Palpatine may have considered Kylo Ren to be nothing more than a pale imitation of Darth Vader - but the young Star Wars villain may have visited with the Sith homeworld of Moraband, learning secrets even the Emperor did not know. When the Emperor was defeated by Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, he was swiftly resurrected on the ancient Sith redoubt of Exegol. He soon set his covetous gaze upon Leia Organa's son, Ben, and set about turning him to the dark side.

There's a sense in which Kylo Ren never fell to the dark side; rather, he was trapped by it. Emperor Palpatine's voice whispered in his ear throughout his childhood, quietly negating Luke Skywalker's teaching, and encouraging him to question his identity when he learned he was the grandson of Darth Vader. Finally, one fateful night, the Emperor allowed Luke to sense his presence in his apprentice's room. Luke believed he was sensing the darkness in his nephew and instinctively triggered his lightsaber in a moment of weakness engineered by the Sith Lord. Luke realized his foolishness too late when the boy awoke, and he was stunned into unconsciousness when Ben Solo unleashed his power. When Luke came to, his Jedi Order had been destroyed, their temple obliterated. He had no idea the Temple had actually been destroyed by Palpatine, with Ben taking responsibility. Soon, manipulated by the Emperor through his agent Snoke, Ben had become Kylo Ren.

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Kylo Ren was fascinated with the Sith, in large part because he convinced himself he was continuing Darth Vader's mission - although it's never been clear quite what he really believed that mission to have been. But Palpatine had no interest in turning Ben Solo, grandson of Darth Vader, into a Sith; he had pretty much given up on the Sith Rule of Two, and was seeking a host for his own eternal spirit rather than an apprentice. For all that's the case, though, Kylo Ren may have known a lot more Sith secrets than the Emperor suspected, and it may have been helped by a visit to Moraband. Here's why.

Kylo Ren Knew More About The Sith Than Palpatine Believed

The Emperor liked to claim everything was proceeding as he had foreseen, but, in truth, that claim was simply a way to cover his ego as his expertise lay in adapting at speed. This was clear even in the prequel trilogy, when Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas - sensing a coming galactic conflict that would consume the Jedi - commissioned the creation of the Clone Army. When Palpatine discovered this, he swiftly took control of the project, and soon had the idea for Order 66. He adapted in a similar way in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when Ben Solo and Rey stood before him and he realized at last they were a Force Dyad. According to Lucasfilm's book Secrets of the Sith, the Sith had long sought to learn the secrets of the Dyad, and their Rule of Two had been established partly in an attempt to create such a phenomenon. And yet Palpatine only recognized the Dyad when the two powerful beings stood before him.

And here is the striking thing; Kylo Ren knew about the Force Dyad before Palpatine did. Lucasfilm's tie-ins have long confirmed Kylo Ren studied the Sith, but the fact he recognized a Force Dyad suggests he had explored some of their deepest, darkest secrets. What's more, remarkably, Kylo Ren managed to keep the knowledge to himself until he confronted Rey with the truth - a tremendous accomplishment, given the nature of the Dyad meant Kylo Ren's thoughts and knowledge were shared with Rey, while Palpatine was himself dipping into the former Jedi's mind. He was a lot more knowledgeable than the Emperor believed.

The Emperor Had Destroyed Most Sith Relics

But that begs the question of where Kylo Ren learned of the Force Dyad. The Emperor had ruled the galaxy for decades, and he had acquired a vast treasure trove of ancient Sith artifacts and Holocrons, including all those looted from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where the Jedi had secretly kept a so-called "Bogan Collection" of dark side relics. Palpatine had scattered this collection in his own safe-houses across the galaxy, and he knew they contained secrets he couldn't risk his successors learning. The Emperor's death in Return of the Jedi initiated Operation Cinder, a horrific scorched-earth policy of revenge on the galaxy, with Imperial loyalists razing entire planets. This served as an opportunity for Palpatine to test the loyalty of his officers, and he chose to rescue the best of them to form the First Order. But it also helped the Emperor hide from Luke Skywalker, because the targets of Operation Cinder were carefully chosen to obliterate his old bases.

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Palpatine owned the vast majority of the galaxy's Sith artifacts, relics, and Holocrons. Operation Cinder then destroyed them all, meaning the deepest secrets of the Sith should have been lost, impossible for anyone to recover. In theory, Kylo Ren should only have been able to learn about the Force Dyad on Exegol. However, there's no sign in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that he spent enough time there to read the inscriptions of the Force Dyad inscribed on its walls.

Kylo Ren Could Have Learned Of The Force Dyad From Moraband

the Star Wars planet Moraband Korriban

There is, however, one place where Kylo Ren could have learned of the Force Dyad: the Sith homeworld of Moraband. Sometimes called Korriban, this world is barren and lifeless, haunted by the ghosts of long-dead Sith Lords, steeped in the dark side of the Force. Yoda traveled to Moraband in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as he sought to unravel mysteries of the Sith, but he was looking in the wrong place; according to Lucasfilm's Secrets of the Sith, the Emperor never traveled there, presumably believing Moraband contained only secrets of the past, when he sought to shape the future. Given Yoda encountered the specter of Darth Bane on Moraband - the Sith Lord who crafted the Rule of Two out of the Doctrine of the Dyad in the first place - it's reasonable to suppose the temples of this world contained lessons about the Dyad. This forbidden knowledge would have been left there, undisturbed by the Emperor simply because he hadn't gotten round to it, or else perhaps because he sensed the spirits of the ancient Sith would be displeased with him and sought to put off that confrontation. If Kylo Ren did visit the Sith homeworld of Moraband, then it is entirely possible he knew a lot more about the Sith than Palpatine believed.

The interesting question, of course, is exactly when Kylo Ren realized he was part of a Force Dyad with Rey. It's possible he'd heard of the Force Dyad before the sequel trilogy even began, visiting Moraband as part of his initial attempt to bind himself to the dark side, and eventually joined the dots. More likely, though, is that he traveled to Moraband during the year between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - a year in which he ruled the galaxy. That may also explain where he began to hear whispers of the ancient Sith Wayfinders that could take him to Exegol in the Unknown Regions, where he would come face-to-face with the great villain of Star Wars. Whatever the case may be, though, there's a deep irony in the fact the Emperor was probably watching Kylo Ren as he figured it out but didn't dig deeply enough into his mind to gain the same information.

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