Originally posted by The_TempestI'll detail these possibilities a bit more later on, but there's also a plausible third alternative we've discussed: that undead RoS Palpatine > RotJ Palpatine. In that case, Snoke being unable to house the power of RoS Palpatine wouldn't preclude the notion that Snoke himself could still be on par with RotJ Palpatine.
The only two alternative explanations that have been offered are:
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[*]Sheev could've jumped into Snoke but didn't because he was waiting on a perfect vessel (really dumb for the reasons described on the previous page)
[*]Sheev would've jumped into Snoke but couldn't because Snoke was too corrupt? genetically dissimilar? which requires a number of unproven conditions to be accepted and flies in the face of available evidence since Snoke is a product of the same program that created Rey's father and, ultimately, Rey herself
[/list]My explanation is objectively far better than these alternatives. It requires the fewest number of assumptions and is the most concretely supported by the lore.
*And to clarify, I couldn't care less what level of power Snoke wields. He could be TPM Palpatine-level, RotS Palpatine-level, or RotJ Palpatine-level -- doesn't matter to me in the slightest. I'm just explaining why I don't necessarily think he *has to* be capped below the level of RotJ Palpatine, simply because he wasn't used as a vessel.
Originally posted by The_TempestBut again: if Palpatine was so desperate to jump into another vessel that he'd actually be willing to inhabit the body of a crippled gimp, then it seems unlikely that he would be unwilling to possess Kylo, simply because he might've intended for Kylo to be his apprentice later on. This implies that Palpatine cared more for securing an apprentice than he cared for his own self-preservation... Which I have a hard time accepting for obvious reasons.
The lore implies Sidious had some sort of Sith purpose in mind for Kylo, perhaps as an apprentice to his reborn self. TROS Visual Dictionary and the Star Wars Book seem to indicate as much. We know from StarWars.com's databank that Sidious intended to take Rey as a vessel from the start despite his edict to Kylo that she die. Likely, then, Sheev intended to possess Rey and have Kylo as an apprentice. This would also explain why Sheev is pissed when he senses Leia has triggered Kylo's redemption.
Originally posted by The_TempestOkay.
Or perhaps there is indeed a genetic component. That has nothing to do with my point, which is that Snoke (a genetic offshoot of the Emperor, like Rey's father and Rey herself) is clearly too weak to serve as even an interim host for Sheev, which is why Sheev remains in his miserable undead form for decades.
So if there was indeed a series of specific genetic components required in a clone body, of which had to be in place for the ritual to be successful(which I do agree is a possibility), then it goes back to points I've made earlier revolving around that subject:
Perhaps Snoke, being a grossly mutated strandcast(or "unnatural abomination", as the novel indicates), simply did not possess the cohesive/precise genetic structure that was required in a suitable vessel, and was therefore completely unusable in that capacity from the onset. So perhaps Palpatine simply could not even attempt to use him as a vessel at all(because the aforementioned genetic elements were lacking), and instead opted to use Snoke as a puppet while he waited for the "perfect" vessel, with the "perfect" genetic structure(ie. Rey), to fall into his hands.