Palpatine’s Exegol plan in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was secretly genius when looking at it within the context of Star Wars’ biggest conflicts. The Rise of Skywalker brought Palpatine back from the dead to great controversy, with the over reliance on nostalgia and contrived mechanics behind his resurrection often cited as two of the film’s biggest flaws. And yet, despite Exegol being a planet previously unheard of in Star Wars lore (adding fuel to the fire), Palpatine’s reasoning for launching his attack from there fits in with the cyclical nature of the galaxy’s major battles.
While Star Wars’ main conflicts can easily be classified as the fight between light and dark, there’s another pattern to be found within the galaxy’s 5,000-year history. It was never just about the Jedi vs. the Sith, the Jedi vs. the Nihil, the Separatists vs. the Republic, the Rebellion vs. the Empire, or the Resistance vs. the First Order – it was also about the Core Worlds vs. the Outer Rim. In each conflict, one side controls the Core Worlds, its resources, and its stability, while the other uses the lawlessness of the Outer Rim to build up its armada and strike from there. Palpatine’s Exegol plan follows the same pattern and stretches it to its logical conclusion.
