The Rise Of Skywalker Novelization Explains Palpatine's Survival

In the past few days several details leaked from the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker novelization by Rae Carson. And one thing that many fans wondered about after the movie was released is finally explained in the book. How did Palpatine survive his fall down the shaft on the Death Star II and its subsequent explosion? Click through for the answer!

It turns out the solution is pretty simple. Palpatine transferred his consciousness to a clone body on Exegol while falling down the shaft. Palpatine had prepared for an event like this. However, preparations had not been complete yet, and thus Palpatine’s clone is not fully grown / defective.
That also settles the question whether or not we saw the original Palpatine in the movie. Yes, it was his “essence” or consciousness, but no, it was not the original body, but a clone. I still wonder why no explanation was given in the movie. One or two lines of dialogue may have given fans the explanation they wanted when Kylo Ren asked about Palpatine’s survival near the beginning of the movie.

Actually, it turns out in the book that Palpatine had been experimenting with cloning for a while. But creating Force sensitive clones turns out to be difficult and all the clones are defective in one way or another.

But here’s the really juicy tidbit: Palpatine’s “son” is not his son. He’s one of his defective clones. Defective as in, he’s not Force sensitive and thus of no use to Palpatine. So Rey is, in a way, not Palpatine’s granddaughter but actual daughter.

The Rise of Skywalker novelization will be released in the US on March 17th. Will you add the book to your collection? And what is your opinion about Palpatine’s survival? Is it what you expected? Do you like the idea of being able to transfer your consciousness to a clone halfway through the galaxy?

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