Star Wars comic may bring back a forgotten Jedi to solve a lightsaber mystery

Maz Kanata never told us that big story for "another time," so we still don't know how she came to possess the Skywalker lightsaber. Now, even though The Rise of Skywalker is over, Star Wars comics have decided to sort out the treasure hunt for Luke (and Anakin's) famous weapon once and for all. At the end of the second issue of the new ongoing Marvel comic book series just called Star Wars, a mysterious, hooded person snagged Luke's lightsaber. But who is it?

Here are five possible candidates for the mysterious saber-snatcher, which one old fan-favorite leading the pack in a pretty serious way. Spoilers ahead.

First off, how much do we know about this person? Right now, the answer is next to nothing, but it is possible this person is of any gender. The person also seems to be wearing a Jedi-esque brown robe, with those white robes underneath, but that's not totally clear. They're also rocking at least one black glove, which, let's face it, is a serious Skywalker move, even though this is probably not a time-traveling Luke Skywalker. (Not even going to put that one on the list, because seriously, come on.) So, who is this?

1. Ahsoka Tano

We know that Ahsoka is alive and well after the events of Return of the Jedi, because in the final moments of Rebels, Ahsoka and Sabine go off in search of Ezra Bridger. In that scene, Ashoka is rocking a white, Gandalf-esque robe, but that doesn't mean she didn't have a brown robe a few years earlier.

Ahsoka would also have a special interest in Luke's lightsaber, since it belonged to her former master, Anakin. Previous canon has established that prior to her duel with Vader in "Twilight of the Apprentice," Ahsoka was unable to find Anakin in the Force, post-Order 66. So, maybe something about the Cloud City duel with Luke is significant to her.

2. Rey's Mom (or Dad?)

We still know next to nothing about Rey's biological parents, other than her dad was Palpatine's son and her mom was played by Jodie Comer of Killing Eve fame. But, beyond the fact that her mom was not directly related to Palpatine, it doesn't necessarily follow that she wasn't Force-sensitive. Who knows — Rey's mom could be a former Jedi, or untrained Force-sensitive person who has been on the run since Order 66.

Grabbing Luke's lightsaber could be part of just one of many adventures Rey's mom had earlier in life. If she did snag Luke's saber, it would make more sense the weapon would be imprinted with memories that mattered to Rey.

Since we can't tell the gender of his person, this could also be Rey's dad, Palpatine's secret son, running around out there somewhere. (Presumably, Rey's parents are somewhere around Luke's age.)

3. Ochi of Bestoon (or another Sith Loyalist)

The Emperor had quite the fan club at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but where the hell have all of these Sith Loyalists been in the intervening years? Surely, some would have been crawling around the galaxy gathering up useful things for the Emperor. Assuming Palpatine has some degree of legit clairvoyance, then it would stand to reason he'd know — at least vaguely — the importance of the Skywalker family lightsaber after the events on Cloud City.

This means that Ochi of Bestoon, the guy who killed Rey's parents, could be on some kind of secret mission for Palpatine at this point in time. Again, Palpatine's son and his potential future wife are clearly alive at this point in time. If Ochi of Bestoon was working for Palpatine after Return of the Jedi, then he certainly was during this time, too.

4. Another, brand-new Jedi in hiding

Because this is a Star Wars comic book, it's possible the writers will want to introduce yet another new character who just happens to be another Jedi (like Kanan Jarrus) who managed to hide from Order 66. The final pages of Star Wars #2 really make it seem like this person is reaching out in the Force to tell Luke to "follow his destiny." This person seems to be wearing Jedi robes. So, this could be a Jedi character, secretly trying to find Luke and help him. Or, maybe, lure him into some kind of trap. Either way, placing a bet on this being a new former-Jedi character isn't that crazy.

5. Mara Jade

By far the most fun possibility is the idea that the latest Star Wars comic could be retconning Mara Jade back into canon. Mara Jade was a personal assassin loyal to Emperor Palpatine. Prior to Return of the Jedi, her sole mission was to kill Luke Skywalker.

In the Timothy Zahn book The Last Command, she eventually chilled out about this, and after killing Luke's clone, they became buddies. In fact, Luke even gifted Mara his old lightsaber, since his crazy clone had been using it. So, if Mara is being brought back into canon, and her backstory as an agent for Palpatine is sticking, the imagery of her holding the Skywalker lightsaber checks out, too.

Every since Rebels brought Grand Admiral Thrawn (also from the Zahn books) back into canon, fans have been speculating about how other characters could be reimagined in the newer timeline. In the old canon, Mara Jade is somewhat famously known as Luke's wife. But that didn't happen until the 1999-2000 miniseries Union, written by Michael J. Stackpole. The point being: Mara Jade had a lot of backstory from 1990 to 1999 that wasn't explicitly connected to her falling in love with Luke. Most of her adventures occurred during the Rebellion era, prior to her meeting Luke Skywalker.

If Mara Jade is being rebooted, then having her shadow Luke during and after the events of The Empire Strikes Back makes perfect sense. Mara was the original Sith Loyalist, the kind of assassin hired to the dirty work of Palpatine. If Marvel and Lucasfilm have reimagined Mara, there's no reason she has to fall in love with Luke Skywalker, or anyone else for that matter.

STAR WARS #2 IS WRITTEN BY CHARLES SOULE, WITH ART BY JESÚS SAIZ AND IS AVAILABLE NOW.