It’s possible that the Jedi voices from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker fought Sith spirits on Exegol. One of the most deeply symbolic events in the entire franchise was the ultimate duel between Rey and Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine, on the one hand, claimed to be the Sith’s pinnacle, the ultimate essence of their might. On the other hand, Rey stood as the light side of the Force’s champion, inspired by the voices of Jedi past.
For months, Rey had been straining to hear the voices of the Jedi. Despite the fact that the Force Ghosts had appeared to her instructor Leia Organa, she had never seen them, and she had felt deprived of their advice. But there they were, at Rey’s most desperate hour, some voices she recognized and others she didn’t, encouraging her to fight the darkness and restore the Force’s balance. They gave her the strength she needed to stand up to her grandfather, and in doing so, they ensured the light’s final victory.
Despite this, one intriguing Star Wars idea argues that those Jedi voices were far more active than previously imagined. An excerpt from Adam Christopher’s new Star Wars novel, Shadow of the Sith, was just released by Lucasfilm, and it suggests that an unseen war between the old Jedi and the Sith was taking place on Exegol. If this is accurate, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will have an even grander cosmic size and scope.
Exegol and the Force’s Netherworld are explained.
In Star Wars, most viewers believe that only Force Ghosts retain their minds after death. George Lucas, on the other hand, never meant that to be the case, and he flirted with the notion of a “Netherworld of the Force” – essentially a realm where the spirits of the dead reside – on two occasions. The idea first appeared in a draught of Return of the Jedi, in a scene where the dying Master Yoda promised Luke that he would soon be passing into the Force’s Netherworld, where he would be of more use to Luke. Yoda told Obi-Wan that Qui-Force Gon’s Ghost had “returned from the Netherworld of the Force” in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, bringing it into the canon.
There’s a reason Palpatine could only be resurrected at Exegol: according to George Mann’s Dark Legends, this ancient Sith stronghold has a thinner boundary between life and death than anywhere else in the galaxy. This explains why so many Jedi voices, including those who had never become Force Ghosts, were able to encourage Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. But it also implies that the Sith might do the same.
Exegol was also home to mysterious Sith spirits.
The Sith had already taken advantage of the Force vergence’s peculiar features at Exegol, according to Adam Christopher’s Shadow of the Sith. Luke Skywalker visits Exegol in a mystical experience in this book, which takes place shortly before the sequel trilogy. The Sith planet is defended by nine ancient Sith spirits, rather than Palpatine or the cultists portrayed in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. These are not Force Ghosts; when Luke uses the Force to contact them, he finds that they are completely absent, probably because they do not belong on this plane of reality at all. They’re also far weaker than Force Ghosts, as Luke discovers when Anakin Skywalker’s Force Ghost appears to shield him from his nine foes.
Immortality has always been a source of fascination for the Sith. One of their preferred ways was a technique known as “essence transfer,” which Palpatine had perfected and which permits a person’s consciousness to be transferred into another object or even another person after death. Palpatine secretly founded the Acolytes of the Beyond, a secretive dark side sect that revered the ancient Sith and sought out their artifacts, destroying them so that any potential spirits held inside may be released into the Force’s Netherworld. The Acolytes of the Beyond’s part in Palpatine’s plans has never been fully explained, but it’s probable that their function was to liberate these Sith spirits so that they might subsequently leave the Netherworld through the vergence on Exegol.
In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Sith and Jedi may have been at odds.
All of this suggests that another fight was taking on on Exegol, one that went unnoticed by the audience but was just as genuine – a battle between the souls of Sith and Jedi. If this is the truth, everything came to an end when Palpatine absorbed the Force Dyad’s power and used it to revitalize himself and bring all of the ancient Sith souls into himself. Palpatine said, “I am all the Sith,” and according to this belief, he wasn’t exaggerating; he had truly become the embodiment of all the Sith, with all of their terrible power now residing within him. It’s no surprise that his Force Storm was so powerful; he wasn’t just channeling the Dyad’s strength, but also the Sith’s limitless anger and rage. This would explain why the Emperor had Sith relics destroyed, consigning any spirits within them to the Force’s Netherworld; he intended for them to live on via him on Exegol, as the Sith’s true representative.
The Emperor, on the other hand, had misjudged, for the words of the Jedi urged Rey on, no longer consumed by their own battle against the dark side. When she arose, she did so with all of their strength flowing through her; just as Palpatine could truly claim to be all Sith, Rey could claim to be all Jedi without lying or exaggerating. And Rey triumphed by using the Force for defense rather than attack, reflecting Palpatine’s lightning back at him, as only a Jedi could. The deeds of the Sith and the Jedi in that instant symbolically mirrored their respective beliefs; one stood for aggressiveness, the other for defense, one for spectacular power, and the other for unwavering serenity. If this idea is right, it’s likely that Palpatine wasn’t the only one killed by the diverted Force Lightning; every Sith spirit within him perished as well. The Jedi finally won their struggle against the dark side thanks to Rey, and the ending of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker showed their ultimate victory.
