ARCHIVE: Rey's Lineage Discussion II - 2

I think he knows that she isn't Luke's daughter. Maybe it's too early or too late but i couldn't resist it:

snufkin wrote:

Darth Dementor wrote:
@snufkin

I like the observation on the artwork in this Meta. Rey and Kylo are both bunch together on the Dark side of the poster.
http://smugglerben.tumblr.com/post/147007184885/your-reylo-is-bent-extrakyloren?is_related_post=1

@Darth Dementor

Like I said before, everything is tea leaf reading at this point. But gotta wonder if between that and some of less crazy rumors which have come out, if it points to her spending most of her time with him, separate from the Resistance/galactic Civil War plot. Which brings up the question if they'll be in the FO. From the deleted script dialogue that got into the book and is mentioned all the time, it sounds like Snoke wasn't all "bring her to me" as in "I would like to meet this delightful young woman from Jakku my young apprentice is so taken with." More like she wouldn't have survived that meeting and likely been the Blood Oath test that ended up happening to Han.

Could also mean DS origins. Although after reading Bloodline, one of the conclusions I came to was how badly Leia needed to be in therapy, in part to resolve all of the emotions she was repressing about being the biological child of the public face of the DS (not to mention all the s***y things said biodad did to her & her loved ones). Also that probably part of the reason why she'd packed Ben off to Luke had to do with repressing these emotions. So to me personally, I was like "this is a whole book about coming to terms with a very ugly side to your family history when you think of yourself as a good person" (maybe I can relate to that, being from a Southern family where issues like the Confederacy and Jim Crow are pretty emotionally fraught). Anyways, that was my personal take on Bloodline, so it sort of diminished the idea for me that there could be an interesting story about Rey having DS origins. But like I said, that's my own personal take and we certainly don't know enough yet to conclude where the source of her powers comes from.

@snufkin

I wrote this in another thread, so-- quoting myself, basically. . But I think "Leia discovers she has Dark side origins" isn't really a Thing in the OT: 1) She's all about the political plot, not the Jedi, and 2) She finds out at the end of ROTJ. LUKE finding out he has Dark side origins IS a thing, but it's not nearly as much about "Oh no, I come from the Dark side, what if I turn like my father did?" as about finding that his father is alive and still has light in him, about finding that he wants to save his father. It's about saving a living relative, like an intervention or something (OK, now I'm never going to be able to watch that throne room scene the same way), rather than figuring out how his origins relate to who he is.

So in short, I don't think it would be too repetitive to have Rey grapple with Dark side origins. Just my opinion. With this being the 8th movie in a series, I guess there's going to be some repetition-- we're on fallen Skywalker #2 by now, after all, and Death Star #3.

@Lily Snape

You do make a good point about the dark origins aspect being repetitive....but Luke found out his father was a jedi who turned sith Lord...so going by that, even giving her jedi origins would be a repetition since Luke spent a long time believing his father was a jedi who was killed by Vader......Rey doesn't even know anything about her parents to think they are good and then realize they are not.... so we're already getting a different story at the get go.

TPTB have mentioned that we'll be seeing more types of force users in the new movies....and in TCW, Rebels, the SW: Uprising game and now hopefully in RO, we'll see more such groups....what would be non-repetitive is for Rey's family to belong to such groups.

Just going by canon, she could be a force user from the Anoat sector, a Nightsister, a member of the church of the force, one of the inquisitor's children, someone whose family studied with the Bendu, etc (if we go by the EU, I can add many more force user groups to this list)..... some of these groups are dark siders so they can easily give Rey a dark side heritage without having to bring in the same old jedi and sith orders, thus avoiding repetitiveness.

panki wrote:@Lily Snape

You do make a good point about the dark origins aspect being repetitive....but Luke found out his father was a jedi who turned sith Lord...so going by that, even giving her jedi origins would be a repetition since Luke spent a long time believing his father was a jedi who was killed by Vader......Rey doesn't even know anything about her parents to think they are good and then realize they are not.... so we're already getting a different story at the get go.

TPTB have mentioned that we'll be seeing more types of force users in the new movies....and in TCW, Rebels, the SW: Uprising game and now hopefully in RO, we'll see more such groups....what would be non-repetitive is for Rey's family to belong to such groups.

Just going by canon, she could be a force user from the Anoat sector, a Nightsister, a member of the church of the force, one of the inquisitor's children, someone whose family studied with the Bendu, etc (if we go by the EU, I can add many more force user groups to this list)..... some of these groups are dark siders so they can easily give Rey a dark side heritage without having to bring in the same old jedi and sith orders, thus avoiding repetitiveness.

@panki

I like these scenarios so much better and would love to see them play out! Just as I said before, one of my takes after reading Bloodline was the "Orphan gets magical thinking about biological parent cruelly shattered by revelation that they're offspring of the biggest of the biggest bad."  had already been done with the Skywalkers (I'm obvs assuming that something happened to Ben when he finds out that his bio-grandad wasn't Jimmy Smits but James Earl Jones). There's so many new directions they could go with in terms of Rey, your scenarios are so much more interesting sounding than any of the standard "you parents were bad guys" scenarios I've seen floated around so far.

I don't know, if this has been mentioned yet, but in the recent issue of the Star Wars Insider, you can find a really interesting article which discusses Rey's role as a heroine ("A heroine's journey", really worth reading). Rey's story as a heroine is compared to Luke's and Anakin's and this I find compelling:



There's no need to make her related to anyone important or a new chosen one.

What is SW Insider? Something official?

@Darth_Awakened: yes, it's an official Star Wars magazine, the former Lucasfilm Fanclub magazine.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Insider

The article is written by Tricia Barr:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tricia_Barr

EchoBase wrote:@Darth_Awakened: yes, it's an official Star Wars magazine, the former Lucasfilm Fanclub magazine.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Insider

The article is written by Tricia Barr:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tricia_Barr

@EchoBase

Thanks
Another very clear and strong nail in Reywalker coffin. I wonder how many more nails some fans would need to discard the theory.
I am expecting we would have more of similar articles from official sources in next months, year.

Darth_Awakened wrote:

EchoBase wrote:@Darth_Awakened: yes, it's an official Star Wars magazine, the former Lucasfilm Fanclub magazine.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Insider

The article is written by Tricia Barr:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tricia_Barr

@EchoBase

Thanks
Another very clear and strong nail in Reywalker coffin. I wonder how many more nails some fans would need to discard the theory.
I am expecting we would have more of similar articles from official sources in next months, year.

@Darth_Awakened

Tbh, Rey and Kylo would get a big fluffy wedding and you'd still have some folks saying LF is pulling off a Luke-and-Leia to trick the audience.

(I'm sorry)

@Irina DE France thats exactly what some say when I tell them about Reylo. "They did it in the first trilogy so it must be a tradition in Star Wars, right?"

Darth Dementor wrote:@Irina DE France thats exactly what some say when I tell them about Reylo.  "They did it in the first trilogy so it must be a tradition in Star Wars, right?" :roll:

@Darth Dementor

It's so confusing to me because the Luke and Leia vibe I had from the get go was between her and Finn, they're like siblings/kids. The scenarios where Finn is her love interest are what strike me more as being like incest because they bond as siblings, first family the other has ever had. Kind of like when people suggest you date a certain friend b/c you get along so well, they're great, etc and there's an immediate visceral response of NO, because they feel like a family member. That's the response I had immediately to her and Finn together, like brother and sister.

Also I guess I was out of the loop having stopped being interested in Star Wars once I hit puberty, but it never occurred to me at all before seeing TFA or during my first viewing that she was Luke's daughter. I'd seen the original news articles (because I have many friends who love Star Wars and posted the first casting announcements on Facebook) where people assumed that she was Han and Leia's daughter. But once I heard the minimum before going in that she was waiting for her family, I was like "okay not related to anybody, just an orphan."  It didn't occur to me until getting curious about you know what and going on the Internet that I learned people thought she was Luke's kid. And even then, I was like "huh, don't see it."

I did read one review after finally seeing TFA which said the common thread between her, Luke, and Anikin isn't blood relationship, but that they're all the poor/working class slobs whose lives don't change or get affected, no matter whether it's the Republic, Empire, or New Republic who's in charge. And that especially for her, being the absolute poorest of the poor characters ever featured in all the trilogies, the "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss" theme is especially pointed.

EchoBase wrote:I don't know, if this has been mentioned yet, but in the recent issue of the Star Wars Insider, you can find a really interesting article which discusses Rey's role as a heroine ("A heroine's journey", really worth reading). Rey's story as a heroine is compared to Luke's and Anakin's and this I find compelling:



There's no need to make her related to anyone important or a new chosen one.

@EchoBase

Jon snow and Lyra were introduced exactly the same way. they were introduced as no one of importance but ended up being royalty and sons and daughters of royalty and Heros. Their journey also started different to the usual hero where they find out early on/the audience finds out early on. Rey falls into this category. The one where the reveal is kept from both the audience and the hero right up until the end of a story.  It's quite a rare one but it still works very well when revealed. If she's really a no one they would not have created mystery in the film itself. Just my observation.

Official magazines and the PR team also called Jon a bastard and a no one before he was revealed to be much more. They lied about him on many occasions, all to keep the reveal more of a surprise. I don't think this is any different. I see them calling Ren a villain, because that is what he currently is. Rey is a no one when they write about her because that is what she currently is in TFA .

She does differ from the usual hero because her first call to adventure in the film does not reveal her as a daughter of anything. Again a clever misdirect. The second call to adventure though, oh that reveals more, it reveals guardians, it reveals destiny and implies she is someone of great importance. Her true identity which she does not yet know. very funny for a hero to have 2 calls to adventure in one movie....Jon snow is still awaiting his true call to adventure, the one that ties in with the reveal.

What's more, the director who knows how the trilogy e ds said this:

Trust me she's not a no one

"We’re going to make sure that that answer (her lineage) is deeply and profoundly satisfying. Rey is a character that is important in this universe, not just in the context ofThe Force Awakens, but in the entire galaxy. She deserves it. We’ll make sure that that answer( to her parentage) is something that feels like it was something that happened a long time ago, far away, and we’re just telling you what happened"

I think many would not be satisfied with random, sorry. Maybe in a spin off like rogue one but not the main saga. Especially since it's about legacy characters and their journeys. Personally I'd be pretty pissed if her only claim to anything in this saga is the Honor of being a scavenger who marries into a legacy family. It's just so backwards and old fashioned to do this to a female character

If anything I think they are suggesting that anyone born of nothing can find out they are connected to royalty and find out they are linked to Heros. They are just using diferent techniques to get there, ones which have been used to success with other orphans like jon snow where the hero and the audience are oblivious. It's very rare and almost unique  in a story for both parties to be completely unaware.

Gemini wrote:If anything I think they are suggesting that anyone born of nothing can find out they are connected to royalty and find out they are linked to Heros. They are just using diferent techniques to get there, ones which have been used to success with other orphans like jon snow where the hero and the audience are oblivious. It's very rare and almost unique  in a story for both parties to be completely unaware.

@Gemini

I don't know if Jon Snow can really be compared to Rey though. With him it's more a case of, "you thought all this time that his parents were X, but his parents are really Y!" And being the son of Ned Stark was nothing to sneeze at; he might have been a bastard but he was never a "no one".

EchoBase wrote:I don't know, if this has been mentioned yet, but in the recent issue of the Star Wars Insider, you can find a really interesting article which discusses Rey's role as a heroine ("A heroine's journey", really worth reading). Rey's story as a heroine is compared to Luke's and Anakin's and this I find compelling:



There's no need to make her related to anyone important or a new chosen one.

@EchoBase

I actually like the idea of an expanding universe where they make Rey someone important (powerful family, royalty etc) but not necessarily related to the same set of people we've been seeing in the OT and PT....this opens up the scope for many anthology movies about Rey's family and their history, new planets and new types of force users and their adventures.

@Gemini,

I think that Jon Snow is a great example of this trope... He is treated less than then his "brothers" the fact that he BELIEVES he is a bastard affects his decisions about his life, and he goes to the wall to become a celibate warrior. But, he should not in fact be following this path if he knew his true birth, but this life at the WALL will make him a prepare him for his ultimate fate, make him a better hero.

Yes, this trope is tried and true...



In myth, when we're presented with children orphaned or suckled by animals, it's generally a sign that their true parentage is actually a remarkable one and they'll grow up to be great leaders, warriors, seers, magicians, or shamans. As they grow, their beauty, or physical prowess, or magical abilities betray a lineage that cannot be hidden by their humble upbringing. Rarely do we encounter a hero whose origins are truly low; at least one parent must be revealed as noble, supernatural, or divine. After a birth trauma and a miraculous survival always comes a span of time symbolically described as "exile in the wilderness," where they hone their skills, test their mettle, and gather their armies, their allies, or their magic, before returning (as they always do) to the world that is their birthright.


We find them everywhere in fantasy fiction: the "orphaned heroes," young men and women whose parents are dead, absent, or unknown, who turn out to be the heirs to the kingdom, the destined pullers of swords from stones, the keys to the riddles, the prophesies' answers, the bearers of powerful magic. Think of J.R.R. Tolkien's Frodo Baggins, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, Philip Pullman's Lyra Belacqua, Garth Nix's Lirael, and Jane Yolen's White Jenna. Think of the orphaned protagonists at the heart of Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci books, Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles, Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori, and countless others.

Saracene wrote:

Gemini wrote:If anything I think they are suggesting that anyone born of nothing can find out they are connected to royalty and find out they are linked to Heros. They are just using diferent techniques to get there, ones which have been used to success with other orphans like jon snow where the hero and the audience are oblivious. It's very rare and almost unique  in a story for both parties to be completely unaware.

@Gemini

I don't know if Jon Snow can really be compared to Rey though. With him it's more a case of, "you thought all this time that his parents were X, but his parents are really Y!" And being the son of Ned Stark was nothing to sneeze at; he might have been a bastard but he was never a "no one".

@Saracene

Jon snow was an orphan, he was also a nobody, not a true stark with a mystery mother with hints that he was something more throughout the book and show.

There was mystery surrounding him just like rey. If it really was clear that he was someone and not the son of 2 different people, then no one would have guessed the R+L = J theory.

Ah, and the key words

"Within the context of the movie she is no one"

The force awakens, yes, rest of the trilogy?

She's a Mary Sue in TFA, just hope Mary Sue storytelling doesn't continue into the next 2 movies. Would hate this:

A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character, a young or low-rank person who saves the day through unrealistic abilities. Often this character is recognized as an author insert or wish-fulfillment.

What a great piece of storytelling worthy of the saga if they make Rey this.

Had the OT not come before the PT Anakin would be seen as the same. But the skywalker being special had already been set up prior.

She's an orphan trope not Mary Sue trope .

I was just reading Mary Sue traits and I kid you not, she is all of them in TFA right up to the Devine force sex with kylo ren the villain,and her just knowing 3 languages automatically

Dear god, rey random Mary Sue HAS to be a misdirect, it HAS to be otherwise they just got lazy and decided to follow every trait of a Mary Sue with this generations Luke Skywalker

Gemini wrote:

Saracene wrote:

Gemini wrote:If anything I think they are suggesting that anyone born of nothing can find out they are connected to royalty and find out they are linked to Heros. They are just using diferent techniques to get there, ones which have been used to success with other orphans like jon snow where the hero and the audience are oblivious. It's very rare and almost unique  in a story for both parties to be completely unaware.

@Gemini

I don't know if Jon Snow can really be compared to Rey though. With him it's more a case of, "you thought all this time that his parents were X, but his parents are really Y!" And being the son of Ned Stark was nothing to sneeze at; he might have been a bastard but he was never a "no one".

@Saracene

Jon snow was an orphan, he was also a nobody, not a true stark with a mystery mother with hints that he was something more throughout the book and show.

There was mystery surrounding him just like rey. If it really was clear that he was someone and not the son of 2 different people, then no one would have guessed the R+L = J theory.

@Gemini

Just started watching G.O.T. what I find interesting is that Jon Snow's father is his really his bio Uncle, and Joffrey's Uncle is his really his bio father.... an interesting parallel and reversal.

Gemini wrote:I was just reading Mary Sue traits and I kid you not, she is all of them in TFA right up to the Devine force sex with kylo ren the villain,and her just knowing 3 languages automatically

Dear god, rey random Mary Sue HAS to be a misdirect, it HAS to be otherwise they just got lazy and decided to follow every trait of a Mary Sue with this generations Luke Skywalker

@Gemini
So basically the classic: "If Rey is not related to [X character from the OT] then she's a Mary Sue" argument? Well, I disagree. That's really not how it works, and I personally don't see how Kenobi in particular would remedy this at all. It would just be incredibly contrived and more laughably coincidental than anything we've ever seen in Star Wars. Like hey, Kenobi's random granddaughter is here on this planet everybody is very fixated on, and rather than being special for reasons that will expand the galaxy and Force lore in new, exciting ways, she's able to do all these amazing things and experienced this powerful Awakening because she's Obi's granddaughter. It just doesn't seem big enough or important enough to me. But Gem, nobody is saying that Rey is "nothing". She isn't. She's definitely unique for some reason, but whether or not that reason is a blood relation to an OT character is another story.

I really don't understand why the automatic reaction is to degrade Rey as a character unless she doesn't fit perfectly into whatever self-imposed moulds other fans have created for her. If she isn't a Skywalker/Solo, they'll stop caring. If she has some kind of dark side lineage, she's impure and not worth anybody's time. If she isn't related to someone from the past, she's just a poorly characterized Mary Sue. Yeah, production is partly to blame for this, but it just really sucks because no matter what a lot of people are going to be disappointed. It's lose/lose for just about every single fangroup, especially if Rey isn't related to anybody from the past and is something unforeseen. That's why it's probably best not to get attached to certain outcomes where Rey's parentage is concerned. Just let the story be told.

Actually Mary Sues also tend to be related to legacy characters


She seems to be ticking everything

I find this article on Jon Snow of G.O.T. and how it relates to Rey both as a hero character and her mysterious past or lineage very interesting and potentially en lighting.
Just recently Jon Snow's true heritage has been revealed...

Yes he is a Prince and of Royal Blood :

In this series, we take a fast and fun look at Game of Thrones characters and what traditional archetypes they fall into.

What is an archetype? In fantasy and myth, certain types of characters constantly reappear: stalwart Heroes, odd Mentors offering talismans, Threshold Guardians and their tests, dangerous Shapeshifters, otherworldly Shadows, dark Villains, sly Tricksters, and more. As you scan the above list, you can probably drop some Game of Thrones characters into one category or another, or even into multiple categories.

This series examines how Game of Thrones characters fit into the archetypal frameworks developed by mythologist Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces) and the more modern version by Christopher Vogler (The Writer’s Journey). Both Campbell and Vogler employ the works of psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, who, along with many other academics, suggested that the archetypes of myth and legend sprang from a human collective unconscious, since they appear in so many different cultures separated by space and time.

In describing these common character types, symbols and relationships, the Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung employed the term ‘archetypes,’ meaning ancient terms of personality that are the shared heritage of the human race. —Christopher Vogler.

Campbell argues that human beings are biologically hardwired to understand the symbolism and expression of character archetypes. Otherwise, we would be incapable of participating in the shared human experience of storytelling.

Summoned or not, the God will come.  —motto over the door of Carl G. Jung’s house

As we segue into Game of Thrones characters, it is important to remember that archetype is not a straightjacketed category but rather a flexible function of storytelling. Any individual character can (and usually does) express various archetypal traits or even moves from one category to another as the story unfolds.

So let’s tackle our Hero, Jon Snow. The word ‘hero’ is derived from the Greek word hērōs, which means something along the lines of ‘warrior’ and ‘defender.’ A hero is someone who is ready to sacrifice to protect the greater good. In fact, the Hero must sacrifice in order to transform himself and the world he is attempting to save, for “the mythological hero is the champion not of things become but of things becoming.” (Campbell)

Jon Snow is perhaps the story’s most obviously traditional hero. Even his last name, a signifier of his bastardy, offers symbolic nods to whiteness and purity. He is an orphan, an unwanted son whose birth took place under vague circumstances, carried into a land of exile where his new mother (Catelyn Stark) refused to love him. ( evil stepmother trope)

Snow’s true lineage is mysterious—whether he’s actually the product of Eddard’s Stark extramarital affair, as we’re told, is hotly debated—and the truth may now be buried with Ned. These inauspicious beginnings anchor Jon Snow in the traditional hero role presented by Campbell and Vogler, where the hero is “frequently unrecognized or disdained” (Campbell). He has counterparts in figures like Romulus, who was abandoned and suckled by wolves before founding Rome, and Luke Skywalker, the poor farm boy of uncertain parentage from Star Wars.

Now, let’s examine Jon through the lens of Vogler’s psychological and dramatic functions of the Hero.

Psychological Function of the Hero

The character of Jon Snow enters the story of Game of Thrones as a young man seeking his destiny. He is thoughtful and honorable, but also uncertain of himself and forever an outsider within his adopted family.

In psychological terms, the archetype of the hero represents what Freud called the ego—that part of the personality that separates itself from the mother, that considers itself distinct from the whole human race…the hero archetype represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness. —Christopher Vogler

From the very beginning, Jon Snow seeks his own place and completeness.  ( sounds like Rey's seeking belonging with her family) For him, a bastard son with no claim or title, that means becoming a member of the Night’s Watch. However, membership in the Night’s Watch does not complete Jon, as his aloofness and well-developed fighting skills set him apart from the others, and so his hero’s quest to find his place in the world must continue. ( He has special skills and abilities)
We all need somebody to root for in a story, especially in one as unpredictable and bloody as Game of Thrones, and Jon Snow serves (up until the end of Season 5, at least) as one of the show’s three main viewpoint characters (along with Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen). As a hero, Jon has qualities, both good and bad, we can all identify in ourselves, and that allows us to see the world through his eyes. Let’s take a look at these qualities in more detail. highlighting the good and bad can alleviate accusations of "mary sueness" ( did TFA do enough of that for Rey?


Dramatic Function of the Hero: Growth and Flaws

We become attached to the character of Jon Snow because we watch him grow up: we witness his personal isolation and his first journey from home to the Wall; we see him develop from a boy into a man; we experience his pain as he learns of his family’s misfortune, his sense of helplessness at being unable to assist them, and his awakening to an understanding of the oath he gave to the Night’s Watch (love vs. honor). We see his first love affair with Ygritte, his betrayal of her and the wildlings, and her eventual death; we see him become Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, thus fulfilling the potential Ned Stark, Jeor Mormont, and even Mance Rayder sensed in him; and we see (perhaps) the final snuffing out of the hope Jon represented.



Like all good Hero characters, Jon Snow is both heroic and flawed. His ironclad sense of honor is both a strength and a glaring weakness. Jon and his adopted father, Lord Eddard Stark, both soldiers, compromise themselves in the cloak-and-dagger world of politics where shadowy players like Varys, Littlefinger, and the Lannisters thrive. For Jon Snow, his honor is the one profound link between him and the legacy of Ned, which may be why he cannot abandon it in favor of political prudence. Like his father, this stubbornness is his undoing.

Also, Jon’s betrayal of Ygritte’s love, even if rationalized as necessary to escape from the wildlings and return to the Night’s Watch, is, on a certain level, unforgivable.



Jon Snow tries to live with honor, while knowing that honor often gets his family members murdered. —David Benioff and D. B. Weiss

Dramatic Function of the Hero: Sacrifice and Facing Death

Sacrifice, not strength or courage, is the true mark of the Hero. Jon Snow, like Hector in the Iliad and Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, is willing to sacrifice his life in defense of the greater good, for he has become a Watcher on the Wall.

In his Night’s Watch oath, Jon relinquishes marriage, property, children and titles, all traditional life goals in which many men find fulfillment. After that, Jon continually risks loss and death: he defies Alliser Thorne to protect Samwell Tarly as soon as he arrives at Castle Black (and again later, when he mercy-kills Mance Rayder), sacrificing the goodwill of his superior; he rides north of the Wall to confront whatever horrors await him there, sacrificing his safety; he kills the legendary Qhorin Halfhand, sacrificing his claim to brotherhood, in order to gain the trust of Mance Rayder; he betrays Ygritte so he may return to the Night’s Watch, thus sacrificing his chance at love; and he ultimately risks (and perhaps loses) his life by attempting to unite the wildlings with the southerners.


Read the rest here

http://winteriscoming.net/2015/11/13/game-of-thrones-as-myth-jon-snow-as-the-archetypal-hero/

This could be relevant to Rey's origin or lineage maybe

Otto Rank: The Birth of the Hero

In his influential monograph, The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (1914), Otto Rank delineated a thematic pattern of the classical mythological hero that is easily discernible in the sagas of legendary figures such as Jesus, Moses, Gilgamesh, Cyrus, Perseus, Hercules, Telephus, Oedipus, Romulus, Paris, Siegfried, Lohengrin, Tristan, Sargon, Karna and scores of others. Rank formulated the saga as follows:
�The hero is the child of most distinguished parents, usually the son of a king.

His origin is preceded by difficulties, such as continence, or prolonged barrenness, or secret intercourse of the parents due to external prohibition or obstacles. During or before the pregnancy, there is a prophecy in the form of a dream or oracle, cautioning against his birth, and usually threatening danger to the father (or his representative). As a rule, he is surrendered to the water, in a box. He is then saved by animals, or by lowly people (shepherds), and is suckled by a female animal or by an humble woman. After he has grown up, he finds his distinguished parents, in a highly versatile fashion. He takes his revenge on his father, on the one hand, and is acknowledged, on the other. Finally he achieves rank and honors.�

With little editing, Rank�s pattern for the myth of the birth of the hero can be understood according to the following stages:
1. Prophecy of the birth of the hero.
2. The birth of the hero to divine, noble or royal parentage.
3. He is abandoned, given away or set adrift in the water.
4. Rescue and adoption by surrogate parents.
5. Return to the land of his father, where the hero proves his worthiness.
6. The hero claims his royal birthright and is awarded with honors.

The first significant aspect of the hero myth is that the people who raise the child are not his real parents; rather, they are surrogate parents. Rank believed that this aspect of the myth is a universal �daydream� among children, in which the child fantasizes that his own ordinary parents are not really his mother and father; but rather, that he is the child of noble lineage. Within this fantasy, the child can imagine that he is superior to his natural parents, and that he is therefore destined for greater things. Instead of his ordinary biological parents, the child identifies himself with fantasy parents, who are ideal. The first stages of Rank�s pattern, therefore, offer a peculiar sense of wish fulfillment to child viewers, who identify with superheroes on the screen and, moreover, see themselves as superheroes in their own fantasies. The first step in creating a superhero self-fantasy is to disavow one�s own parents in favor of some elaborate backstory in which one�s real biological parents are noble or divine � hence the existence of special, supernatural or super powers in one�s self. Nowhere is the theme of surrogate parenting more overt than in the film, Superman (1978), which will now be analyzed in reference to Rank�s model.

Stages One-Three: Prophecy, Birth, Abandonment
In the first act of Superman, the infant Kal-El is born to noble parents. He is the son of Jor-El (Marlon Brando), a senior statesman of the planet Krypton, and his wife Lara (Susannah York). Via an oracle, Jor-El can foresee the destruction of his home planet, so he sets his only son adrift into the sea of space in a sealed space-basket, where it floats across the galaxy to Earth. As the sole survivor of the Kryptonian race, Kal-El�s alien genes give him superpowers on the Earth, making him more of a god than a man. Hence, his arrival on Earth also fulfills a universal messianic prophecy; that one day, a divine being will come to us who will rid the world of all its evils.

Stages Four-Six: Rescue, Return, Royal Birthright
The baby Kal-el is discovered, rescued and adopted by loving surrogate parents. Though young Kal-El, now Clark Kent (Jeff East), loves his adoptive parents, the Kents (Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter), he senses that there is something out of place. He does not understand why he has superpowers, and what his true purpose in life may be. The death of his adoptive father results in a deep sense of guilt and confusion for Clark. He is beginning to realize that his great powers also burden him with great responsibilities. He journeys to the icy barrens of the North Pole, where a green crystal from Krypton creates his new home � a fortress of solitude � which is not exactly the land of his father, but rather, a simulation of Krypton, complete with recorded images of his parents and all of the knowledge he needs in order to claim his birthright and accept his true identity as a semi-divine superhero, with the power to rid the planet of evil. This return to Krypton marks the end of the first act, which is entirely dedicated to backstory. The rest of the film, acts two and three, revolve around the more trivial details of Superman�s journey, in which he battles evil, faces incredible odds, and saves the world.