Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker finally brought us the truth about Rey’s origins, revealing that Daisy Ridley’s heroine was actually the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. It’s fair to say that almost no one saw it coming, either, with more common ideas linking Rey to the Skywalker or Kenobi bloodlines. So, how did J.J. Abrams decide on this for the film?
Well, in recent interviews, the writer/director has said that after learning in The Last Jedi that her parents were nobodies, he thought things could head in an even more dramatic direction if Rey learned that she was related to the most evil person in the entire galaxy: Palpatine. But it seems he may’ve drawn on some interesting fan theories and ideas as well, as it’s now been discovered that one individual predicted this twist years ago. Or at least, predicted most of it.
In a video published by Nerd Soup in 2017 titled Rey Palpatine Theory, some interesting ideas were put forth that looking back on it now, basically spoil The Rise of Skywalker. For one, the YouTuber points out that “Rey wields her lightsaber hilt with both hands and jabs at Ren in horizontal stabbing motions,” which is pretty similar to how Palpatine attacks with his own saber in Revenge of the Sith.
Furthermore, it’s pointed out that Rey’s Dark Side lineage is actually teased through the anger we see from her at various moments in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, while the themes from John Williams for both Rey and Palpatine are quite similar, too. And even more interesting is that Nerd Soup put forward the idea that Palpatine survived his death in Return of the Jedi and did so by transferring his consciousness into cloned bodies.
At over 20 minutes in length, there’s a lot more that this video goes into as well in regards to why, at the time, the user believed that Rey and Palpatine were related and while not everything plays out exactly as predicted, the majority of what Nerd Soup states in his 2017 video did end up coming true. At least, in some fashion.
And while we’ll never really know if Abrams did indeed draw on theories and speculation when crafting this twist for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it certainly seems as if he was at least aware of some of the more popular lines of thinking amongst fans when it came to Rey’s lineage.
