One seemingly minor detail in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reinforces how weak Emperor Palpatine became since returning from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. While Rise of Skywalker only hints at how Palpatine came back to life, modern canon lore has established that he used the dark side Force power of essence transfer to move his consciousness into a new body following his death in Return of the Jedi.

The body Palpatine inhabits in Rise of Skywalker is a frail cloned body that is intended to be only a temporary housing before Palpatine’s disembodied spirit can occupy another form. This idea of essence transfer, however, largely comes from the Dark Empire comics by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy, which The Rise of Skywalker is heavily inspired by.

These comics – which are set in the Star Wars Legends continuity – saw Emperor Palpatine return from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ multiple times by using essence transfer on cloned bodies, though these bodies were, at least initially, in their physical prime. In the modern canon, Palpatine’s cloned body was decrepit and decayed, forcing him to drain the Force energy of Ben Solo and Rey – although there’s a more prominent indicator of just how weak the emperor had become.

Palpatine Had Never Needed Guards Before – They’d Always Been For Show

There is another, less obvious, indicator of Palpatine’s weakness in The Rise of Skywalker: his need for bodyguards. In his original body (and in his youthful bodies in the original Legends continuity), Palpatine never truly needed guards, using the exceptionally ᴅᴇᴀᴅly Imperial Royal Guards for show and deception. Palpatine is one of the galaxy’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest lightsaber wielders and dark side pracтιтioners of all time, yet he still surrounds himself with guards to create the impression that he is not a threat in a physical fight.

This was still the case in Dark Empire, even when Palpatine’s cloned bodies decayed and weakened, but in the modern canon, the reborn Palpatine actually needed guards, at least for a time. Before revitalizing himself by using Force drain on Ben Solo and Rey, Palpatine would have struggled to defend himself in a physical confrontation. Due to this, Palpatine relied on proxies like Snoke and his multiple guards on Exegol.

By Rise Of Skywalker, He Was Reduced To The Knights Of Ren

While Snoke led the First Order in Palpatine’s stead (and was guarded by the elite Praetorian Guards), the reborn Emperor’s main guards were the Sovereign Protectors. These blaster-equipped guards were formed from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest of the Sith Eternal’s Sith Troopers, though they were swiftly defeated by Rey during the Battle of Exegol.

As The Rise of Skywalker also shows, Palpatine had additional guards in the form of the Knights of Ren. This small yet ᴅᴇᴀᴅly cult of dark side users, who got their biggest spotlight in The Rise of Skywalker, notably had different philosophical beliefs than the Sith Lords.