Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Sith Statue Identities Revealed

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker gave fans the surprising return of Emperor Palpatine, who is revealed to have survived the Battle of Endor, and being thrown out of the Death Star by Darth Vader. Palpatine had been hiding out in the Outer Rims on the planet Exegol, where he amassed an entire cult following of Sith loyalists, who built him an entire fleet of Star Destroyers armed with Death Star cannons. However, The Rise of Skwyalker‘s scenes within Palpatine’s secret headquarters on Exegol also revealed more Sith history – in the form of statues that had been erected in commemoration of Sith Lords of the past.

Naturally, a lot of Star Wars fans had a lot of questions about who, exactly, the Sith Lords in those statues were. Now, it seems that we can scratch that one mystery off the list, as one fun has seemingly identified what (or rather who) the four Sith statues in The Rise of Skywalker are representing:

“The Statues we see on Exegol are the Four Sages of Dwartii, the ancient founders/philosophers of the Old Republic who were said to be familiar with the Dark Side, and may have even inspired the Sith. This makes Exegol’s ruins very, very old, possibly as old as Ahch-To.” —u/NumeralJoker

The Four Sages of Dwartii were Braata, Faya, Sistros, and Yanjon, who were four philosophers from the early days fo the Galactic Republic, and helped shaped the republic into what it eventually became. In the non-canon Star Wars “Legends” brand, The Four Sages were also influential in the ways of the Force, with Braata said to have encouraged study of the dark side. But none of that is now considered official. Smaller statues of the Four Sages of Dwartii have popped up in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and various episodes of The Clone Wars animated series. Chancellor Palpatine kept a set in his office on Coruscant, while Supreme Leader Snoke’s ring was inscribed with glyphs referencing the Four Sages.

What it’s important about this reveal, is how it re-contextualizes our understanding of what Palpatine’s base on Exegol was all about. While it seemed like an ancient Sith Temple, the ancient statues of the Four Sages being there suggests the temple was a remnant of the Early Republic, which was later conquered or converted by the Sith. Given Palpatine’s long-term plans, it would’ve be surprising if he used his time as Chancellor to seek out the relic and convert it into his future hideout.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now in theaters.