Rey Rey , a Force - sensitive human female , was a scavenger who ultimately became a Jedi after discovering her latent connection to the Force while on a journey to find the legendary Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and restore hope to a galaxy on the brink of war . Prior to the awakening of her potential in the Force , she grew up alone on the barren world of Jakku , longing for her family to return , until she met BB - 8 , a Resistance droid who carried information about Skywalker ' s whereabouts . Together with Finn , a First Order deserter , and BB - 8 — and with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca — she journeyed to deliver the map to Skywalker to General Leia Organa and the Resistance . Along the way , she discovered Skywalker ' s lightsaber and awakened her Force power s before being captured by Kylo Ren — a powerful First Order warlord formerly known as Ben Solo , Skywalker ' s nephew and fallen apprentice — whom she dueled and defeated on Starkiller Base just before the Resistance destroyed the First Order superweapon . After traveling to the Resistance base , Organa tasked her with finding Skywalker and presenting him with his old lightsaber as a symbol of the only hope the galaxy had left : the return of the Jedi Order . Though hoping to rediscover a legend , Rey instead found a Jedi Master who believed that the Jedi Order represented hubris and had to end for the sake of the galaxy ’ s future . He reluctantly agreed to teach her only so far as to convince her that he was right , but refused to be part of the new galactic conflict . In the midst of this , Rey began connecting with Ren through the Force and came to believe that his redemption , not Skywalker ’ s return , was the galaxy ’ s last hope . She confronted him and Supreme Leader Snoke , and Ren killed his master — but still refused to rejoin the light , instead wanting Rey to join him . With Ren ' s help , Rey admitted to herself that her parents were no one ; merely junk traders who were long since dead after selling their daughter for money . However , she refused to join Ren as she had found her place in the Resistance . She rescued the surviving members of the Resistance from the Battle of Crait , and after Skywalker — who projected his image onto Crait to help the Resistance and died as a result of the effort — passed away into the Force , Rey became the last Jedi . Biography . Early life . Rey was born in 15 ABY , eleven years after the Battle of Endor . In 1 BBY , more than a decade before her birth her voice was heard by Padawan Ezra Bridger during his brief visit to the world between worlds — a place that existed beyond time and space . At a young age her family left her on Jakku , a desert planet in the Western Reaches , for reasons unknown to her . She believed it was a mistake and that they would one day return to bring her home . In reality , her parents had sold her to Jakku ' s economy for drinking money . Throughout her life on Jakku , she would sometimes see off - worlders in Niima Outpost , the chief trade outpost on the planet , who she thought might have arrived on Jakku accidentally , unaware of the harsh realities of the desert world . Rey wondered if she was left behind under similar circumstances , if her family had come to Jakku by accident and she was left behind as a result of their misfortune . Whatever the reasons were , she held out hope that her family would return for her one day , though she began to realize that they would never come back . She proved unwilling to admit this even to herself for a long time . The scavenger . In order to survive on Jakku , Rey became a scavenger in the employ of Unkar Plutt , trawling through the junk fields of the Starship Graveyard which was littered with the remains of starship s and other military technology from the Battle of Jakku . At first , she worked for other scavengers , bringing them the loot she found in crashed New Republic and Galactic Empire vessels that were downed during the battle . She heard local stories about what happened during the battle : that it was the last stand of the once - powerful Empire during the Galactic Civil War , that the Empire locked onto Republic ships during the fighting and dragged them down to the surface together , and more . The battle had left the ships trapped in the sand in varying conditions , and finding working parts became essential in order to earn food portions , the only thing that was up for trade in Niima Outpost . The trades were made by Plutt , who traded leftover Republic and Imperial rations in exchange for whatever Rey and other scavengers were able to recover . Rey learned that parts that could be repurposed were the most important ; anything that could not be put into another ship was worthless to Plutt . Some of the scavengers that Rey worked for were kind to her , such as Ivano Troade and Mashra . Others , whose names she refused to speak , were not kind , and even viewed her as their property . As Rey ' s skills as a scavenger grew , she came to realize that while other scavengers needed her , she did not need them . She struck out on her own , utilizing the skills she had to scavenge and survive , but no one took her seriously at first . She was aided by Plutt himself , who told other scavengers to leave Rey alone and would send his thugs after those who did not . Rey did not want his help , and the help was not out of generosity . Rather , Rey was the best scavenger Plutt had and he wanted to continue utilizing her as a source of acquisitions . Rey gained a reputation in Niima Outpost for using her quarterstaff to defend herself , which also kept most people from bothering her — save for the occasional new scavenger who did not know about her , or were so desperate for supplies that they did not care . Growing her skills . At some point in her youth , Rey made her home in a downed Imperial All Terrain Armored Transport , " Hellhound Two " , left over from the Battle of Jakku . When she first found it , Rey did not believe that she could live there , as the Goazon Badlands where the AT - AT was located was a barren wasteland in which nothing seemed to grow . When she inspected the walker , though , she found a small green spinebarrel flower growing out of a few millimeter s of sand that had poured into the walker . Rey realized that if such a tiny flower could survive there , so could she , and that life always found a way to survive on Jakku . Rey would go on to collect flowers like that , as a reminder that beauty could be found anywhere , even on Jakku . Once she settled into the walker , Rey salvaged working parts of the AT - AT for trade . She mostly just used one room in the walker , for a variety of reasons . She would often bring her salvages to the walker before bringing them to Plutt , as Plutt deducted portions one could receive from a salvage if they used his washing and repair stations . The walker also contained scratches she made to mark the passage of time , to remind her how far she had come and to count down the days until her family returned for her . Outside of the walker was where she would go on to keep the speeder she built for herself , which gave her a degree of independence as she made her way back and forth from the Starship Graveyard . By the time Rey was ten years old , she had acquired a Rebel Alliance flight helmet that once belonged to Captain Dosmit Ræh of the starfighter squadron Tierfon Yellow Aces , which she found while scavenging in the Starship Graveyard . She enjoyed making up stories about Ræh ' s adventures during the war , which was why Rey made a doll out of a flight uniform she found in a cargo container . She often enjoyed wearing the helmet and playing with the doll , pretending she was helping Ræh explore the AT - AT and the sands outside . Together , their pretend adventures saw them find lost Rebels and return them to their ships . When Rey was older , she no longer played with the doll but kept it and the helmet , which she sometimes wore anyway , to remind her how far she had come on Jakku . Inside the walker , Rey also had a computer display from an old BTL - A4 Y - wing assault starfighter / bomber that she used to learn alien languages , study the schematics of Republic and Imperial starships , and run flight simulations in order to hone her skills as a pilot . Her ability to understand alien languages , including the binary language of droid s , helped her when off - worlders came to Niima Outpost . Two such off - worlders were Wookiee s , who regaled her with the stories of the famed Wookiee smuggler - turned - Rebel fighter Chewbacca . She learned of Chewbacca ' s exploits , as well as those of his friend and fellow smuggler Han Solo . Studying schematics to learn how ships worked was also an important part of her survival on Jakku . She recognized almost all of the Republic and Imperial vessels that could be found in the Graveyard , including what roles they played in combat , the types of weapons they were armed with , their models and classes , and how many crew members each one had . She learned this not just through studying schematics on her computer , but also by climbing through and exploring the ships and tinkering with their systems . This let her know what each part was , what it could do , whether it worked , and , most importantly , whether it would carry any value in Niima Outpost . Growing up on Jakku meant Rey not only learned how the ships that littered its wastelands worked , but also about the dangers that lurked on Jakku itself . Rey saw firsthand the hardship it could inflict . Rumors of an Imperial base on Carbon Ridge once compelled Plutt to mount an expedition there . Knowing her skills as a mechanic , Plutt brought Rey a flyer to fix . She did so by unclogging one of its turbojets and rebuilding the other out of scrap from the front of an airspeeder . Plutt and six of his thugs used it to try to find the rumored base , but he only returned with a collection of stormtrooper armor — and two of his men were killed . That led other scavengers to avoid Carbon Ridge . The creatures of Jakku were also dangerous . A fellow scavenger named Teng Malar once accidentally broke open a hatch on a ship beneath a colony of steelpecker s , ferocious avian creatures with razor - sharp beaks and strong talons . Within ten minutes , Teng was ripped to shreds and Rey watched helplessly as she was unable to do anything to stop the creatures . The Graveyard itself was also a reminder of the realities of war , with bodies and skeletons littering the sands . Rey once discovered a deceased TIE fighter pilot still in the cockpit of his TIE fighter ejector seat . Rey scavenged his helmet , sidearm , and comlink before giving the pilot a proper burial . Rescuing Unkar Plutt . Rey was searching for scrap in an old ship but she only found a couple of comlinks . She then heard a sound and realized she wasn ' t alone in this ship . Two persons surrounded her and demanded that she give them her comlinks . Rey declined and instead attacked the two persons . Rey by mistake then set off a chain reaction and the ship started to blow up . Just as everyone managed to escape , the ship exploded together with the mysterious person ' s speeder bike . Rey took her speeder away from the ship , leaving the two persons stranded . When she came back to Niima Outpost she realized that something was wrong . She asked Crusher and he revealed that an off - worlder called Zool Zendiat and his gang had taken Plutt . Rey asked Constable Zuvio why and he answered that the rumor was that Zendiat was looking for an old J9 droid that Rey had sold to Plutt , two weeks prior . The Gabdorin Krynodd then appeared , stating that he was the new junkboss in Nimma Outpost and that his boys were the law now , instead of Zuvio . When Bobbajo walked past Krynodd , the Gabdorin hit him and said that he needed to show some respect . Rey helped the old man capture his creatures who were running away . As thanks she received a few corn - clusters . Realizing , that Krynodd would be even worse than Plutt , she decided that she had to rescue him . She returned to her home and took a look at the head of the J9 droid which she had kept so that she could clean it and sell it later for more portions . She then headed out into the night to find Plutt . When out , she heard Ripper Raptors in the Kelvim Ravine and decided to go there to see if that was the location of Plutt . Rey found Plutt strapped to the ground , surrounded by Zendiat ' s gang . She then used one of the comlinks she had brought with her to make the sound of a bloggin . Rey attacked and managed to beat all except Zendiat . She then attempted to remove the restraints holding Plutt . Instead she got an electric shock . Surrounded by Zendiat ' s gang , Rey pulled out the head of the J9 droid , which had been the very droid that had gotten Plutt captured in the first place . Rey proposed that they let her and Plutt go and she would give them the head . Zendiat then asked why he shouldn ' t just kill them and take the droid but Rey then threw the droid ' s head up in the sky to show him why . In the meantime she freed Plutt but he pushed her away and grabbed the droid ' s head . He then took Rey ' s corn - clusters and threw them on Zendiat ' s gang so that the Ripper Raptors would attack them . They did , and Rey and Plutt escaped but Rey threw the head of the droid to Zendiat ' s gang . Plutt angrily asked why as he had heard that it contained a treasure map but Rey told him that she had already checked its memory and that it was wiped clean . They drove back to Niima Outpost on Rey ' s speeder and she told Plutt that Krynodd had taken over his business . When arriving , Plutt stormed away without thanking Rey . The following day when Rey woke up , she found a crate with at least 30 portions outside of her home , leading Rey to consider that Plutt was not as rude as she thought . The Happabore Hazard . Rey traveled to Niima Outpost , where she took the job of hauling a pile of scrap heap to Plutt , who offered her ten portions . Plutt reluctantly gave her the coordinates but placed a collateral on Rey ' s speeder if were to fail the errand . Rey responded by placing a bet of twenty portions since she was risking her speeder . Rey traveled on her speeder to the site , which turned out to be a wrecked quadjumper . She found a happabore lying beside the spacetug . Realizing that Plutt had set her up to fail , Rey tried to get the creature to move . After trying to push it , Rey realized that the happabore was having trouble breathing because something was blocking its nose . Steeling herself , Rey dug into the creature ' s nose and retrieved a piece of machinery that was obstructing its nasal passage . After shaking off the happabore ' s goo , Rey tried to tow the spacetug back to Niima Outpost with her speeder but the machine was too heavy . Fortunately for Rey , the grateful happabore helped her push it back to Niima Outpost where Unkar Plutt angrily gave Rey the 20 portions . Repairing the Ghtroc 690 . At some point , Rey was salvaging a battle cruiser when a sandstorm forced her to retreat to the " Hellhound Two " , where she decided to wait out the storm by practicing on her flight simulator . The next day , after trading with Plutt for rations at the Concession Stand , she took her speeder out to the Starship Graveyard , where she decided to climb the Spike , the keel of an Imperial ship that had crashed into what would become the Crackle . From her perch , she spotted a ship that , upon closer inspection , she realized to be a reasonably intact Ghtroc 690 light freighter . Deciding to look inside the ship for salvage , she discovered food , and more importantly , that the reactor core was still functioning . Realizing that the whole repaired ship was worth more to Plutt than its salvageable parts , she decided to work on it so she could sell it , discovering panels inside that she could use to hide her ship from other scavengers . As it had become dark outside , Rey opted to spend the night in the ship . Repairing the ship proved difficult , as it meant using parts she could have traded for food to repair the ship instead , making her go hungry more often than usual . Her decision to not give some parts to Plutt eventually attracted the attention of the scavengers Devi and Strunk , who asked her about it . She refused to tell them anything , and they told her that they might not have been the only ones to notice Rey ' s unusual behavior . Ten days later , the duo trailed Rey and discovered what she was working on , and offered to help her repair it in exchange for passage off of Jakku with her once it was finished . After Rey explained that she was going to sell the freighter to Plutt once it was complete , Devi and Strunk brokered a deal with her : they would help her repair the ship , and they would split whatever Plutt gave them . While Rey was wary of the others at first , she came to think of them as friends as they proved their trustworthiness by keeping watch over the ship at night , and helping to protect it from a group of Teedo s . Together the three scavengers restored the ship to working order , and Rey was able to pilot the craft over the desert with the skills she had learned from her flight simulator program . Once the ship was complete , Rey flew it to Niima Outpost with the others . However , as soon as she stepped out of it to barter with Plutt , Devi and Strunk stole the ship and fled the planet , leaving Rey with nothing to show for her work . Later that night , Rey punched the lenses out of a battered stormtrooper helmet before turning back to testing her skills on her flight simulator . Rescuing Teedo . Sometime later , Rey had fashioned the lenses from the stormtrooper helmet into a pair of goggles . She used it when she entered a Star Destroyer which was notably in danger of falling apart . After finding a room with some scattered components she was sure would be useful , she noticed a component still attached to the ship . Upon attempting to detach it however , the room and the whole ship began to show signs of stress . She then opted to leave it but was cornered by Teedo who held Rey at gunpoint . He ordered her to turn over her stash , before noticing the valuable component attached to the ship . Rey attempted to warn him off but Teedo was not to be dissuaded . After successfully prying the component from the ship , the room began to destabilize , knocking out Teedo in the process . Rey picked up all of her belongings including the detached component and began to run out . Pulled back by Teedo ' s sounds of distress however , she quickly ran back , picked him up and proceeded to sprint towards the outside . She made use of a torn piece of the ship to slide her and Teedo away to safety from the collapsing Star Destroyer . Teedo then woke up and gleefully claimed Rey ' s stash as his own . But Rey demanded it back , pointing out that she had just saved his life and thus was initiating a fair trade . Teedo begrudgingly gave it back , and thus Rey sped away on her speeder . Awakening the Force . Escape from Jakku . One of the vessels that Rey scavenged from was the " Inflictor " , an " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer that crashed after its commanding officer , Captain Ciena Ree , scuttled the ship to prevent it from falling into the hands of the New Republic . Rey climbed throughout the massive vessel and brought parts back to Niima Outpost , where she cleaned them up and brought them to Plutt . The materials she brought him on this particular day earned her one quarter portion of food , which she brought back to her home . After eating , she heard the noises of an astromech droid and rushed to find that the source of the noise , BB - 8 , had been captured by a Teedo scavenger , also named Teedo . Rey rescued the tiny droid and learned that it was on a classified mission — it managed to escape the clutches of the First Order during an attack on the spiritual village of Tuanul , an attack that Rey had heard rumors of . Rey repaired BB - 8 ' s antenna , and pointed the droids towards Niima Outpost . After some convincing by BB - 8 , Rey allowed the droid to return home with her for one night , before it went on its way the next morning . On their way to Rey ' s home that evening , Rey and BB - 8 were attacked by a nightwatcher worm , which was hungry and wanted to eat BB - 8 . Rey saved BB - 8 from the worm , made it safely to Rey ' s , and fed the worm a hunk of scrap . The next morning , Rey and BB - 8 set up for Niima Outpost . On their way , they were attacked by three bandits who were attempted to steal BB - 8 . Rey was able to force two of the bandits to crash into each other on their speeder bike s , and tricked Teedo into having his bike eaten by a nightwatcher worm . Rey and BB - 8 continued to Niima Outpost , where she handed more salvage material over to Plutt . He offered her one half portion for everything , a collection that Rey reminded him was worth one half portion for each item only a week before . Though Plutt was unmoved , he did offer to give her sixty portions for BB - 8 . Rey was almost quick to take the offer , but she soon told Plutt that BB - 8 was not for sale . Undeterred , Plutt sent his thugs after Rey to try to take the droid by force — this proved to be useless , however , as Rey made short work of her would be attackers . During the fight , BB - 8 caught a glimpse of Finn , a stormtrooper who defected from the First Order , wearing the jacket that belonged to BB - 8 ' s master , Poe Dameron . BB - 8 alerted Rey and a brief chase ensued . Rey managed to catch the young man , and accused him of thievery . Finn explained that the jacket belonged to Poe Dameron and that he was the one who helped the Resistance fighter escape from the " Finalizer " , an escape that cost Poe his life . He also explained that he too was a Resistance fighter , sent to help Poe retrieve a map that would lead to Luke Skywalker , a legendary Jedi Knight who Rey assumed was only a myth . Rey accepted Finn ' s story that he was actually a member of the Resistance , while BB - 8 lamented Finn ' s news of Dameron . The trio was spotted by a small group of stormtroopers who were sent to to recover the droid from Jakku . Rey and Finn attempted to flee their attackers after being fired upon by TIE fighters . Rey led Finn and BB - 8 towards a shipyard attempting to commandeer a quadjumper moments before it was destroyed . With no other option , Rey led the two towards a broken down ship she described as garbage that had not flown for years , the " Millennium Falcon " . Rey took the pilot ' s seat while Finn manned the gun turrets . Despite a shaky start , Rey piloted the ship out of the outpost and , on Finn ' s suggestion , remained at a low altitude in order to confuse the scanners on the TIE fighters . She led the fighters on a chase into the Starship Graveyard , where she was able to use the downed war vessels to her advantage . One TIE fighter crashed after Finn scored a direct hit , while the other followed Rey into the bowels of a Super Star Destroyer . The " Falcon " suffered damage and the turret was locked into one position , so , after flying out of the Super Star Destroyer , Rey moved the freighter into position where Finn could fire a direct shot . With the last TIE fighter destroyed , Rey flew the ship off of Jakku and into open space . Enlisting Han Solo ' s help . With the ship in the clear , Rey and Finn left their posts and congratulated one another on their hard - fought escape . They finally introduced themselves to one another , having not learned each other ' s name in the commotion of escaping the desert world , but their joy soon turned to more urgent matters as the propulsion system began to leak when an energy flux in the hyperdrive motivator caused a fuel backup . Rey started working to fix the problem , which risked flooding the ship with poison ous gas and killing them . While working on the propulsion system , Rey asked Finn for the location of the Resistance base . Unknown to her was that he and BB - 8 , as she worked , argued about revealing the location ; Finn did not actually know its location and had to convince BB - 8 to share it with Rey . BB - 8 ultimately revealed that the base was in the Ileenium system , so Rey told them she would drop them off before returning to Jakku . Suddenly , the ship began to lose power and the two realized that they were caught in a tractor beam . The " Falcon " was pulled into the cargo bay of a large freighter called the " Eravana " , which Finn mistook as a First Order ship . The trio hid in a compartment beneath the floor and Rey planned to release the poisonous gas into the ship to kill what she assumed would be stormtroopers , but in reality it was two smugglers : the famed Han Solo and his first mate , Chewbacca . Solo found the three fugitives in the compartment and Rey revealed they were the only ones aboard , and that she was the pilot . Solo asked where they got the ship , and Rey told him that it belonged to Unkar Plutt , who stole it from the Irving Boys , who stole it from Gannis Ducain — who , as Solo revealed , stole it from him . It was then that he revealed himself as Han Solo . Rey and Finn realized that meant the ship was the " Millennium Falcon " and that Solo was the famous smuggler who fought with the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War . Solo inspected the ship and talked to Rey about the modifications that Plutt had made on it , including a compressor on the ignition line , which they both knew put too much stress on the hyperdrive . Rey also told him about their mission to bring BB - 8 to the Resistance , a mission that caught Solo ' s attention once he realized that the droid carried a map to his old friend and brother - in - law Luke Skywalker . The " Eravana " was soon boarded by the Guavian Death Gang and Kanjiklub , two criminal organizations that Solo had swindled into loaning him money so he could smuggle rathtar s to King Prana . Rey and Finn hid in the corridors beneath the floors as Solo unsuccessfully tried to talk his way out of the situation , and his predicament gave Rey the idea to shut all of the doors between the Corellia n smuggler and the two gangs . She accessed the wrong door controls , however , and accidentally unleashed the monstrous rathtars , which ran loose across the ship . As Rey and Finn ran from the beasts , one of them grabbed Finn and carried him away . Rey found a control panel that allowed her to close a door onto the tentacles of the monster , severing the limbs and allowing Finn to escape . They reunited with Solo at the " Millennium Falcon " and escaped onto the ship . With Chewbacca injured in the fight against the gangs , Rey took the co - pilot ' s chair as Solo prepared the ship for launch . Though Rey questioned him on his ensuing plan , Solo jumped the ship into hyperspace from inside the " Eravana " , and they successfully escaped . Bala - Tik of the Guavian Death Gang , who had seen BB - 8 and realized Rey and Finn were aboard , then had his men contact the First Order to let them know that the fugitives were aboard the " Millennium Falcon " . Rey and Solo contended with even more damage to the ship once they were in hyperspace . There was an electrical overload and a coolant leak , so Rey suggested transferring auxiliary power to the secondary tank , which Solo had also come to the conclusion to do . Finally , Rey bypassed the compressor that Plutt had installed , solving the problem and ending their imminent danger . The group gathered in the ship ' s common area and BB - 8 showed Solo the holographic map fragment that was in the droid ' s databanks . Solo , who pointed out that the map was not complete , explained the story of why Skywalker had disappeared in the first place . An apprentice — Kylo Ren — turned against the Jedi Master and destroyed Skywalker ' s attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order . Afterward , Skywalker vanished . Rumors floated around about where he had gone , but those closest to him correctly guessed that he went off in search of the first Jedi Temple . Rey was surprised to hear that the Jedi were real , but Solo , who had once been skeptical of the existence of the Jedi himself , told her that the stories about the Jedi and the existence of the Force were all true . The Force within . Solo , the estranged husband of Resistance General Leia Organa , did not plan to bring BB - 8 to the Resistance base himself , so he set course for the planet Takodana , where he intended to enlist the help of Maz Kanata , a pirate and collector who operated a pirate castle on the planet . As the ship approached the castle , Rey was taken aback by the lush green world that reminded her of the planets she saw in her dreams as a child , having never known that there was so much green in the entire galaxy . When they landed , the group exited the ship , where Rey looked out at the stunning vista that stood before her . Solo handed her a blaster , knowing she would be able to defend herself with it , and asked her what her name was . With the two formally introduced , Solo said he was considering bringing on a new crew member . Impressed with Rey ' s piloting and repair abilities , he said he would consider offering her a job as second mate aboard the " Falcon " . Rey was flattered by the offer , and briefly excited by the prospect , but she turned it down because she had to return to Jakku to wait for her family . Solo led Rey , Finn , and BB - 8 to the castle while Chewbacca stayed behind to watch over the ship . Solo explained that Kanata had run the castle for a thousand years and that she would be able to get BB - 8 to the Resistance . Once inside , their arrival prompted the attention of informants for both the First Order and the Resistance , alerting the respective groups that the fugitives were on Takodana . Rey and the others met with the diminutive pirate and told her about the map to Luke Skywalker . Kanata said she would not bring the droid to the Resistance because she believed Solo should , as he had been running from the fight for too long . Rey asked what fight she was referring to , and Kanata told her it was the fight against the dark side of the Force , one that had given rise to the Sith , the Galactic Empire , and ultimately the First Order . To Rey ' s surprise , Finn told Kanata that they could not win the fight against the First Order . Kanata sensed his fear , and Finn finally said that he could not bring the droid to the Resistance . He left to speak to two pirates , Sidon Ithano and Quiggold , about exchanging work for passage to the Outer Rim Territories and , when Rey confronted him , he admitted that he was a stormtrooper and not a member of the Resistance . She pleaded with him not to go , but he chose to leave the castle and head to the Outer Rim . As Finn departed , Rey felt something drawing her towards the lower levels of the castle . She made her way down the steps with BB - 8 and found a collection of ancient artifacts . One box in particular called to her , and she opened it to find a lightsaber . Upon touching it , she was immediately confronted with a vision of events she did not understand . Rey first found herself in the halls of Cloud City , where Skywalker had once fought Darth Vader before learning Vader was his father . She heard Skywalker screaming in disbelief at the revelation , as well as the words of the late Jedi Master Yoda speaking about the energies of the Force . Rey then saw Skywalker himself kneeling before a burning temple alongside his astromech droid , R2 - D2 , before the vision shifted to one of death : Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren killing many people . The vision then transported her to Jakku , where Rey saw herself as a young girl screaming for her family to return as they departed in a starship . Finally , she found herself in the middle of a snowy forest , where Ren ignited his lightsaber and stalked towards her . The vision came to an end , she fell to the floor , and she heard the voice of Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi telling her that these were her first steps . Rey was left shaken by the vision . Kanata found her scrambling away from the collection room , and Rey asked her what happened . She told the young woman that the lightsaber once belonged to Luke and Anakin Skywalker , and that it was calling out to her . Rey , overwhelmed , told Kanata that she had to return to Jakku , but the old pirate helped Rey finally admit what she knew all along : whoever left her on Jakku was never coming back . There was , however , someone who still could : Luke . Kanata tried to guide Rey towards embracing the Force and letting the light guide her , as well as to take the lightsaber . Rey rejected it , however , and said she wanted no part in this cosmic destiny . She instead fled the castle , in tears , running into the heavy woods that stood just outside of it to be alone . BB - 8 followed her and Rey told the droid to go back so Solo could help , but it was too late . Rey looked up and saw First Order transports and TIE fighters soaring through the sky . Capture and escape . Rey and BB - 8 returned to the castle , where they saw it under heavy bombardment from the First Order . She noticed stormtroopers approaching her position and fired on them , hitting two stormtroopers before running back into the forest . Rey told BB - 8 to go on without her so she could fight them off , and she told the droid that she hoped to see it again . Rey continued through the woods until she heard the sound of a lightsaber coming to life . She was soon confronted by Kylo Ren , who used his lightsaber to deflect every shot that she fired at him . After several shots from the blaster , Ren used the Force to freeze Rey in place , threatening her with his lightsaber while demanding to know where the droid was . He probed her mind with the Force and realized that she had seen the map , and that he would not need the droid — he could instead just interrogate her to find out what she had seen . Ren used the Force to render Rey unconscious and carried her to his command shuttle , which he used to escape as Resistance X - wing fighters — which had arrived to find BB - 8 — fended off the TIE fighters . Rey was taken to Starkiller Base , a First Order stronghold and a superweapon , built into the icy planet , that was capable of destroying entire star system s — a power it unleashed when Rey was on Takodana , using it to destroy the Hosnian system and deliver a crippling blow to the New Republic ’ s government and starfleet . Rey woke up in a holding cell and found Ren inside of it . She asked him what happened to Solo and Finn , though Ren did not know — which he suggested was a sign of relief for her , as he had not heard if they perished . Rey treated the dark warrior with scorn , saying he was a creature in a mask , and he removed his mask to reveal that he was a young human man with no disfigurements . He asked about the droid once again and Rey responded only with its technical specifications . Because she refused to reply , Ren used the Force to access her mind and her memories . He saw that she was lonely but also afraid to leave Jakku , and that she saw an island on an ocean in her dreams . He also saw that she was fond of Solo and that she felt like he was the father she never had , though Ren said that he would only leave her disappointed — what Rey did not know was that Ren ’ s true name was Ben Solo , and that he was the son of Solo and General Organa . After more probing , Rey began to use the Force to push back and resist , keeping Ren from seeing anymore of her memories . She turned the attack around on him and saw into his mind , finding that he was afraid that he would never be as powerful as his grandfather , Darth Vader . Ren withdrew , rattled by the experience , and left the holding cell . Only one stormtrooper was left to guard Rey ’ s cell . Testing out her newfound Force abilities , Rey attempted to use a mind trick on the trooper in order to influence him to remove the restraints and leave the cell with the door open . The trooper was confused at first and , after her second attempt , said he would instead tighten the restraints . The third time she tried , however , Rey was successful . The trooper removed the restraints and began to leave the cell . He also dropped his weapon after Rey told him to , allowing her to leave the cell while armed with a blaster rifle . Rey made her way through the base , while Ren discovered that she was missing and ordered the First Order troops to be on high alert — the longer Rey went undiscovered while testing her abilities , the more powerful and more dangerous she would become to the First Order . Her intention , ultimately , was to commandeer a ship and escape from the Starkiller , so she made her way towards a hangar where she found TIE fighters that she could steal . She was approached by several stormtroopers before she could get to the fighters , so she climbed down a chasm in the hangar to hide . Careful not to fall to her death , Rey opened a service hatch , climbed inside , and closed it behind her so she could make her way back through the base . Deeper into the base , Rey found Solo , Chewbacca , and Finn — who did not flee to the Outer Rim after all — after they had arrived on the Starkiller in order to rescue her and to disable its shields so Resistance starfighters could destroy it . Rey embraced Finn when Chewbacca said the rescue was his idea , and she thanked him for coming back for her . With the shields already disabled as a result of Finn and Solo ’ s actions , the group left the base to return to the " Millennium Falcon " , but they saw that the Resistance fighters were being cut to shreds and had been unable to destroy the thermal oscillator , which stored the energy that the weapon drained from star s . The group decided to stay behind to help destroy the oscillator . Rey accessed a terminal that allowed her to open a door , giving Solo and Chewbacca the opportunity to enter the oscillator and plant charges . Rey and Finn made their way towards their companions and found themselves overlooking a bridge , where Solo — who , along with Chewbacca , had already planted charges — found and confronted his son . Though Solo tried to get Ren to turn back to the light , the dark warrior stabbed his father through the torso , sending the famed smuggler tumbling off the bridge to his death in the deep chasm below . Chewbacca , enraged over the loss of his friend , opened fire on Ren and set off the charges , damaging the oscillator and giving the Resistance the opening it needed to destroy the base . Rey and Finn ran through the snowy forests towards the " Millennium Falcon " , but they were confronted by Ren who told them that they had unfinished business that Solo couldn ' t save them from , with Rey denouncing the dark warrior as a monster for his act of patricide . Rey attempted to fire at Ren with her blaster , but the dark warrior used the Force to toss her against a tree , temporarily knocking her out . Finn , who was given Skywalker ’ s lightsaber by Maz Kanata on Takodana , engaged Ren in a lightsaber duel , but he was bested by the Knight of Ren and left critically injured . Ren , who sought the lightsaber for himself , attempted to call the saber into his hands through the Force , but Rey called it into hers and ignited it . She engaged Ren in combat and spent part of the duel in retreat , defending herself against Ren ’ s advances . The two locked sabers and Ren told her he could train her in the ways of the Force . Rey , knowing what Kanata told her , drew upon the powers of the Force and moved onto the offensive , delivering several blows against Ren until she finally disarmed him and slashed him across the face , ultimately defeating him . A deep chasm formed between them , born out of the imminent destruction of the planet after the Resistance destroyed the oscillator , so Rey left Ren behind and returned to the injured Finn . Chewbacca soon arrived aboard the " Falcon " and carried Finn aboard , as Rey followed behind . The ship took off as the ground crumbled beneath it , and the " Falcon " and the Resistance fighters retreated from Starkiller Base as the planet imploded and became a star from all of the thermal energy the weapon had collected . Finding the Last Jedi . Discovery of Skywalker . The " Millennium Falcon " returned to the Resistance base on the planet D ' Qar , where Finn was treated for his wounds . The Resistance forces celebrated their victory over the First Order , though Rey was left with a feeling of sadness . She was greeted at the base by General Organa , and the two embraced in a long hug . The events that had unfolded awakened R2 - D2 , who had been in low power mode ever since Skywalker disappeared , and the droid combined the information contained within his databanks with the map that BB - 8 carried to show a completed map to where Skywalker had gone . Rey kept Skywalker ' s lightsaber with her and prepared to depart from D ' Qar for Skywalker ' s world with Chewbacca and Artoo . She said goodbye to the unconscious Finn , kissing him on the forehead and stating that " they would see each other again some day " . Outside of the " Falcon " , General Organa told her that she was proud of what Rey was about to do . Rey felt her fear , however , as Rey knew that Organa blamed herself for sending her son away to be with her brother only for Ben Solo to turn to the dark side . Organa was confident , however , that Rey would not share the same fate as her son , giving her a beacon to find her way back . Rey boarded the " Millennium Falcon " , took the pilot ' s seat , and set a course for Ahch - To , the world where Skywalker made his exile . After landing on one of the planet ' s small islands , Rey ventured throughout the island ' s ancient ruins and found the old Jedi Master in seclusion . Skywalker , clearly haunted by the past , said nothing as Rey handed him his father ' s lightsaber , a symbol of the only hope the galaxy had left — the return of the Jedi . Upon offering Skywalker his old lightsaber , Rey was shocked to see him discard the weapon after briefly examining it and immediately leaving the plateau . The entire way down , Rey desperately tried to recruit Skywalker to help the remaining members of the Resistance , but he blatantly refused . After recovering the lightsaber , she discovered the wreckage of Skywalker ' s X - wing starfighter and learned that he had stranded himself on the planet . She continued to follow him across the island , despite being ordered to leave . Eventually , she stumbled upon an old tree containing some of the last recorded Jedi texts from the very beginning of the Jedi Order , claiming the location was familiar to her . An intrigued Skywalker asked Rey to elaborate , but she continued to press him to come out of hiding and help fight the First Order . Skywalker once more refused , explaining that he did not come to the planet to hide , but to die where the Jedi Order first started . Later , when Skywalker arrived at the " Millennium Falcon " , Rey and Chewbacca informed him that Han Solo had been murdered , shocking Skywalker . Afterward , the old Jedi Master pressed Rey for her true motives for coming to Ahch - To . Rey explained that she had a power inside of her that she did not understand and was frightened of ; she also sought a mentor to help her discover her place in the galaxy . That night , Rey woke to see Skywalker staring at her ; he agreed to give Rey no more than three lessons of the Jedi Order and that they would start at dawn . Training and revelations . On the first day of her training with Skywalker , Rey awoke to find Kylo Ren sitting across from her . She instinctively aimed her blaster at him and fired , only to blow a hole through her stone hut . She could not harm him , yet nor could Ren use his powers to reach into her mind due to the actual distance between them . Rey was both terrified and infuriated to see the dark warlord , but decided to keep this new development between them from Skywalker , fearing that she would lose the Jedi Master ' s trust if he mistook her and Ren ' s newfound connection as a betrayal . She followed him to the first Jedi Temple where he described the Force as an energy that bound everything together , including the light and the darkness . After some miscommunication , Rey reached out into the Force with her senses and felt drawn to a cavern immersed in dark side energy . Having been effortlessly drawn to the darkness despite Skywalker ' s warnings , Skywalker backed away in fear as Rey ' s raw strength in the Force reminded him of another gifted prodigy — his nephew and fallen apprentice , Ben Solo . At the same time , Rey sensed nothing from the Jedi exile and came to realize that Skywalker had blocked himself off from the Force . For her next lesson , Rey was made to listen to Skywalker ' s interpretation of the history of the Jedi Order , which he saw as an example of hubris and failure . He further credited his former mentor , Obi - Wan Kenobi , as the Jedi Master responsible for the training of Darth Vader and also blamed the Jedi for failing to stop Darth Sidious ' rise to power . In spite of his arguments , Rey was adamant that the return of the Jedi Order was the galaxy ' s last hope against the rising power of the First Order . She also countered Skywalker ' s views by exclaiming how it was Skywalker himself who saw the light in Vader and fought to redeem him . Yet despite her assertions to the contrary , Skywalker felt responsible for his nephew ' s fall to the dark side , lamenting how he had once hoped to pass on his lessons to Solo and a new generation of Jedi . It was then that Rey learned about the night of Solo ' s betrayal as explained from Skywalker ' s point of view . As her training with Skywalker continued , her connection with Ren became stronger and resulted in more frequent interactions between them . At first , Rey was inconvenienced by the fact that she was bonded with a man whom she regarded as a murderer and a monster . To her surprise , however , Ren no longer tried to hide his feelings of pain and misery from Rey . At one point she inquired — while distracted by the site of Ren stripped to the waist — as to how he could kill his own father , to which Ren replied by comparing Rey ' s experience with abandonment to his own . His knowledge of Rey ' s parents confounded her , as well as reminded her that the first contact between their minds had allowed them to access each other ' s memories . Ren then took the opportunity to share his recollection of the night he destroyed his uncle ' s temple , revealing to Rey that Skywalker had made an attempt on Ben Solo ' s life while he slept . She wanted to believe that Ren was lying , but her feelings told her that he was telling the truth . Determined to see her parents once again after so many years , Rey followed the pull to the dark side which led her to a cave filled with numerous mirror versions of herself . Staring into a clouded mirror of polished stone , she beseeched the Force to reveal her parents , but was only met by her own reflection . Having failed to find the answers she sought , either with her parents or Skywalker , Rey began to despair as years of isolation began to weigh upon her . As a result , she turned to the one person whom she felt could relate to her sense of solitude and loss : Kylo Ren . The dark warrior listened intently as Rey recalled her experience in the cave and insisted she was not alone despite her sense of loneliness . Rey returned his gesture , in kind , and came to hope that it was not too late for him to return to the light . By then , their bond had reached an unprecedented level in strength and raw power to the extent that Rey compared it to touching a live wire . She tentatively raised her hand to touch him , although she expected their hands to simply pass through each other . When their fingers actually touched , Rey grasped Ren ' s hand . At that moment , however , Skywalker — now reconnected with the Force — witnessed their bond with his own eyes and proceeded to interrupt the connection . Confronting the Jedi Master , Rey demanded to know if he tried to murder Ren . The two fought until Skywalker admitted that he had contemplated killing his nephew after sensing the darkness within him . Unlike Skywalker , Rey did not believe that Ren was fully committed to the dark side as there was still much conflict within him . She therefore set out to confront him , in spite of Skywalker ' s warnings , under the belief that Ben Solo ' s redemption was the key to saving the galaxy . Unknown to Skywalker , Rey took the sacred Jedi texts with her aboard the " Falcon " before leaving Ahch - To . Upon returning to the beleaguered Resistance fleet , Rey ordered Chewbacca to launch her from an escape pod toward Snoke ' s flagship , the " Supremacy " , where Ren awaited her arrival . Showdown on the " Supremacy " . As they approached Snoke ' s throne room , Rey reminded Ren that he still had a chance to redeem himself . Snoke welcomed Rey and removed her handcuffs . He then Force - pulled her lightsaber to him and set it on the arm of his chair . Snoke gleefully remarked on the former scavenger and used the Force to pull her towards him , claiming he had created the Force link between Rey and Ren in order to find Luke Skywalker . When Snoke directly pried her for Skywalker ' s location , Rey boldly refused and tried to summon her lightsaber ; Instead , Snoke merely redirected the weapon , hitting her in the back of the head . Amused with her spunk , Snoke brought her before a holo - projector showing the remaining members of the Resistance being destroyed , and vowed she would join them . Rather than lose hope , however , the sight drove Rey to summon Ren ' s lightsaber and defiantly igniting it to challenge Snoke once more , promptly earning the Supreme Leader ' s respect as he compliments her for her courage , while finally acknowledging her as a genuine threat to his reign . Restraining Rey once more , Snoke returned Ren ' s lightsaber to him and ordered him to execute her , confident his apprentice would do so . Instead , Ren subtly used the Force to turn Rey ' s lightsaber and activated it , carving Snoke in two . Freed from the Supreme Leader ' s control and her saber back in hand , Rey suddenly found herself in a temporary truce with Ren as they engaged and killed all the guards in the throne room . With Snoke ' s personal guards dead , Ren offered Rey the chance to join him , but when she pleaded with him to join the Resistance , Kylo revealed the truth about her parents : they were both junk dealers who traded her away for money and died on Jakku , buried in an unmarked grave . Ren once more offered her a place by his side to reshape the galaxy in their image . As on Starkiller Base , Rey once again refused and attempted to pull her lightsaber back to her . The pressure of the Force from both users proved to be too much and split the weapon in two , knocking them unconscious . Coming to first , Rey recovered both halves of the lightsaber . Before she left the bridge , she looked over at the unconscious form of Ren and briefly considered igniting his own blade and ending his life then and there . Eventually she determined that it was not hers to take . She then proceeded to fly away on Snoke ' s escape shuttle , using the craft ' s low profile and countermeasures to avoid detection . Rescue on Crait . Rey was able to reunite with Chewbacca aboard the " Millennium Falcon " and regrouped with the Rebels on the nearby planet Crait . They arrived right as the Resistance was taking heavy losses from the First Order ' s assault ; with Rey manning the " Falcon ' s " turrets , Chewbacca was able to lure the attacking TIE Fighters away from the battle through the planet ' s crystallized caverns . Despite Rey ' s successful diversion of the First Order ' s air support , the Resistance was still ultimately pushed back by the Order ' s sheer firepower . As Luke delayed the First Order ' s final assault via a force projection , the Resistance sought to escape through a network of tunnels behind their base . Following Leia ' s two - way beacon , Rey and Chewbacca landed near a back entrance to the old Rebel base covered with boulders . Trusting in the Force , she accepted her destiny as a Jedi and proceeded to clear the exit , allowing the surviving Resistance members to escape ; here she reunited with Finn , and embraced him . As she was about to close the " Falcon ' s " doors once the Resistance was all aboard , she shared one more interaction through the Force with Ren , but she severed the connection and left on the " Falcon " . Safely in hyperspace , Rey reunited with BB - 8 and took notice of the droid ' s new antenna . Upon reuniting with most members of the Resistance , Rey met Dameron and was warmly reunited with Leia , who assured her that the rebellion , and hope , would survive . Personality and traits . Rey was a human female who stood at 1 . 7 meter s in height . She had brown hair , hazel eye s , and light skin that adapted to the extreme ultraviolet radiation emanated by the sun that shone down on the desert world of Jakku . The harsh realities of such a world could have easily made a person cynical or guarded against sympathy and weaknesses , but not Rey . Despite eking out a meager existence in the scorching heat of the Western Reaches planet , Rey possessed a heart full of generosity and a willingness to help other people in need . It was this willingness that led her to not only help BB - 8 be free of Teedo ' s interference and Plutt ' s attempts to acquire the droid , but also led her to help BB - 8 in its mission to return the star map it carried to the Resistance . Though she never wanted to leave Jakku for fear that she would not be there when her family returned for her , she believed in the importance of the Resistance and its fight against the First Order enough that it gave her strength to continue on BB - 8 ' s mission to find Luke Skywalker and defeat the First Order . Notably , her courage and " utter " refusal to concede to despair made her the only Jedi to earn Snoke ' s respect as a worthy adversary . For years , Rey ' s imagination took her mind to other worlds , including those with lush green forests and beauty that she could never even dream of . The adventure she found while helping BB - 8 and Finn brought her to one such world in the form of Takodana , where she began to realize that her destiny was not in the junkfields of a remote desert planet . Her encounter with Maz Kanata profoundly impacted how she saw herself and what she was capable of , and Rey began to see that she was part of a larger galactic fight — and that the power of the Force was with her . Her recognition of these abilities and her destiny coincided with turbulence in the Cosmic Force , which for years had remained dormant , and ultimately led her to find Luke Skywalker . Powers and abilities . Rey honed her skills as a scavenger in the junkfields of Jakku , a planet on which every day was a struggle to survive against harsh sunlight , searing hot deserts , and cutthroat scavengers and thieves who would steal from anyone . This bleak reality , in which she nonetheless remained ever - hopeful , saw Rey develop a tenacity and instinct for survival . Her skills as a scavenger saw her earn the respect of junk traders like Plutt , who ensured that his thugs did not steal from her — unless her skills got in the way of his business . The need to survive against such beings , and the ability to traverse downed star cruisers and other war technology , necessitated that she remain in peak physical condition . She developed skills as a warrior , with the ability to expertly wield a quarterstaff against those who would threaten her . Her interactions with offworlders also allowed her to learn languages from other worlds , such as the Wookiee language of Shyriiwook and the binary language of droids . She also had a certain talent for drawing , which she put to good use in her journal . In her time on Jakku , Rey learned the ins - and - outs of being a mechanic , and she was gifted with a seemingly innate understanding of how machinery worked . This left her comfortable around vehicles and weapons , including the AT - AT she called home ; she kept the weatherproofing of the downed transport intact to protect against the climate , and she set traps around it so scavengers could not steal from her . She built her own speeder and became a skilled pilot , despite never wanting to leave Jakku . These skills proved ever - useful when she piloted the " Millennium Falcon " away from Jakku , and she displayed an understanding of its systems and functions with a familiarity that rivaled even that of Han Solo . Chewbacca also recognized these abilities , giving her the pilot ' s seat in the " Millennium Falcon " after Solo died and the two set off to find Skywalker . All of these skills and more were put to the test when she left Jakku with BB - 8 and Finn . Rey was forced to pilot the " Millennium Falcon " through the Starship Graveyard , in which she formed a working partnership with Finn when the former stormtrooper manned the gun turrets of the old Corellian vessel , and further helped Solo repair the " Falcon " when it was damaged . Her ability to understand languages not commonly found on Jakku came in handy when helping BB - 8 with its mission , as well as through interactions with Chewbacca . The adventure that followed her leaving Jakku led Rey to discover that she was gifted with the powers of the Force . Though she initially rejected these powers and the destiny that came with them , Rey ' s encounter with Skywalker ' s lightsaber began awakening the power of the Force inside of her . She resisted Kylo Ren ' s attempt to probe her mind for the map to Skywalker , and even turned his attack back on him to discover his own fears of inadequacy in the shadow of Darth Vader . Because of this , Ren concluded that Rey was strong with the Force ; untaught , but stronger than she realized . As a side effect of that mind probe , Rey inadvertently unlocked some of her dormant Force abilities by accessing memories of Ren ' s training which , in turn , served as her own training in the ways of the Force . She was therefore able to employ the mind trick , albeit three times , against a stormtrooper in order to escape from captivity , and her skills grew throughout her escape from the Starkiller . On one occasion , she was able to summon Skywalker ' s lightsaber to her hand and make it fling itself past Kylo . This culminated in her lightsaber duel with the injured Kylo , as she was able to repel his attacks and best him in their fierce encounter , destroying his lightsaber ; however , she had been only able to achieve this due to Ren ' s imbalance . Thereafter , Rey embraced these events and the abilities she was just beginning to learn when she sought out the exiled Skywalker , rekindling a spark of hope for a galaxy on the road to war . After her training on Ahch - To , Rey proved capable of lifting and moving several boulders simultaneously with a mere amount of concentration to open a passageway for the Resistance on Crait , and could also access the Force - bond forged by Snoke to communicate with Ben Solo seemingly at will . According to Snoke , she grew more powerful in the light side of the Force as Ben grew stronger in the dark side . Despite her lack of proper training , Rey proved a natural in lightsaber combat . But she was neither as seasoned nor as versatile as Kylo Ren . She had much difficulty fighting Snoke ' s Praetorian Guard , one of whom managed to wound her in the right shoulder . Equipment . " Hellhound Two " and the speeder . Rey made her home in the downed remains of an All Terrain Armored Transport called " Hellhound Two " , a leftover from the Battle of Jakku . After claiming it as her own , Rey made a number of modifications to the AT - AT . She disabled the fuel tank , as it was too dangerous to keep online , and welded the main hatch shut . As an entrance and exit , she used a side hatch that Imperial stormtrooper s only would have used in emergencies . In order to operate the solar panels that Rey used to power her home , she salvaged two self - charging fuel cells from the wreckage of speeder bikes in the vehicle bay . Many of the materials also proved useful for salvage ; E - 11 blaster rifle s , DLT - 20A laser rifle s , terrain scanners , atmosphere intakes , and more were all materials she was able to trade to Unkar Plutt . While in the walker , Rey generally stayed inside the lower troop deck , though there was a speeder bike garage and upper troop deck in the walker . Despite " Hellhound Two " laying on its side , Rey came to think of it as right side up after getting so used to it . Inside she had a workbench for working on salvage material , her computer terminal , and a hammock that she made herself when she was a girl . Being inside the walker gave her a degree of protection as well . Not only did Rey maintain the vehicle ' s weatherproofing , thereby keeping the daytime heat and frigid nights out of the craft , but she also set up traps around the walker in order to keep scavengers out of her home . Although the AT - AT was her home , Rey ' s speeder was more important for her survival . Rey took great pride and joy from her speeder , a custom - built repulsorlift vehicle . It stood at 3 . 73 meters in height and carried no weapons , but its hauling capability , and the net used as a cargo bag on the side of the craft , allowed her to ferry items she salvaged from the Starship Graveyard to her AT - AT and Niima Outpost . Despite its ability to haul cargo , its space was limited ; the craft valued speed over cargo capacity , so Rey often had to make return trips to carry her salvage into Niima Outpost . The craft was top heavy , making it difficult for other pilots to control it , but Rey was a skilled enough pilot to manage it . Its top heavy nature made her more confident that other scavengers would not steal it , as did her safety precautions : a fingerprint scanner that meant only she could power the speeder ' s engines , and a loose wire that she used to electrify the craft when she was not using it in the event that someone tried to hotwire the speeder . The speeder itself was built from supplies that Rey scavenged from the deserts . It was powered by twin turbojet engines she claimed from a downed cargo - hauler , which she mounted stacked rather than placing them side - by - side . She bolted them to powered amplifiers that she scavenged from an Imperial vessel . It was further customized with racing - swoop afterburner s , a customized combustion chamber , and repulsorlifts she scavenged from crashed X - wing starfighters , amongst many other modifications she made . When carrying a limited load , the speeder was even powerful enough to accelerate to the point that it could fly like an airspeeder . Rey enjoyed using the craft to hone her piloting abilities , sometimes taking it out for flights and performing maneuvers like barrel rolls . The speeder ' s capabilities , as well as its necessity for survival , gave Rey a sense of independence . Although no one could be truly free and independent on Jakku , due to scavengers being dependent on Unkar Plutt for food , the speeder at least meant that Rey could go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted . Tools and weapons . Being a scavenger required many types of tools and gear necessary to survive . Rey ' s scavenger clothing was ideal for protecting herself from the heat and carrying the tools she needed to do her job . She wore tight - bindings to keep out the sun and sand as well as salvaged gauze wrappings . She even wore her hair in a simple style designed specifically for survival in the desert . Her boots were made for travelers and were created out of Govath - wool . Part of her gear included goggles from stormtrooper helmet lenses that Rey salvaged from a ship . Water was an essential part of a scavenger ' s life , and many scavengers forgot that the heat was their worst enemy . Rey always carried more water with her than she needed to and carried replacement parts for all of the critical components on her speeder . To be as successful a scavenger as Rey meant acquiring the best tools she could , learning how to use them , and always maintaining them . She carried her tools in a mesh - windowed salvage satchel that contained her salvages and survival equipment . Tools she kept in the satchel included a set of Pilex bit driver s with Wessex and Blissex heads ; modulators that included Mon Calamari hex - clamps and cruciform Verpine ratchet s ; all eight standard configurations of hydrospanner s , including spare power cell s ; magnetizer s and demagnetizer s ; a carbon chisel for removing scorching on her salvages ; a chisel head hammer ; harris wrench es , including two that were powered and one that came in the standard model ; bonding tape ; a power tester ; microlense s for inspecting parts to see if there were breaks or cracks too small for the eye to see ; a sensor jammer to ensure that memory units and computers were properly decoupled , lest their data be purged after being unhooked with authorization ; and a datapad that contained schematics of ships from the Starship Graveyard . Rey also carried a salvage kit , made from happabore leather , with brushes for cleaning the parts she acquired . One of the most important items Rey carried was her quarterstaff , which she salvaged herself and wrapped with scraps of uniform . She kept the staff strapped to her person with a strap made from wool and bloggin - leather . The staff was an important tool for traversing downed ships . Because it was so dark inside the unpowered vessels , it was not unheard of to be injured by jagged metal or falling through brittle hull plating . Rey used her staff to check that every step she took was stable , particularly in a ship she had never been in before . She also used the quarterstaff in combat if necessary , which required her to keep a firm back arm grip in order to power any sudden swings . While using it she remained standing in a lower defensive position , and she was practiced with skilled and agile footwork . Rey also had a small knife created out of a droid arm . After Rey left Jakku and arrived on Takodana , she was given an NN - 14 blaster pistol from Han Solo . The pistol was small , befitting her own size . It had an armor ed body shell , flash - suppressing and stabilizing muzzle , and a compact grip that was suited for her small hands . Though it was small , its enlarged power core and reinforced frame meant that it was a sturdy weapon that delivered a powerful blast onto any enemies . In Maz Kanata ' s castle , Rey also learned that Skywalker ' s lightsaber was destined for her , as the Force beckoned her to claim it . The lightsaber was built by Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars and , after it was lost to Luke Skywalker during a duel with his father , it was salvaged from the depths of Cloud City . Rey finally claimed the lightsaber during her duel with Kylo Ren , and she carried it with her to Ahch - To so she could present it to Luke Skywalker himself . Behind the scenes . Creation and development . When Lucasfilm set out to create the " Star Wars " sequel trilogy , which would be released under the banner of The Walt Disney Company after its acquisition of Lucasfilm , it became clear to them that " Star Wars " could not just rely on the heroes of the original trilogy and would need to create a new generation of characters to take up the mantle . One such character was Rey , who , in the development process for , was known as Kira . She was conceived as the protagonist from the project ' s beginning , with the original screenwriter , Michael Arndt , agreeing to write the film when he was told it would be the origin story of a female Jedi . He described Kira as a " loner hothead , gear - head , badass . " J . J . Abrams , who was chosen as the film ' s director , quickly gravitated towards the idea of a female lead , and to the notion that the character , living thirty years after , would not know who Luke Skywalker was or even regard him as a myth . Abrams was also drawn to the idea of a female Jedi being at the center of the " Star Wars " story . Luke Skywalker himself posed a challenge to the character who became Rey while Arndt was working on the early iterations of the film . In early drafts of the story , Arndt wrote that Rey ' s home was destroyed and she goes off a journey where she meets Luke and then defeats the villain . Arndt felt like Luke ' s presence upstaged Rey , thinking that every time Luke entered a scene he overshadowed her character because the audience would want to know more about him . Ultimately , the writers chose to make Luke the MacGuffin of the film , with Rey ' s journey culminating in discovering Luke in exile . As the story was developed , Kira had two male companions : Sam , who became Finn , and a character then - known only as John Doe . John Doe was originally her partner , was briefly thought of as a Jedi , and then cast as a bounty hunter . He eventually evolved into a member of the Republic military , before evolving away from being part of Kira ' s story and becoming Poe Dameron . Kira was conceived as a scavenger in junk yards early on . At one point , an alien junk dealer was introduced into the story and Kira worked in a sort of used car lot that was run by a former Republic pilot , who was an elderly father figure for Kira . From this job , she would watch starships arrive and depart every day , giving her dreams of leaving her backwater world — a trait that made its way into the final film . Her skills with a pilot were also part of early concept art , including one depicting Kira flying a starfighter and fighting Star Destroyers . Her speeder , which in concept art also took the form of a small ship , was devised as a " hero ship , " one that could show the audience something about the character and her abilities to assemble a craft through various different parts . By November 2013 , the film ' s costume department created its first drawings for what Kira ' s costumes would look like . Initially , her costume design was going to have a lot of gear for climbing and tools because of her scavenging work , but the production team chose to go with a simpler look and pared the costume down . The final design was approved in February 2014 , including the goggles that she wore while scavenging . The genesis of the goggles came from the production team not wanting people to know who the character was at first , including whether she was male , female , or even human . Her home , built in a downed AT - AT , was constructed in Abu Dhabi at the end of a mangrove swamp , which was the only place that the production could find that had a clear horizon and was flat and desolate . Abrams said that because the character ' s existence was miserable during her time on Jakku , he wanted her home to be built somewhere that seemed equally miserable . The name Kira was used as late as until filming in Abu Dhabi , when Abrams informed Ridley he had decided to go with Rey . Casting and portrayal . In looking to cast the new film , Disney issued casting calls for a female lead and a male lead in " The Force Awakens " . The female lead , referred to only as " Rachel , " sought a young woman to play a character between the ages of 17 and 18 . The character was described as beautiful , smart , and athletic , and it was open to all ethnicities , as Abrams sought to diversify the saga and did not have any particular ethnicity in mind for the casting of the lead roles . The casting call provided vague bits of backstory for the character , saying that she was young when she lost her family and had to learn how to survive with strength , street smarts , humor , and guts in a dangerous town . Just like the final version of the character , and Luke Skywalker before her , the casting call further said that " Rachel " hoped she would one day escape her lot in life and move on to a better existence . Of the many actresses who auditioned for the role of Rey , the part went to Daisy Ridley , while young Rey was portrayed by Cailey Fleming in Rey ' s vision scene on Takodana . Ridley felt compelled to audition after hearing about the role , saying she had " this really weird feeling " that ultimately led her to securing the role of the saga ' s newest hero . The audition process took seven months and Ridley went through four or five auditions over that period before securing the role . At first , she was sour on her chances and did not believe her first few auditions were any good . By the time she made it to the final audition , however , Ridley said that it felt like everything clicked into place . Abrams intentionally wanted to cast an unknown like Ridley because he wanted the audience to discover her , and other new characters , as characters rather than as actors they had seen in other projects . After securing the role , for three months Ridley did not tell anyone that she was the new lead in the " Star Wars " franchise . She spent those three months training for the role after being asked to build up muscle , in order to credibly come across as a person who could lift heavy metals in the junkfields of Jakku and ultimately fight stormtroopers . The creation of a female lead and the casting of Ridley was deliberate . Kathleen Kennedy , the president of Lucasfilm and producer of " The Force Awakens " , said that there was no chance that a " Star Wars " film in 2015 was going to be released without diversity and balance . With the casting of Ridley , Kennedy said that they had found someone who who had a physicality and self - confidence that Rey needed , as well as an optimism about how anything was possible — a trait mirroring Ridley ' s own rise from unknown actress to " Star Wars " hero . Ridley herself said that the character can serve as an inspiration for young girls around the world who , through Rey , can see a progressive and relatable female character on the big screen . For the film ' s , composer John Williams wrote " Rey ' s Theme " and used it as the primary character motif of the film . Williams felt empathy for the character when he first saw her in the unfinished film , as she was introduced alone and without her family , so he wanted the theme to convey that empathy . He gave the track a musical grammar that was intended to be more of an adventure theme rather than a hero ' s theme , one infused with the promise of more adventure and heroic resolution to come . " Rey ' s Theme " recurs throughout the soundtrack , including in " The Scavenger , " " That Girl with the Staff , " " Farewell and The Trip , " and " The Jedi Steps and Finale . " Ridley underwent extensive physical training in preparation for reprising her role in . Ridley has expressed surprise that many saw " The Force Awakens " and came away speculating about the identity of Rey ' s parents : " I thought a lot was answered in " The Force Awakens " . Then after the screening I went for a drink with my agent and everyone , and we were chatting away and I realised that oh , in their minds it ' s not answered at all ! "