Emperor Palpatine's Plan In The Rise Of Skywalker Explained

We knew Emperor Palpatine would be back for months before The Rise of Skywalker ever hit theaters, but we didn't know how or why. Now that the film is finally out, we have the answers to some of our questions, but it takes a little bit of consideration to assemble that knowledge into a clear picture.

Spoilers for Rise of Skywalker are, of course, ahead.

The Rise of Skywalker is a film with so much going on that, even with Palpatine's story at the core of it all, viewers only get pieces of the full picture. It's not totally clear how he returned after his death in Return of the Jedi. When we first meet him again on Exegol, Palpatine is alive, but admits that he has been dead before. His somehow even-more decrepit appearance suggests that he's spent years hanging on to what little life he has with the help of machines.

It seems Palpatine owes a great deal of his revival to the efforts of loyal followers who became a cult of Sith resurrectionists bent on enacting his will through any means necessary. Palpatine may have appeared as pure evil to a great many people in the galaxy, but to others he really was their one true leader. Thanks to them, he was recovered from the Death Star, given some kind of new life, and brought to the legendary Sith world.

Watch the video to see Emperor Palpatine's plan In The Rise Of Skywalker Explained!

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Loyal followers | 0:20
Dark science | 1:15
Palpatine's puppet | 1:57
Building the Final Order | 2:42
Voice from the dead | 3:19
Loyal soldier | 4:24
The Sith throne | 5:09