Ben... Skywalker?

I will begin by saying if you have not seen Star Wars The Force Awakens, are you living under a rock? All joking aside, in this post I am going to continue on from my last post, which will contain spoilers from The Force Awakens. So if you have not seen it yet, stop reading here and go to the movie theater, then come back here and we can speculate together!

In my last post I gave my theories that Rey is Luke's daughter as The Force Awakens gives you all the information to put things together. In The Force Awakens we also learn that Kylo Ren is actually Han and Leia's son turned to the dark side. In the EU we know that Luke has a son with Mara Jade and his name is Ben Skywalker, we also know that the new movies are not going by the EU. Kylo Ren being Han and Leia's son just doesn't sit right for me, we know that in episode 8 or episode 9 there is going to be a big "surprise" reveal just like The Empire Strikes Back. I don't feel that big reveal is going to be Rey being Luke's daughter, as so many clues were left for us to piece that together. To me the big reveal is going to be that Kylo Ren is Luke's son and Rey is his younger sister.

Now for me the biggest clue is his name, if he is Han and Leia's child why would they name him Ben? Leia has no known interaction with Obi Wan Kenobi, and in fact she actually only knows him as Obi Wan Kenobi. Han only meets Obi Wan for a very brief stint when they board the Millennium Falcon and he only thinks of him as a weird old man. So why would they name him Ben? My theory is that some time after the battle of Endor Luke met his love interest and together they had a child, Ben Skywalker. Seeing as the Empire had just fallen, one would have to assume there was still pockets of the Empire throughout the galaxy. Enter the rise of The First Order, led by Snoke. Now by this point you would have to assume Luke has trained Leia in the force, but upon hearing the rumors of the First Order has to leave his new jedi trainee's to put a stop to The First Order. Luke and his love interest leave Ben with Han and Leia and he grows up with them knowing Han and Leia as his parents leaving the perfect opportunity for Snoke to begin manipulating Ben. At some point Luke and his love interest have Rey while they are trying to stop The First Order, Luke learns of Ben turning to the dark side and they return right away only when Luke gets there and see's that Ben has become Kylo Ren and has killed all of the new jedi's. Kylo Ren kills his actual mother(Luke's love interest) and Luke flee's feeling this was all of his fault. 

Together with Leia they stash Rey on Jakku where Max Von Sydow's character lives to watch over Rey and is given the missing map piece to where Luke is. To piece it all together Snoke is Darth Plagueis and is manipulating Ren to kill Luke. Rey was with Luke when he returned to the new jedi's after Ren killed them and that is why he get's so upset when he hears of the girl. The possible grave beside Luke at the end of the movie is Ben and Rey's mother. 

Post your comments below on this theory or post your own theory below.

May The Force Be With You

-The Pin Boys

Star Wars: Who is Rey?

WARNING THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS... READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Who is Rey?


After seeing Star Wars The Force Awakens, one compelling question we are left with is Who is Rey? Who is her family? How is she that strong in the force without any training? In my opinion she is a Skywalker and the clues are left there in the movie for us to figure out. When we first me Rey we only know that she was left there by her parents and she lives her life as a scavenger of old ship parts. We quickly learn that she is very skilled at fixing things and eventually we find out she is a great pilot. She learns to fly the Millennium Falcon on the go and is really good at it, something I feel only a strong Jedi could do.

When she meets Maz Kanata, we hear the line "Dear child, the longing you seek is not behind you, it is in front of you". There are probably many ways this line can be taken, but I think it means the path to her father is in front of her. At this point she finds Luke's old lightsaber and see's possibly repressed memories or she is sensing the history of the lightsaber.

At this point she is captured by Kylo Ren and taken to be interrogated. We see Kylo Ren trying to read her mind and he can only get so far before either Rey or Luke have put a block in place. She then very quickly learns to control minds and even use telekinesis without any previous Jedi training.\

After the final battles, she joins the alliance and as soon as she gets in the base R2-D2 wakes up from low power mode and show the rest of the map to reach Luke. Only Rey and Chewbacca take the path on the map to find Luke, where eventually after searching the islands finds Luke Skywalker. The look on Luke's face to me is the look of a father seeing his child after a long time.

The most compelling argument for me is, if Luke disappeared why create a map of your location to be found. We know that R2-D2 has majority of the map and there is one key important section missing, which just so happens the one key piece missing is on Jakku being held by Max von Sydow`s character. I believe Luke hid Rey on Jakku after Kylo Ren and The First Order killed all of his students. This also explains why Kylo Ren always gets upset in the movie when Rey escapes, and not just minor upset but he destroys whatever is in front of him, because he knows his sister will be his demise.

Yes you read that right, I am speculating that Kylo Ren is Rey`s older brother and are both children of Luke.

More to come on this theory in the future, stay tuned....

May The Force Be With You
-The Pin Boys

Star Wars: The Force Awakens The Real New Hope

December 18th 2015 seemed like a date that was taking forever to come around. For all the Star Wars fans out there (and yes there are a lot even if they wont admit it) were eagerly and cautiously awaiting Star Wars Episode VII. Since waiting 10 years since the last Star Wars movie came out, or 32 years since the last really good Star Wars movie has come out, finally thanks to Disney and J.J. Abrams there was optimism and even HOPE for the future of Star Wars movies! I had only watched the trailers for The Force Awakens and tried to stay away from spoiling the movie for me. I rushed to the theater for 10 am to see the first showing for Star Wars on December 18th, I was not disappointed. Upon leaving the theater my first thought was I wish I didn't have to work today, cause I would go and buy another ticket for the next showing. But without giving away any spoilers I would like to give my two points as to why this movie has breathed new life into Star Wars after the disaster of the prequel trilogies.

Point number 1:  A well written story and great a cast of characters!

The story for The Force Awakens is so well written and brings out a lot of emotion in the movie. Defiantly a big reason for that is bringing back writer Lawrence Kasden who wrote Episode V and Episode VI. Lawrence along with J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) have been able to put together a wonderful and compelling story that, in my opinion has revitalized the Star Wars world. Even with a well written story, you need to have actors that make you believe and root for their characters. Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn) defiantly deliver on their characters, and for all of their criticism that they faced for having the lead roles, their critics should be silenced after seeing the movie. Of course another great aspect with the characters is having Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher back for the film. The new energy and the nostalgia has you on the edge of your seat.

Point number 2: Practical Effects vs Visual Effects

In Star Wars The Force Awakens they return to using practical effects more the way the original trilogy used them. For those who don't know the difference practical effects are created physically without the use of computer editing, where as in the prequel trilogy they used mostly visual effects. Switching back to using practical effects in my opinion has made the movie more realistic and especially when you watch it in IMAX 3D you feel apart of the movie. Effects are a big part of movies and practical effects make the movie feel that much more real. It was great to see actual Stormtroopers as opposed to visually edited in Stormtroopers.

Overall this is a must see in theaters movie. It is worth the $10-$15 to see it on the big screen. I look forward to seeing it a few more times in theater.

May The Force Be With You
-The Pin Boys

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Pin

Hey everyone,

A pin Alice managed to get for me over the last year that I absolutely cherish is the exclusive Disney Store Star Wars The Force Awakens pin! It was one I had to add to the collection!

 

Happy Trading

-The Pin Boys

My Year Long Hiatus

Hey everyone,

It has been a long time since I have posted a blog here! It has been a somewhat stressful year, went through some job changes and completely ran myself ragged between work and volunteering, so much that my health was compromised. I took a step back from many things in life, unfortunately this was one of them. I have since made things more stable and am progressing back into the things I am passionate about, and Disney is one thing I am very passionate about.

Together my wife and I have teamed up and started a blog together! We have started Exploring The Kingdom and our blog can be found at explorethekingdom.blogspot.ca! We have started an Instagram account posting pictures from our three previous Walt Disney World trips! (instagram.com/exploringthekingdom). Please check them out and share our love of Disney!

2015 was a pretty up and down year, I really missed Disney World as we did not get there this year. I really missed the pin trading. But throughout the year both myself and Alice have worked really hard and we are happy to be returning to Disney World in January 2016! I have dusted off the pin collection and ordered some more for trading. I look forward to escaping the cold Canadian winter again and head to sunny Florida!

So please join us as we are driving this year to Disney and will be videoing our travels and time at Disney World.

Stay tuned for more!
Happy Trading
-The Pin Boys