Chapter 929: A Brainstorm Turns Into a Black Hole

"Where is the ocean in Rey's dream, and the island in that ocean?"

As the only outsider in the group, Aerin Lauder rested her folded hands on the coffee table and voiced her questions. "At the end of the film, Rey finds Luke on a small island in a vast sea. Could the island in her dream be this very place? Just like how she saw herself in a snowy forest in her visions? Or is it somewhere she once lived?"

"Between the ocean and the island, there's one very suspicious location in the Star Wars movies..."

Resting her chin on her hand, Charlize Theron chimed in, "Remember the cloning facility in the oceans of Kamino?"

"Huh?" Aerin Lauder's mouth fell open slightly in a show of great surprise. "Are you saying Rey might be a clone?"

Charlize Theron nodded. "Kamino was the Galactic Empire's backyard for producing clone troopers. After losing his apprentice, the Empire's leader, Sith Lord Darth Sidious, seduced Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker to the dark side. Even with a super-powered asset like Darth Vader, wouldn't he leave a backup plan for himself? What if he used Darth Vader as a genetic template in that backyard, modifying it to create a Daughter of the Force who was even superior to the Son of the Force—Rey—who was then raised by the Jedi after the Galactic Empire fell?"

It was safe to say Charlize Theron's imagination was running wild.

"True. That would explain why Rey has a talent for mechanics, why she was called by the lightsaber, and why she's stronger than Kylo Ren, who has ordinary human blood mixed in." After laying this out, Leonardo countered with a question. "But is it actually possible?"

"It is, but it's not very likely."

The speaker was Sofia Coppola, the person at the table who knew the most about the Star Wars series. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set twenty-nine years after the Battle of Jakku. Based on what we can gather from her visions, Rey should be younger than Kylo Ren. If that theory holds, the timeline doesn't match up."

Sofia Coppola continued her own wild speculation. "Did you notice that Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is also a mysterious figure?"

Aerin Lauder chimed in, "All we know so far is that Snoke is someone very powerful in the dark side of the Force."

"Duke explicitly stated before that Kylo Ren is not a Sith," Charlize Theron pointed out. "But Supreme Leader Snoke's behavior and style are incredibly similar to Emperor Darth Sidious of the Galactic Empire. The First Order operates almost exactly like the Galactic Empire, their weapons are upgraded versions of the Empire's, and just like Darth Sidious, Snoke likes to hide behind holograms when he speaks..."

Her eyes suddenly widened. "Could Darth Sidious still be alive?"

"Not very likely," Sofia Coppola said, shaking her head. "After Darth Vader threw Darth Sidious into the Death Star's reactor shaft, his chances of survival were practically zero. More importantly, Snoke seems to strongly dislike the 'Sith.' If we look back at Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith, when Darth Sidious—acting as the Galactic Republic's Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine—was seducing Anakin Skywalker, he mentioned his own master, Darth Plagueis."

Everyone looked at Sofia Coppola, listening to her analysis.

"He said this: Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He understood the dark side of the Force so well that he could even bring the people he cared about back from the dead. The dark side of the Force can grant abilities that ordinary people view as defying nature. He became too powerful; his only fear was losing his abilities. In the end, he did lose them. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, and that apprentice killed him in his sleep. Truly ironic. He could bring others back from the dead, yet he couldn't save himself."

At this point, Sofia Coppola asked the others, "Did Darth Plagueis really fail to save himself? Was an incredible figure with such a profound understanding of the dark side of the Force really wiped out by his apprentice just like that?"

The program was moving forward exactly according to the script and planned outline. Leonardo, Charlize Theron, and Sofia Coppola all put on expressions of curiosity.

Sofia Coppola had now completely taken charge of the conversation. "Let's first look at Supreme Leader Snoke's appearance: a large head whose original shape is unrecognizable due to deformed and twisted features, yet incredibly thin limbs."

She reminded them, "Have you seen any of the Star Wars expanded universe materials? Darth Plagueis was a Muun. Although his appearance never showed up in the main films, we can look at San Hill, the Chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, for reference. He has the same large head, just a bit more elongated, and the same emaciated, spindly limbs."

"Darth Plagueis gave all his skills to his apprentice, even handing over the new order he established. Now, it is time for him to take everything back." Reaching her conclusion, Sofia Coppola spoke with confidence. "The First Order isn't a continuation of the Galactic Empire, but rather the original new order—the 'First' new order. Furthermore, he absolutely hates the Sith. But he still needs an apprentice and an army of warriors, so he recruited soldiers from all over the universe and led Kylo Ren to the dark side. Yet, he needs to guard against this new apprentice. What should he do?"

The others didn't quite understand what Sofia Coppola meant and shook their heads.

Sofia Coppola provided the answer. "He can use the Force to influence midi-chlorians to create life. There is no apprentice in this world more reliable than a life you create yourself."

She finally delivered her conclusion. "So after creating the Knights of Ren, Snoke created life once again, and that life is Rey!"

Charlize Theron didn't agree with Sofia Coppola's theory and was the first to rebut it. "Then how do you explain all those scenes with Rey in the film?"

"The perfect lifeform created by the Dark Lord was, unfortunately, too perfect. So perfect that she walked directly toward the light." Sofia spread her hands, stating it as a matter of course. "The major villains in the Star Wars series fall from the light into the darkness, while the life created by the Dark Lord heads toward the light. The contradiction is perfectly balanced this way."

Leonardo and the others seemed to freeze for a moment, as if shocked by the sheer scale of Sofia Coppola's imagination.

Sofia Coppola, completely unfazed, continued, "And so, all of Rey's various superpowers are explained. Just like the Son of the Force, she is a Force-sensitive with an impeccably pure bloodline—the Chosen One born to bring balance to the Force."

Aerin Lauder finally seemed to recover from her shock. Letting her own imagination spiral into a black hole, she blurted out, "At the end of this new trilogy, is Snoke going to tell Rey, 'I... am...'"

The others, including Sofia Coppola who had just been letting her own imagination run wild, instantly looked entirely dumbfounded.

It wasn't just Aerin Lauder whose brainstorm had escalated into a black hole; Charlize Theron's thoughts had also flown off into the distant stratosphere. She turned to Sofia Coppola and said, "Maybe you have a point. Following your train of thought, I've come up with a new idea too."

Leonardo immediately urged her on. "Let's hear it."

"I think Rey is a composite genetic clone of Luke and Leia. You could also say she's Anakin's third child."

Charlize Theron explained in detail, "Anakin's Force talent was perfect, but he had major character flaws, leading to his fall to the dark side. Luke and Leia each inherited Anakin and Amidala's strengths, yet neither of them was perfect. Rey combines Anakin and Amidala's strengths—you could call her Luke and Leia's younger sister—cultivated through genetic engineering. That's why she has Anakin's scavenging, repairing, and piloting skills, as well as Amidala's resolute personality and kind nature."

She shrugged, adding a final note. "Of course, this is just my personal guess."

At this point in the program, Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one who hadn't clearly stated his own opinion.

Aerin Lauder asked, "Leo, what's your take?"

"I feel like the film actually reveals details about Rey's identity." Leonardo thought for a moment before answering. "I'll give you my conclusion first. Rey is either Luke's daughter, a Force-sensitive child Luke adopted, or both. But personally, I lean toward her being Luke's daughter."

"Where's the proof?" Sofia Coppola asked.

"First, her initial characterization. When Rey first met BB-8, she said, 'Classified? I'm a big secret too. I know all about waiting, waiting for my family.' This was the earliest hint regarding Rey's origins, laying the groundwork for her Force awakening later on."

Sounding as if he had pondered this deeply, Leonardo listed his reasons very methodically.

"Second, Rey's piloting skills. When Rey and Finn were being pursued by the First Order on Jakku, they were looking for a ship to escape. Finn said they needed a pilot, and Rey said they already had one. Before this point, the film offered no explanation or foreshadowing of Rey ever flying a ship. Yet immediately afterward, when the two of them boarded the Millennium Falcon, Rey displayed incredible piloting skills, shaking off and destroying the two pursuing TIE Fighters."

"As we all know, an innate mastery of piloting is a massive buff for the Skywalker Family..."

"Third, the lightsaber in Maz's basement. In Maz's cantina, Rey heard her own childhood crying. Following the sound, Rey found the very lightsaber once wielded by both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker. This represents the inheritance of the Force, or perhaps the inheritance of plot armor. Here, I personally lean toward Rey having an unusually close connection to the Skywalker Family."

"Fourth, Rey's Force flashbacks. After touching the Skywalker Family's lightsaber, Rey experienced Force visions. They included the Jakku desert, where someone handed Rey over to a Jakku local before flying away in a ship; the hallways of Cloud City, where Luke and Vader dueled; an unknown location where Luke was touching R2D2; a rain-swept wasteland where Kylo Ren killed a Jedi apprentice amidst a field of corpses; and finally, Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice saying: 'This is your first trial.'"

"These should be Rey's memories combined with hints about her identity, so Rey is definitely not her real name."