"Just Rey"
CONTENT NOTICE: Ranting about The Rise of Skywalker in the year of our lord 2026 after having rewatched it yesterday night, specifically about Rey's character. This post contains heavy spoiler for the entire sequel trilogy of the Star Wars saga (Episode 7, 8, & 9).
Looking back at the sequel trilogy and specifically The Rise of Skywalker, Rey's character could've been somewhat redeemed by just a single line change at that last movie, but instead, the movies chooses to do what it's been doing the entire time, which is making the worst decisions possible.
At the end of the movie, a person asks Rey who she is, to which she gives her name, only to be met by "Rey who?". Her identity and her origins has always been put into question. A lot of things are happening to her, the plot bends itself around her, she keeps finding herself in extraordinary situations. She has to be special... right?
The fans assumed as much, and after episode seven, people were speculating on who she was. Rey Kenobi was thrown around a lot but the most obvious one was, "Rey Skywalker", secret daughter of Luke Skywalker or something like that and a direct antagonist to Kylo Ren, son of Han and Leia. Meanwhile, Rey herself in on a quest about her identity. She is looking for family, for belonging, and she is obsessed with figuring out who she is, and what is her place in all of this. But then, The Last Jedi came along and gave both the audience, and Rey, an answer that was hard to swallow for both of them: Rey is no one.
She is not the secret daughter of some past heroes, she is just Rey.
People really didn't like that. In fact, people hated The Last Jedi so much that Disney did a massive over-correction with The Rise of Skywalker and tried desperately to retcon pretty much everything that its predecessor did or undid. Including this.
Having rewatched the movie for the second time yesterday, after having seen it only once in theaters years ago, it's quite clear right away that the movie has a very strong focus on who Rey actually is. Her identity is brought up all the time in various ways. At some point, a character even asks her the question that will be repeated to her at the end of the story: "Rey who?" and she hesitantly, dis-heartedly even, answers: "Just Rey".
Rey wants to be special. A lot of that comes from a meta reason, the audience really wants her to be special too. But story wise, it also makes sense. She is profoundly gifted in the force, yet she grew up on a desert planet in the middle of nowhere, already seeing herself grow old and dying there, and now, she is on the path to leading the Resistance against the remnants of a dead Empire and being what could possibly be the very last remnant of the legacy of what used to be the Jedi Order. Of course she is wondering "why me?"
Eventually, in The Rise of Skywalker, she learns that in fact, she is special, The Last Jedi be damned. She does have a name. She is Rey Palpatine, grand daughter of the "somehow returned" Emperor Palpatine.
I have a mountain of issues with this premise, itself sitting on top of a mountain of issues with the fact that Palpatine is there, which itself is sitting on top of the mountain of issues that is this film. But. If I decide to get over all of the problems created for us just to get to this point, it does put Rey in a very interesting position.
The viewers are thrown for a loop, but not as much as she is. In a horrible lesson of "be careful what you wish for", Rey learns that she is special in ways she would've never imagined being, in what seems to her as a very bad way. This scavanger girl describing herself as "no one" finds herself heir to the worst of all galactic legends and she is clearly haunted by the revelations. Unable to accept it, desperate to somehow wash away the stain from her name.
Fast forward to the end of the movie, Palpatine is dead and gone... again... and Rey is burying the lightsabers of Leia and Luke on Tatooine, and we find ourselves at the scene I mentioned in opening this post.
"Rey who?"
And her answers is: "Rey Skywalker"... and the movie somehow falls apart all over again after having done nothing but that.
This movie can't be saved, but wouldn't this character have been somewhat saved by her simply answering: "Just Rey", but smiling this time? Accepting that she is who she is and that no one, no bloodline, nothing but herself gets to define who she is? This would've been a good conclusion to an actual arc. Instead, she, just like all the rest of the characters, just get dragged along for the ride with no agency.
And being dragged along for a ride with no agency in a story is not necessarily a bad thing, look at Jyn Erso from Rogue One. In fact, I love the idea of a character that doesn't want to be into this plot but is forced to be there despite themselves and having to adapt. But it works in Rogue One because she finds meaning and purpose in the things that are happening to her, she has some pre-existing ties and build some along the way.
Here, Rey spends three movie making the exact same dumbfounded face the entire way, and this is no shade to Daisy Ridley, I don't doubt her competency as an actor, I think it's a genuine, if unintentional, reflection of her character. Things just happens to her but she isn't really moved or changed by it. She's just going through stuff and is wondering how she got there in the first place. Which could be interesting, but the movies are too busy thinking about how she fits into the Star Wars mythos to even think about her actual place in this galaxy, let alone her own head.
And it's why when the idea was floating of more Rey in standalone movies, I was interested in it, because there is a lot to be said. I look at her and find myself filled with empathy, at how desperately alone she must feel, how profoundly unfulfilled all of this must feel to her... but once I'm passed projecting my own traumas and fantasy writing onto this character, all I'm left with is her introduction in The Force Awakens.
Her going through her routine as a scavanger, is the most compelling this character ever gets. Which is a shame, because without saying a single word, the movie manages to create a beautiful well of potential. I adore Rey's introduction in The Force Awakens, I find it so strong that it is enough for me to find myself emotionally attached to a character that isn't allowed to evolve or grow for three movies. The Last Jedi tried to escape the box both her and the franchise were stuck in, only to be punched back in by extremely strong reactions to it, and Star Wars has been in its "Never Again" box ever since, trapping Rey inside with it as well.
This "Rey Skywalker" is more "no one" than any other version of this character hinted at us. She could've been "Just Rey", instead, she is forced to be a blank state, on which no one, not even herself can project themselves.
...perhaps, one day I'll talk about how they massacred my boy, Finn.