- How did Emperor Palpatine return
for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?
Congrats, Star Wars fans!
Ya made it, Stars Wars Celebration
is in full swing this week, and the long-awaited
Episode IX panel had everything fans
could've ever hoped for from old faves
like Billie D. Williams to new characters
like the droid D-0, and of course,
the first teaser and title reveal for Episode IX!
The Rise of Skywalker! (air horns blare)
(Jessica hums) (majestic music)
That was my Rise of Skywalker dance (laughs).
The folks behind Star Wars have been calling this
the end of the Skywalker Saga for awhile now,
and that was definitely a point that was doubled down
on at the Episode IX panel with director J.J. Abrams
and Lucasfilm President, Kathleen Kennedy.
So while that title gives us a lot to think about
as well as great moments sprinkled throughout the trailer,
it's the mic drop moment that revealed Palpatine was back
that had fans losing their collective (bleep).
Is he still alive, has he been living
on the remains of the Death Star all by himself?
Is he a clone, so many questions!
But before we can get into all of that,
let's break down a bit of what we did see.
Getting right into it, that shot of Rey in a new outfit
that's close to her Force Awakens get-up
flipping through the air over who we assume
is Kylo's TIE Interceptor is bonkers!
Could this be her and Kylo's final showdown,
or could she be training with Kylo?
Both make sense, we also got our first look
at Lando in the cockpit of the Falcon,
rocking his old school yellow Solo attire.
Plus, did you spot that new radar dish?
The Falcon's another upgrade, baby!
But of course, the most oh (bleep) moment
is that the remains of the Death Star II,
ya bet your butt it is!
And it's this moment that we are going to focus on
from here on out, however, if you would like more
of a shot-for-shot breakdown,
check out Nerdist.com for all the info on every frame.
Now, during this shot of the fallen Death Star,
Luke's voiceover says no one's ever really gone.
We hear a very familiar laugh.
(Palpatine laughs)
That's right, it's the laugh of Chief Palpatine,
the Emperor himself. - A surprise, to be sure,
but a welcome one. - So how certain are we
that Palpatine is coming back for Episode IX?
Well, on the panel proceeding the teaser,
J.J. Abrams mentioned the heroes teaming up
to fight the greatest evil,
and since Supreme Leader Snoke has been sliced and diced,
there's room for a new, or in this case, old big bad
in Star Wars, couple that with the fact
that Darth Sidious actor, Ian McDiarmid,
was on hand at Celebration after the teaser ended
to stoke the flames, (laughs), stoke the flames here.
So yeah, it's safe to assume that Palpatine is back,
but how has he returned?
Well, there are a few ways that J.J. could handle
his return, but we're gonna break down the most likely.
- Do it. - Now to figure
all of this out, we have to turn to the secret
and ancient tomes known as Star Wars books, video games,
and cartoons for answers, and no,
we're not talking about the Legends canon
where the Emperor cloned himself.
If you've been reading, watching, or playing anything
made after Disney streamlined Star Wars canon
into one cohesive beast, you might have already realized
that Star Wars has set up the possibility
of the return of what J.J. Abrams called the greatest evil.
Now, the last time we saw the Emperor,
he was taking a swan dive down a reactor shaft
of the Death Star before Lando and company blew it up
with some fancy flying and well-placed torpedoes.
While there is always a chance that Palpatine
could somehow be alive after all of this,
we're guessing no.
We're thinking we will be seeing Palpatine
in spirit form instead of corporeal form.
Obviously, Force ghosts are nothing new
in the Star Wars universe, in fact,
they were even hinted at in the beginning of the teaser
with Luke saying, "We've passed on all we know.
"A thousand generations live in you now."
And we've seen plenty of good guys become Force ghosts.
Obi Wan, Yoda, and Anakin, but what about bad guys
like Chief Palpatine?
In the films, we haven't heard from any Sith Lords
after death, but on the cartoon side of things,
we have gotten more glimpses into Dark Side mythology.
In the series finale of the Clone Wars cartoon,
Yoda confronts the spirit, or the illusion of the spirit,
of Darth Bane, the Sith Lord who created the infamous rule
of two that dictates that there are only two Sith Lords
at a given time, Master and Apprentice.
Ironically, Darth Bane was voiced by Mark Hamill himself.
- Ironic. - Now this spirit
wasn't the peaceful blue of the Jedi Force ghosts.
Darth Bane looked like he was made
from cinders, smoke, and fire, important to note
that the spirit of Darth Bane retained his memories
and personality, even in death.
So it's not hard to imagine a scenario
where this could apply to Palpatine as well,
but why would he want to stick around as a ghost
when his precious Empire fell to ashes around him?
Because he caused the destruction of the Empire!
What?
Like any good Sith Lord, Palpatine was interested
in amassing power for himself,
not for anybody else.
He wasn't interested in a Galactic Empire
that he was not at the very top of.
The Aftermath novels by Chuck Wendig
and 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II video game
dived deep into the fall of the Galactic Empire,
and it's a bit more complex than the good guys
kept beating the bad guys.
Through the book series and the game,
we find out that Palpatine had a plan for the Empire
after his death, and it wasn't one you would expect.
Palpatine's contingency involved severely damaging planets
that were loyal to the Empire
and setting the Imperial Armed Forces up
for their cataclysmic defeat at the Battle of Jakku
at the hands of The New Republic.
In fact, Aftermath author Chuck Wendig
even tweeted after the release of the Episode IX teaser,
"I'm just saying now's probably a good time
"to at least read or re-read Aftermath: Empire's End
"because, you know."
Another thing Palpatine's contingency did
was fill the Unknown Regions,
a region of the Star Wars galaxy that is extremely hard
to navigate and is mostly uncharted
with equipment, ships, and select Imperial personnel.
It was this group of Palpatine loyalists
that became The First Order, and after the events
of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi
are now in charge of the entire galaxy.
So why would he destroy his empire
and plant the seeds for it to be reborn
unless he thought he could have a hand in its return?
The reason people were probably so underwhelmed
by Supreme Leader Snoke and his seeming lack of backstory
was because he was nothing more than a puppet figurehead
of The First Order, with Palpatine somehow
pulling the strings from beyond the grave.
Since it appears that Palpatine is back,
what could his plan for the galaxy be now?
Remember that the whole Skywalker Saga
has been shaped by The Emperor's meddling
from manipulating midichlorians to create Anakin Skywalker
to the creation of the First Order.
J.J. Abrams has promised that this film
will tie all of the trilogies together,
and the return of Palpatine is definitely a way
to accomplish that.
We'll just have to wait 'til December
to see how Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren
react to the return of this old adversary.
- So be it, Jedi. (dramatic music)
- But what do you think?
Was Rey fighting Kylo Ren in the TIE Interceptor,
or were they training together?
Did Palpatine use midichlorians to create Rey,
as well as Anakin?
And if nobody is ever really gone as Luke said,
does this mean we'll see the return
of everyone's favorite diner owner, Dexter Jettster?
Let's discuss. (upbeat music)
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