Misc, Just Odd Stuff And Star War News: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Backstory ,Rey

The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead."

―Maz Kanata to Rey^[src]

Rey was a Force-sensitive human female scavenger who conducted her trade on the planet of Jakku, located in a remote section of the Western Reaches, thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The scavenger was born to unknown parents and at the age of five, was left on Jakku, a junkyard planet littered with leftovers from a battle between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire. During her lifetime, Rey learned how to survive, becoming a gifted mechanic, pilot and warrior. She was seemingly destined to live out her days on a forlorn backwater world, while ignorant of the larger galaxy and its perils and possibilities. She inhabited a downed AT-AT and scraped a living through scavenging parts from ships from the battle, while hoping for the return of her long-lost family, from whom she was separated when young.

Rey's life changed when she encountered BB-8, a Resistance astromech droid carrying a star-chart offering a clue to the location of the long-lost Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. She also met a renegade former stormtrooper, Finn, and they forged an unlikely friendship. With their escape of Jakku, Finn and Rey found themselves caught in a galactic war, with both of their destinies shaped by the awakened power of the Force. When Kylo Ren's First Order forces came to attack them, Rey, with Finn and BB-8, escaped on the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo and Chewbacca's ship. Chewbacca and Solo soon joined Rey and Finn and they went to Maz Kanata's castle at the planet Takodana. Rey was called by the Force to a lightsaber that had previously belonged to Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker.

Upon contact with the lightsaber, Rey received a series of visions. After the vision, Maz Kanata explained to her the lightsaber's history and that it was now calling to her. Shortly afterwards, Rey was captured by Kylo Ren as the First Order attacked Takodana.

Finn, Chewbacca, and Han Solo went to the Resistance base, where they meet Leia Organa, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Meanwhile on Starkiller base, Kylo Ren unsuccessfully tried to pull information about the starchart Rey had seen from her mind. Now aware of her Force powers, Rey was soon able to free herself and started looking for a way out of the base.

Finn, Chewbacca, and Han Solo infiltrated the base to bring down the shields in preparation for a large-scale Resistance attack, and also to recover Rey. They soon encountered her. After Kylo killed Solo, he chased Rey and Finn. Kylo force pushed her and briefly knocked her out. Finn, enraged, fought Kylo with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, but was severely wounded and fell into a coma. Rey regained consciousness, took the lightsaber, and defeated Kylo. She severely disfigured him, but she spared his life. After escaping in the Falcon with Finn and Chewbacca, Rey set out to find Luke Skywalker with Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO, eventually finding him on an oceanic planet following the directions of the encoded star-chart.

Biography

Early life

"I don't do that anymore. But I've kept these things anyway—to remind myself of how far I've come, I guess."

―An entry in Rey's journal^[src]

Rey was born to unknown parents and at the age of five, was left on the planet Jakku,^[4] a junkyard planet littered with leftovers from the Battle of Jakku between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire.^[5] She lived on her own inside a downed AT-AT and learned to survive by scavenging the leftovers which she would sell for sustenance.^[1] Rey's skills as a scavenger have earned the respect of many junk traders, Unkar Plutt in particular. Plutt ordered his thugs not to steal Rey's wares because she was a valuable source of salvage. Rey had learned self-defense as a matter of necessity in order to to adjust to the harsh conditions on Jakku.^[2] On one of her scavenging trips, Rey came across an old flight simulator. She took the simulator back to the AT-AT she lived in and used it to learn how to pilot as a source of entertainment.^[6] Rey kept an old Rebel flight helmet during her one of her first scavengings at the Graveyard. The helmet belonged to Captain Dosmit Ræh of the Tierfon Yellow Aces. Rey would make up stories about who Ræh was and what planet she might have come from. She also made a doll out of a flight uniform she found in a cargo container. She would put on the helmet and explore the AT-AT walker and the outdoors with the doll and she would find lost rebels and get them back to their ships.^[7]

Meeting BB-8 and Finn

"I know all about waiting. For my family."

―Rey to BB-8^[src]

Rey with BB-8 — Rey meeting BB-8 for the first time

Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Rey encountered a BB-unit astromech droid named BB-8 struggling against being captured by a Jakku scavenger named Teedo. She freed the droid and set it on its way, but BB-8 was insistent on remaining with Rey. When returning to a settlement to collect payment on scrap, two thugs attempted to steal the droid, but Rey fended them off with her staff. BB-8 then saw Finn, a former stormtrooper and an acquaintance of the droid's owner, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. BB-8 identified the jacket Finn was wearing as that of its owner, so Rey attacked Finn, believing him to be a thief. After Finn explained his intentions, the First Order arrived, searching for a map that would reveal the location of Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, which BB-8 was in possession of. Rey, Finn, and BB-8 managed to escape in the Millennium Falcon, destroying two TIE fighters that had been pursuing them.^[1]

Journey to Takodana

"Rey... these are your first steps."

―The voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi during Rey's vision^[src]

Maz Kanatas Castle Takodana — Han, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 travel to Maz Kanata's castle.

After escaping from Jakku, the Falcon was in major need of repairs, so the two humans and the droid began working to fix it. While they were working on repairs, the ship was caught in a tractor beam. Initially believing themselves to be captured by the First Order, they met their real captors: Han Solo and Chewbacca, the former owners of the ship. After a scuffle with enemy gangs of Solo's, in which Rey accidentally released three rathtars, Solo took Rey, Finn, and BB-8 to the planet Takodana to meet with Maz Kanata. There, Rey was called by the Force to a lightsaber that had previously belonged to Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke (which the latter had lost during a duel with the former in Cloud City three decades prior). Upon touching the lightsaber, she received a series of visions in which she saw Cloud City, Luke with R2-D2, herself as a child watching the departure of her parents, and the Knights of Ren surrounded by slaughtered victims. After the vision, Maz Kanata explained to her the lightsaber's history and that it was now calling to her. Frightened by her vision, Rey refused to keep the lightsaber, running off into the woods with BB-8.^[1]

Capture and escape

"You're afraid... that you will never be as strong as Darth Vader!"

―Rey to Kylo Ren^[src]

ReyRen-TFAintltrailer — Rey is captured by Kylo Ren.

While fleeing through the woods, the First Order, tipped off to BB-8's presence, attacked Takodana. Rey encountered Kylo Ren and shot at him with her blaster pistol, but Kylo restrained her using the Force. Learning that she had seen the star-chart BB-8 carried, he decided that capturing the droid was no longer important, as he believed he could pull the information from Rey's mind instead. He rendered her unconscious with the Force and took her with him.
She was brought to Starkiller Base and interrogated by Kylo Ren, trying to pry from her information on the map to Luke Skywalker. However, the darksider had a difficult time probing her mind, and Rey was able to reach into Ren's mind, sensing his fear at being weaker than his maternal grandfather Darth Vader. Upon realizing that she was Force-sensitive, she used a mind trick on her stormtrooper guard, allowing her to escape. Rey then made her way through the Starkiller Base, honing her Force abilities while using stealth. She eventually encountered Finn, Han Solo, and Chewbacca again, who had come to sabotage Starkiller's shield generator, as well as rescue Rey.^[1]

Rey vs. Ren

"You're a monster."

―Rey to Kylo Ren^[src]

After going with Finn to plant explosives, Rey witnessed Solo attempt to reason with Kylo Ren, where she learned he was actually Han's son Ben Solo. Kylo instead gave in fully to the dark side by murdering his father, shocking and enraging her and Finn. While escaping, Kylo pursued Finn and Rey. When they encountered each other, Kylo pushed Rey away, and Finn ignited Skywalker's lightsaber and engaged Kylo in a lightsaber duel. After Kylo disarmed and wounded Finn, he attempted to call the fabled saber to him with the Force, but it instead went to Rey. Rey then engaged Kylo in a duel, and despite her apparent lack of training, was able to hold her own. Kylo pressed his offensive and became deadlocked with Rey at the edge of a precipice. He remarked on her lack of training and offered to teach her. Rey belligerently rejected him and called on the Force to wound and defeat the darksider. Before she could kill or capture him, however, a fissure due to the planet's impending destruction separated the two. Rey then took the wounded Finn to the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Chewbacca, and returned to the Resistance base on D'Qar.^[1]

Search for Luke

"Rey. May the force be with you."

―Leia to Rey^[src]

Upon returning to the Resistance base, the reawakened R2-D2 revealed the rest of the map showing the location of Luke Skywalker. After saying goodbye to an unconscious Finn, Rey, Chewbacca and R2-D2 took the Millennium Falcon to Luke's location. With the Wookiee and the droid staying behind, Rey journeyed across the island of an unnamed planet, which she had previously seen in her visions. There she found Skywalker and presented him with his old lightsaber.^[1]

Personality and traits

ReyHS-Fathead — Rey was a fair-skinned, brown-haired woman.

On Jakku, Rey was a loner, scavenging by herself and living alone inside the wreckage of a downed AT-AT walker, hoping for her family to return despite many years of their absence. Despite her years of isolation, she was keen to help people in need, saving BB-8 twice from thieves and then providing assistance to Finn. She was frightened by her first Force vision, not wanting to take up the Skywalker lightsaber, but her resolve strengthened and willingly took up in order to save Finn. Unlike Kylo Ren, who was prone to fits of rage and used his rage in combat, characteristics typical of dark side users, Rey was able to remain calm and focused in order to defeat Ren using the light side of the Force.^[1]

Powers and abilities

Due to her life as a scavenger, Rey had significant technological prowess. She was able to repair the Millennium Falcon, despite it having been decades since it last flew, and her knowledge of the ship impressed its former captain Han Solo. She was also a skilled pilot, flying the Falcon through the wreckage of a Super Star Destroyer.^[1]

She also had some prowess in melee combat, probably due to her rough upbringing. She wielded a staff and was able to use it to subdue two Jakku thugs, as well as former First Order stormtrooper Finn. This combat proficiency, combined with her Force sensitivity, would translate into skill with a lightsaber. Despite no apparent Jedi training, she was able to fight Kylo Ren, a trained (albeit wounded) Knight of Ren to a draw in her first lightsaber duel. She had little knowledge how to use a blaster until the battle at Takodana, but quickly picked up the skill and shot several stormtroopers.^[1]
Rey was naturally gifted with the Force, and could use several powers despite little to no training. She experienced a Force vision upon touching the former lightsaber of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. She was also able to resist Force mind-reading techniques performed by Kylo Ren, and was instead able to reach into his own mind and discover his fears. Despite two initial failed attempts, Rey was able to use a mind trick on a stormtrooper forcing him to release her from her restraints, leave with the cell door open and drop his weapon for Rey to use, aiding her escape. Shackled at the time, Rey accomplished the feat without the use of any distracting gesture. She also used telekinesis, pulling the Skywalker lightsaber from the snow, directly counteracting Ren's attempt to summon the same weapon. Her affinity with the Force then allowed her to defeat Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel, despite the latter's greater experience, though notwithstanding his wound.^[1] Rey also demonstrated the ability to resist the dark side of the Force, choosing to spare Kylo despite the dark side's lure calling to her to end his life.^[8]

Behind the scenes

"I tend to gravitate towards stories of women, of young women in situations – as I did with Felicity and Alias. And we were talking about 'Who could this be?' and I saw this young woman."

―J.J. Abrams^[src]

Rey is portrayed by Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Ridley's casting in the film was first announced on April 29, 2014,^[9] and her character was first seen in the first teaser trailer for the film on November 28, 2014.^[10] Her first name was revealed by Entertainment Weekly in an exclusive trading card.^[11] The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams stated that it is "completely intentional" that no last name has been provided for the character.^[12]