One of the best things about the Star Wars franchise is the never-ending analysis of its hundreds of characters. And a new article for ScreenRant suggests a bold new interpretation of The Phantom Menace's protagonist Qui-Gon Jinn. Prepare yourself — Qui-Gon Jinn might actually be a Skywalker, according to the rules of Star Wars.

No, you say. That makes zero biological sense. And you have a point. There's no feasible way that Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn is bound to the Skywalker family tree by blood. But as we learned in The Rise of Skywalker, one does not need to be related to Luke to adopt the surname.

At the very end of the movie, Rey tells a passerby that her name is Rey Skywalker. In this case, the "Skywalker" moniker is more of a metaphor than anything else. Following that same logic, Qui-Gon Jinn could also be considered a Skywalker as well.

Following this theory, one would have to look at the characters of Star Wars as archetypes rather than standalone beings. It's not as much about who Luke Skywalker is, but what he represents.

Luke was always being pulled between the Light and Dark sides of the Force, and the resulting struggle created a balance between the two. Rey's purpose, then, is to preserve that balance. Rewinding back to The Phantom Menace, it's clear that Qui-Gon Jinn has a deep understanding of the Force. One could even say that he was, as ScreenRant puts it, "the agent of balance" in Anakin Skywalker's time. And that, ladies and gentlemen, would make him a Skywalker. Not by blood, but by name. Which character is the fandom going to tackle next?

Also, check out our piece explaining why Qui-Gon Jinn is the most important Jedi.

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