Like so many others I was beyond thrilled with the first look at Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. I especially loved the evil laughter at the end of the trailer which sounded like Emperor Palpatine.
This was confirmed moments later by the appearance of Ian McDiarmid himself and later by Director JJ Abrams. So now that we know that Palpatine will in some way be in the film I have an idea how his presence may be explained and how it connects to the larger sequel series.
In the Expanded Universe Dark Empire featured a continuation for the Emperor and there have been stories ranging from Clones to evil Force Energy that have explained his continued existence. There was even a droid of sorts in EA Star Wars Battlefront 2 that contained his image and messages to carry on his will.
The most natural explanation seems to be taking a cue from his discussion with Anakin in Revenge of the Sith where he tells the tale of his former Master who had learned to use the Force to create life and according to his novel was on the verge of using the Force to extend life.
The Jedi had learned how to leave their physical form and maintain their conscious as we have seen from Obi Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and to some extend; Qui-Gon, so does it not stand to reason that Palpatine was able to maintain his spiritual essence as he was hurling down the reactor shaft?
He could exist as either a parasite that inhabits an individual and then he moves on or he could simply manifest himself when needed to extend his will.
In the case of Snoke; it now makes sense that Palpatine either controlled him via possession or through manifestation and influence. There are some eerie similarities between the two especially around the Skywalker lineage.
Palpatine turned Anakin to the Dark Side but was undone by the son Anakin did not know he had as he found the love for his son which redeemed him and caused him to turn on his Master. The way of the Sith is to kill your master and take a new Apprentice and Vader was trying to recruit Luke in The Empire Strikes Back to defeat the Emperor and rule at his side.
Palpatine was always seeing the big picture and alternate plans. He likely knew that Vader was near a stage where he was ready to challenge him and he planned to use Luke as a way to manipulate and control Vader and if needed; replace him should he be eliminated.
He did not expect Vader to turn back to the light but had alternate plans in place. Snoke takes a member of the Skywalker lineage in Ben and turns him into Kylo Ren. He is obsessed with finding and ending Luke Skywalker to the point of committing large amounts of their resources to the battle.
Snoke becomes fixated on bringing Rey before him and when he sees how she with no training was able to hold her own against Kylo Ren; he wants her captured and killed.
Of course history repeats itself and the Apprentice turns on the Master and the Apprentice attempts to recruit the naïve Force user to rule by his side.
Snoke made reference to being there before the Empire was founded He was clearly strong in the force yet as far as we know he was neither a former Jedi nor a Sith Apprentice. So how did a Force user with his abilities remain a secret for so long? My guess is Palpatine likely either had him as a possible Apprentice or took control of him to influence and continue his larger plan.
This would help explain the obsession with the Skywalker lineage, and how the First Order which grew from the remains of the Empire remains similar in look at structure to the former Empire. He even had a new version of the Death Star which seeing how he oversaw two functional versions of them; would it not stand to reason that Palpatine may have been behind influencing the creation of Starkiller base?
There will likely be tons of speculation before the film arrives, but this is one of the more interesting reveals from Star Wars Celebration and it is rife with possibilities.
