Star Wars Sequel Trilogy AU Idea!
What if Rey was found by Palpatine as a child and was raised to become a Sith Lord?
Note: This is a little backstory to an AU idea I’d like to pursue in the near future. I loved the Sequel Trilogy and adore the characters that came out of it, but there were so many missed opportunities and plot holes that I’d like to try to fix myself. This is a potential fanfiction idea that I might pursue, but I’d love for other star wars fans to give input or let me know whether or not this is something they’d like to see in the future. My plan for this so far is kinda canon compliant, but I really want to fix what JJ Abrams broke.
Note: So far I have no clue what pairings I will incorporate into the story, but I’m pretty open to most of them! Rey/Finn/some other characters birth years are being moved up and I will be changing some history and characters backstories for the sake of the plot. I am also getting rid of Snoke because he’s pointless in this universe. Unless mentioned in this post, all other character backgrounds will stay the same!
Rey is raised to become Palpatine’s perfect heir, gaining education through the Imperial Academy and training alongside The Inquisitors her entire childhood.
Palpatine learned from Vader that having a loyal apprentice and grooming them from a young age works best, so he takes the role of a caring grandfather to Rey. He claims that her family was evil and abandoned her in a spiteful attempt to keep her away from him. This made her completely loyal and devoted to him from a young age. Although he manipulated many of the obstacles that Rey overcame as she was growing up, he never strayed far from his persona as the doting grandfather, ensuring that Rey would stay dependent on him so that she could become his puppet.
Rey and Hux grew up in the Imperial Academy together, at first having a sort of sibling rivalry, but because they were both outcasts and had dreams of rising to power became close friends. They bonded the most when Rey stood up for Hux against the older students, Imperial Officers, and even Hux’s own abusive father. She made it known that he was under her, and by extension her grandfathers, protection. Eventually when Hux killed his father, Rey was the first person he called and they handled the situation together. Throughout their adult lives they did maintain a small professional rivalry, but are both extremely loyal to each other and care for each other a great deal. Together they are a duo to be reckoned with, each complimenting each other perfectly and making up for each other’s shortcomings.
The majority of Rey’s sith training was overseen by Palpatine’s Inquisitors, most of the dirty work falling to them, allowing him to keep his hands clean and maintain his persona of a loving grandfather. Unlike the imperials underneath Palpatine, the Inquisitors did not fear Rey until she came into her power, allowing them to torment and abuse her throughout her childhood. Once she did come into her power, she quickly rose within their ranks and took her revenge upon those who were most cruel to her.
As a child, Rey naturally took to lightsaber wielding as well as hand to hand combat, although manipulating the force through hate and anger was incredibly difficult for her. As time went on, however, the Inquisitors tormented and abused her until hatred and anger came easily to her. At first, she was only able to control it in short bursts of energy, creating powerful and deadly force lightning strikes. Soon after she mastered force lightening the rest of her powers came naturally to her.
As she grew in the force, she was able to build her first lightsaber. She chose the design of a foldable, double bladed lightsaber. It is a deep red color with a black core. Her preferred method of enforcement was using her force lightening.
Once Palpatine officially named her his apprentice, she was given the name Darth Blitz. As his apprentice, she was given the position of his enforcer within the First Order, quickly becoming one of the most feared people in the galaxy. Although she was completely loyal to her grandfather, Palpatine, she assisted Hux in rising through First Order ranks, providing support wherever he needed. They both became Palpatine’s most devoted supporters, working to become his successors one day.
Ben Solo is raised by his loving parents, Han and Leia, and later goes on to be trained by Luke Skywalker in order to become a Jedi Knight. He never completed his training, instead leaving in order to join the Rebellion.
Although Leia and Han were not together for the entirety of Ben’s life, they coparented and raised him in a loving environment throughout his childhood. He was well educated due to him living with his politician mother, and while she raised to be ambiguous and diplomatic, Han indulged his rebellious side and became more like a friend than a father figure.
Han left to pursue adventure again once Ben reached school age, initially promising to check in and visit regularly, but over the years alienated himself from his family. This caused a rift between him and Ben, who grew to resent how his father left him and his mother.
When Ben turned 10 he left to train under his uncle, Luke Skywalker, in order to become a Jedi. Being Luke’s first apprentice, he was given all of his attention in the first couple years and thrived because of it. When Luke began to take more apprentices, Ben became a leader amongst them.
Ben built a light blue lightsaber with a hilt similar to that of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker. He was extremely gifted in the force, particularly excelling in blocking and force persuasion.
When the Rebellion started up again, Ben wanted to join the fight along with his fellow apprentice’s and expected his uncle to feel the same. Surprising him, Luke shot down his idea, insisting that none of them were ready to join the war effort and that it was more important to rebuild and protect their new order. The jedi began preparations to go into hiding so they could continue their training, much to the disgust of Ben. Ben went to his uncle, telling him that he would not leave his mother to be destroyed by the empire and resigning from the order. Luke told him in a fit of anger that if he left he could never return. Ben left anyways.
Leia happily welcomed her son back home, proud of his decision to support the rebellion. Ben immediately took to his new role within the rebellion, becoming a symbol of hope to their supporters as both a Jedi protege to Luke Skywalker and a son of Leia Organa. He had no trouble making new friends, quickly becoming close to both Poe Dameron and Rose Tico.
Shorty after he arrived, Leia received a transmission from Luke, revealing that while Luke was away searching for Jedi artifacts a large group of Inquisitors found and raided their camp, leaving all of the young Jedi either dead or missing. The news was devastating to Ben, who blamed himself for not being there. Ben threw himself into his work for the rebellion because of it, taking more and more dangerous and complicated missions to try and distract himself from it.
Over the years, Poe became Ben’s closest friend and confidant, the two of them going on many missions together, save for Poe’s flying expeditions. Rose understood and shared in Ben’s grief, her people suffering a similar fate to his fallen Jedi companions. When they were all on base, Poe, Rose, and Ben were practically inseparable, all being idealistic, young, and completely devoted to the Rebellion.