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Rey Skywalker Being A Nobody Is Better Than Palpatine (Because Of Anakin)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Rey is a Palpatine, and then had her claim the Skywalker name at the end - but Anakin's origin means the latter would work better if she was a nobody. Rey's parentage was the question of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens teased Rey's lineage, with flashbacks showing her being left on Jakku as a small child, but didn't commit to any one answer. In contrast, Star Wars: The Last Jedi seemingly did resolve the issue, stating that Rey's parents were nobodies.
While that could have been the end of the matter, J.J. Abrams decided to revisit the topic when he returned to the director's chair in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Having been the one to create Rey for The Force Awakens, it was hardly a surprise he decided there was more to the story, but the way he did it proved controversial. With the Emperor back from the dead as the overarching villain of the saga, The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Rey was Palpatine's granddaughter.
After Palpatine's defeat, The Rise of Skywalker ended with Rey rejecting her family bloodline, and instead choosing that of her mentors, Luke and Leia, by proclaiming herself Rey Skywalker. It was a moment that'd been planned since before The Force Awakens released, but the reveal of Rey as a Palpatine meant it lacked the necessary punch. Having Rey already be of one powerful family - and with a twist that ultimately felt underwhelming, and a reversal of what made the character so strong and interesting - to then join another all-powerful family only served to make the galaxy feel smaller. But what's more, having the character become Rey Skywalker as a nobody would fit better with Anakin's own origins and status as a no one.
It was previously suggested that Anakin was created by Palpatine, both within the old Expanded Universe (now Legends), and later the Disney canon, including a comic book panel of Palpatine standing behind a pregnant Shmi Skywalker, clearly manipulating things in some way. Lucasfilm has since debunked this, and that makes sense given it's presented as a vision from Darth Vader's perspective. While the specifics of Anakin's creation remain somewhat murky and open to be interpretation and certainly change, this actually makes a lot more sense than Palpatine being behind it. Anakin was the Chosen One, after all - he was designed to bring balance to the Force, and so it fits far better that he was a creation of the Force itself, rather than it being manipulated by either the light or dark side.
The same can be said for Rey. She is someone who is incredibly strong in the Force, and having her be a nobody - whether that means a creation of the Force's will itself, or even just from a regular, no-name family that isn't considered "important" - would make that more powerful. The Skywalker saga became overly tied to one family, and so this would make the Force feel bigger and more like what it's supposed to be. The Rise of Skywalker makes the need for this even greater, somewhat ironically given its Palpatine reveal, by making Rey one-half of a Force Dyad with Kylo Ren. Like the Chosen One, a Dyad is the Force exerting its will, in this case bringing together two people as well, but again needing both light and dark. Kylo Ren is already a product of both light and dark, and skews far more heavily to the latter, so it doesn't fully work as well for Rey to be of the dark side as well.
Ultimately, Rey Skywalker as a nobody would bring the family line more akin to what happened with Anakin: that anybody can be special. The Skywalkers weren't before Anakin's birth, and so a Rey who isn't a Palpatine choosing that name takes on a much greater impact, and links more into the will of the Force and that it really can choose anybody, not just those already of a certain legacy. Disney's sequel trilogy as a whole forgot to honor Anakin's legacy, and Rey's The Rise of Skywalker ending could've done that - but needed a big change to do so.
