How Is Rey Emperor Palpatine’s Granddaughter? Explained

One of the most surprising twists of the entire sequel trilogy included Rey’s true identity after it was mentioned in ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’ that she was nobody. But the truth was that she wasn’t a nobody but was actually Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter. Because of her power and blood relationship with the emperor, Rey was the perfect body for Palpatine to possess. But how exactly is Rey the granddaughter of Palpatine?

Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter because she is the daughter of one of Palpatine’s clones, who he sees as his failed son. Dathan was the name of Palpatine’s son, and he escaped Exegol to try to live a normal life. Eventually, he fell in love and married a woman named Miramir, who was Rey’s mother.

The story of Rey is one that wasn’t exactly explored well enough by the sequel trilogy movies, which kind of lacked uniformity and coherence. Nevertheless, a good part of the storyline of Rey and her father was covered by comic books that some fans may or may not have read. So, with that said, let’s look at how Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter.

Rey’s father was a failed clone

Throughout the storyline of Emperor Sheev Palpatine, the only thing he wanted to have was absolute power. He obtained it when he became the Galaxy emperor and destroyed the Jedi Order. But like all Sith, he wanted true absolute power, not temporarily but forever. That means that he dreamt of being immortal, just like all of the most powerful Sith Lords in the history of Star Wars.

Immortality was always the one true goal every Sith Lord had after obtaining absolute power. Of course, absolute power was also easier for them to acquire if they had immortality. And that was why Palpatine wanted to know the secrets to live forever, as his ultimate goal was to ensure he ruled the galaxy as emperor forever.

One of the things that Palpatine discovered about immortality was the preservation of his essence by transferring it to another person. There was never a way for him to be immortal by preserving his body and allowing it to live forever. Instead, he sought immortality by finding a way to make sure that his soul goes to live on forever in a different vessel. And that was why he became obsessed with cloning as well.

While his officers governed the Empire and fought rebellions, Palpatine tried to find the secret to immortality through cloning. His cult, the Sith Eternal, was researching the secrets to Kaminoan cloning on the secret Sith planet called Exegol. And it was on Exegol that Darth Sidious could have a clone modeled after him.

One of the first clones produced from Palpatine’s genetics was a strandcast named Dathan. While Dathan was almost a perfect copy of Palpatine regarding his genes, he lacked the Force abilities that made the emperor the most powerful being in the entire galaxy.

Palpatine still saw Dathan as a “son” because he recognized the fact that he was born from his own blood. But the problem was that he could respect him because he lacked the one thing that made Palpatine special. As such, the emperor only allowed Dathan to exist as a way for him to further his bloodline. He believed Dathan could produce a child with the Palpatine blood and Force powers.

Even the Sith Eternal saw Dathan as an abomination that shouldn’t have existed. Still, he was allowed to live and stay on Exegol because Palpatine still had uses for him. But while he was rejected by both his “father” and the Sith Eternal, Dathan knew that there was more to life outside of Exegol. He didn’t have the evil intentions that Palpatine had.

Rey’s father tried to live a normal life

Eventually, Dathan thought he needed to leave Exegol because he wanted more out of life. He was able to find a way to leave this forsaken and secret planet when he asked a slave also named Dathan to help him leave Exegol. The slave gave him an amulet that allowed him to become invisible. As such, the clone used the amulet and snuck himself onboard the ship that brought Darth Vader to Exegol for a visit so that no one could sense him.

The clone eventually adopted the name of the slave who helped him. Dathan desired an ordinary life, and that was when he started working on an engineering team on Koke Frost. He had already turned his back on the Sith and a life of darkness because he wanted to know what it was like to actually live a normal life away from the power-hungry Sith Eternal and his emperor “father.”

After rejecting Sidious and the Sith Eternal, Dathan fell in love and married a woman named Miramir. Together, they conceived a child named Rey, who was born in 15 ABY. While Dathan did indeed renounce his Palpatine status, he could never renounce his bloodline. As such, Rey also inherited Palpatine’s blood and became sensitive to the Force, just as the emperor predicted many years ago.

Dathan eventually settled with his family on Jakku. But he knew that the Sith Eternal’s agents were still looking for him and his family, as Rey was the perfect vessel for Palpatine to inhabit so that he could regain his power as the emperor of the galaxy. Dathan left Rey with Unkar Plutt on Jakku before the Sith assassin named Ochi captured him and his wife.

But Dathan was able to make sure that no one would be able to find Rey on Jakku. He wanted to protect Rey from the wrath of his “father,” and that was why it was important for him that she wouldn’t be able to get near Palpatine, who would only use her as a vessel for his soul. 

As we all know, Palpatine eventually got to Rey, who rejected her grandfather’s offer to kill him, as this was part of the Sith ritual that would have transferred Palpatine’s soul to her. While Palpatine was still able to regain his powers through the power of the Dyad, Rey ultimately defeated and killed the emperor once and for all after the spirits of all of the Jedi empowered her.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!

Liked this article? Join the community on Reddit for the latest Marvel & DC news!