When she touches the saber, she suddenly has a series of visions: She sees Luke’s mechanical hand reaching out to R2-D2 - presumably, as we later learn, shutting him down. They begin with her hearing a child’s voice, which draws down to the basement and leads to her finding Luke’s lightsaber. Instead, he cuts to Finn trying to explain to Rey why he’s leaving, and talking about how he was “taken from a family I’ll never know.” This helps further establish the ongoing theme of abandonment, and subtly sets up what that follows: Rey’s flashbacks. But more significant is this later scene: At Maz Kanata’s lair, after Rey walks away from the table to try to stop Finn from leaving, Maz turns to Han and asks, “Who’s the girl?” At that point, Abrams cuts away - so that we don’t see or hear Han’s response. Right after she tells him her name, he seems to do a double-take and softens toward her, even offering her a spot on his crew. As in, beat-the-crap-out-of-powerful-bad-guy–Kylo Ren–the-first-time-you-wield-a-lightsaber strong.) Though she is ostensibly an orphaned scavenger stuck on the desert of Jakku, there are more than a few questions as to where, exactly, she comes from.įor starters, if you watch closely, it appears that Han Solo knows who Rey is. (And not just kind of strong in the Force she’s really strong in the Force. Obviously, she’s already been established as the pseudo–Luke Skywalker of this new series of films: the young nobody who turns out to be strong in the Force.
Let’s take a minute now - lots of spoilers ahead - and really drill down into one of the most tantalizing questions coming out of the movie: the nature of Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey. Earlier today, my colleague Kyle Buchanan posted a great roundup of The Force Awakens talking points.