The Rise of Skywalker (novelization)

A couple tidbits about Snoke...

What filled Kylo with absolutely incandescent rage was the thought that Snoke--his Master, the one to guide him away from the duplicitous light, the one he'd looked up to above all others--has been someone's puppet all along.

A flash of lightning illuminated a huge glass tank, containing three creatures, liquid life being pumped into them through mechanical umbilicals. They were all the same create, he realized with a start, with wrinkled skin and an oversized bald head and features caught in a state of everlasting anguish. They were all Snoke. Snoke came from this place. Yet Kylo's former teacher had told him nothing about it.

"Snoke." The Emperor's voice filled with glee. "He was nothing but your test. You did well to destroy him."

Snoke had been nothing more than a pawn. The Emperor had whispered poison to Ben his whole life.

Some Palpatine wank...

The figure moved closer. He was unspeakably frail, his body dangling from an enormous mechanism that disappeared into the darkness above. Kylo had seen this before, while studying the Sith, and again while researching clues above Vader's wayfinder. It was an Ommin harness, a mechanical spine once worn by an ancient Sith king. Without it, the Emperor could not survive.

But the Force itself belied any perception of frailty because a cloud of darkness and need swelled from the creature, along with power like Kylo had never before encountered. It was exhilarating.

Anything about Sheev lifting the star destroyer fleet or not? In the movie is left ambiguous.

^ It was a vision that Palpatine put in Kylo's head.

"The creature raised his ruined hand; Kylo sensed him drawing on the Force, but before he could react, his surroundings disappeared as if into a fog, and a vision filled their place. Lightning flashed, revealing cracked ground. The barren landscape shook, then shattered. A mountain erupted onto the surface. Dirt and chunks of soil fell away, revealing a metal hull, striped with red. Around it, more mountains broke the surface, resolving in massive Star Destroyers, half again the size of the Destroyers from the days of the Empire. More ships rose--and more and more--until tens of thousands hovered in the atmosphere.

The vision was whisked away, replaced by hundreds of thousands of Stormtroopers, shining in crimson armor.

With tremendous effort, Kylo thrust the vision aside. Everything he'd seen would be his."

Well guess that solves that.

Anything interesting from Rey and Kylo’s duel?

^Also, anything interesting about Palpatine frying the Rebel fleet without hitting his ships at the same time?

Originally posted by xPRIMEx
Anything interesting from Rey and Kylo’s duel?

But it is stated that the double bladed saber the evil version of Rey was shown using is the same design that Rey was originally going to make for herself. Evidently after she had that vision she scrapped the idea and went with a single blade.

Originally posted by Total Warrior
^Also, anything interesting about Palpatine frying the Rebel fleet without hitting his ships at the same time?

Most importantly, does it confirm that Sidious is for sure dead or do you think there's still wiggle room for him to return?

Why buy the book when we have Galan007 😂

Originally posted by Sheev
Most importantly, does it confirm that Sidious is for sure dead or do you think there's still wiggle room for him to return?

The novel does clarify *how* Rey beat him, though... And it wasn't just because she had two sabers.

"Rey stepped forward, pushing back against his onslaught. It was taking everything the Jedi had given her. Everything she had.

The lightning began to feed back on the Emperor. It ravaged his face, and he tossed back in agony, and in denial of what was happening. Rey pursued mercilessly, one foot in front of the other, absorbing power from the Force. Finally, she was ready. She gathered her strength, her faith in the Jedi past, her love of her friends, and she thrust it all at the Emperor.

He staggered backward, his own power reflected against him. It devoured him completely, ripping away his newly healed fingers, searing away the skin of his face, his very bones, until he disintegrated.

And like collapsing stardust, what remained of him coalesced into a single point, which then exploded with a massive shockwave that threw Rey to the ground. The Sith throne shattered. The ceiling bouldered down around her, crushing thousands of disciples in the amphitheater. "

A couple more notes...

-There are quite a few blurbs about Finn's Force-sensitivity in this.

-The Ghost(from Rebels) and The Fireball/Kaz(from Resistance) are also directly referenced among the ships that arrive with Lando at the end.

-When Rey was connecting to all of the Jedi at the end and started hearing their voices, she noted that some of them were still "anchored to the living in a strange way"... Which implies that it wasn't *just* dead Jedi who were speaking to her... Which means Ahsoka is almost certainly alive as of RoS(as Filoni keeps alluding to.)

So seeing that, seems more like a Oneness thing for Rey. Which now that I think about that makes more sense.

Well, wasn’t it obvious enough that she did that because of Oneness or some similar amp?

Yeah but I feel people think it’s something different or whatever. Not that I think it’s useable for a fight to start with since it killed her right after so long?

She was amped by all the Jedi

“It was taking everything the Jedi had given her”

Uh... Wasn't that obvious in the film itself.

The Dyad between Rey and Ben was also in full effect while they were battling the guards on Exegol(as if passing the lightsaber wasn't enough evidence)...

"Rey drew on Ben's strength, and he drew on hers, and just like before, they were also separate but also together, Rey battling the guards, and Ben battling the Knights.

"Behind you," she warned, and he brought up his saber to block his back, whirled, impaled Trudgen, flipped over his falling body, spun, and did the same to Ushar."