The novelization of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirms Palpatine was a clone. The Disney era of Star Wars has frequently used novelizations to tie up loose ends from the films themselves. In the case of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the film had a startling number of plot holes that writer Rae Carson will surely be hoping to navigate.

Marketing for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had emphasized the unexpected return of Emperor Palpatine, and moviegoers were eager to learn how Darth Sidious had survived his death in Return of the Jedi. Remarkably, the film avoided explaining it at all; the Emperor hand-waved the question away with a quote from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. "The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some would consider unnatural," he observed. It's generally been assumed Carson's novelization will shed a little more light on matters.

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Although the novelization isn't officially on sale until March 17, Lucasfilm Publishing decided to sell advance copies at this weekend's C2E2 in Chicago and passages have begun appearing online. The book does indeed confirm that the Emperor's spirit has been transferred into a clone body. When Kylo Ren arrives on Exegol and encounters Palpatine, he looks closely at the machinery the Emperor is physically attached to, and recognizes it from his studies of the Clone Wars. He then deduces Palpatine's dark side spirit is too strong for the clone body, and is causing serious degeneration to it.

"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."

Star Wars 9 Rise Skywalker Palpatine poster cropped

There are striking similarities between Palpatine's canon resurrection and his return in the old Expanded Universe. Like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Tom Veitch's Dark Empire miniseries saw Palpatine return, his spirit migrating to a clone body, and he constructed a vast army that incorporated sophisticated superweapons. George Lucas loved Dark Empire; he considered it the closest thing to his idea of a sequel trilogy, and gave copies to Lucasfilm employees as a Christmas present. The key difference, however, is that in Dark Empire the clone body was actually able to contain the Emperor's spirit.

Exposure to the dark side of the Force has always had a pronounced effect on a physical body, causing an advanced form of decay. That's why many Sith Lords appear cadaverous; because the stronger they become in the dark side, the more notable its effects. Palpatine is the greatest of all the Sith, and it makes perfect sense that no mere clone body could contain his essence. The novelization subtly hints the Emperor has waited as long as he can, watching as the galaxy fell into chaos once again, but now has no choice but to reveal himself. His clone body is completely failing him, he's running out of the regenerative formulas that have been keeping him alive all these years, and he needs a new host. It's nice to have an explanation, of sorts, but something of a shame it wasn't in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker itself.

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