In The Rise of Skywalker, we saw Palpatine Force drain Rey and Ben. It looked like he had taken their Force energy away, and he would be victorious. So, the question is, why didn’t he take that action sooner? The answer comes down to the power of the Force dyad and when he could potentially draw on it.
Palpatine Needed the Power of the Force Dyad
The main reason why Palpatine didn’t take action sooner was that he needed the power of the Force dyad. Fans may be familiar with this mysterious power that arises from “a rare type of Force-bond” between “two Force-sensitive beings.” In this case, the bond had formed between Rey and Ben.
The Force dyad provided tremendous healing powers. Sidious waited to drain both Ben and Rey so that he could draw from their dyad power to heal his cloned body. If he had moved earlier against only one of them, it wouldn’t have been enough Force power to heal him.
Palpatine recognized the Force dyad as “a power like life itself” and that the power that a dyad could “unlock together would know no limit.” That’s the kind of power he needed to restore himself, and so he waited until the time was right.
We can remember that Sidious was in a weakened condition, or rather, his cloned body was. As this article reminds us, “the body was too weak to hold his consciousness.” Hence, Palpatine experimented with building more clone bodies that could be a reservoir for his power. Yet, he determined that Rey’s body would be a better fit for his agenda.
In The Rise of Skywalker, we saw Sidious and Rey battle over whether she would become “a vessel” for his consciousness. This may lead us to think that he only needed Rey to restore his bodily form. However, Palpatine knew he needed the power of both of them through the dyad. Or, did he?
Did Palpatine Know About the Force Dyad?
As we rewatch Rey meeting Palpatine, he explained how she would take a place beside him as empress. He said, “I never wanted you dead. I wanted you here. Empress Palpatine.” He pointed to the awaiting throne.
His plan at this point was not really to have co-throne holders, but instead to have Rey kill him, as he also stated, and he and all the Sith would reside in her body. So, he knew the power of Rey alone couldn’t restore his body, but he could rule through her.
Accordingly, Palpatine didn’t know about the Force dyad at this point. He positioned Ben/Kylo merely as a means to bring Rey to Sidious to complete his plans. As fans expressed correctly here, Sidious “didn’t know they were a dyad in the force.” He only determined that fact after Ben battled the Royal Guards and joined with Rey to confront Palpatine.
What makes this even clearer is that Palpatine himself confirms it in the canon book Star Wars: Secrets of the Sith. In that book, which explores the Sith Order’s philosophy and powers from Palpatine’s perspective, there’s a dedicated page on the “Dyad in the Force.” There, Palpatine admits: “There are few secrets of the Force I have yet to master. But our Order’s ancient prophecies speak of one fabled manifestation unseen for generations — a dyad.”
New image of a 'Dyad in the Force' from "Star Wars: Secrets of the Sith"
byu/Obversa inStarWarsLeaks
In the scene when Sidious began to Force drain them, he realized the power of the dyad. Palpatine proclaimed, “The life Force of your bond…a dyad in the Force. The power of two restores the one.” It’s only in this moment that it dawned on him that he needed to alter his plan.
Being Palpatine, he went to a contingency plan, just as he did with the overall Contingency or with Luke in the throne room. And, he quickly realized this plan would work out even better than plan A. The unique power of the Force dyad would ensure his resurrection and victory, or so he believed.
It may be puzzling that Sidious didn’t know about this Force dyad beforehand. Articles like this one contend that we can explain his lack of knowledge as “one of several examples of poor planning in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.” That may be true, but it could also reveal that in his weakened cloned form, Palpatine overlooked the bond that had been formed between Rey and Ben.
In the end, he became aware of it at the last minute and recognized the need to draw on the Force dyad to truly restore himself. Only with their combined power could Sidious have returned.
The Power of the Dyad
The power of the Force dyad, combined with Palpatine’s lack of knowledge about Ben and Rey’s bond through it, explains why Sidious didn’t act sooner. He would’ve been willing to rule through Rey, but the prospect of ruling directly appealed to him much more.