When we first see the Sith Eternal on screen in The Rise of Skywalker, they are a couple of hooded figures tending to the machinery around the tub of Snoke clones and the hanging Palpatine. When we next see them, they’re filling a subterranean coliseum, chanting and waiting for Rey to strike Palpatine down. It’s set up in the opening crawl of the film to make us think Palpatine is pulling the strings, but based on the expanded reading material, the Sith Eternal are the ones who have been running shipyards for generations. More importantly, when Palpatine is threatening Rey, he says he is “All of the Sith.” This is after he makes his arguments about him being her family, after Rey has decided not to strike him down in anger.
