Star Wars: 10 Things You Might Not Know About Emperor Palpatine

In the Rise of Skywalker, it’s was revealed that Palptine had survived his death at the hands of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi by transferring his consciousness to a cloned body. This reveal was a surprise to many fans, however to those who knew of the original Legends continuity, this was not the first time Palpatine had returned from the dead.

His return from the dead has been detailed in a variety of different Legends material, where he survived for another seven years after the battle of Endor. On a planet called Byss, he had thousands of clone bodies stored away that his consciousness could inhabit. However these clones were unable to cope with the evil of the Dark Side inside them and rapidly deteriorated, causing Palpatine to switch between different clones often to preserve his life.

With one of these clones, he was eventually able to convert Luke Skywalker into his apprentice for a short time, though this was ultimately part of a plan by Luke to defeat the Dark Side. Luke eventually destroyed the majority of the clone bodies after revealing his true plan to the Emperor.

Palpatine was able to survive in a final clone body, however, and after it was fatally injured by Han Solo, he attempted to posses the body of an infant Anakin Solo, the third child of Han and Leia. His Force spirit was intercepted by a Jedi named Empatojayos Brand, who finally dragged his spirit into the depths of the Force forever.