Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker proved itself the most divisive of all the sequels, not least because it brought Emperor Palpatine back from the dead. What should have been an epic, exciting reveal disappointed many due to how rushed his return was and the fact it had never really been teased in The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi.
The biggest issue, however, was the lack of any sort of explanation. Palpatine was just back, and fans of the Star Wars franchise were left to fill in the gaps themselves.
Well, things are cleared up a little in new book, Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith. Shared by @JacobsQuest on Twitter, this tie-in recounts events from Palpatine's perspective as he explains that his "consciousness [was] transferred into a new body on Exegol." However, "even after years of experimentation, the cloning techniques employed by my acolytes were inadequate. They could not create a vessel capable of containing my unfathomable power."
Unable to leave Exegol due to the poor state of his new body, Palpatine reveals that, "As part of their genetic experiments, my followers had attempted to create another being that came to be known as Snoke. Although his body proved unworthy of containing my dark essence, Snoke's natural sensitivity to the Force would make him a powerful puppet nonetheless."
With that, "Snoke" created the First Order and this does explain that brief mention of cloning in The Force Awakens (and why the villain targeted the children of Rebel heroes to be his Stormtroopers). Something tells us The Mandalorian's Moff Gideon was somehow involved with those early cloning attempts to bring his Emperor back to life.
Finally, the book confirms that "Strand-Casting" was used to create "countless modified clone bodies" from Palpatine's genetic material. The only one that survived was his "son" (Rey's father), but his lack of connection to the Force meant he was useless to the powerful Sith Lord.
Why this is all explained in a book the vast majority of fans will probably never read is hard to say, but there are a lot of ideas here that could be used in future Star Wars movies and TV shows.
Do you feel a little more satisfied after reading these new details?