Star Wars' fans think they've found a secret about Rey's identity hidden in the music for 'The Force Awakens
Star Wars' fans think they've found a secret about Rey's identity hidden in the music for 'The Force Awakens
Sidney Fussell
Lucasfilm
Warning: There are spoilers for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens!" below.
"The Force Awakens" left us with a lot of questions about Rey and her mysterious past. Who are her parents? Is she really Luke's daughter?
Attentive "Star Wars" fans on Youtube and Reddit may have found a clue about Rey's mysterious past in her musical theme to connect her to both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
First, here's "Rey's Theme" as it appears in "The Force Awakens." Pay attention to the 2:30 to 2:40 mark. As the track fades, you can hear very prominent horns for about eight seconds.
They sound similar to the horns heard in the opening of Darth Vader's infamous theme, "The Imperial March."
Fans have gotten really creative with John Williams' score for Rey hunting for hints about her identity. This user took "Rey's Theme" and reversed it. Again, pay attention to the horns around 2:30. They've become darker and more sinister like Vader's theme.
By the way, it's kind of cool that a lot of Rey's theme holds up well when played in reverse.
This YouTube user plays the horn notes on the piano. First, you hear Rey's theme played forward before they're played in reverse. It's when the notes are played backwards that you hear the familiar "Imperial March" tune. Couple that with one of the end scenes in "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi" and Rey's theme sounds eerily similar.
Recurring themes in music is nothing new, but John Williams, who has composed the soundtrack for all of the "Star Wars" films is known for his love of motifs, recurring themes with some type of story significance.
There are hints of Vader's theme in "Binary Sunset," the song that plays when Luke is seen on Tatooine in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope." Many consider this to be Luke's unofficial theme because of its prominence in the 1977 film.
Listen to the flutes at the end of the song, from :27 to :32. They're a softer, more optimistic version of the horns we hear in Vader's theme.
He notes that Williams has mixed and blended "Star Wars" themes together before to show character relations by pointing to Luke and Leia's theme.
It's really worth a full listen.
What does it all mean? Are the small similarities in Rey and Darth Vader's theme coincidental or does it mean that she's a Skywalker, and, quite possibly Luke's daughter?
We can't know for sure. We'll probably have to wait until Episode VIII comes out in 2017 to find out the answer.
