WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #11, by Greg Pak, Raffaele Ienco, Neeraj Menon, and Joe Caramanga, on sale now.
When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought Emperor Palpatine back, the Sith Lord made it clear his return was always inevitable. No matter what, he was an institution and one way or the next, and he would carry on his legacy into a new age himself. It’s why he ran experiments and created clones like Snoke on Exegol, which set the stage for Kylo Ren and Rey to be lured into a trap after engineering a Force Dyad using his frail body.
While he was eventually stopped, these schemes The Force Awakens once more saw millions of lives lost due to the rise of the First Order, which means Palpatine once more dealt the galaxy a hefty blow. But thanks to a massive revelation in Star Wars: Darth Vader #11, we get insight into how Palpatine’s apprentice could have stopped his return.
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Vader ends up on Exegol with Ochi of Bestoon, ready to kill his boss for breaking his body down on Mustafar and torturing him, all just to subjugate and reboot the former Jedi. But as he wanders around, Vader discovers everything Palpatine was planning as a contingency measure in case the next Death Star in Return of the Jedi fell.
He sees the new Star Destroyers in their upgraded mode, as well as their new cannons. He even finds the kyber crystal mountain powering the entire operation, which gives these vessels the ultimate Sith power. But outside of the fleet, Vader discovers the lab where Palpatine’s cloning bodies to be reborn, not to mention his black-robed cult who try to attack the apprentice. It seems that Palpatine has faith all this will lure his protege back.
Ultimately, Vader does fall in line again, apparently impressed with all of these back-up measures. Interestingly, he also seems to get a unique vision with Luke reminding him Palpatine fears Anakin, and this fallen Jedi hidden deep inside is the one to stop the tyrant. It’s why Palpatine is working so hard to turn him to the Dark Side again.
While it’s clear that Vader’s judgment and emotions are clouded here, it’s not clear why he didn’t share this information with Luke after he kills Palpatine later on. Since Anakin wasn’t a Sith anymore, he could have told Luke about Exegol’s secrets and how the Palpatine threat hadn’t been totally eradicated.
Instead, Vader just says goodbye after earning the forgiveness of his son in a sentimental moment. While Vader’s warning would have prevented Rey’s birth as she was Palpatine’s granddaughter, it would also have stopped the First Order, the corruption of Ben Solo and helped Luke usher in a new era of peace in a very different future for the Star Wars Universe.
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