Palpatine’s “daughter” proves the New Republic made a massive mistake returning to Coruscant after the Star Wars Original trilogy. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Shocked viewers with the revelation that Rey was Palpatine’s granddaughter, even though technically the emperor had no family in the normal way. Instead, Rey was the daughter of Dathan, one of Palpatine’s many failed clones. Palpatine only became interested in her when he learned that she had access to the Force.
Precious little is revealed about Palpatine’s family in canon. The old one Star Wars Expanded Universe, however, revealed much more – and even gave him some children. Surprisingly, one member of Palpatine’s extended family has made its way into canon, referred to as Claiming she was Palpatine’s daughter.
Lady Pallopides claimed to be Palpatine’s daughter after his death
Chris Kempshall’s fantastic book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire reveals that, in the years after Palpatine’s first death in Return of the JediOne of Coruscant’s socialites claimed to be his daughter. The book mentions “‘Lady’ (an honor she gave herself) Ederlath Natasias Pallopides, who maintained a presence in the Coruscant elite for years after the war, despite the fact that there was no evidence linking her to Palpatine.“Lady Pallopides is a deep-cut reference to legends where she was Palpatine’s great niece and was caught up in a plot to restore the empire.
It is intriguing to note that Lady Pallopides will have been active in The Mandalorian Era – A period that features the return of the Imperial Remnant under Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Mandalorian Season 3 and Ahsoka Revealed the New Republic claimed Coruscant as the galactic capital during this era, but we already know that there were Imperial spies such as Elia no active on the core world. While Kempshall’s reference to Lady Pallopides may just be an Easter egg for now, it could easily become something much more important going forward.
Coruscant clearly still had plenty of Imperial sympathizers
The claim of Lady Pallopides is quite remarkable, in this It suggests Coruscant’s socialite elite has a lot of Imperial sympathizers. The citizens of Coruscant celebrated Palpatine’s death (at least as per George Lucas’ special editions), but it quickly died down, and Coruscant remained loyal to the Empire for over a year – until shortly after the Battle of Jakku. It’s chilling to realize the upper classes of Coruscant remained positive enough about the Empire for Lady Pallopides to feel she would benefit from claiming she was Palpatine’s daughter.
These would have been people who profited under the Empire, perhaps willing to cooperate with the Empire but more likely sharing Palpatine’s ideology.
Ahsoka Confirmed that there are Imperial loyalists scattered across the Core worlds, with Ahsoka and Hera Syndulla discovering a cell on Corellia. Spies working for the Imperial Shadow Council are known to have continued operating on Coruscant as well, and it’s easy to imagine these agents interacting with some of Coruscant’s elite. Their continued loyalty to the Empire makes sense; These would be people who profited under the Empire, perhaps willing to cooperate with the Empire, but more likely to share Palpatine’s ideology. The New Republic presumably left them alone, feeling they needed to find a way to rebuild the galaxy.
The New Republic made a massive mistake by basing itself on Coruscant
We know the New Republic didn’t stay on Coruscant; It moved to Hosnian Prime at the time of Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerAn Ecumenopolis that was finally destroyed by Starkiller Base. So far, most theories explaining this absence have suggested Coruscant became a target of the Empire, perhaps ravaged by Thrawn’s compulsion; In Legends, Thrawn launched a major attack on the galactic capital. But the discovery of Lady Pallopides raises the disturbing possibility that the New Republic realized that it is not safe with its capital on Coruscant.
in The Mandalorian era, the New Republic has unwisely chosen to center itself on a world where loyalty to democracy does not cut deep. Coruscant was in turmoil under Palpatine, and its superiors had no reason to love the New Republic—and every reason to help the Empire, in the hopes that the Core Worlds would once again become more influential than the Outer Rim. Perhaps Grand Admiral Thrawn will work with Coruscant’s network of Imperial sympathizers, coming close to crippling the New Republic’s government.
Rewatching Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom MenaceIt is striking to note that Coruscant was positioned as the heart of the galaxy’s darkness. George Lucas deliberately showed the galactic capital as a planet lost in shadow, with the darkness deep around Palpatine himself. It would be so suitable for Star Wars To confirm the darkness outlived the emperor himself.
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