how painful it was and instead turned to a longing for a sense of belonging. So says Kylo Ren, anyway.

Some fans don't accept this purely because they've spent two years theorising she's a Skywalker or a Kenobi or a Palpatine, and she just has to be someone. Others suggest Kylo is lying, since that's the remark that would cut the deepest. And to be fair, Rian Johnson has left the door ajar for a retcon, saying as he's not writing the next movie then J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio could go a different way.

But that would severely undercut the power of this reveal, not to mention that it's previously been stated Johnson and Abrams arrived at the same answer independent of each other. In other words, it's more likely true than not, and it should be kept that way. Rey being a 'nobody' is important for the character, because it's the biggest setback she could possibly receive. She's spent her whole life yearning for her family, and started on this journey to find out her place rather than a sense of duty to the Resistance or Jedi. Being no one is a major blow to her, but the one that pushes her character forward more than anything else.

It's doubly important because it helps end the Skywalker lineage, allowing Kylo Ren to be the only one left - and him a villain at that. Star Wars needs to break free of that one special family, and you can't do that while having Rey being a member of it (or even a Kenobi). A key theme of the movie is that a person can come from nothing and rise up to be a hero, as seen with Rose too, and it's central to Rey's parentage reveal; undo that and you undo a lot of the film's strength, while also not having to shoehorn in Luke or Obi-Wan having a kid.