A Sith By Any Other Name?
What if he didn’t? Did Emperor Palpatine even survive the Death Star? What if the mastermind pulling all the strings was none other than Darth Plagueis himself? We were told Plagueis was killed in his sleep by his apprentice. This is where a reddit user has a theory:
“The truth is, he didn’t lose his power and he knew Sheev planned to kill him. It was part of the plan. By dying, I believe Darth Plagueis was able to transmit himself into Sheev and assume control of his body, almost like an infectious disease. Darth Plagueis unlocked the secret to immortality by moving from one body to the next, continuing his lifespan through multiple hosts over countless years.”
The Reddit user thinks Plagueis transferred from Sidious to someone or something unknown to Snoke and then finally to Ben/Kylo. I really wish the James Luceno novel Plagueis had been kept as canon, but since it was not, we really do not know much about Plagueis.
I do not put much stock in this theory simply because there are too many holes. After Sidious died, who would the Plagueis spirit attach too? I do not see Kylo being taken over either. The other problem is that Snoke lives in the Unknown Regions. Upon the fall of the Empire, Sidious pushed the Imperial remnant into the unknown regions towards Snoke.
HOWEVER! Body snatching is not out of the realm of Legends material. We return to the Dark Empire Comics. In the third and final story, Empire’s End, Sidious is set on stealing baby Anakin Solo and using his body as his next body. This does set the legends precedent for body stealing.
101 Sidious Theories
As I said in a previous article., we will take 101 guesses and all of them will be wrong, but that is the fun of guessing and speculation. There are probably more ideas out there, among them the fact this is all a huge Disney Rope-A-Dope and the true mastermind will be none other than Darth Binks. How about it. Is one of the above what we will get in December? Or is there another possibility?