Somehow Palpatine returned, but how, and why then?

Question

Firstly I think I should come clean, that I have never watched the Rise of Skywalker completely, and probably never will. But, I have watched a lot of clips online, as well as a lot of reviews on youtube about why the new sequels are bad. One thing that all of them seem to bring up consistently about the final movie is this scene

I am sure a lot you already know which scene this is without even clicking the link. I find it hard to believe that that's how the movie actually explains why Palpatine's back. Like I said I haven't been able to watch the movie in it's entirety.

Is it explained in-universe how/why Palpatine somehow returned? Return of the Jedi clearly showed him getting thrown off the ledge. Did he have a horcrux? Did he transfer his power into a ring? What is the in-universe explanation of how he managed to return, and why during the Rise of Skywalker? What was he doing before that?

In-movie explanation preferred, but if it's actually not there, any other canon source will also be appreciated.

Answer 1

He sent his consciousness into a prepared clone with the Force

The novelization of The Rise of Skywalker includes some of Palpatine's memories starting at the end of Return of the Jedi, as sensed by Rey:

Falling... falling... falling...down a massive shaft, the betrayal sharp and stinging, a figure high above, black clad and helmeted and shrinking fast. His very own apprentice had turned against him, the way he himself had turned against Plagueis...whose secret to immortality he had stolen.

Plagueis had not active fast enough in his own moment of death. But Sidious, sensing the flickering light in his apprentice, had been ready for years. So the falling, dying Emperor called on all the dark power of the Force to thrust his consciousness far, far away, to a secret place he had been preparing. His body was dead, an empty vessel, long before it found the bottom of the shaft, and his mind jolted to new awareness in a new body - a painful one, a temporary one.

It was too soon. The secret place had not completed its preprations. The transfer was imperfect, and the cloned body wasn't enough. Perhaps Plagueis was having the last laugh after all. Maybe his secret remained secret. Because Palpatine was trapped in a broken, dying form.

_{(The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition, page 284 of Kindle edition)}

This was first explained in the novelization, as far as I'm aware. The film itself just has a Resistance academic speculate about "dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew.")

As for why he waited 31 years to return, that part is (sort of) explained in the movie—his various attempts to clone a better body didn't work out, so he came up with a plan involving Kylo Ren, and later, Rey.

Answer 2

What is the in-universe explanation of how he managed to return, and why during the Rise of Skywalker? What was he doing before that?

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The Sith have always been obssessed with imortality. Palpatine had told Anakin in the ROTS that there were ways to cheat death. Transfer essence was a dark force power that the Sith used to transfer their essence into another.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Transfer_essence

Given the fact that Palpatine is a very shrewd and calculating man, He would have come up with contingency plan in the event that Vader (or anyone else turned on him) and he met an unforeseen demise.

The 31 year return gap, would probably have been due to the time it took to build all of the ships.

Answer 3

Disclaimer - This is a partial answer based on the available content (as of March 2023)

But to answer the OP's question, I am not aware of any details currently of how Palp's consciousness/mental state transferred (which may be explained in some future media), but there is plenty on how his new physical body was created. The story of how Papatine came to be in his current state can be pieced together from watching the other sequels, The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian:

• Cloning research was carried out by a number of Imperial research units (such as Dr Pershing and the Advanced Science Division, lead by Royce Hemlock*) in order for Palpatine to have a host body (especially a force-sensitive body, as suggested by the experiments that took place on Nevarro, which weren't all successful (hence the final scene on Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker).
• There were a number of failed attempts to produce a clone body, as shown by the numerous cloning chambers on Exegol with semi-formed "Snokes".
• Palpatine transferred to a clone body on Exegol (one of the many Snokes seen), then at a later stage onto his current body that is shown in The Rise of Skywalker where he has his familar appearance.

*- It isn't clear if Pershing was part of the Advanced Science Division or if he was part of a competing project (as Palp often pitted different groups of Imperials against each other, as shown by his numerous attempts to replace Darth Vader.)