Rey

Rey, later known as Rey Skywalker, was a human woman who rose from a scavenger's life on the desert world of Jakku to become a Jedi of the Resistance during the war against the First Order. Born in 15 ABY, she was secretly a granddaughter of Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord who had ruled the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine, though she remained unaware of her bloodline for most of her life. Her decision to help the droid BB-8 set her on a course that awakened the Force within her and led her to seek out Luke Skywalker. Despite her devotion to the light, she felt the pull of the dark side through her adversarial bond with Ben Solo, with whom she formed a dyad in the Force.

Origins on Jakku#

Rey was born on Hyperkarn in 15 ABY during the rise of the New Republic. Her father, Dathan, was a bioengineered clone created from the genetic template of Darth Sidious, and he and his wife, Miramir, chose to live as junk traders in order to hide their daughter from the Sith Lord's followers. After her parents' deaths she was left to survive alone in the Jakku desert, where she became a scavenger in the employ of Unkar Plutt, trawling the Starship Graveyard for salvage that she traded for rations at Niima Outpost. Over the years she grew into a skilled mechanic, pilot, and combatant. She kept a Rebel Alliance flight helmet she had found in the wreckage and clung to the belief that her family would one day return for her.

The Force awakens#

Rey's isolated life was disrupted when she rescued the astromech droid BB-8 from a scavenger and learned that it carried a classified mission. When the droid was glimpsed by Finn, a stormtrooper who had defected from the First Order, the two were forced to flee Jakku aboard a derelict freighter that proved to be the Millennium Falcon. They were soon found by the ship's original owners, the smuggler Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca, who joined their effort to deliver BB-8 and its map to the Resistance. Drawn into the conflict, Rey began to sense the Force stirring within her. At the castle of Maz Kanata she experienced a vision when she touched the lightsaber that had belonged to Anakin Skywalker and Luke before him.

Captured by Kylo Ren and taken to Starkiller Base, Rey resisted his attempt to probe her mind and discovered she could turn his own powers against him. After Solo was killed by his son Ren, Rey drew on the Force to defeat the fallen warrior in a duel amid the collapsing base, leaving him scarred. She then set out to find Luke Skywalker, who had exiled himself on the ocean world of Ahch-To.

Training and the bond with Ben Solo#

On Ahch-To, Rey pressed Skywalker to train her and to return to help the Resistance, but the disillusioned master had come to see the Jedi Order as a story of hubris and failure. As she trained, Rey found herself connected across great distance to Kylo Ren through the Force, a bond neither of them fully understood. She came to believe she could turn Ren back to the light and traveled to him aboard the First Order flagship, only for him to remain committed to the dark side after killing Supreme Leader Snoke. Escaping with the surviving Resistance from the Battle of Crait, Rey continued to serve General Leia Organa, taking up further training and earning a growing reputation among the Resistance as a sign that the Force was with their cause.

The search for Exegol#

A year later, word reached the Resistance that Darth Sidious had returned. Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Chewbacca set out to find a Sith wayfinder that would lead to the hidden world of Exegol. On Pasaana they found the retired general Lando Calrissian, who pointed them toward the lost ship of a Sith hunter. It was through Kylo Ren that Rey learned the truth of her origins as Palpatine's granddaughter, a revelation that shook her belief in herself.

Confrontation with Sidious#

Rey journeyed to Exegol to confront the resurrected Emperor, who revealed that he intended to draw her to the dark side and transfer his spirit into her body so that he might be reborn through his heir. Nearly swayed, she was saved when Ben Solo renounced his dark identity and came to her side. Drawing on the strength of all the Jedi who came before her, Rey turned Sidious's own Force lightning against him and destroyed him, dying in the effort. Ben Solo gave his life to revive her, and the two shared a final embrace before he vanished into the Force. Though Solo was the last of the Skywalker bloodline, Rey chose to take the name Skywalker to honor him and the family she had found.

Rebuilding the Jedi Order#

In the new era that followed the destruction of the Sith, Rey recorded a holocron reflecting on her journey and the work still to come. By 50 ABY she had become a Jedi Master and begun rebuilding the Jedi Order, following in the footsteps of Luke Skywalker, though she faced rising enemies who sought to tear down the Order while it was still in its infancy.