I kind of subscribe to the idea that Rey is the reincarnation of Anakin. By this I don’t mean she’s a Skywalker or is Anakin himself, only that she has Anakin’s spirit returning to take care of unfinished business–and boy does that fucker have lots of it.

Maybe it’s my cultural background, but I was always confused when reincarnation was called a “parentage theory.” Reincarnated people, at least in the popularized version of Buddhism I grew up with, have their own parents and are not usually related by blood to their previous incarnation.

Heck, in this worldview reincarnation doesn’t even make Rey special, it’s just something everyone does until they throw off all worldly attachments and leave the cycle altogether. I would argue that Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and now Luke achieved this state but Anakin did not, for all his spirit appeared briefly next to Obi-Wan. I think Anakin still has too much to make up for, and this was a brief pit stop before he moved on. Between his death and rebirth as Rey I imagine he was reincarnated hundreds of times as, like, worms and lice that were painfully killed as a very small portion of the punishment he deserved for his actions as Anakin/Vader. Now that his spirit has advanced through these incarnations he was brought back as a human again because the galaxy needs his power and he can try and begin to make up for the harm he did.

Rey as Anakin’s reincarnation would explain a lot of things, like how she is so powerful in the Force and grasps new powers so quickly. It would also explain Kylo’s fascination with her, because as a Force user he can sense people’s souls and she is his actual idol brought back to life. Also like, her being forced to live for most of her life on a desert planet. If that’s not the universe playing a cosmic joke on Anakin Skywalker, noted sand-hater, idk what is.

On the same note, I imagine Finn as the reincarnation of Padmé. She probably had much better reincarnations between her death and being born as Finn, maybe she even took a break from corporeal life for a few decades or lived as a succession of beautiful flowering plants and beloved sad-eyed dogs while she tried to recover from the grief still in her soul. Maybe she was someone’s much-loved and short-lived child for a while because I have an evil imagination. When she was ready to come back as a sentient being she willingly took on more suffering than she deserved to try and make up for Anakin’s sins and her own perceived faults, and thus Finn’s kidnapping and long period of enslavement.

Like Padmé, Finn is a natural leader with firm conviction and unshakeable principles. He is a mean shot with a blaster, loyal to his friends, and inspires devotion in people. He was so sure that the galaxy would rise up against the First Order’s tyranny and rally around Leia, he was willing to give his life for that belief. It wasn’t just Leia that he so strongly believed in and supported–he also wanted to run out and help Luke against an entire army despite never having laid eyes on the man before in his life. Maybe not in his own life, but a previous one?

Much as Anakin’s soul seeks Padmé out, her spirit seeks him–and that’s why, in addition to Finn’s own goodness, he was drawn to help Rey at first sight, and why they hit it off so quickly despite a rocky start. The idea of being separated was unbearable to them after knowing each other only for a few hours, and when Finn saw Rey being carried off by a Dark Lord to face torture and a possible fall to the Dark Side, it shattered him and he moved heaven and earth to be by her side again.

Together they must succeed where their previous incarnations failed and save the galaxy from the fascist threat. They must also resolve what went wrong between them last time, and Rey already passed the first test by resisting Kylo’s temptation where Anakin had fallen to Palpatine’s wiles. Finn and Rey’s souls will always pull each other, yearning to find happiness together where they could not the last time around.

I’m not saying any of this is going to be some big dramatic reveal, it’s how I understand the dramatic motifs and characters. Stories of reincarnated romance are common in the culture I grew up in, and I find the idea of Finnrey as reincarnated Anidala terribly romantic and compelling.