I actually wrote up a post sort of touching on this idea but I didn’t share because y’all were on a role with the clone stuff, but I share it now since it is sort of on-topic. Some of this will be redundant I’m sure.
Since TROS heavily references Palpatine’s Darth Plagueis story, and how Palpatine continued his work on “cheating death”, I could see the benefit of Rey being the final product of his work to “create life”.
“Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith so powerful and so wise, he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.”
“To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret.”
Just to reference, here is the wiki article that discusses the Legends book Darth Plagueis, specifically his experiments to create life:
The Grand Experiment was conceived by the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis’s desire to create a life form by gaining control of the midi-chlorians, the sentient microscopic organisms that enabled certain beings to wield the power of the Force. Not only did the Dark Lord deem the project a failure, his efforts ultimately backfired and caused the midi-chlorians to create Anakin Skywalker, the prophesied Chosen One of Jedi legend who was destined to restore balance to the Force by destroying the Sith.
During the final years of the Galactic Republic, the Sith Lords Darth Plagueis and his apprentice, Darth Sidious, conducted the Grand Experiment on the moon Sojourn in 42 BBY. Utilizing Sith alchemy and the dark side of the Force, Plagueis intended to create the living embodiment of the Force. In order to do so, he tried to influence the midi-chlorians in his attempt to create life. But when his efforts bore no success, and instead wiped out his other experiments, Plagueis deemed the project a failure. Years later, during the Crisis on Naboo in 32 BBY, Plagueis was surprised to discover the existence of Anakin Skywalker, a young Human boy born without a father. Plagueis concluded that not only had the midi-chlorians resisted his will, but they had also retaliated by engineering the conception of the Jedi Order’s long-awaited Chosen One, a Jedi destined to restore balance to the Force by destroying the Sith.
Unlike his master, however, Darth Sidious saw the discovery of Skywalker as an opportunity; the chance to use the Jedi’s own legend to the Sith’s advantage. After he assassinated Plagueis, Sidious—under the guise of his public persona as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine—befriended the young padawan, and intended to slowly corrupt him over the years until Skywalker submitted to the dark side—a goal in which he ultimately succeeded.However, Anakin was eventually redeemed and, turning his back on his Master and the dark side, slew the Emperor before he himself perished.
So if you were going off this version of the lore, if Anakin/the Chosen One was a reaction by the Force itself to Plagueis’ failed experiment, what if Palpatine succeeded at his experiment, and that experiment was Rey? There’s been a lot of fan theories that Anakin was made by Palpatine, even an earlier draft of ROTS said as much, but according to canon he isn’t. So what if Rey was instead?
If you wanted to say the Force reacted to this second experiment, perhaps that’s what the Dyad was.
My problem with a lot of these rewrites is that they’re still overly complicated in my opinion. And I wonder if instead of trying to make a complicated backstory as for why she ends up on Jakku if her parents were good or bad, what if Palpatine intentionally wanted her to be raised on this harsh, violent environment with no family? If she couldn’t survive this harsh environment, she wouldn’t be worthy or strong enough to be a Sith, or his vessel. It would explain why she was left with a crappy guy like Unkar Plutt, which doesn’t make sense in any version of the story where her parents are trying to protect her.
She would sort of be like Darth Bane. Bane lived in a harsh environment and had a terrible father, but that shaped him into who he became. Palpatine was trying to replicate those factors so both nature and nurture would push her toward the Dark Side. And this would give her all the more reason for her to hate Palpatine, which he wants so he can possess her.
This would still give you similar parallels to what Abrams and Terrio tried to do. Anakin was the literal Force messiah, a kind boy, but he was twisted by greed into a terrible person. Rey could be his opposite, the Force Anti-Christ, growing up in a rough environment with terrible parents, but despite all of that she became a kind-hearted person. And maybe the bond between Rey and Kylo Ren formed because they are both connected to the Force in a unique way. Yes, Kylo is the grandson of Anakin, but through him he is still a product of the Force, just like Rey is.
“Why did the Emperor come from me? Why did he want to kill a child? Tell me.”
“He didn’t. He learned how to create life, but knew that what didn’t kill it would make it stronger.
You, were made by Palpatine, to take the throne.
My family came from the light, and you, the dark side. But what Palpatine doesn’t know is that we’re a dyad in the Force, Rey. Two that are one. Together, we’ll bring true balance to the Force.”
What I like about something like this is that the implication here is that it is sort of vague enough that the theatrical Rey Palpatine still sort of fits. The main difference being that Palpatine/Ochi leaving her on Jakku was intentional, and her parents were truly nobodies. So all of that bullshit makes more sense. Rey was made by Palpatine, but she isn’t his grandchild in the biological sense (she could be, or even a clone, but it’s left vague) The one question would be if Palpatine picked out Rey’s parents in particular, or Palpatine performed some ritual or whatever but didn’t know where his experiment ended up. I’m leaning towards the former, since Jakku kind of is a great environment to raise a survivor. Seems like Palpatine may have chosen the location. But I also think it is boring if you try to bog the movie down in lingo and exposition.
It’s nice because the audience isn’t left with the question, “Palpatine fucks?!”, but it’s also different than what Luke or Anakin faced. If it is just a question of her having Palpatine’s blood, well it’s not really compelling in a new way because Luke faced the dilemma of blood and overcame it. It’s not really interesting to see Rey answer the same question.
You also don’t have to directly reference the Chosen One prophecy, if you prefer prequel edits that don’t refer to it, but the parallel is still there. Kylo Ren is just explaining it and referring to it in a general way.
Later on Ahch-To, Luke could say, “Because you’re from Palpatine?”
And Luke’s line “some things are stronger than blood” can reference Leia and Rey having a strong bond despite not being blood-related, rather than referring to her being blood-related to Palpatine. But that suggestion can still sort of be there, or relate to being a product of the Dark Side.