Descended From Greatness - A Theory About Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens

Hopefully you've all seen Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens by now, and if you haven't, please stop reading this article now. Seriously, stop. Unless you don't care about reading through spoilers because there's bound to be a few spoilers laced throughout this theory. So with that being said, lets begin.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens awakened an idea in my head after I finished watching it. An idea about the familial bonds and characters, mostly spurned on by the discovery of who Kylo Ren was before he descended into the Dark Side of the force. With the unmasking of Kylo Ren as Ben Solo, the son of two legends from the Rebellion, Han Solo and Leia Skywalker, it got me to thinking about the three new primary characters in The Force Awakens.

These three characters are all introduced rather rapidly, and we learned to love them just as quickly: Rey, Finn & Poe. Each character brought something different to the movie, and each character (I believe) has something hidden in their past that links them to the characters from the previous movies. Let's look at each and how their stories intertwine with the rest of the Star Wars universe.

Poe Dameron

Poe is the first of the three to be introduced. He is described as the resistance's best pilot and he is on a mission to meet with a member of the Church of the Force (Lor San Tekka) who had knowledge of where Luke Skywalker had gone. Poe goes to the planet and meets with Lor San Tekka, but is unable to escape before the First Order arrives and ultimately captures him. Poe has an established backstory thanks to the 4th and final issue of the comic accompaniment, Star Wars: Shattered Empire. Poe is the son of Shara Bey and Kes Cameron: both fighters for the Rebel Alliance who fought in the battle of Endor as well as several other battles against the Empire. The pair were even present for the ceremony on Yavin-4 in honor of Luke, Han & Chewbacca's efforts in stopping the Death Star. Yavin-4 is where the couple built a home to raise a family after they ended their service to the Alliance. It was outside of that home on Yavin-4 that Shara and Luke Skywalker planted one of the remaining fragments of a Force-sensitive tree that was once at the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Poe grew up around the tree; watching it grow and learning about what the Force was and is. Could he perhaps have been affected by the tree's growth? Could he perhaps have already been destined to be a defining aspect to a vision that Luke had in regards to the Jedi Order?

Here's how I see it. Poe isn't a Jedi. Won't be. Ever. BUT he is sensitive to the force in the same way as Maz Kanata. He may not be able to wield the force as a Jedi, but I believe that he will be an integral part of the final two films, and hopefully, a part of the rebuilt Jedi Order once all is said and done. It could easily be seen that Poe would offer up his parent's land/home as a sight for a Jedi Temple considering that it already has a part of the original tree. Poe has shown great aptitude towards flying: as did his mother, but being labeled as the best pilot in the resistance is more than just training. I see it similar to how Anakin & Luke were as good at flying as they were, because they relied on the Force to guide them (without knowing it at times). His talent in the air could be an offshoot of his sensitivity to the Force.

Finn

Finn is the second character that we meet in The Force Awakens. Finn is initially introduced as the stormtrooper, FN-2187, a strong fighter among the troops of the First Order: who reported directly to Captain Phasma. He displayed great leadership, but also a weakness for the safety of his fellow comrades. This weakness was on display during the battle on Jakku when the First Order went to capture the data that Lor San Tekka had as to the wherabouts of Luke Skywalker. During the battle, his comrade and friend FN-2003 is killed. Overwhelmed with emotion, his training as a stormtrooper is broken and he knows that it is all wrong. Amidst the aftermath of the battle, when ordered to kill the remaining villagers, he does not fire. Both Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma noticed his refusal to fire. Once he returned to the ship, he attempts to gather his emotions and decides that he needs to escape and his only way out is with the help of Poe.

Finn has an unknown lineage as he made the statement that he was taken as a young child from his family to serve the First Order as a Stormtrooper. Finn stated that he couldn't even remember his family anymore.

Here's how I see it. Finn is descended from one of the strongest Jedi of the past, and no I'm not talking about a Skywalker. Poe comes from the family of Mace Windu. Before you write it off as a hunch solely on the fact that Windu (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson) and Finn (portrayed by John Boyega) are both dark-skinned, but bear with me and read through my reasoning. On Mace Windu's home planet of Haruun Kal is a race of humans that were born into clans rather than the typical family pattern that we see through most of the remaining universe. So having Poe come from that family line would make a great deal of sense especially since the entire race is shown to be highly force-sensitive which would explain his ability to wield Luke's lightsaber. I don't believe that he's directly related to Mace (but could be), but I believe that he could be descended from the clan that Mace was born into, which would explain why Supreme Leader Snoke said the following to Kylo Ren:

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?

The awakening that he talking about, I believe, is in regards to Finn coming to grips with his emotions and deciding to follow the light within him rather than just blindly following the evil that he is being ordered to commit. I'm sure that we will see more of the force in him as the remaining sequels are released (possibly even with him becoming a Jedi under the training of Luke/Rey).

Rey

The girl who was a nobody when we met her, Rey, is the third character to be introduced. She is depicted as a scavenger on the desert planet of Jakku. She was left there by her parents at a young age and quickly became a gifted mechanic, fighter and natural pilot. Rey had heard the stories of the Jedi Order and was incredibly drawn to the stories of the resistance, but in reality she's drawn to the sense of purpose and hope that the resistance carries. Rey meets Finn after he and Poe crash on Jakku's surface after they attempted their escape from the First Order. The two become quick friends as they attempt to escape the First Order and bring the Astromech in their care to the leaders of the resistance as he carries something incredibly important (a map to Luke Skywalker). Rey learns very quickly that she's being drawn into a war that she may not be ready for.

Rey doesn't know her parents, similarly to Finn, but she for a long time believed that they were coming back for her. It wasn't until her encounter with Maz Kanata that she finally came to terms with an understanding that the family she had been waiting for, are not returning to Jakku and that there is something/someone else out there waiting for her.

Here's how I see it. There are three main theories about Rey's lineage: she is Luke's daughter, she is the grand-daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi or she is the reincarnation of Anakin Skywalker. I don't particularly think any of those three are entirely accurate. I think that Rey is an offshoot of shorts to the third theory, but not of a specific person, but the Force itself. We saw at the end of the re-released Episode VI that Yoda, Obi-Wan & Anakin himself were all able to reach the state of being a Force Ghost. The canon of Star Wars speaks about the death of a Jedi as his/her essence absorbing back into the Force itself. Yet we know that these 3 characters specifically learned the ability to separate their essence from the overall Living Force. I'd be entirely surprised if they took Anakin's spirit who had FINALLY found peace, and retool it to be placed within Rey. Now I'll grant you the fact that ultimately all three theories seem plausible, I believe that Rey is the new Chosen One. She is the new balance needed for the galaxy. I believe that she was born as a normal girl, but the Cosmic Force felt a darkness growing deep in the recesses of the galaxy and the Force deemed Rey to be the one to stop the darkness from spreading across the galaxy. Rey will convince Luke to teach her, which will begin evoking the truth of her powers and they will, together, face Kylo Ren, and in succession, the Supreme Leader.

But how will that all work?

You probably were right there with me through Poe, and you think Finn's backstory is plausible. Then we got to Rey and you may think I'm a crackpot, you're probably asking some of these questions:

• But what is the First Order then?
• Didn't Anakin bring balance to the galaxy?
• How do you explain Rey's vision?

Let me break down my thinking: officially the religion of the Sith died when Palpatine (Darth Sideous) and Anakin (Darth Vader) died. This completed the prophecy of Anakin bringing balance to the Living Force by returning to the light side (and destroying his dark master) in order to save his son, Luke. The First Order is a different animal all together from the Sith. The Order, and the Knights of Ren directly are a more distinctly militaristic and evil formation. The Order were originally fragments of the defeated Empire, as they all attempted to evade the New Republic. The Order began forming and fell under the command of Supreme Leader Snoke (who I believe to have a deeper connection to the Dark Side seeing as he likely came from the 'Unknown Regions" where we know the planet Ilum to have been - the same planet where the Jedi harvested kyber crystals for Lightsabers).

So with that in mind, Rey is able to wield the Force as quickly as she did, because she's ultimately the Force itself. Although it took some coaxing to actually use some of the talents: rejecting Kylo Ren's mindreading, reading Kylo's thoughts instead, controlling the storm trooper to release her, and telepathically pull the lightsaber from the snow. She is the balance that is now needed. Kylo Ren is fueled solely by bitterness and a desire to complete what his grandfather (Vader specifically) had once begun - the end to the Jedi and the beginning of true order (as the dark side sees it) to the galaxy. Ultimately, I believe that Rey is not solely pure light but an equal amount of both - she has a balance of the 5 emotions (joy, anger, sadness, confusion and serenity) that is needed to bring actual order to the galaxy.

So if my theory works out we should see these three bring around a new era Jedi after the defeat of the First Order. The three characters although unique in a sense are all necessary to bring about the revival of the Jedi Order. Poe's home planet of Yavin-4 is where the remnants of the Force-sensitive tree are. Finn is descended from one of the strongest force-sensitive people, possibly even Mace Windu himself. Lastly the most important character, Rey, destined to bring about true balance and train up the next generation of peace-keepers for the Galaxy with the aid of Luke Skywalker.