A new Star Wars novel, *Star Wars: Legacy* by Madeleine Roux, has retroactively explained one of the sequel trilogy's most debated plot points: how Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa knew that Rey was Emperor Palpatine's granddaughter before she found out herself. The 2019 film *The Rise of Skywalker* had Luke's Force ghost simply tell Rey that he and Leia already knew of her lineage, without ever showing how they learned it, leaving fans to speculate for years. The book fills that gap and adds emotional depth to the siblings' relationship, both with each other and with their own father, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

In the novel, set largely around the tentative mentorship between Rey and Leia, Luke's Force ghost reveals to Leia in Chapter 26 that Rey is of Palpatine's bloodline, information he uncovered only after his own death in *The Last Jedi*. He explains he sensed a "dark signature" in Rey matching that of Kylo Ren and Anakin, but says he struggles to see past it, whereas he trusts Leia's greater empathy to handle the truth responsibly. Leia, though shaken, resolves that lineage does not define a person and vows to keep the secret to protect Rey, mirroring the message Luke later delivers to Rey herself in the film.