Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker - 26 WTF Moments

17. Rey Is Palpatine's Granddaughter

LucasFilm

All those "crackpot" fan theories posted to YouTube after The Force Awakens were finally vindicated with the totally ridiculous mid-film reveal that Rey is in fact the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.

Kylo Ren drops this expository nugget of game-changing information during a Force-bond between the two, explaining rather awkwardly that she's the daughter of Palpatine's totally normal-looking son, and that Palpatine wanted her dead because of the threat she presented to him.

This is pretty much the moment at which the film teeters from merely underwhelming into eyebrow-raisingly WTF.

On one hand it's hysterical fan fic writing legitimised, but on the other, wasn't the idea of Rey being an outsider, totally unrelated to all the central characters, pretty damn appealing? Instead, the series' fascination with contrived familial links continues.

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