The theories that are surfacing after the release of the D23 trailer have been trying to desperately explain the laughter we hear at the end. Sheev Palpatine’s creepy laugh is heard and it has been confirmed by Abrams he will return. The resurrection of a Sith isn’t new to Star Wars; we all know that Maul was able to put his split body back together out of pure hatred for Kenobi and a desire for revenge. His hatred and power in the dark side had resurrected himself, something that Darth Plageuis the Wise couldn’t do. The whole idea of saving others from death was the driving force for Anakin to join the dark side. Palpatine, the master manipulator, was able to convince Anakin to team up with him and double the power of the dark side to take over the galaxy all because he saw Anakin was desperate to save his wife.

The prophecy had proclaimed that Anakin will bring balance to the force and after Return of the Jedi, we saw him convert back to his former self when Luke had finally gotten the light in him to shine brighter than the dark. In the transition, he threw Palpatine over the edge and down the chute of the Death Star, with lighting going everywhere. There, a balance has been brought to the force. Palpatine is dead and with him the Sith followed. We hear numerous references to the “ancient” religion of the Jedi and their disappearance. So, who could there be to replace Palpatine? Anakin had become a Jedi, once again and died in peace. At the end, when he appears with Kenobi and Yoda, we see his younger form – his Jedi form, and this confirms that Anakin had returned back to the light side. 

Luke and Leia are the remaining Jedi, the twins who were born when their father turned. They were a natural response to the imbalance in the force. After order 66 and the Jedi being killed off, Palpatine gained a new apprentice and it became a powerful duo that ruled the galaxy. The force needed another two, something to contrast the dark power that Vader and Palpatine emit, and so twins were born. The prophecy had called for someone to come in and bring balance to the force and once that was done it seemed like it wasn’t the balance the force required. Some years of peace followed the fall of the Empire, but Kylo Ren was inspired by his grandfather and his Skywalker blood helps to keep the prophecy. After the death of Palpatine, Luke had begun training young Jedi’s and pictured on a scale, this growth of light-side practicing force users tipped the balance toward them and the force knew it needs something to balance that out. Everything requires a balance in the Star Wars universe, light and dark need to balance each other out. The imbalance of too many light-side force users calls for the rise of a new Sith Lord. The death of Snoke, Ren’s master was the fall of a second. It was Luke, Rey, and Ren remaining. Luke had died after using so much concentration to emit a force hologram that he disappeared, but as we hear him say in the trailer, “no one is ever really gone” so we can say that Luke still remains. Knowing that Luke remains leaves two light force users, he and Rey, while Ren is the last dark force user. 

A possibility is that someone, more than likely Ren, finds a recorded hologram of Palpatine in the ruined Death Star we got a glimpse of. The recording could uncover some master plan that he will ultimately reveal, which could explain his laugh. Or he may uncover a way for Ren to bring him back to life using the force. I’m sure Ren would be eager to follow his grandfather’s master and let him teach him everything he knows about the dark side. The Sith rule of two requires that there are two Sith, no more and no less. There would be too much lust for power, and they would be able to hide. The rule and remained in place for thousands of years. With Ren the last Sith remaining, will he reach out to Palpatine and try to raise him from the dead? We see a lot of Star Destroyers, the original design that George Lucas had Palpatine flying around in the original trilogy. When you closely look at the ships, you’ll notice these ones have a red trim around the ships, so they won’t exactly be like the ones from the original trilogy, but the red trim hints at a Sith and them belonging to Palpatine. Could this also be hinting at where those red Sith troopers come from? The return of Palpatine will be a revival of something that we all know and a villain we love to hate. 

Another possibility and a rising fan theory is that Rey is the daughter of Luke and Palpatine’s own daughter. Palpatine had at least 3 sons and 2 daughters. The likely hood of one of them being able to use the force is pretty high. If Palpatine had a daughter, then Luke would have been able to feel it and probably feared that somehow the dead Emperor would be able to communicate with her and turn her to the dark side. Luke, himself, was successfully hidden away from his father and helped to bring balance to the force and end the reign of the empire, so it would make sense why he would hide her away. If they had a daughter, she would be an offspring of two of the most famous force-users in all of Star Wars fiction and that would be why Rey became a hidden nobody on a desert planet (just like her dad). Even though she may have Palpatine’s evil blood, she also has Skywalker blood in her and as Luke said, she will always have his help, including Anakin and Leia’s. The importance of her reaching out to the past Jedi’s would play a role here and her having to defeat Palpatine, she’ll need the help of other force users to overcome his power. This could also be the turning point for Ren, if he were to see Rey speak to not only Luke, but Anakin and Leia, too he may be inspired to convert back to the light side in an effort to defeat Palpatine, just as his grand inspiration, Darth Vader had done. Palpatine was able to overthrow the Galactic Senate, so it proves how intelligent he is. Could Palpatine have for-seen his future and set up an elaborate plan to revive himself and the Sith? We won’t know for sure until December, but it will be interesting to see how they bring Palpatine back and what the rise of Skywalker will actually mean. 

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