Cadavra said:

Here’s a crazy thought for trying to make the Rey Palpatine reveal feel less like a contradiction that comes out of nowhere in TROS: what about cutting the “they were nobody” reveal out of TLJ?

I don’t know how well this could be executed, but maybe it would be possible to have Rey cut Kylo off before he has a chance to tell her, going from him teasing the truth straight to Rey reaching for the lightsaber? If this could be pulled off, viewers would come away from that scene thinking there still is an answer yet to be revealed, but it’s something so horrible that Rey can’t bear to face it at that point. Then the “your his granddaughter” scene would be a payoff worthy of such fears rather than a retcon undermining a previous revelation that had weight and significance all its own.

Disclaimer: personally I’m firmly in the Rey Nobody camp. But this idea popped into my head during a brainstorming kick, so I figured I’d toss it out for consideration, just in case it can help the Rey Palpatine concept be the best it can be.

Rey means “They were nobody” in the sense that her parents didn’t actually have any reason to abandon her, they didn’t love her or care for her, they thought she was worthless. And she moves past her parents in TLJ because of this. And just because her parents were nobody, doesn’t mean her other ancestors were.