The resurrection of Emperor Palpatine is left a mystery in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, with few answers provided for how he brought himself back to life. The same is also true of the planet the villain is now dwelling on. Exegol, located in the Outer Rim of the galaxy, is described as a mythical hidden world of the Sith. And sure enough, Palpatine is surrounded by legions of devoted followers – a cult known as the Sith Eternal – on this dark, barren world. Yet, we don’t learn much about its history or origins.
This clarification of its architecture, however, at least tells us that the ruins of Exegol, which Palpatine makes his palace, are extremely old. As shared on Reddit by u/NumeralJoker, the post identifies the mysterious statues erected within the Sith temple on Exegol. They’re the Four Sages of Dwartii, ancient philosophers from the time of the Old Republic who are said to have inspired the Sith.
As the Reddit user explains:
The Statues we see on Exegol are the Four Sages of Dwartii, the ancient founders/philosophers of the Old Republic who were said to be familiar with the Dark Side, and may have even inspired the Sith. This makes Exegol’s ruins very, very old, possibly as old as Ahch-To.
The Emperor has long been established to be a devotee of the Four Sages. He previously decorated his chambers at the Galactic Senate on Coruscant with small brass statues of the quartet (as seen in the prequels), taking them with him when he moved to his Imperial Palace after the rise of the Empire (in The Clone Wars animated series). In fact, Snoke also wore a ring inscribed with the symbols of the Four Sages, which should have told us that he was a puppet of Palpatine’s all along.
The Four Sages were clearly worshipped on Exegol back in the day, which – given his obsession with them – is no doubt why Darth Sidious decided to make the planet his new base of operations following his unexplained revivification. Going by the clues, though, it seems likely Palpatine’s spirit survived his death in Revenge of the Sith and possessed an imperfect clone body. Still, this only gave him half a life and he needed to drain the energy from Rey and Ben to make himself stronger, as seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.Â
