Many of the biggest questions left after watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens revolve around Daisy Ridley’s character Rey, a new addition to the franchise who, though she plays the central part in Episode VII, has a backstory shrouded in mystery and shadows. She obviously has connections to other players in this far, far away galaxy, but they are all hidden for now. A new video making the rounds seemed to expose her relationship with the villainous Kylo Ren, but as it turns out, those reports are bogus.
Guess what? There are SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens beyond this point. Do what you must.
A video of a the Disney Infinity 3.0, Star Wars: The Force Awakens playset for PlayStation 4 has been getting a lot of play on the internet as it appears to reveal a big secret about the link between Rey and Kylo Ren. As the adorable little avatar versions of the characters run around and battle with lightsabers, it appears that Kylo Ren yes, "Face me, cousin!" Unless General Leia has some siblings we don’t about, or Han Solo has some extended family that’s never mentioned, that would seem to indicate Rey is the daughter of one Luke Skywalker, who you may recall is Leia’s twin brother.
This, however, is not the case. Though various reports circulated based on the "face me, cousin" supposition, that’s since been debunked, and revealed to not be what Kylo Ren says. What he really says it, "Face me," followed quickly by the word "curses." The Rey avatar is dancing around, avoiding direct contact, which is the impetus for the "face me," and while he is saying that, he gets a direct hit from a blaster, hence the "curses."
Pablo Hidalgo, part of the Lucasfilm Story Group, among others, took to Twitter to confirm. We all should have known the lid over Star Wars is on too tight to allow such a major gaff.
Check out the video below to see for yourself. The moment in question pops up at about the 20:31 mark.
Part of why people initially glommed on to this so hard is that the idea of Rey and Kylo Ren being related in some way feels like something that is not only possible but perhaps even likely. There’s obviously some connection between the two; Rey is strong with the Force, a trait that we know is hereditary, passed from parents to children; and her background is suitably mysterious.
In the week or so that The Force Awakens has been out, there has been a ton of speculation on the subject. Some suspect that Rey is another child of Han and Leia (though why would they abandon her on a backwater desert planet like Jakku, and why keep her a secret?). Others presume that she is the daughter of Luke Skywalker—one rumor that was bandied about is that she was a student of his, possibly a survivor of the massacre at Luke’s Jedi academy, and that he stashed her on Jakku for safe keeping before he disappeared. Another idea is that she’s the granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which could explain why she heard his voice when she touched Luke’s lightsaber, the very same lightsaber that was in his possession for years.
With this cousin rumor being discredited, at least for the moment, the bad news is that as desperate as we are to learn the truth, we won’t know any more until Star Wars: Episode VIII opens in approximately 18 months on May 26, 2017.
