tegdoh:

diversehighfantasy:

lj-writes:

Warning: I have no idea if I’ve stumbled on to something here or am just pounding sand, but IF I’m right you’d be depriving yourself of a hell of a twist by reading this. Also, I put this in the general TLJ tag because it’s speculation for that movie, but if you’re for or against particular parentage theories and/or ships read the tags before proceeding. There  is also a lot of death, violence, trauma and disturbing imagery in this post and a mention of pedophilia (not in support of it, obvs) so exercise caution.

I keep reading theories and headcanons about how Rey was abandoned on Jakku after the destruction of Luke’s school for Jedi, and I find it compelling except for the big glaring timeline problems outlined below. I still feel drawn to the idea, though, and I’ll try to show that this may, in fact, be what happened. I will also discuss some other problems this theory may solve (why Jakku? who left her there?) and how this might put an entirely new spin on Kylo’s and Rey’s stories. Buckle in.

The timeline problem with Rey being left on Jakku after the school’s destruction is that the destruction took place years after Rey’s abandonment. We know that Ben had not yet fallen as of Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, six years prior to the events of The Force Awakens, and the destruction of the school happened after the events of Bloodline when Ben learned of his heritage–that he was the grandson of Darth Vader. By then Rey would have been thirteen years old, far too old to be the child shouting “Come back!”

Right?

Let’s stop right here and unpack the assumptions we’ve made. Here are the facts we know, or think we know, about the destruction of Luke’s school:

Assumption #1: The destruction took place after Ben switched his allegiance and became Kylo Ren.

Assumption #2: Kylo Ren’s fall took place in or after 28 ABY, after the events of Bloodline.

Assumption #3: Kylo Ren killed the Jedi students and destroyed the school.

What if none of these assumptions is true, at least without heavy qualification? It would change quite a lot of what we think we know about the characters and their backgrounds, that’s for certain.

I want to make this very clear, what would not change is the fact that Kylo Ren is a fascist enforcer and mass murderer. This entire post can be summarized as “Cool motive, still murder.” I’m simply wondering if the motive might be so cool that it changes the entire game.

All right, let’s dive in below the cut.

Keep reading

I think this theory is probably pretty warm. It’s too detailed for the whole thing to be true, but I would bet money that the twist is along these lines.

Of course, a Finn twist would be a big surprise too, especially with the marketing. The only way the twist is going to shock anyone is if it happens, like you said, where no one’s looking.

Or … Ben is seduced by Snoke while at the Academy, but doesn’t see him for what he is. He leads the Knights of Ren to the Academy, not allowing himself to admit that they are going to attack and burn the place down. When he realizes what is happening, he  saves Rey (Solo) & escapes with her to Jakku, where he blocks her identity & force signature to keep her safe & leaves her with Unkar Plutt.
He returns and spends some time traveling with Luke, hiding his guilt and trying to be “good” to make up for it. He can’t commit completely to Snoke and the dark side, but he doesn’t feel he belongs with Luke, either.
Finding out about Darth Vader is the last straw, and he defects to Snoke shortly after the events in Bloodline.

That’s closer to an earlier version of this theory (which I discussed with @absolxguardian ) of Ben unwittingly aiding Snoke’s destruction of the school through vanity and gullibility and not malice, then dropping Rey off on Jakku to hide his role. We agreed that Ben condemning her to life on Jakku to cover his own ass would if anything make him more despicable, not less, so I ended up retooling the theory.

Your version on the other hand is more sympathetic, and I think it works. We could have a mixture of motivations, I think, of Ben wanting to keep his sister safe but also, on some level, wanting to hide his responsibility. In fact I think this version of events demands his motive be mixed, because in this version Rey has played no role in the tragedy and the only reason Ben wouldn’t seek Luke’s help is to hide his own culpability. That would make Kylo a really complex character, both caring and self-serving, and it would give Rey plenty to call him out on.