Question: If Palpatine wanted Rey alive, as he says to her on Exegol, why did he repeatedly order Kylo to kill her earlier in the movie?
TonyPH
21st Dec 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Answer: Not just earlier in the movie, but in the trilogy itself since he is technically also behind Snoke. Yeah I wondered the same. For that matter, why does he not clue her in of his whereabouts but just hopes (what a very Jedi thing to do!) she'll just find the thing that leads it to him? Feels like a plot hole but I didn't bother sending it because I am sure some answer for it will come in the expanded universe or whatever. Of course one could just say it's the Sith way and if Kylo managed to kill her it would completely erase the very last Jedi and erase anything good remaining in Kylo, making the victory of the Dark Side complete. And likewise, if Rey kills him (which she does, in a way!) that will make the Dark Side in her stronger. Curious enough, notice how Kylo wants them both to go to Palpatine, to kill him, instead, so Palpatine's order is meant to make him do something he does not want to.
Answer: Emperor Palpatine is a lying bastard. Earlier he wanted her dead because he feared her power. Now that she's actually showed up in the flesh he's trying to flatter her to convince her to join with him (literally in this case). The Emperor is the Star Wars version of Satan/Lucifer; his word is worth less than nothing.
24th Dec 2019
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Question: How did Palpatine come back? Cloned? Or somehow survived the Death Star explosion, which seems unlikely.
Chosen answer: According to the novelization, Palpatine sensed Vader's internal conflict and created a clone as a backup in the event that Vader betrayed him. When Vader threw him down the shaft, Palpatine transferred his consciousness into the clone's body.
Answer: It is not said exactly how he came back. He says that he had died before which presumably is him dying in ROTJ. The most we get is the reference to Sith ability that some consider unnatural.
It is not said how he came back, but I get the idea that he was using the Force to keep himself alive. At least that's the message I was getting when I saw that Palpatine's fingers were wilted away. And I thought that the power he was using was urging his life to go on, but his physical appearence was being dragged behind.
Answer: The line "The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural" is a direct reference to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, in which Palpatine says the same line verbatim to Anakin. Recall that a major plot point to that prequel is that the Sith have long been rumored to have found a method to cheat death. This film strongly suggests that Palpatine had indeed discovered this method. The film doesn't go into specifics. My understanding is the novelization says his body is a clone. Going by his appearance in the film (blank eyes; body manipulated by machine), it suggests to me that he is a reanimated corpse.
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Answer: Palpatine has been manipulating Rey and Kylo Ren from the very start, bringing the pair together and instigating fights between them. He is trying to make Rey stronger so that when he takes over her body, she will be powerful. Palpatine can partially see the future and knows that Kylo will not be successful in actually killing Rey, but that their constant fights will cause the two to grow more powerful. Because he can see part of the future, he knows that eventually Rey will triumph over Kylo and "kill" him, and then come to confront him directly. He doesn't count on Ben Solo coming back to face him which winds up being his undoing.
BaconIsMyBFF