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One of the most confusing parts of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the fact that Rey was able to use her force abilities without any training. Not just by accident or as a reflex, but advanced stuff like the Jedi mind trick, and to call the force in battle. This didn't make any sense. You could even say she has "Jedi powers," the kind that can only be achieved with proper training. Anakin Skywalker was able to use Jedi-like reflexes when he was pod-racing, and that is understandable considering his potential. So, the same can be said about Rey when flying the Millennium Falcon for the first time. But the way she uses the force later in the movie seemed to contrived for most of the audience. She even resisted Kylo Ren's probing and reads his thoughts, and wins over him in a telekinetic battle over Luke's lightsaber. Her resistance to Ren's probing surprises even Supreme Leader Snoke who tells Ren to bring her to him. The novelization of the movie gives a good explanation for this. Keep reading after the break to find out how all this is possible.
Rey seems to be very powerful, as powerful as any Skywalker before her (although she doesn't share that last name, at least not that we know of). Knowing who her parents are would help us in understanding this. But unfortunately, this hasn't been revealed yet. There is also the fact that she was left on Jakku by her parents. In her own words, the reason is a secret, it's classified. This secret could also shine a light on why she is so powerful. But the book doesn't make a reference to that either. But it does make a reference to something that helps us understand why she was able to use her abilities so easily. It also gives us an idea of her early life before Jakku.
The book explains that at the moment of Kylo Ren's probing of Rey's mind to find the piece of the map to Luke (that she has seen from BB-8's holo projection), he finds resistance. We see this in the movie, but we assumed that it was her consciously resisting him. Well, it wasn't. Ren finds a mental barrier that not even she knew existed. Probing and pushing on it is what causes Rey to inadvertently jump into Ren's mind and read it. Ren Caused it. Ren broke a barrier inside Rey's mind that unleashed her powers. The idea of a barrier in Rey's mind has many implications:
I don't know about you, but for me, the only person powerful enough to place a barrier in her mind and erase her memories is Luke Skywalker. The only other option is that there was another Jedi (or Sith) alive at the time Rey was a child. Maybe this person trained her in secret. He/she realized Rey was in danger, and decided to alter her mind to protect her. Not only from the first order, but also from falling to the dark side. As we already know, Rey naturally feels the call of the dark side (read ourprevious article about it). Maybe whoever was raising or training her felt this, and decided that it was better for her to forget everything about her powers and live on an isolated planet (were trouble could not find her). Or maybe she was hidden so she couldn't be found and used because of her powers. Another option is that she was hidden for the same reason Luke and Leia were, so they can save the galaxy when the time comes. Let's hope all these mysteries get explained in Episode VIII, which unfortunately has been postponed until December 2017. |
