Why is it Obi-Wan Kenobi who speaks to Rey Skywalker in her Force Awakens vision?

One of the most important moments of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Comes when Rey Skywalker touches Anakin Skywalker’s old lightsaber and experiences a Force vision that ends with the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi speaking to her – but why is it Obi-Wan, and not Anakin himself or someone like Yoda? As the first movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens was singled out for theories unlike any other Star Wars project before. Rey’s Force vision has been the basis of many, if not most, of these theories, glimpsing into Rey’s past and predicting her future.

After a series of shots that include a young Rey on Jakku watching her parents walk, the corridor in Cloud City where Luke Skywalker fought Darth Vader and Kylo Ren with the Knights of Ren, Rey breaks away from the Skywalker lightsaber and hears Obi-Wan’s voice telling her, “Ray, these are your first steps.” This led many viewers to believe that Rey had some sort of connection to Obi-Wan, perhaps even a familial one – although this was later disproved in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Why, then, is Obi-Wan specifically talking to her?

Obi-Wan is to Rey as Yoda was to Luke

The Jedi Master of her Jedi Master

Rey hears the voice of her eventual Jedi Master’s own Jedi Master carries on a Star Wars A tradition that began 35 years earlier The Force Awakens in The empire strikes back. Although Yoda would be the one to actually see Luke’s Jedi training through, his true master at heart was always Obi-Wan, who was “Learned” by Yoda and implied to be his apprentice prior to the creation of Qui-Gon Jinn for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Obi-Wan speaking to Rey, then, is the equivalent of Yoda speaking to Luke.

Interestingly, this means that The Force Awakens Puts a twist on the story structure of the original Star Wars trilogy by Rey’s true master being the hermit in exile that she finds in the second movie rather than the first Jedi Master What eases you in your new life as a Jedi. She hears Obi-Wan’s voice before she even meets her own Jedi Master, gently pushing her in the direction of the Force’s will to meet Obi-Wan’s latest student. The twist further proves the true meaning behind Obi-Wan speaking to Rey at this moment.

The moment is also an important tribute to a new hope

It riffs on an iconic Obi-Wan quote

Obviously, Obi-Wan’s line is riffing on him saying Luke in A new hope that “You have taken your first step into a bigger world“, and so it acts as a direct tribute to the eventual descendants of the Skywalker lineage carrying on the legacy. In a broader sense, however, It also pays tribute to the fact that Obi-Wan is the one who introduces the Force to Star Wars and its audience. His description of the Force to Luke has shaped Star Wars Teaching for nearly fifty years, and this allows Obi-Wan to continue the tradition.

Rey may not have any kind of personal connection to Obi-Wan, but the significance of him speaking to her at the end of her Force vision is still high. As the first, and so far only, Star Wars This movie to have the word “Force” in its title, it’s huge to have the man who introduced the Force to the galaxy be the one who welcomes the sequel trilogy’s new Jedi heroine to her destiny. The moment of The Force Awakens Carries a weight that goes beyond the screen, paying tribute to the Star Wars Story that started it all.