Emperor Palpatine Is 100% a Clone in THE RISE OF SKYWALKER and He Should Have Been Introduced in THE FORCE AWAKENS
The novelization of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to be released next month, and it looks like it’s going to clarify a lot of things that were confusing in the movie. Lucasfilm Publishing released copies of the book early at Chicago’s C2E2 convention this past weekend, and we’ve now learned from an excerpt of the book that the Emperor Palpatine we are introduced to in the film is actually a clone.
This is something that a lot of fans speculated about, but now it’s 100% confirmed to be true. The reveal comes early on in the book when Kylo Ren arrives on Exegol and meets Palpatine in person. The details regarding Palpatine being a clone comes in the following description, which was shared on Twitter:
All the vials were empty of liquid save one, which was nearly depleted. Kylo peered closer. He’d seen this apparatus before, too, when he’d studied the Clone Wars as a boy. The liquid flowing into the living nightmare before him was fighting a losing battle to sustain the Emperor’s putrid flesh.
“What could you give me?” Kylo asked. Emperor Palpatine lived, after a fashion, and Kylo could feel in his very bones that this clone body sheltered the Emperor’s actual spirit. It was an imperfect vessel, though, unable to contain his immense power. It couldn’t last much longer.”
Dominic Monaghan’s character Beaumont Kin hinted at Palpatine being a clone after Poe Dameron confirmed Emperor Palpatine had somehow returned. Kin explained how this might be possible saying, “Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew.” That was a super vague explanation but we know have a little more clarification. However, we still don’t have any details on how this was possible, or how he was able to pull all of the stuff off that he did in this weakened clone body. I still have a lot of questions regarding Palpatine.
It was also revealed in a separate interview with Cinefex that the Sith villain was originally supposed to be introduced in The Force Awakens. Visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett, explained:
“[Actor] Ian [McDiarmid] was such a major part of the original films. J.J. wanted to bring him back to reveal that Palpatine wasn’t completely destroyed in Episode VII. He created a clone of himself and, with the help of Sith loyalists, rebuilt himself to a fragmented and unstable state. When Kylo meets him, Palpatine is not fully formed, and he relies on tubes and mechanics, moving around this Sith laboratory on a mechanism that Kevin Jenkins designed. He has the spirit of the Sith, but he’s trapped inside a body that’s incomplete.”
Introducing the return of Palpatine in The Force Awakens would have been a lot better and made more sense than introducing him in the final film. It would have been nice to have the time to build up a better story arc for the character and use that time to explain a lot of things. His inclusion also wouldn’t have felt forced. Not bringing him back earlier was a missed opportunity.
What do you think about Palpatine being a clone? Do you think Abrams should have brought him into the story at the beginning of the new trilogy?
Via: CB