With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker entering theaters in a couple weeks, fans are excited to see how the Skywalker Saga will conclude. While not surprising, it’s interesting that the Saga will feature the return of Darth Sidious aka Palpatine. His presence serves as the connective tissue with all other trilogies which according to J.J. Abrams this film will properly reference important events from. Putting things into perspective, Palpatine’s return creates a feeling that Snoke was not only a puppet but orchestrating events for Palpatine. One of these events was connecting Rey and Kylo Ren, which in this editorial feature we’ll explore the potential importance of.
Rey & Kylo Ren Compliment Each Other In The Force
As established in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, both Rey and Kylo Ren have an unusual connection. While most audience members wouldn’t connect this to Palpatine, he created a similar connection between Darth Tyranus aka Count Dooku and Jedi Master Yoda. This allowed Sidious, through Dooku, to sense Yoda’s location and feelings which provided the tools for manipulation. The connection between Rey and Kylo Ren however, is much more powerful. Believed to have been the workings of Snoke, their Force-Bond allows for communication across the galaxy and allows them to sense each other’s feelings.
This bond, while unique, also appears to relate to the abilities of Rey and Kylo Ren. Luke Skywalker made a reference to this by saying Rey’s abilities are the Force’s answer to balancing the great power amassed by the dark side of the Force. This, along with the heavy ying-yang based imagery found in the Jedi temple on Ahch-To, gives the impression that Rey’s abilities are augmented to balance out Kylo Ren and presumably Palpatine. Due to this, Rey and Kylo Ren are extremely powerful in the Force individually and together…which feeds into the next part of why Palpatine may want them together.
Palpatine’s Plan For Eternal Life
When Palpatine initially revealed his identity as a Sith to Anakin Skywalker, it was due to his security in knowing Anakin was seduced by his desire to save his wife from death utilizing Sith techniques. When planting this seed, Palptine introduced one of the most important scenes in the prequel trilogy…the tale of Darth Plagueis. A Sith Lord that could supposedly prevent death and live forever, with the ability to revive the dead via midi-chlorian manipulation. Palpatine in canon was never able to fully master this technique, which in Legends resulted in the usage of various clones combined with the transfer essence technique.
Palpatine will likely not use this technique in The Rise of Skywalker since logically he would have already done so prior to meeting Kylo Ren or Rey. He’s a very old man and likely too prideful to be transfer his essence into a clone, which brings us to another technique…Force drain. During one of the trailers for The Rise of Skywalker, Palpatine is heard saying “long have I waited and now, your coming together is your undoing” to both Rey and Kylo Ren. This would assume they are needed to both assist Palpatine and defeat them, which only makes sense if Palpatine would drain their powers to revitalize himself.
In the canon, Sith Lords could siphon the life force from others to strengthen their powers and extend their life spans. According to Legends canon, it was difficult to Force drain a relative, however a connection formed via the Force between Rey and Kylo Ren may have the opposite effect.
Especially if Palpatine was the true mastermind behind their Force-Bond, it’s believable he could manipulate that connection to siphoning both of their life forces. Kylo Ren alone, with his Skywalker ancestry, would greatly boost Palpatine’s power with the Force. Combined with Rey, who appears to be on a similar level to Kylo, and Palpatine can likely revitalize himself to a young man. While not true immortality, it would buy him more time to research and study the ways of the Force in hopes of learning such a technique.
What do you think of Palpatine’s return to the Star Wars films? Leave your comments down below and feel free to follow me at @JBaldera27 on Twitter!
