Chapter 930: The Plot of the Next Two Star Wars Movies

"My personal opinion," Leonardo DiCaprio said with absolute certainty at the end of the show, "is that her name should be... Rey Skywalker!"

This discussion program about Rey's identity hit the highest ratings for Saturday Night Live in five years. Since Duke had communicated sufficiently with the production company and the network, the episode appeared online the very next day, further fueling the hype and drawing more and more people into the debate.

Many people went back to the theaters after watching the show to look for evidence supporting their views, and Leonardo DiCaprio's statement garnered quite a bit of support across the internet.

"I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens again and realized I definitely missed a few things. After Rey snaps out of her vision, Maz tells her that The Force has awakened and is calling to her. Rey says she wants to go back to Jakku. Maz then replies, 'You know they're never coming back, except for one person.' Rey asks, 'Luke?' and Maz confirms it. Maz tells her she needs to find Luke and take the Lightsaber."

"I think this is a very important piece of evidence..."

Where there was agreement, there were naturally counterarguments—which was exactly one of the show's goals. Another faction firmly believed Rey had to be a descendant of Obi-Wan.

To prove their point, they also repeatedly bought tickets to rewatch the movie.

"Remember the line 'Rey' in the movie? Yeah, the voice she hears during her vision after picking up the Lightsaber. That's Ewan McGregor's voice—meaning it's Obi-Wan's voice."

"The fact that she hears Obi-Wan instead of Luke in that vision speaks volumes."

He even attached a clip from an interview Ewan McGregor gave yesterday to back up the claim.

In the video, Ewan McGregor explained, "I was called in to record a single line for Star Wars 7. I waited two years for Duke's call, thinking they'd lost my agent's number. The movie was almost out before he finally called to invite me on board, and it turned out just to be for one line. He told me there was a crucial scene that needed Obi-Wan's voice."

The actual movie heavily influenced the narrative online, and that online buzz in turn captured massive public attention, drawing even more people into theaters to boost the box office numbers.

As the debate raged on, speculation around Rey's identity gradually split into two main camps: one claiming she was Luke Skywalker's daughter, and the other arguing she was Obi-Wan's descendant...

Underneath the video of Ewan McGregor, another user fired back.

"Actually, Duke already gave us the answer in the movie. As someone who is very sensitive to faces, my biggest takeaway from Star Wars: The Force Awakens was that Princess Leia's son looks like Anakin, and Rey looks like Padmé. Therefore, Rey is very likely a member of the Skywalker Family."

"So whose kid is she? First off, don't suspect Princess Leia of having an affair. That doesn't fit the worldview Duke promotes. Besides, if she and Han Solo had a daughter, they wouldn't need to hide it and pretend not to know her later. That leaves Luke. The perfect character in Star Wars. After Rey was born, she was left on some unknown planet to be raised by others. Wouldn't writing it like that feel like a return to the classics? The Skywalker Family has plenty of traits—losing hands, scavenging for junk. Why is no one considering she was adopted? Let's just wait and see!"

Beyond the two mainstream camps, some fringe theories also floated around.

"Rey's mother is Princess Leia, but just like Anakin, she was directly conceived by the Sith manipulating midi-chlorians. They then framed Luke for incest, which shattered the iron triangle of Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke. Kylo Ren discovered the 'truth,' had a mental breakdown, and fell to the Dark Side of the Force. Overwhelmed by guilt, Luke went into exile, while Han Solo thought he was cuckolded, ran away from home, and went back to his old smuggling job. The grand conspirator behind all this is Palpatine's son, Snoke. I saw a theory earlier claiming Palpatine's son was born with three eyes due to the influence of The Force. I didn't notice if that Sith had three eyes when I watched Star Wars 7, so it looks like I need to do another rewatch to confirm."

Meanwhile, a Chinese fan who had traveled to Hong Kong to watch the movie—and whose English was quite good—bypassed the firewall and left their own perspective.

"Rey's connection to The Force is so strong that it just wouldn't make sense if she weren't a Skywalker. But having a mother suddenly pop out of nowhere doesn't fit standard screenwriting conventions either. So, if Rey really is a Skywalker and her mother has already appeared in the canon timeline, what does that leave us with?

"Two words just popped into my head—German orthopedics. If that's the case, it perfectly explains why her connection to The Force is so incredible and why she was abandoned on Jakku. Suddenly, everything makes sense."

Fans in North America had no idea what the "German orthopedics" meme meant and expressed their confusion. The fan who hopped the firewall simply left behind one last phrase—brother and sister!

"Aren't you fluent in Chinese?"

In the lounge of Duke Manor, Scarlett Johansson closed the webpage she had just been reading and turned to Duke, who was slowly sipping his tea. "What does 'German orthopedics' mean? Does it have a special meaning in Chinese?"

Duke thought about it carefully. He had a vague impression of the phrase, but couldn't explain its exact origins off the top of his head. "It implies that Rey is the offspring of Luke and Princess Leia," he said simply.

Scarlett furrowed her brows and asked deliberately, "Brother-sister incest? Is that even possible?"

Hearing this, Duke couldn't even be bothered to respond to her. Still, he didn't say much—after all, maintaining bloodlines had once been a common practice in Western high society. But there was absolutely no way Star Wars would feature that kind of plot. This wasn't some artsy indie film using art as an excuse to mess around; it was the most mainstream of mainstream movies.

Shaking his head, Duke dismissed Scarlett's ridiculous notions and picked up the statistical report resting nearby. It held the Saturday numbers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The movie's opening day box office had been so staggering that it was impossible to sustain such a high altitude. Duke was well aware of this and had mentally prepared himself for a massive second-day plunge. However, spurred on by the intense online debates, the Saturday drop was only thirty-seven percent compared to Friday's opening haul of around 165 million dollars. It still smashed through the hundred-million barrier, raking in roughly 104 million dollars and setting the record for the highest second-day box office in history.

In just two days, the North American box office for Star Wars: The Force Awakens had not only crossed the 200-million-dollar mark but had smoothly surged past the 250-million threshold, claiming the records for the fastest climb to both 200 million and 250 million dollars in North America.

Duke knew perfectly well that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was destined to become the first movie in history to break the 300-million-dollar mark in its opening weekend in North America!

Even if a Nuclear Bomb were launched at America right now, nothing could stop it from becoming a reality!

"Come look at this, honey."

Sitting at the computer, Scarlett Johansson interrupted Duke's thoughts. "Someone who supports the Obi-Wan lineage theory wrote out the plot for the next movies online, and it actually looks somewhat plausible."

"Is that so?"

Since Scarlett was interested, Duke played along. He walked over and sat down beside her to read the screen. It was just a story synopsis.

This fan was clearly a staunch supporter of the Obi-Wan theory and was deliberately framing their pitch as an "early plot leak" to validate their arguments.

"Five years have passed since the destruction of Starkiller Base. Due to Finn's betrayal, Snoke has gradually lost trust in General Hux and the Stormtrooper Corps. General Hux's political rival, General Fett, takes the opportunity to propose restarting the clone program to Supreme Leader Snoke, which Snoke approves."

"The Resistance intercepts intelligence that the First Order is secretly building a new Starkiller Base on an unknown planet. Princess Leia sends the pilot Poe and Finn, disguised as Stormtroopers, to infiltrate the First Order and destroy the Starkiller Base manufacturing data."

"Upon infiltrating the base, the two discover it's a trap set by Kylo Ren. Covered by Finn, Poe manages to escape, but Finn is captured. Ren uses The Force to extract the location of the Resistance Headquarters, but fails to find Luke and Rey's whereabouts—because when R2D2 revealed the galactic coordinates in Star Wars 7, Finn was already injured and unconscious."

"Rey learns the ways of The Force and Lightsaber combat under Luke. Having realized from the Jedi Temple that the balance of The Force means the balance between light and dark, Luke warns Rey not to fear the temptation of the Dark Side of the Force. Facing the darkness will be a necessary part of her future training. When Rey asks Luke about her parentage, Luke guides her into the Jedi Temple to find the answers herself."

"Inside the Jedi Temple, Rey learns the origins of the Jedi, deepens her understanding of The Force, and even recovers lost Jedi texts. Finally, she experiences a series of visions. Obi-Wan's voice appears once more, guiding her to see that she had actually received Jedi training from Luke as a child. Later, due to Kylo Ren's betrayal, Luke had to leave to find the Jedi Temple. To protect her, he sealed her memories and left her on Jakku."

"At this point, Darth Vader appears in the vision. He tells Rey that a part of his Force has awakened within her and demands that she inherit the Lightsaber he left behind. Rey rejects Darth Vader's offer and tells Luke about the vision. Luke hints that she has inherited Obi-Wan's bloodline, and that after Darth Vader's death, the light side of his Force spirit was reborn within her. Luke declares that she will become the one to balance the cosmic Force."

"Rey doesn't want to be a savior; she only came to Luke to uncover her origins. Luke tells her that The Force will guide her to find her path."

"Guided by the coordinates provided by BB-8, the pilot Poe finds Luke and Rey. Rey deduces that Ren must have extracted the location of the Resistance Headquarters from Finn. Poe and Chewbacca fly the Millennium Falcon back to base to warn the Resistance of the impending attack."

"Rey takes Poe's fighter and leaves. Guided by The Force, she tracks down the mysterious Maz. With Maz's help and the knowledge from the Jedi texts, Rey modifies the metal staff she always carries into a Lightsaber—similar to Darth Maul's weapon in the first prequel. During the forging process, she infuses the weapon with The Force, making the blade an extension of her own power that will only answer to her call."

"Maz tells Rey that darkness is descending once again, and she must fight back."