Star wars lore: how palpatine's return became a novel-sized mess

The return of Emperor Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker wasn't exactly met with universal applause. While die-hard fans attempted to rationalize the plot twist, many found it a jarring, and frankly, lazy, narrative shortcut. The film itself offered scant explanation, with a throwaway line from Poe Dameron delivering the news that Palpatine had somehow returned, a moment that instantly became a source of widespread derision.

The novelization's desperate attempt at explanation

The burden of justifying this baffling resurrection fell to Ian McDiarmid during the film's press tour, where he offered vague pronouncements about contingency plans and the possibility of Sith procreation. But it was the novelization that truly attempted to untangle the mess, unveiling a convoluted cloning scheme. The story, revealed during Rey's Force connection, depicted Palpatine transferring his essence into a clone body after his fall into the reactor shaft, a desperate gambit that, frankly, undermined decades of established lore.

The timeline itself presented further problems. While Palpatine clearly had a plan, the execution felt rushed and lacked the meticulous foresight we'd come to expect from the Sith Lord. The notion that he had a granddaughter, Rey, was particularly difficult to swallow, requiring a complicated lineage involving a failed clone experiment named Dathan Palpatine. The novelization’s attempt to retrofit this backstory felt less like clever world-building and more like damage control.

Dave Filoni, known for his own attempts to reconcile inconsistencies within the Star Wars universe, seemed to offer a visual parallel in The Mandalorian, showcasing Bacta tanks filled with bodies reminiscent of Snoke. This visual cue, however, only further muddied the waters, suggesting a deeper, potentially even more convoluted, cloning program at play.

And it doesn’t stop there. Shadow of the Sith, a 2022 novel bridging the gap between the classic trilogy and the sequel trilogy, hints at Exegol and the Sith Eternal cult, adding another layer to the already complex cloning narrative. The question now is whether any of this elaborate backstory will prove relevant moving forward within the ever-shifting landscape of Star Wars, or if Lucasfilm will simply sweep it under the rug, a tactic they’ve employed before.

The saga’s ongoing reliance on retroactive lore fixes—patching plot holes with novelizations and ancillary media—feels increasingly unsustainable. It's a testament to a creative process that seems to prioritize spectacle over narrative cohesion. Ultimately, Palpatine’s return wasn't a triumphant villainous resurgence; it was a cautionary tale about the perils of reviving iconic characters without a solid foundation. The convoluted explanation, buried within the pages of a novel, only serves to highlight the fundamental flaws in the film's core concept.