Star Wars Explains Why Palpatine Allowed His Failed Clone (Rey’s Father) To Live

A Star Wars tie-in has explained why Emperor Palpatine allowed his clone son – seen as Rey’s father in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – despite being a failed version of him. Although viewers had been told she was a nobody, The Rise of Skywalker revealed Rey’s real parentage, or at least did so in part. The 2019 movie confirmed Rey is the granddaughter of Palpatine, and briefly showed her parents – played by Jodie Comer and Billy Howle – leaving her behind on Jakku, in the hopes of keeping her out of the Emperor’s evil clutches.

Of course, that wasn’t the full story. Various Star Wars books and comics have expanded upon The Rise of Skywalker since its release and explained plot holes, answered questions, and generally tried to deepen the story, and Rey’s parentage is no different. In The Rise of Skywalker‘s novelization, written by Rae Carson, it’s revealed that Rey’s father is a failed Palpatine clone. He was initially created as a vessel to house the Sith Lord, but proved incapable of doing so.

Palpatine had many failed clones, largely because it was extremely difficult for any vessel to contain his incredible dark side power. And yet Rey’s father is at least somewhat unique, insofar as he was allowed to live. Even though the novelization describes him as “a useless, powerless failure,” the “not-quite-identical clone” did live on, and eventually fathered Rey. Palpatine is well known for his foresight and planning, and it seems this case was no different. The Emperor’s reason for allowing his failed clone son to live was very much in the hope he’d become the dad to someone like Rey later down the line, as Palpatine explains in Secrets of the Sith, a book which is from the in-universe perspective of the Sith Lord:

“The lone subject that survived the cloning process lacked any connection to the Force. I rejected this useless creature, but I chose to let it live. Even if this “son” was undeserving of my legacy, I surmised that the Palpatine blood rushing through its veins might somebody become useful. As always, my theory would soon prove correct…”

This explanation for Palpatine’s clone son being allowed to live does make a lot of sense. Without it, the idea of Palpatine not tying up such a big loose end and just letting a failed clone wander free not only seems uncharacteristically careless, but also devoid of his usual cruelty, and so him letting it happen in the hope of someone much more powerful to come along fits more with the kind of scheming ways audiences are used to from the Emperor. It’s also fitting that Palpatine would allow his failed clone son to live for such purposes, deeming him harmless but potentially useful, given this own offspring would then prove his final downfall. Star Wars has a long history of underdog victories and those no one suspects being heroes, with the Sith in particular guilty of overlooking anyone not obviously powerful; in this case, while it did produce a potential heir for Palpatine, it also brought about his death and the Sith’s end.

As it stands, little else has been revealed about Rey’s parents, but there is a large part of their timeline that’s unknown prior to what’s shown in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That’s something Star Wars tie-ins could continue to explore – one book scheduled for release in 2022 will follow Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian on the hunt of Ochi of Bestoon, the assassin who killed Rey’s parents, so that could potentially have more reveals about them. And if not, at least one mystery about Palpatine’s failed clone son, and why he was allowed to become Rey’s father, has been cleared up.

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