Star Wars: The Last Jedi, revealing Rey's parents were nobodies who, according to Kylo Ren, threw her away like garbage.
J.J. Abrams had other ideas, retconning this revelation in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He revealed Rey was actually the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, a somewhat heavy-handed attempt to integrate her into the overarching Skywalker saga. The novelization swiftly clarified Rey's father is actually a failed Palpatine clone, described as "a useless, powerless failure" and "a not-quite-identical clone."
And yet, something still doesn't seem quite right. This other Palpatine may have been a failed clone, but the Emperor still considered him enough of a threat to have him killed. What's more, tie-in comics have recently revealed the assassin Palpatine sent - Ochi of Bestoon - was one of his key assets, able to go up against Darth Vader himself. Is it possible there is more to the story of Rey's parents than has been revealed to date?
Rey's Parents May Have Been Attempting To Thwart Palpatine
Rey's last memory of her parents is of the moment they left her on Jakku had actually been rigged to explode as a gigantic bomb to destroy the nascent New Republic's fleet, but it was successfully defused. It is certainly curious, therefore, that Palpatine's clone had gone to the one planet where he could conceivably have found coordinates for Exegol, the planet where he had been created.
This apparent coincidence becomes all the more curious given the Church of the Force established a presence on Jakku as well. One prominent member of the Church of the Force was Lor San Tekka, and according to Charles Soule's novel Light of the Jedi his family possessed unique maps of the galaxy. The San Tekka clan began as hyperspace prospectors, "rough-edged people finding routes through the wild spaces of the galaxy, like planetary explorers searching for es through deadly mountain ranges." The secret of their success was Mari San Tekka, who appears to be a Force-sensitive possessed of a unique ability to map routes through hyperspace that were referred to as "Paths." Lor San Tekka seems to have visited Jakku on numerous occasions, and he may well have been raiding the Emperor's Observatory in order to improve his maps.
All this raises the possibility Palpatine's failed clone became a threat because he was attempting to find his way back to Exegol. It's impossible to say how much this failed Palpatine clone knew of his own past, and he may well have simply been keen to discover the truth of his own origins. That would explain why Rey's parents were ultimately targeted by Ochi of Bestoon, one of the Emperor's key agents.
Palpatine Couldn't Risk Luke Skywalker Learning Of His Existence
This was actually the time when Palpatine was at his most vulnerable - for Luke Skywalker was at his strongest. According to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Jedi Master was powerful enough to sense the rising darkness, and he was attempting to scout out the reason for it. Worse still for the Emperor, Luke seems to have correctly identified Ochi of Bestoon as a person of interest - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker revealed he was actually on the trail of the Sith assassin. As the son of the Chosen One, Luke Skywalker was the one man in the galaxy the Emperor rightly feared, one of the most powerful Force-sensitives of all time. He had already proved himself capable of resisting the seductive influence of the dark side.
The last thing Palpatine could afford was a loose end like his failed clone running around, especially if he was attempting to find his way back to Exegol. What's more, the clone's visit to Jakku would have made the whole thing even riskier because he could have drawn far too much attention to the planet - and to its precious maps of the Unknown Regions. The last thing Palpatine could afford was for Luke to take an interest in the Unknown Regions and begin using the Force to probe them and Skywalking," which would allow him to chart a course through even the chaos of the Unknown Regions. If Luke used the Force to scan the Unknown Regions and got a sense of Exegol, there's absolutely no reason to assume he would be unable to get there.
It's true all this is only a theory, but it would explain one of the abiding mysteries of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - why the Emperor sent one of his most accomplished assassins after a man Kylo Ren considered a nobody. It is not that Palpatine's failed clone was a hero, attempting to undo the Emperor's plans, but simply that he was asking questions that threatened the Sith Lord's plans. Hopefully, at some point, Star Wars will resolve this particular mystery - and tell the full story of Rey's parents.
