Star Wars Finally Answers How Palpatine Returned From The Dead
How did Palpatine return from the dead? Simple. Copy and Paste.
The upcoming novelisation of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has finally - and officially - clued audiences into how Palpatine managed to survive his rather long fall to make an appearance in Episode IX. He’s a clone. Well, the flesh is a clone, the spirit is all Darth Sidious.
As reported by ScreenRant the upcoming book isn’t actually due to be released to the public until March 17, however, there have been some advanced copies distributed and passages have, as always, made their way online for the world to see. The text explains that Kylo not only understands the technology being used is from the Clone Wars era, but also that the very power of Palpatine inside the cloned body is also the reason for his putrid, wouldn’t-wanna-touch-him look.
"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.”
This revelation should provide the casual Star Wars fan with some much-needed clarification, however, it is worth noting that this is not the first time the old ‘he was a clone all along’ fake-out has been used. The well regarded Dark Empire comic book miniseries, penned by Tom Veitch, was the first to introduce the idea that old trickster Palpatine could use clone technology to escape death.
A key difference in the Dark Empire is that Palpatine's cloned bodies are initially stable when containing his spirit, only becoming weakened by the effects of the Dark Side when the clones in storage are all sabotaged.
Does this revelation sate your curiosity as to how Palpatine lived? Or is finding the answers never approached on screen in a book doubly frustrating? Let us know in the comments below.