A Star Wars tie-in book has finally revealed Palpatine’s real plan for Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Darth Sidious considered himself a master-planner – he rather liked to brag that everything was proceeding as he had foreseen – but in truth the secret of his success was his very adaptability. Palpatine had the ability to create opportunities out of threats, until his eventual plans became sophisticated cobwebs in which his enemies were trapped.
Order 66, the culmination of the Clone Wars, should be considered the best example. Jedi Master Sifo-Dyad became a threat to the Emperor’s plans when he began receiving visions of the coming Clone Wars, and he asked the Kaminoans to create a clone army that he believed would help the Jedi survive. When Palpatine learned this, he had his apprentice Count Dooku – ironically a childhood friend of Sifo-Dyas – kill the Jedi Master and take over the clone program, with inhibitor chips implanted within the clones that would allow Palpatine to take control of them when the time was right. And so Palpatine’s greatest success was born from a crisis that could have been his undoing.
Lucasfilm’s book, Secrets of the Sith, purports to be written from Palpatine’s perspective; the final notes are clearly written just before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s timeline of events, and they reveal the Emperor’s original plans for his granddaughter. It seems Palpatine originally intended Ben Solo to become the host for his Force presence, explaining why he had gone to such lengths to trap Kylo Ren in the dark side. He would then have allowed Rey to become Empress, ruling alongside him – although, of course, it is unlikely Palpatine considered this a potential partnership of equals. Palpatine’s plans must have changed when Kylo Ren began to escape the dark side, liberated first by Rey’s use of Force Heal and then by a last loving message from his mother, Leia Organa.
Secrets of the Sith helps explain some of the odd contradictions in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, confirming that Palpatine was adapting at speed to circumstances that he had most certainly not foreseen. It further suggests the vision of Dark Rey seen in The Rise of Skywalker on the Death Star – one of the most chilling moments in the entire sequel trilogy – was a sending from Palpatine himself, a hint of the future he envisioned for his granddaughter.
The Emperor’s plans failed, of course, in part because he had underestimated the liberating power of the light side in Star Wars. He adapted, deciding to take Rey as his host instead, but he had failed to realize she was part of a Force Dyad, and she refused to kill him in anger and hate – an act that would have left her open to being possessed by his spirit. However much the Emperor tried to pretend to be in control of events, by the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker he was suffering one setback after another, until finally Rey killed Palpatine with his own Force lightning.
Key Release Dates
Rogue Squadron
Release Date:2023-12-22
