Warning! Spoilers for Star: Wars Darth Vader #13
A new Star Wars comic just provided a closer look at how Emperor Palpatine managed to create his massive Star Destroyer fleet on Exegol seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. While the film never fully explained the ships used in the Final Order, a new Darth Vader comic shows the Sith Lord actually see the fleet under construction.
Palpatine's massive Sith fleet made its only appearance in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. When Kylo Ren made it to the hidden Sith planet of Exegol, many secrets about the Sith were revealed to him - such as Palpatine still being alive and the reveal Supreme Leader Snoke was one of his own creations, specifically designed to lure Ren to the dark side. One of the more jarring reveals was thousands of Star Destroyers created by Palpatine's Sith cultists that were used in the film's final battle. While it was cool to see a secret plan developed by Darth Sidious, the Star Destroyers represented a massive undertaking and the plot seemed entirely rushed. Now, a Star Wars comic is further explaining how the Final Order came to be.
In Star Wars: Darth Vader #11 by Greg Pak, Raffaele Ienco, Neeraj Menon, and VC's Joe Caramagna, Vader arrives on Exegol seeking answers from after he was forced to reassemble himself on Mustafar. He rejects the Sith Lord as his master and attacks Palpatine with the same Summa-verminoth used to protect Exegol but the Sith Lord kills the massive monster immediately. Palpatine takes Vader on a tour of his secret base, which includes a closer look at his cloning processes, his cultists, and most impressively, his fleet of thousands of Star Destroyers.
As Vader stares over the armada, Palpatine tells him his fleet of Star Destroyers is a thousand times more powerful than anything the galaxy has fought before. Vader senses a powerful force and continues walking through the base, leading him to a massive piece of kyber crystals. It's revealed the crystal, usually used for creating lightsabers as well as powering the Death Star in Star Wars: Rogue One, is what's being harvested to power the Star Destroyers planet-destroying canons.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #11 provides the first glimpse into the creation of the Star Destroyer fleet which seemed like a sudden plot convenience in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. With a wealth of kyber crystals on Exegol, Palpatine was able to get his cultists to harvest it to prepare for his own Final Order. It's unclear how long Palpatine has been working on the Sith armada up until this point, but the closer glimpse reveals it's been in production for a while and that Vader actually knew about it before Return of the Jedi. The scene adds much-needed context into how the Final Order came too be. Star Wars: Darth Vader #11 is in comic book stores now.