Palpatine’s plan for Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars‘ prequel trilogy, which then continued with Darth Vader in the original movies, has been retconned by a tie-in book. The prequels turned the Skywalker saga movies into the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin/Vader, giving his story an epic scope that spanned six movies and multiple decades, all with Sheev Palpatine as the manipulator-in-chief. But as Star Wars continues to expand the Skywalker saga, and in particular builds on elements from the more divisive sequel trilogy, then aspects of that history are recontextualized or just changed completely.
Palpatine himself has been at the very heart of these changes, spinning out of his return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Not only have tie-ins attempted to explain just how Palpatine returned after his death in Return of the Jedi, but also shed new light on his motivations and machinations for Rey, Kylo Ren, and the Sith as a whole. Much of this centers around the Force dyad: although a new addition to Star Wars canon in The Rise of Skywalker, it’s been revealed that the Sith tried for generations to create a dyad between each master and apprentice, to no avail.
Palpatine’s master, Darth Plagueis, attempted to create a dyad with him; in turn, Palpatine tried and failed to create a dyad with Vader. This alone reframes their entire relationship because it changes, to a degree, what Palpatine wanted from Vader, although the end goal remained the Sith’s ultimate rule and his own unlimited power. But the tie-in book Secrets of the Sith, written as though from the Emperor’s perspective, goes further in retconning Palpatine’s plan for Anakin and their entire history, making it much more specifically about their special, all-powerful bloodlines and how that offered the best chance at creating a Force dyad. Palpatine writes:
“I, too, attempted to facilitate such a connection with my apprentice Anakin Skywalker. Yet even with the so-called Chosen One at my side, the balance we shared paled against the perfection of the dyad. If the two most powerful bloodlines in the history of the galaxy – Palpatine and Skywalker – could not produce such a bond, the question remains if a dyad is possible at all.”
Viewed with this knowledge, then Palpatine’s manipulation of Anakin in Star Wars‘ prequels, turning him to the dark side, takes on a new meaning. Not only did Palpatine recognize the great power within him and how he could help bring the downfall of the Jedi Order, but that he knew the raw strength and power within his bloodline too, the child born from the Force and prophesied Chosen One, and that one of his primary goals was to create a Force dyad, which goes beyond what was shown in the prequels. Palpatine not only wanted the Chosen One, but a dyad; there isn’t mention of trying to create one with Darth Maul or Darth Tyranus, for instance, further highlighting how special he believed Anakin to be.
Of course, the sheer concept of a dyad didn’t even exist then, but this does fit with how Star Wars is retconning it into the past. Similarly, the Force dyad in The Rise of Skywalker actually proved Palpatine right. Although not what he intended, Rey, a Palpatine, and Kylo Ren, a Skywalker, did become a dyad in the Force; Palpatine’s belief in the combined power of those bloodlines was accurate, but it needed the light and the dark to make it happen. Since he tried to create a dyad with an Anakin who had already fallen, then, like all the Sith before him, he failed to create a dyad; Rey and Kylo not only delivered that vision, but ended up being the Emperor’s downfall to boot.
