A fan-made Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker animated short tries to explain Palpatine’s return to the series. The Rise of Skywalker is the final episode of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and marks an end to the Skywalker saga. The movie wrapped up the sequel story arcs and answered most of the unanswered questions that came up during the preceding movies, while still leaving some answers up in the air.
Some of the biggest mysteries surrounded the Emperor, aka Sheev Palpatine. While his rise to power was observed in the Star Wars prequel movies, not a lot is known about his life prior to The Phantom Menace, and fans are still left wondering about Palpatine’s time in exile, between Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Any Star Wars content that did try to explore his origins were made non-canon when Disney acquired the franchise. At what point did Palpatine get his body back, how exactly did he amass such a giant fleet of Star Destroyers, and when or how did he get to Exegol?
In the animated short created by Twitter user @Worthikids, some of these questions are addressed in a funny way. The clip starts during the famous scene from Return of the Jedi, in which Darth Vader decides to turn on Palpatine to save Luke, by throwing good old Sheev down a seemingly endless pit. In Worthi’s version, Palpatine is seen asking Vader if they’re good and whether or not this was all a joke. The ever-quiet Vader tosses Palpatine. Palpatine bounces a few times off the sides of the pit before being ejected from the Death Star and falling directly onto Exegol, paralyzed.
As Palpatine is lying motionless, Force ghost Yoda wanders over, sprinkling some confetti on Palpatine, and saying “in peace, may you rest.” Palpatine then reveals that he’s still alive, and the two exchange insults and taunts. Palpatine claims that death is just a concept invented by the Jedi, stating that therefore he can’t die. He then lays there in order to use the Force to heal his broken body. This goes on for 36 years. Once Palpatine is finally healed enough to walk, he gets up, and notices his chair from The Rise of Skywalker. He walks over to it to nap for a bit, when moments later, Rey, Finn, and the others wander onto Exegol and the clips ends.
The creator of the clip also included outtakes in a followup clip, which he posted as a response to the original tweet. Worthi is an animator, illustrator, and musician, who shares artwork and creative works on his Twitter account. His latest Star Wars clip is a funny way to fill in the gaps between Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, because there are still unanswered questions from the latter. It’s unclear if Star Wars fans will ever receive a proper, in-canon explanation that dives into it further, especially because the Skywalker saga is over. Perhaps the nature of Palpatine’s return could be explored in a new novel or comic book, filling in some of the lingering narrative gaps in the sequel trilogy.
Next: Emperor Palpatine’s Entire Backstory, Timeline, and Manipulations Explained
Source: Worthi
