In this article and video, I discuss spoilers from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If you are avoiding spoilers, this article and video are not for you. Make sure you do not openly discuss the spoilers on social media. Do not share the image on social media. Be cool!

Empire Empirical – I’ve seen some Sith
The Video:
A McQuarrie La-Z-Boy Game of Thrones


Darth Sidious dresses for the job he wants, not the job he has.

Ben Solo’s fate?

If Ben is resurrected, sources are not aware of it. That said, how many characters have fallen to their deaths in Star Wars and stayed gone? Hell, even Harrison Ford returns in this movie after his death in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Darth Maul survived with little on screen explanation. Luke Skywalker fell on Bespin, it wasn’t pleasant but he was okay. Palpatine got tossed into a pit by Darth Vader and he apparently turns up in this film as an old shriveled up version of Sidious in a bed.
I theorize that when Rey is rejuvenated to face Palpatine, Ben Solo may be the power from the “other side” that helps Rey in the end. But as of now that is conjecture on my part.
The Money Shot’s Setup
The Money Shot – Please do not share on social media.

The picture above is accurate to what I have seen from The Rise of Skywalker and Rey’s final encounter with evil in her trilogy.
Doctor “Sidious” Who?
After doing an extensive deep dive with sources on this film, I have to conclude that Palpatine does not use a lightsaber in the film, and if he ever did, he does not wield it in this film anymore. So I do not expect Palpatine to use his lightsaber against Rey and Ben.
I also have to conclude that Matt Smith is not apart of the film, as we once thought. Matt Smith’s involvement is based in reality not just rumor, however, something must have changed. I theorize that Palpatine was going to be rejuvenated into his younger self with Matt Smith playing the part of a mid-thirties Palpatine. But I also theorize that it was decided to just bring in Ian McDiarmid and let him do the whole thing because he is Palaptine/Darth Sidious after all.
A little on Exegol and Sith Stormtroopers

Sith Stormtroopers and Darth Sidious
Sources have said that the Sith Stormtroopers seem like they were abducted children placed into the First Order who became elite Stormtroopers. There’s apparently a lot of ambiguity in the film about how they come about and the subplot with Finn and Jannah’s quest to stop the First Order’s militarization of children makes it seem as if this is the case.
There could be something missing here, but it is looking more and more like the current version of the film just brings these new Stormtroopers out from The First Oder’s ranks without much explanation. This is much like how Darth Sidious surviving the Death Star II is presented in the film without much explanation, according to sources. If our sources have a complete understanding of the movie and there are no sequences being hidden until the last moment to persevere the secrecy of the film itself, we may be over thinking how much explanation we will get on screen for these things. We may have to wait until the novel is released for those answers.
Doctor Sidious Who?
After doing an extensive deep dive with sources on this film, I have to conclude that Palpatine does not use a lightsaber in the film, and if he ever did, he does not wield it in this film anymore. So I do not expect Palpatine to use his lightsaber against Rey and Ben at this point.
I also have to conclude that Matt Smith is not apart of the film, as we once thought. Matt Smith’s involvement is based on actual behind the scenes events, and something must have changed. I theorize that Palpatine was going to be rejuvenated into his younger self with Matt Smith playing the part of a mid-thirties Palpatine. But I also theorize that it was decided to just bring in Ian McDiarmid and let him do the whole thing because he is Darth Sidious after all. But that is speculation at this point.
Only in the end do you understand…
So there you have it. That’s what I’m told is the “money” shot of The Rise of Skywalker according to my sources. Palpatine raising his hands into the air shooting lighting and then turning that power against Rey. It needed a lot of context and a lot of work to pull it all together. I hope I did it justice for the spoiler junkies out there that need a healthy fix of Star Wars. I can’t explain to you how fucking cool it looks and how satisfied I was with what I saw. I will also never comment on what or how I saw what I did. Please, I beg of you, do not share this information openly on social media.
TLDR Recap
- The former Emperor has a red and black cloak.
- The McQuarrie throne is finally used on screen but with stone thorns around it.
- Old Palpatine siphons life into his body through Rey and Ben Solo.
- Palpatine becomes Palpatine unleashed and has more power than ever before.
- Ben Solo appears to die by being thrown into a pit by Palpatine.
- Palpatine the shocks the Resistance fleet, making it power down.
- Rey is empowered by generations of the Jedi that came before her and she rises up to face Palpatine.
- Palpatine’s attention turns towards Rey.
- The money shot is Palpatine shoots lightning in the sky and then at Rey which she deflects with Leia and Anakin’s lightsabers.
- The Resistance fleet recovers and the Falcon brings reinforcements to the battle.
- We likely have seen Exegol in the D23 First Look.
- Sith Stormtroopers appear to be elite First Order troops who were abducted as children.
- Matt Smith does not seem to be in the film as Palpatine.
- Darth Sidious does not appear to ever use a lightsaber in this film.