Is Rey a Palpatine?! - Star Wars

Rey's forward thrust stab, her Core World accent, the pull to the dark side, the possible meaning of her name and the new scenes from The Last Jedi trailer.........are these proofs that she is a Palpatine? Let's discuss each one of these topics:



Forward thrust stab

One of the main arguments to support this theory is that Rey and Palpatine seem to be the only two to use this forward thrust stab. We have seen Rey doing this movement in her fight with Kylo Ren and we have seen Palpatine doing it in Episode III, when he attacks Mace Windu and the other Jedi.........but that doesn't mean much. After all, the way you fight (as well as the things you do in your daily life, such as the way you hold a pencil, for example) isn't something inherited..........

You might say that Rey is a Palpatine and, so, she was taught to fight this way (when she was very young, before being left with Unkar Plutt) because this is her "family unique fighting style" and she has learned to do it........

Well, I don't think Rey has ever fought with a lightsaber before, since Obi-Wan's words during her Force visions ("these are your first steps") clearly indicated that Rey has never had a proper training before. 

So, everything she does with the lightsaber is based on the foundation she built using her staff on Jakku. She probably has taught herself how to fight with the staff so as to protect herself against other scavengers or other people that had mean intentions towards her. Therefore, the only fight technique she had was the one she developed using the staff, that's why she used the lightsaber the same way she would use the staff.

Besides, just because Rey and Palpatine have a similar way to fight with one lightsaber, that doesn't mean that they have the same fighting style. We have seen Palpatine fight with two lightsabers in The Clone Wars animated series (which is official canon), where he obviously uses a different choreography than the one he uses when he is fighting with only one lightsaber. So, if we are going to talk about them having the same fight style, we must see Rey's performance in other situations.

Rey has a Core World accent 

Another strong argument is the one concerning Rey's accent. We have reasons to believe that the producers purposely let Daisy Ridley to speak with the British accent, since John Boyega (who plays Finn) also has such accent in his natural speaking voice, but was told not to do it in the movie.

In the star wars universe, this accent is spoken by the Core World habitants............so, it might indicate that Rey was raised in one of the Core Worlds or somewhere near the Core or by upper class people who came from the Core. And as we know, Palpatine spent a large portion of his life in Coruscant (a Core World Planet that was the Capital of the Republic and later of the Empire), that's why some people defend that it's a strong indication of Rey's heritage to Darth Sidious.

Yeah, there is a slight chance that it is indeed an indication that she is a Palpatine, but it's not a very strong proof, since she could have been raised in a Core World or by people that came from the Core but without being blood related to Palpatine. Besides, it's possible that Rey shouldn't have the accent............maybe Daisy Ridley couldn't pull off an American accent and, for the sake of a good movie, the producers let her speak with her natural speaking voice, even though the fans would question about it.

Rey is in the "dark side part" of The Force Awakens poster

Some people believe that The Force Awakens poster indicates that Rey is a Palpatine because she has a strong pull to the dark side, since she was purposely placed in the same side as Kylo Ren.........

First of all, we can't presume that it's an indication of anything, maybe the purpose was only to put in evidence Kylo and Rey's rivalry, show the fans that they could expect several confrontation scenes between them two in The Force Awakens, which actually happened.......

From what I have seen, The Last Jedi posters don't place Rey in the same side as Kylo Ren, such as this one........

And this other one here..........

So, this argument isn't solid at all. Besides, I am not denying that Rey has a strong pull to the dark side. On the contrary, I do believe she has it, but that doesn't mean she is blood related to Palpatine, which we are going to discuss in the next topic. 

Rey's pull to the dark side

The defenders of the theory say that Rey's pull to the dark side is very strong, and we can most see it when she strikes Kylo down during their fight............in that moment (according to The Force Awakens book, which is official canon), a mysterious voice tells her to kill him, and some people believe that it's Palpatine talking to her granddaughter and trying to pull her to the dark side, the same way he did with Anakin, tempting him to kill Dooku ("Kill him........kill him now.......do it!") in Episode III.

Yeah, these situations are indeed very similar, but that doesn't mean much. After all, the most efficient way to pull someone to the dark side is definitely by encouraging him or her to commit murder. Consequently, the "dark side incentive lines" aren't going to change much........

Besides, how come Palpatine could speak with Rey if he was dead? Did he have his mind preserved and end up becoming some type of Dark Force Ghost? I highly doubt it.

So, this voice tempting Rey to kill Kylo wasn't a person's voice, but only a dark voice inside her. After all, it's clear that Force sensitive people (especially the most powerful ones, such as Rey) are susceptible to the pull of the dark side every once in a while........

Anakin, for example, was tempted by a dark side voice within him to kill Dooku, which he did. Palpatine encouraged him, of course, but there was surely a much stronger voice inside Anakin pulling him and he couldn't resist it.

Luke was also tempted by an inner dark side voice when he struck down his father and had the chance to kill him..........even though Palpatine was encouraging him with words, there was certainly a much tempting voice inside Luke trying to corrupt him.........but he had the strength to ignore it and choose the light, unlike his father Anakin.

Concluding, Rey's pull to the dark side doesn't mean much. It's only a common thing that all Force sensitive people, especially the most powerful ones, have to deal with every once in a while.

Rey's name

Rey's name is also one of the main arguments to support the theory, since names in Star Wars movies usually have a significance: "Darth Vader" means "dark father", "Luke" is a name that comes from the Latin word "lux" that means "light", "Yoda" may come from the Sanskrit word "Yoddha" which means "warrior" or from the Hebrew name "Yodea" meaning "One who knows"......

Having that in mind, lots of people argue that just as "Vader" is Dutch for "father", "Rey" is Spanish for "King", a monarch ruler that resembles an Emperor, which might indicate a blood relation to Emperor Palpatine.

Well, I do believe that Rey's name has a meaning, and there is a great chance that it's something related with the word "King", but it might refer to the fact that she will play an important political role in the galaxy, not because she is a Palpatine, but because she is so powerful that she will end up having an important leadership position.

Did Palpatine have a family?

If Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, so did he have a family? Well, I have heard an interesting idea concerning the fact that Rey has some similarities with Padmé, who was a Naboo native.........and since Padmé had more than several doubles that looked similar to her, we can presume that Naboo women tend to resemble each other in terms of appearance and physical characteristics ..........

So, according to this theory, it's possible that Palpatine, during the time he lived in Naboo (recalling that he was born there), secretly married a Naboo girl and had children with her, since he wanted heirs to continue his plans after his death.

Well, it's a little bit crazy, but it actually makes sense. After all, if even Anakin had a secret marriage, it's totally possible that Palpatine had one as well, especially because he wasn't a Jedi and didn't have a Code to follow.........but it's hard to imagine Palpatine investing time and effort to build a family, after all, it doesn't seem to be something that he would spend his precious time with.

We never know, though. It's possible that he saw his family as an important way to continue his Master Plan of conquering the galaxy.........which is indeed a great motive, isn't it?

But even though there is a slight chance that Palpatine had a family and that Rey is blood related to him, there are still lots of things to be answered: where is Palpatine's family? And why did Rey end up in Jakku? Is it possible that the New Republic wanted to kill all Palpatine's descendants after the collapse of the Empire? That's why Rey's parents decided to hide their daughter in Jakku, so as to protect her?

Well, I must confess that there are interesting ways to justify why Palpatine had a family and how Rey's heritage led her to end up in Jakku.........but it might be a little complicated for the writers to fit all the details together..........

Rey's powers were triggered by a dark force user

As everything indicates, Rey's powers were triggered when Kylo Ren tried to read her mind with a strong dark power messing up with her head........and some people believe it is a proof that she is a Palpatine, since the dark side apparently made her powerful.

Well, I do believe that Kylo was the one that triggered her powers, but that doesn't mean much. After all, it's possible that her powers were triggered only as a defense mechanism of her body, which reacted to a challenging and risky situation..........not because the dark side "likes" her for being blood related to Palpatine.

Kylo Ren seems to know Rey

In The Force Awakens book, Kylo Ren says "it is you" when Rey pulls Luke's lightsaber to her in the fight scene between her and Kylo. So, he seems to know Rey somehow and there are lots of theories concerning this, including the ones trying to relate it to the fact that she is a Palpatine.

Some people defend that Snoke had been trying to track down Rey for years, without success. Maybe he knew about her because he had heard rumors that Palpatine's granddaugther was still alive and hidden somewhere........and Kylo certainly knew about it and was helping his master to find the girl.........

This theory justifies Kylo's curious line ("what girl?") in the scene where the guard tells that Finn and a girl had escaped with the droid. It seems that Kylo was already suspecting something........and in the scene where Kylo tells Snoke that Rey is strong with the Force, Snoke tells to bring her to him, as if he was suspecting that she was the girl he had been looking for........

And in the fight scene between Rey and Kylo, he says "it is you" (we have to consider that actually happened, since the book is official canon) because somehow he confirms - maybe he had seen the scene in a Force vision - that Rey is the one he had been looking for. That's why he tells her, later in the fight, that he could help her.........some people believe that he tells it because he knows how powerful a Palpatine and a Skywalker can be together..........

Yeah, there is a chance that this theory turns out to be true, but it's possible that Kylo Ren wanted to help Rey simply because he had seen, through Force visions, how powerful she was, that's why he was so interested to make her an ally, after all, the pull to the dark side tend to be stronger in the most powerful Force-sensitive people.

Sith Screech in Rey's scene in the trailer and in Rey's Force visions in The Force Awakens

In the opening shot in The Last Jedi trailer, when Rey ignites her lightsaber, we hear a faint but undeniable Sith screech, very similar to the one heard in Episode III, when Palpatine ignites his lightsaber and reveals himself for the first time, attacking Mace Windu and the other Jedi. 

In The Force Awakens, we can also hear a screech at the beginning of Rey's Force visions' scene..........

So, lots of people defend that this sound effect was purposely added in Rey's scenes, as a hint that she is a Palpatine.

Well, I do think these screeches are in Rey's scenes for a reason, but it doesn't necessarily mean that she is a Palpatine. Maybe this sound effect only indicates that Rey is suffering (or is going to suffer) a great pull to the dark side, not because she is a Palpatine, but because the pull to the dark side is more intense in the ones that are strong with the Force, as we have discussed before.

Luke is scared by Rey's raw strength

As we can see from the trailer, Luke is very scared by Rey's power, he even said that he had seen such a raw strength only once before............whom was he talking about? Some people say that he was talking about Palpatine, since he knew how powerful Darth Sidious was, after all, he felt his lightning in Episode VII. So, Luke is afraid of Rey, because he knows that she could turn to the other side and the galaxy would have a new Palpatine.

I am not so sure if Luke was talking about Palpatine when he said that he had seen "this raw strength only once before". After all, when he confronted Darth Sidious, the latter was a very experienced dark side fighter, so, Luke doesn't know how powerful he was before receiving any kind of training (his raw strength).

You might say that Luke was talking about his father, Anakin..........but then we have the same problem: he confronted his father when the latter was already a very experienced fighter, so, Luke hasn't personally seen (just heard about) Anakin's raw strength.......

Maybe Luke was talking about Kylo Ren? Well, from what we have seen in The Force Awakens, Kylo doesn't seem to be so powerful with the Force as Rey..........

It's also possible that Luke was talking about someone we don't know yet........I guess we will have to wait to see it. 



Snoke expects Rey to fulfill her destiny

At the beginning of The Last Jedi trailer, we hear Snoke talking to someone, which we believe to be Rey, since he talks about a "raw, untainted power" and a few moments later we see Luke talking about her raw strength.......

And later in the trailer Snoke tells Rey that she must fulfill her destiny............but what kind of destiny would he expect her to fulfill?

Some people believe that Snoke wants her to continue what her grandfather started, since he can sense that she is a Palpatine, he feels that she has that kind of potential to the dark side that he never saw anyone else hold before, not even Kylo Ren. 

Well, that line ("you must fulfill your destiny") is indeed very confusing, but, as we have already discussed several times in this post, Rey's pull to the dark side might be very strong not because she is blood related to Palpatine, but because the pull to the dark side is naturally more intense in the ones that are powerful with the Force......and since Rey is uncommonly powerful, the pull to the dark side is a lot more intense in her than in the other Force users, including the powerful ones such as Luke and Kylo Ren........

That's it guys, as you can see, I do think it's possible that The Rey Palpatine Theory turns out to be true, but it isn't my preferred theory. I think that The Creations of the Dark Side Theory is so much more intriguing and it fits the story a lot better. Click HERE to check out the post!

Dark Kisses,

Tati.