The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization has reportedly revealed that Rey’s father was actually a “not-quite-identical clone” of Emperor Palpatine.
An excerpt from an advanced copy of the Star Wars tie-in book, written by Rae Carson, recently emerged online (h/t ScreenRant) and shed new light on Rey’s backstory, exposing her father to be a failed clone of the all-powerful Sith Lord.
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The passage pertaining to the revelation was posted on Reddit by a user who shared a photograph of the text, which reads: “The heretics of the Sith Eternal toiled, splicing genes, bolstering tissue, creating unnatural abominations in the hope that one of these strandcasts would succeed and become a worthy receptacle. The heretics would do anything, risk anything, sacrifice anything, to create a cradle for their god-consciousness.
“Nothing worked. But their efforts were not entirely in vain. One genetic strandcast lived. Thrived, even. A not-quite-identical clone. His ‘son.’ But he was a useless, powerless failure. Palpatine could not even bear to look upon such disappointing ordinariness. The boy’s only worth would lay in continuing the bloodline through more natural means.”
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It was previously revealed that Palpatine’s spirit was thrust into a clone body, though it wasn’t strong enough to maintain his power. This new extract, however, adds an extra layer of understanding to the Sith Eternal’s process, as it reveals that the cult strived to locate a new vessel for Palpatine’s essence while one of the failed strandcasts “thrived” to become Rey’s father.
It was heavily teased before the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – even by director J.J. Abrams himself – that Rey’s backstory, and who her parents were, would be explained, despite the events of The Last Jedi having left some fans disappointed at the previous build-up to Rey’s origins being halted by the not so earth-shattering revelation that her parents were “nobodies,” junkers who sold their young daughter for drinking money.
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Last year, reports indicated that The Rise of Skywalker would be the longest Star Wars film ever, clocking in at 155 minutes, but before the film landed in theatres the new official runtime of 141 minutes was announced, suggesting that some more material had been cut in an effort to condense the film, which was further evidenced by a Reddit user who posted a complex thread alluding to a “JJ Cut” of Episode IX that supposedly hit around the three-hour mark.
Regardless of whether or not that JJ Cut exists, it seems that we should expect a few more twists and turns to come out of The Rise of Skywalker novelization, officially due out on March 17, as it is said to include many “expanded scenes and content not seen in theatres, as well as a few surprises — all culled from deleted scenes, never-before-seen material, and input from the filmmakers.”
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For more on the Skywalker Saga, find out how The Rise of Skywalker’s Visual Dictionary answers some of the key plot questions, take a look at various leaked concept art from Colin Trevorrow’s axed Duel of the Fates film, and read all about George Lucas’ secret cameos in recent Star Wars films.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Star Wars Novelization Reveals Rey's Father Is Failed Palpatine Clone