When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker first came out, the fandom went wild over the revelation that Rey is actually Palpatine’s granddaughter. Not necessarily for what it meant to Rey, though, but more because it apparently told us that the evil, disfigured Emperor had bumped uglies with some lucky lady at some point. Having lived with this information for several months, we’ve now learned that, wait, that’s not the case and Palpatine’s son – Rey’s dad – was actually a failed, non-identical clone of the Sith Lord.
To say that the additional explanation has not gone down well with fans would be an understatement. As the movie itself seemed to suggest a complete different turn of events, this reads like a massive retcon after the fact. And it’s left people feeling that Lucasfilm just doesn’t know what it’s doing.
When I’m asked if the Palpatine’s son/clone stuff makes sense or if Disney even has a clue over there… pic.twitter.com/ZMMcgO2NqR
— Anakin's Lightsaber (@skywalker_saber) March 5, 2020
For one, Rey’s dad being a clone and not a biological child of Palpatine’s complicates her status as his granddaughter. Surely she’s actually just his daughter, right?
https://twitter.com/underdedication/status/1235391793769918464
When you put Rey’s heritage next to the origins of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, it doesn’t look that impressive now.
https://twitter.com/sw_hush_dc/status/1235417227714875393
Clearly, someone at Lucasfilm loved the character of Scott Evil from Austin Powers.
palpatine’s son being a clone of palpatine is like jj abrams watched the spy who shagged me and didn’t realize it was satire
— shea (@sheanorling) March 5, 2020
On the other hand, some are OK with the explanation as they feel it fits with everything we know about Palps.
Palpatine didn't care about his failed clone "son" until he found out that that "son" had a very force sensitive daughter so then he decided to use the "familial" bond to his advantage to try to manipulate Rey.
That is a very Sheev thing to do.
— Noah Outlaw (@OutlawNoah) March 5, 2020
For others, though, there are just too many complications to make sense of it all, what with the resurrected Palpatine being a clone himself.
https://twitter.com/hellofromhoth/status/1235067502029205504
This tweeter does an admirable job of trying to put all the facts together, but it just raises more questions.
Ah, except the 'son' isn't a clone of zombie palpatine, he'd have to be a clone of the living palpatine that he was doing behind the scenes of the original trilogy. Which begs the question, how many Palpatines were there running around?
— HappyToast★ (@IamHappyToast) March 5, 2020
Are we sure Disney just didn’t realize what Palpatine having a son implied until social media kept going on about it, which is why this retcon has come about?
This Palpatine-Clone-Son-story is soooo funny.
Disney: Papatine has a son
We: So he had sex
Disney: NOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/gD5HptKVFG— Mara 🖤🩶🤍💜 (@mara_melles) March 5, 2020
The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization is out March 17th, the same day the movie arrives on Digital HD. While we wait for that day, let us know your thoughts on the truth about Rey’s dad in the comments section below.
