Star Wars has finally revealed the full backstory of Rey's parents. Rey (Daisy Ridley) grew on the junkyard planet of Jakku, with no idea who her parents were—only a vague memory that they had promised to return. And so she remained on Jakku for years, and initially attempted to resist the siren song of adventure when she stumbled upon BB-8 and Finn (John Boyega). Ironically, Rey only learned the truth about her parents when she stepped out into the galaxy.
The truth was finally revealed in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and it left Rey shaken to the core. Rey is the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, inheriting all his power in the Force—but also his predilection towards the dark side. Her father was in fact a clone of the Emperor, created as a potential vessel for the Force but considered flawed because he lacked that power. The Emperor only became interested in his supposed "son" when he learned he had escaped from Exegol and had a child; one he believed possessed the Force. Palpatine hoped the child could serve as his vessel instead.
Star Wars tie-ins have been attempting to fix the flaws of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, fleshing out further details as necessary. Rey's family background remained unexplored until the June 2022 publication of Adam Christopher's Shadow of the Sith. This novel tells the story of Luke Skywalker's quest for the Sith redoubt of Exegol, which coincided with Palpatine's pursuit of the young Rey. Here are all the major reveals about Rey's parents from Shadow of the Sith.
Rey's Parents Are Finally Given Names - Dathan and Miramir
Shadow of the Sith reveals Rey's parents were named Dathan and Miramir. Dathan is described as a young man with short, dark hair, and the beginnings of a beard around his jaw. This may seem like a minor detail, but it's an interesting one all the same, because it gives Dathan a sense of individuality in spite of the fact he's a clone. Palpatine, after all, was always clean-shaven - even before he became hideously scarred by his own Force Lightning. Dathan's wife Miramir has "long blond hair corralled loosely with a blue tie that matched the color of her cloak." Both are shown to be absolutely devoted to their daughter, Rey.
How Dathan Escaped From Exegol
Dathan was a strandcast, a genetically engineered clone of Palpatine created on the Sith planet Exegol. He was considered a failure because he lacked the Force, and Palpatine didn't even bother to give him a name. He was only left alive because the Emperor didn't believe in wasting anything, even a failed clone. Only one person was kind to the boy, a Symeong who helped him slip onto a supply transport and gave him a Sith hex charm - marked with the logo of the Sith Eternal - as a gift for luck. The boy chose the name "Dathan" in honor of his Symeong friend, simply because he was asked to put a name on a register at a spaceport and jotted down the first thing he thought of.
Rey Gets Her Piloting Skills From Her Mother - And Possibly More
Rey's piloting skills impressed Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so much so that Han offered Rey the position of second mate of the Millennium Falcon. It seems these particular skills - and, indeed, Rey's aptitude with technology - were inherited from her mother. Miramir was a skilled pilot and a mechanical genius, a self-taught engineer and inventor who loved nothing more than tinkering. Curiously, Shadow of the Sith suggests Miramir was hiding a secret of some kind, even from Dathan, and she refused to talk about how she'd developed these abilities. The only thing she'd tell Dathan was that her grandmother was a wonderful woman.
It's possible Miramir was descended from a Force-sensitive, perhaps even a Jedi who survived Order 66. Many Force-sensitives are skilled pilots, and some Jedi possess an aptitude for technology that is analogous to Miramir's. Anakin Skywalker was one of them, building Threepio when he was just a child. It's possible Rey has inherited the Force from both sides of her family tree, making Rey far more than just a Palpatine. Sadly, it's likely she'll never learn that connection.
There's an interesting parallel here between Rey and the young Luke and Leia, who - as stressed by the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ TV show - inherited the best of both their parents. Obi-Wan acknowledged this to Leia in a moving scene in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 6, when he listed some of the attributes she had gained from her mother and others from her father. George Lucas always said Star Wars is like poetry in that it rhymes, but in this case the similarities are probably coincidental, given Shadow of the Sith will have been written while Obi-Wan Kenobi was still in production.
Why Rey's Family Left Her On Jakku
Fearing Palpatine, Dathan and Miramir settled on the junkyard planet of Jakku, believing nobody would look for them there. Unfortunately they were proven wrong, and Palpatine's agents tracked them down after he learned Dathan had a daughter - presumably through Force visions. Dathan and Miramir fled, and Shadow of the Sith recounts how they attempted to escape the assassins and bounty hunters sent after them. The couple eventually decided they couldn't continue to run, and instead needed to fight back. To that end, they stole Ochi of Bestoon's ship, hoping doing so would slow him down, and then left Rey on Jakku. They believed she would be safe because Ochi would never think to look there again.
Dathan and Miramir underestimated Ochi, and they were captured. They were slain by the bloodthirsty Sith dagger seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but one final gamble paid off. Miramir had deliberately chosen to wear beads from Pasaana, hoping if they were captured Ochi would assume she had picked them up while hiding Rey there. Ochi fell for the bait, only realizing he'd been tricked after he became trapped in sinking sand. And so Ochi's ship was left on Pasaana for decades, only discovered in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.