Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 May 14

= May 14 =

Star Wars: Palpatine a clone?
Was Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker a clone? Because the film doesn't exactly explain how he returned, but Resistance trooper Beaumont Kin (Dominic Monaghan) said "Dark science, cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew." 86.130.77.121 (talk) 21:09, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
 * It depends on what is accepted as canonical. There was/is a tendency in the the film series (I have observed) for characters to make ambiguous statements about in-story matters the writers (initially Lucas) had/have not yet definitively decided upon. (famously, "There is another.")
 * However outside of the actual films there are the books, comics, TV series, video games, etc. In the article Palpatine, in Section 1 Appearances and following 3.1 Canon, we have 3.2 Legends, 3.2.2 Books and comics, which in part states:
 * "Palpatine's ultimate fate is further chronicled in the Dark Empire II and Empire's End series of comics. The Dark Empire II series, published from 1994 to 1995, details how the Emperor is once again reborn on Byss into a clone body. Palpatine tries to rebuild the Empire as the Rebel Alliance grows weak.[115] In Empire's End (1995), a traitorous Imperial guard bribes Palpatine's cloning supervisor to tamper with the Emperor's stored DNA samples. This causes the clones to deteriorate at a rapid rate. Palpatine tries to possess the body of Anakin Solo, the infant son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, before the clone body dies, but is thwarted once again by Luke Skywalker."
 * See the article for details of the reference [115] cited. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.210.77 (talk) 06:42, 15 May 2023 (UTC)


 * Star Wars treats canon differently to the way Marvel and DC Comics do. For Star Wars, everything being published nowadays is canon: films, TV series, comic books, novels, videogames, and whatnot. A number of things published before Disney got the franchise are now not-canon, but everything after that, it is. That includes the novelization of the Rise of Skywalker film, which confirms that Palpatine was a clone.


 * However, let's make an important clarification there. When we say "clone" in fiction we usually mean a character that is a perfect copy of another character, both body and mind, but ultimately a new character. A new character who is virtually indistinguishable from the original, but a new character nonetheless, as the original is still his own thing (either with both around, or with the original dead and the clone around, a situation that is usually acknowledged by the plot). Palpatine, however, is another thing. When he dies, his soul/force spirit/lifeforce/whatever is detached from his body, but he has backup bodies (which were "turned off", so to speak, before that) that he can get inside and live again. See here. Which means that the Palpatine from Rise of Skywalker is not a perfect copy of the Palpatine of the earlier films, it is the Palpatine of earlier films. And this is a canonical answer to the question. Cambalachero (talk) 13:41, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
 * So he returned by transferring his soul/lifeforce into a copy of himself? And was his son, Rey's father, a failed biological engineered clone? 86.130.77.121 (talk) 21:28, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I have read comments about the novelization, not the novelization itself. I can't provide more details. But if you want to know, now you know where to look for the answers. Cambalachero (talk) 19:56, 17 May 2023 (UTC)