By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Legacy
“Rey.” “Rey who?” “Rey Skywalker.”
Who knew two words would spark so much vitriol and discussion years after the release of the ninth and (as of now) final Skywalker Saga movie. But the ‘Rey Skywalker’ proclamation that concluded Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker did exactly that, setting an already passionate fandom ablaze with a new debate to squabble over.
The new novel Star Wars: Legacy by Madeleine Roux, which takes place between the events of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, interestingly uses its story to set up the Rey Skywalker reveal and, in turn, makes the ending of the Skywalker Saga feel more organic and deserved.
Legacy takes place after the Battle of Crait and follows Rey, Leia, and the rest of the Resistance as they continue rebelling against the First Order’s tyrannical rule. Feeling the pressure of being the last Jedi in the galaxy, Rey feels alone and overwhelmed, especially as her mentor Leia has limited knowledge of the Force and the Jedi. A glimmer of hope, however, emerges when Rey discovers that a long-forgotten Jedi Temple on Tython may hold the key to repairing the lightsaber. Rey and Leia make the journey to Tython, where their pursuit of a lightsaber forge intersects with two men who almost pulled off the daring assassination of a First Order major.
The weight of expectation, especially as it relates to lineage, is a prominent theme in Roux’s novel. Throughout the story, Rey struggles with the burden of being the sole representative of a religion she knows relatively little about. Her struggles are amplified by frustration at her difficulties repairing the Skywalker lightsaber, which shattered during her conflict with Kylo Ren in Snoke’s throne room.
Ultimately, Rey is able to repair the lightsaber upon facing her fears that she will descend into the dark side and become evil. As the novel wraps up, Rey tells Leia, “I don’t know if I could have done this without you. And this isn’t just mine; it belonged to your family.”
Leia replies, “Rey, I think you know that it still does.” Roux follows this dialogue with a single word: “Belonging.” This is arguably the primary theme of the sequel trilogy and encapsulates the true struggle Rey tackles in Episodes VII-IX.
In this moment, Leia tells Rey that the lightsaber belongs to her family and that Rey is part of her family. This nicely sets the stage for Rey to proclaim herself as a Skywalker at the end of The Rise of Skywalker. “Go on,” Leia says. “It’s yours.”
The final words of the novel read: “The light of the Skywalkers burned once more.” Rey may not be blood related to Luke, Leia, and Anakin, but Legacy makes it clear that she is just as much of a Skywalker as they are. She, like Luke and Leia, are burdened by a twisted family legacy and yet still manage to persevere and find the light.
Rey tackles all kinds of mental torment in Roux’s novel before achieving her goal and repairing the lightsaber. For all intents and purposes, the lightsaber would naturally belong to Leia, given that she is the biological brother of Luke, but Leia makes two things clear: 1) the lightsaber belongs to the Skywalker family and 2) the lightsaber belongs to Rey. Combining 1) and 2) together indicates that Leia viewed Rey as a Skywalker long before Rey took the name in Episode IX. In turn, one can look back at The Rise of Skywalker and view a moment that was initially perceived as jarring and perhaps unearned to be deserving.