How Did Palpatine Survive After Return of the Jedi?

The useless communicate! On the official Star Wars web site in truth! In a brand new weblog submit on the positioning immediately, Lucasfilm Story Group member Emily Shkoukani defined “The Contingency”—the canon title for precisely how Emperor Palpatine died, got here again to life, and returned to energy in Star Wars. A plan that was, based on the positioning, in place lengthy earlier than Luke Skywalker threw him down a shaft on the second Death Star.

If this all sounds type of acquainted, that’s each an excellent factor and a nasty factor. It’s unhealthy as a result of, effectively, that is all essential data that hasn’t actually been collected in a single place (till now) that may’ve made the large query of “How did Palpatine come back?” at the start of The Rise of Skywalker comprehensible. However, whether it is acquainted, possibly you examine it on this very web site, the place James Whitbrook had beforehand dug deep into Palpatine’s plan—one thing that was teased all through a number of novels, TV reveals, comics, video video games, and extra, culminating in his Episode IX return.

The entire story is advised within the wonderful column Star Wars Inside Intel, which you can and should read at this link. There you get the beat by beat breakdown of Palpatine’s “Contingency.” But we’ll provide the TL:DR abstract. As we all know from the three films the place he rose to energy and the three the place he tried to maintain and prolong that energy, Palpatine was at all times been a sophisticated planner with a penchant for evil. So that he had a plan for resurrection within the occasion of his dying isn’t actually that a lot of a stretch. That plan concerned his consciousness being transfered to a clone on Exegol, the place he’d lengthy been doing cloning experiments when alive, and enlisting just a few key individuals within the Empire to wipe out the previous methods and convey within the new. Pieces like Operation: Cinder, which will get named-dropped all throughout fashionable Star Wars canon.

Meanwhile, as plans had been being executed to wipe out the previous Empire, Palpatine himself—in a weak clone physique on Exegol—did just a few issues. First, he started to construct a brand new military (the Final Order) and looked for a worthy vessel wherein to be reborn. Eventually, he discovered one in his granddaughter, Rey. Her dad and mom did their finest to cover her however, finally, she discovered herself drawn again into the story. It started along with her grandfather’s clone (Snoke)—which, by Luke, Kylo Ren, and many others., set the wheels in movement for a confrontation along with her grandfather. (It’s unclear if all of that was a part of the plan or simply the Force or one thing; this story isn’t a Swiss watch.) Rey may have joined up with the Sith Lord, turning into the “Dark Rey” we glimpse within the film and leading to Palpatine’s return, however as a substitute she makes use of the Force and the Jedi to kill him as soon as and for all. End of Contingency.

Or so we expect. This is an attention-grabbing story to make certain but it surely all paymentls very, very very like placing a sq. peg in a spherical gap. Like Lucasfilm had half the items to a puzzle and simply glued all of them collectively in a method that form of is sensible, however form of doesn’t. Huge holes within the story stay unanswered together with a model new one: did Palpatine’s Contingency have its personal Contingency? As it stands proper now, the reply might be no. But if one other filmmaker comes up with an thought? Anything is feasible. Bringing Palpatine again to life in any respect has taught us that.

Again, for extra, head over to the official Star Wars website and verify our 2019 article too.

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